How to Increase Website Traffic and Unique Visitors to Your Website

Attracting new viewers to a website can be like herding cats. It is hard enough just getting peoples attention online, let alone keeping it. Many companies spend millions of dollars each year just trying to attract people to their page. That is out of the question for most businesses, but thankfully there is another way. A well written and updated blog can help any website without hurting the bottom line. In fact, new content drives all the best web pages including YouTube, Google and Yahoo. The idea is simple, if you never got any mail, you would never check the mail box. So, if there is nothing new on a website, there is no reason to visit it.

By creating a blog, companies attract more customers, get noticed by search engines and get free PR. That may seem like a lot for a simple blog but it is easy to explain.

Search engines look for key words and phrases in every website. The more new information on a site, the higher its ranking with search engines. That means sites with new blog posts are more likely to come up in a search. This increases the sites traffic and the number of people who go to the website regularly. Often these people will post links to the site. This draws in even more users and gives the site more credibility. In short, a blog is one of the fastest, cheapest and most effective ways to promote a website.




Written By: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Creative Director, Mindshift Media

The World's First Magic: The Gathering Multimedia Marketing Opportunity!

MTG Stores LLC and Mindshift Media believes Multimedia is the key to separating yourself from the competition. Imagine, your business showcased in video media, to thousands of potential global customers. Utilizing the power of Multimedia’s limitless marketing exposure, your business could be transformed to the next international market leader.

MTG Stores LLC and Mindshift Media are partnering together to bring you the most exciting and innovative Multimedia Marketing opportunity in the industry. Contact us today for a free consultation!

 Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Creative Director, Mindshift Media

Using Facebook to Increase Business Leads and Sales

A good website is a tremendous advantage for any company. It is like having another employee who works 24/7 and never needs to be paid. Unfortunately, simply having a good website is no longer enough. Businesses also need a way to insure people visit their site. There are plenty of ways to do this. Advertising and search engine optimization both work, but one of the cheapest and most effective ways to draw more users to a site is through facebook.

Creating a company facebook page helps businesses target perspective customers in a way few other social mediums can. This may sound far-fetched but it is easy to explain.

When a company creates a facebook page, individual facebook users can become fans of that page. Every time a user becomes a fan, it is announced to all their friends on something called a mini feed. It is also added to that person’s profile. Considering the average facebook user has 130 friends, that means for every person who becomes a fan of a business, that business is advertised to 130 people. This gives any business the opportunity for free exponential advertising.



As a company gains fans on facebook, they also have a direct line of communication to their target market. Businesses can announce events and information via facebook, which is automatically posted to all their fans mini feeds. Fans can then respond to these announcements, providing useful feedback for a business. Companies can also create polls for their fans and gain valuable marketing information without all the cost. Finally, companies can use facebook groups to reach customers by interest, age, and even location. All these methods are free and help direct potential customers back to a companies website. Considering facebook has over 400 million active users, it is a resource companies cannot afford to ignore.

Written By: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger 
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Creative Director, Mindshift Media

The Importance of Online Video Marketing on the Internet

Every business wants to make a good first impression. It builds trust, boosts sales and keeps customers coming back. More and more, peoples first contact with a company is through its website. That makes a professional and informative website more valuable than ever. Overhauling a website may sound like a costly and daunting process but a few easy changes can give a company the competitive edge. The most important of these, is the addition of video.

Anyone can add text and pictures but a professional video makes a site more credible and memorable. People are 40 to 50 percent more likely to remember information in a video rather than text. Visitors to a site are also less likely to spend a lot of time reading information. Web users are looking for more information delivered faster. A great example of this is the apple Ipad videos. Videos like this are the perfect way to reach people. A good video delivers information, engages potential customers and allows companies
to showcase their products or business.

                 So while pictures may say a thousand words, 

video says millions!

Written By: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Creative Director, Mindshift Media

Ecommerce Turns an Ordinary Website into a 24/7 Global Selling Machine!

E-commerce is one of the easiest and economical ways of getting a business going as quickly as possible. Companies utilizing Ecommerce have three distinct advantages. They are able to reach more customers, lower costs and increase profit. A great example of this is Amazon.com.

 The company was founded in 1994 and run out of a garage. Now in 2010 it has locations in eight countries and is posting yearly profits of over nine hundred million dollars. The secret to their success is ecommerce. The company can offer more products to more people at a lower price. By selling only online, Amazon needs fewer employees and buildings. The only cost is the initial price of their website and its upkeep. The site also reaches far more customers than traditional stores. That gives it a greater customer base. With more customers and less costs, Amazon can undercut the prices of their competition. This business model gives companies a much faster return on their initial investment. Ecommerce turns an ordinary website into a 24/7 selling machine.

The embodiment of this is Apple’s Itunes.

The Itunes store deals in audio and video and they can sell to anyone with internet access. By taking advantage of the global reach of the internet, Itunes can sell more copies of each song, or video. Ecommerce has allowed them to become the number one place to buy music and video. Itunes and Amazon have also used Ecommerce to reconnect with their customers.

By selling online, companies can allow customers to share feedback about products. This provides valuable information for the company. Positive feedback from buyers also helps persuade potential customers to purchase a product. Any company can benefit from incorporating ecommerce into their website. It reduces costs, eliminates the need for things like cold calling and provides a faster return on the initial investment.

With a boost from ecommerce, companies can go global in seconds. It is the right step for anyone trying to grow their business and their wallet.




         Ecommerce Experts Explain Future Web Trends

                                                         

                                                      
Written By: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger 
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Creative Director, Mindshift Media

Google has a New Way to Search!

The internet giant Google is working on a revolutionary way to find what you are looking for. Their new tool is called Google Goggles. It lets users take a picture with a mobile phone, then compares that picture to others in its database. Aparna Chennapragada, product manager for computer vision products at Google said, “information coming online right now is increasingly visual. So there are more images and more videos being uploaded by your cameras.” She said people are much better at recognizing a picture of that they want rather than having to describe it in words. Google Goggles is still in its Beta stage but it is available on some Android phones. Stay tuned!

Written By: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Creative Director, Mindshift Media

Is Social Network Marketing the Way of the Future?

Social networking sites like facebook, youtube and twitter have been around for some time now. They allow people to connect based on anything from common friends, interests and location. These sites form a massive network of individuals and groups. Facebook alone has over 400 million active users. This makes social networking the perfect place to market a business. Companies can interact directly with customers, gain brand recognition and increase search engine optimization. Google, Nike and CBS are just some of the companies already using social network marketing. To compete, businesses will have to adapt to social network marketing and other web 2.0 methods of doing business.

That may sound difficult, but when managed correctly, social networks can save business time and money. Traditional marketing required in depth research in order to find new markets and reach potential customers. The layout of social networking sites groups individuals by common characteristics, making it easy to locate and engage customers regardless of location or time. Once a a company forms a social network, They need only invest a small amount of time to keep it working efficiently. The internet allowed people free access knowledge. Now social network marketing is giving companies unfettered access to consumers

Click on the following link to view the latest video outlining the benefits of the Social Media Revolution! 

http://www.mindshift-media.com/social-network.php

 

Mindshift Media makes Your Identity!  Consumers are flocking to blogs, social-networking sites and virtual worlds. Mindshift Media provides our clients with innovative and custom Social Network Marketing solutions. We create web channels of your website on popular social networking websites. This service will help you market your content like news and articles gaining more visits and popularity to your website.

For more information about creating a social network marketing campaign for your business, contact Mindshift Media directly @ info@mindshift-media.com or visit our website - 

www.Mindshift-Media.com

Written By: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Creative Director, Mindshift Media

What is Search Engine Optimization; "SEO" and What Can it do for You?

In its most basic form, search engine optimization is a way to get noticed. In the past, businesses had big storefront windows full of things carefully picked to catch the eye of the consumer. In the world of online business, websites are full of things designed to attract the attention of search engines like Google, Yahoo and Youtube. Web users depend on these search engines to help them find information and make decisions. The more importance a search engine places on a website, the more often it will direct people to that site.

SEO is all about making your website more attractive to search engines. This helps increase the number of people visiting a site. It also helps your website appear among the first search results potential customers see.

SEO can be the difference between a thriving online presence and stagnation. What good is a custom, innovative and beautiful website if no one ever sees it?

So what can SEO do your YOU? It can direct more customers to your sight, help businesses and products gain valuable exposure and give you a greater online presence. When a search engine wades into the web looking for answers, SEO makes sure the first site it recommends, is yours!




Written By: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Creative Director, Mindshift Media

Google or Bing...Which One Gets Results?

For some time now, anyone who wanted answers went to Google. It was just a forgone conclusion. Now Microsoft has introduced Bing. This new search engine boasts things like so called smart searches and real time searching. Their adds, like this one, claim to end something called search engine overload.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSkaTcjDIMk

While that sounds great, which search engine gets answers better?

The simple answer is this. If you are looking for sheer breadth of information on a topic, Google is still the place to go. In a variety of simple searches, Google produced more results than Bing. It also has a clean, organized and clutter free approach that makes it easy to use.

Bing comes into play when you are looking for travel, health, shopping or related searches. Bing has unique features that allow you to search multiple travel sites without leaving the search engine. It is also good at showing users relevant related searches. There is even a discount program that offers money back on some purchases when you buy through Bing.

In the end, it comes down to user preference. Bing offers some useful features but it can not replace Google.

Written By: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Creative Director, Mindshift Media

Africa, Solving it's Problems One App at a Time!

While most app developers are working on new games and better graphics, African apps are taking on the continents problems. People like 26 year old, Amos Gichamba are developing applications to help farmers avoid scams. Gichamba grew up on a dairy farm in Kenya. He says milk buyers exploited farmers, paying them far less than their milk was worth at a dairy company. Farmers did not know the rates charged by other farmers or how much their milk was really worth to dairy companies. They also had no way of  knowing when to increase or decrease production. Without this information, farmers were being scammed out of much needed profits.

To help tackle this problem, Gichamba developed an app that allows farmers to text in questions about the local dairy market. The questions are analyzed by a computer. The computer then uses a database of information about the dairy market to answer the question.

Gichamba is just one of many new app developers in Africa. These innovators are taking advantage of the growing mobile phone market to help others. According to a 2009 International Telecommunication Union report, 28 percent of Africans have a mobile phone subscription. In contrast, only 5 percent of people there use the internet. The number of mobile phone subscription is growing by about 50 percent each year. That makes it one of the best ways to connect people and share information.

Jessica Colaco believes mobile phones are the best way to start social change in Africa.  Colaco is a 27 year old mobile developer and a researcher at Strathmore University in Nairobi, Kenya. She has started a boot camp to help teach app development. So far the camp has taught 200 people and Colaco says she plans to teach many more.

Applications are already helping African farmers and directing aid to people in trouble, but developers are just getting started. There are plenty of problems to face and this latest group of developers are stepping up to the challenge.


Written by: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Creative Director, Mindshift Media

Apple - iPad - Introducing the iPad - Strengths and Weaknesses

Apple’s latest creation has been touted as the magical fusion between smart phones and computers. Despite all the hype, there are two big questions that need to be answered, what can it do, and what can it do better?

The first answer is easy. The pad can do anything an Ipod touch can do, but it does it bigger. There are few truly new features on the Ipad, it has just been enlarged to make it much easier to use. The larger size makes it easier to compose emails, watch video and surf the web. The instant on feature also means no more waiting for your computer to boot up. In essence, the Ipad makes basic web surfing more user friendly.

Users will only notice a difference when they try to create content. Composing long emails, making spreadsheets and editing photos still requires a computer. The two largest drawbacks are the lack of multi tasking capabilities and the fact that the Ipad does not support flash player. No flash means it can not play many videos or graphics currently used online. Without the ability to multitask, the Ipad can only run one program at a time. Other drawbacks include the lack of a camera and no USB or fire wire ports. This being said, the Ipad does offer a slim and portable alternative for basic computing needs. Only time will tell if the Ipad can succeed but judging by its initial sales figures, apple may just have another winner!

Meet the iPad. It has a revolutionary, 9.7-inch, high-resolution, Multi-Touch screen. And it can run almost 140,000 apps from the App Store. All in a design that's just 1.5 lbs and 0.5 inches thin. To view the latest Apple video showcasing this new revolutionary device, visit this link to view the video -                                    
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-YAQ1wfNqc

Written by: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger 
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Creative Director, Mindshift Media

What is a Viral Video and What Can it do for my Business?

                  Potential Gold Mine for Businesses

Viral video is any video that is being passed from one user to another online. This happens most often on sites like youtube. The best viral videos are watched millions of times at no cost to their creators. This is a potential gold mine for businesses. Television ads, like this Old Spice commercial reached audiences world wide when the video hit youtube. It can be seen any time and with the simple addition of subtitles, anyone can understand it. That means plenty of free advertising for Old Spice even after the video is is no longer on TV. As more people share the video, they create a buzz around the product and this can help generate useful feedback.

Viral videos also increase a companies web presence. People coming to see a video can be easily redirected to the companies website. That makes viral videos a great asset for any business.

                       Old Spice - Viral Video




Written By: Brad Girtz - Mindshift Media Blogger
Blog Posting By: Tyler Griffin - Mindshift Media, Creative Director