Check out this fascinating case study I found over on the KISSmetrics blog.

Consider the Value of a Click

The “Like”

Fans are 547% more likely to engage with a brand than non-fans.

Engage with your fans.

If you are a B2B company, think of a Like as an engaged lead. It is a very valuable lead.

Facebook sometimes offers discounts for CPC if you keep the visitor on Facebook (e.g. your point the user to your Facebook page or the ad is designed to induce a Like).

Target Intuitively

1st – obvious choices

2nd – think of some non-linear segments

Test different strategies

Review the Demographic Responder Report issued by Facebook.

Create Attention Grabbing Ads

1. The Image
• Create an emotional response
• Attention grabbing
2. Strong call to action
• Tell the user what you want them to do (e.g. “Like us”)
3. The Landing Page
• Outside of Facebook – Should have exactly what the visitor is looking for or expects to see based on the ad they clicked on
• On Facebook – Tip: use humor. People are on Facebook to have fun

Constantly Create and Test Ads

Ad fatigue – can occur as quickly as three impressions

Plan: have ads prepared in advance and implement them when the campaign’s CTR starts to drop.

Test these variables:

1. Image – Get clever. Don’t use your logo.
2. Copy – Even minor differences can have a significant impact on CTR
3. Targeting

Have a plan to capitalize on your new fans, customers, or leads.

If you don’t, people will become disengaged.

B2B – Facebook engagement is good for lead nurturing.

Have a squeeze page on your Facebook page to induce Likes.

Example: fb.com/tradamarketplace

There are a lot of Facebook squeeze page developers out there. The normal rate for a graphic web developer is $100/hour.

Coupons in exchange for Likes is an effective strategy.

Example: Burt’s Bees - a well executed plan for maximizing social viral growth (your coupon activity is designed to show up in your friends’ feeds).

Facebook e-commerce store right on Facebook – a growing trend.

Fan envy – check out your competition’s Facebook page.

Educate yourself about Facebook’s advertising guidelines.

Located in Bluffton, SC, Ernest M Sewell, CPA, PA is a small accounting firm offering a wide array of accounting services.

Ernest Sewell is the man behind the name and his staff includes Regine Johnson, Staff Accountant, and Elizabeth Klein, Office Manager.

There was once a time when I associated blogging with my Freshman English Instructor, Mr. Wright. Whenever I attempted to write a blog post I would quickly become overwhelmed. I had visions of my blog posts resembling term papers: 300-500 words, double spaced, Times New Roman font, etc…

You know blogging is beneficial, but you simply can’t squeeze any more time out of your day. Well don’t worry, that’s not what a blog is. Yes, there are some sources that will tell you that in order for a blog to affect your SEO your posts regularly need to be 300-500 words. Yet, there are other websites that do great without dedicating that kind of time commitment.

According to dictionary.com a blog is simply a writer’s or group of writer’s own experiences, observations, opinions, etc.

The founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, often writes posts that are just one to two sentences or a few words and a link.  Some people blog photos, some video, some people do write 800-1000 words. The point is that a blog is not an English term paper and there are no rules, per se, about how long your blog should be.

Instead of thinking of a blog as an English term paper think of a blog as an opportunity to reach out to a number of different groups of people. Through blogging you have the opportunity to market your business, connect with business associates, create a plan of action, start conversations, and make things happen.

I’ll leave you with this final example. If you’re an accountant in the midst of tax season instead of writing a fifteen page blog maybe your blog posts should look something like this.

How does a blog effect your search engine optimization? Well, I have a great example.

I have a three year old son who is currently going through a stage where he is fascinated with pirates. I went to the Internet to find an easy craft to make a pirate sword, many of your potential clients will also turn to the Internet when they need a product or service. I started first with a generic search term: “pirate sword” and in less than a half a second Google gave me a list of more than 7 million results. ARGGG!  (staying true to my pirate theme).

As I stated in my previous article, Become an Expert in Two Easy Steps, it is essential that you identify your niche. The Internet is amazing; it makes the United States smaller and more connected which means your next client may be anywhere in the country (or in the world for that matter). However, the Internet also means that you may be lost in the millions of similar businesses that are out there. This is why it essential for you to develop your niche.

For example, I really didn’t want to buy a pirate sword and I didn’t want to make a craft that was too complex for my 3 year old. Instead I was looking for a blog whose niche was frugal crafts to do with a toddler. When I searched for the phrase “frugal pirate swords that 3 year olds can make” I only get 565,000 results.  That’s a lot fewer than the 7 million results I originally received.

Here’s how this relates to your company. On the first page of search results there were different types of websites and blogs. Some of the sites were big name companies while other sites were written by a panel of experts. Still other sites were simple blogs written by stay at home moms. There was one thing that all of the websites on the first page had in common. They were all regularly updated.

Search engines tend to list the blogs and websites with regularly updated content first.  Therefore it stands to reason that the more regularly you update your blog or website the better your search engine optimization. There is no hard and steadfast rule as to how often you should update your blog. However, quality should be stressed over quantity. If you only have time to write a good quality article once a week then do that. Just remember that the more often you update your blog the better your search engine optimization.

Now on to making pirate swords… Arrgh Matey!

Wait.

What?

Isn’t an expert someone who spends years acquiring a new skill or special knowledge? As a mom of two preschoolers, a wife of  a business owner, a community volunteer, and a woman who wears a number of hats, I don’t have years to devote to trial and error. Nevertheless I keep running across the phrase “become an expert in your niche.”  As a product of my generation I was determined that if I had to become an expert I wanted to be an instant expert (if there is such a thing).

Well, through some digging I found out that it’s much easier to become an expert in a particular field than it use to be. I’m a big supporter of not reinventing the wheel, but using the wheel in a more efficient and effective way. There is a lot of information on the Internet and if you begin your search through a search engine such as Google or Yahoo you will find millions of results on any one subject. You certainly don’t want to be lost in the millions of other websites.

STEP 1 – Identify your niche

In order to become an expert you must identify the niche in which you want to become an expert. Identify your niche and blog about what sets you apart. For example, Nelwel is an amazing web design company (I can say that because I’m married to the man who puts the Nel in Nelwel). However, when I type in web design in a search engine I receive 1,930,000,000 results in about .33 seconds. That doesn’t mean Nelwel isn’t a viable company – it simply means that Nelwel needs a niche and effective publicity and advertising.

According to Danny Nelson, one of the founding designers, Nelwel’s niche is providing a holistic approach to web design and providing excellent costumer service. So this leads me to ask you: What is your niche?  What are you currently doing to support your niche?

STEP 2 – Research and write about your niche

I encourage you to research and write about your niche at least once a week as researchers have found that a well thought out blog will generate more website traffic, assist in creating your reputation as an expert in the field, and help your business associates and clients be able to better relate to you.  Now I don’t know about you, but if  I already have a niche and I’m already trying to support this niche then I’m probably already researching ways to make my company better, more marketable, and more cost effective. Writing these thoughts out simply helps me to formulate my next plan of action and if posting that on my blog helps generate more traffic then the additional minute that it takes to copy a word document onto WordPress and post this as a blog is well worth the time and effort.

Period.

In light of that fact, and because it’s the right thing to do, we guarantee satisfaction. Ours is a highly specialized and customer specific service. We give you way more time than is really necessary (also more than our competitors give) for you to decide whether you are 100% satisfied with the initial setup and monthly service. You should know for certain within 100 days if you are completely satisfied with your website. If you decide you are not satisfied, just let us know and we will refund everything you’ve ever paid us.

By the way… to date, nobody has ever asked us for a refund.

What are compute cycles?

Compute cycles measure how much processing time your applications require.

Why don’t shared hosting providers set compute cycle limits?

Well, they do. If you read the fine print you’ll notice that they use phrases like, “User may not use 25% or more of system resources for longer then 90 seconds.” Well how in the world do you know what ratio of the system’s resources you’re using? We release you from this restriction by giving you concrete limits to operate within. Once you’ve used your allotment, your site or application keeps running and you’re billed for the additional compute cycles required at 2¢ per cc.

How many compute cycles will my applications use?

Since web applications vary so greatly, it’s hard to make a perfect guess. There are, however, some guidelines that can help. For example, 100 compute cycles would power approximately:

• 21,000 page views using a database-driven content management system
• 110,000 page views of rackspacecloud.com
• 250,000 requests for a static 15KB image

How do I track my compute cycle usage?

The compute cycles you use are presented in your control panel in near real time.

What goes in to calculating a compute cycle?

Mostly, CPU processing time. However, compute cycles also account for the disk I/O your application’s operations consume. For example, a page with heavy database queries will consume more compute cycles in part due to the larger volume of disk I/O it requires.

Portions (most) of this article were adapted from http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/cloud_hosting_faq/

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Source: The Anatomy of an Effective Homepage Infographic