Home > Blog > Conferences and Events

Fathom Blog

News & analysis on digital marketing & analytics

Page 1 of 612 3 4 5...»Last »

Learn To Reduce Website Friction at Fathom-Hosted NEOUPA Event

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Paul Richlovsky

We’ve all been to websites that make us want to scream or throw our electronics. One common umbrella term for any of the obstacles that prevent us from doing what we want to do on a website is friction.

Friction, Baby
Gratuitous 90′s pop-rock references aside,* next Tuesday you can learn much more about website friction and how to avoid it from Fathom’s own Mike Perla, Director of Conversion Optimization.

Topic: “Usability: Reducing Friction and Boosting Conversion“
Date: March 20, 2012 (next Tuesday)
Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Address: (get directions)
8200 Sweet Valley Dr., Suite 100
Valley View, OH 44125
Registration: Free for NEOUPA members, $10 for non-members. Register at NEOUPA.org.

By the way, NEOUPA stands for “Northeast Ohio Usability Professionals’ Association.”

What you’ll learn

Perla promises to offer insight into:

How usability can increase conversions
How audience can dictate functionality
Reducing friction with decision support tools
Overcoming objections with hard evidence

If you’re in the area and have any interest in usability and conversion, don’t miss this NEOUPA event (online registration).

p.s. If you’re curious about Better Than Ezra, listen to the group’s first album, Deluxe.

***

Image via Wikimedia Commons.

*Friction, Baby is the title of Better Than Ezra’s 3rd album, not that I’m counting.

Posted in Conferences and Events, Conversion Optimization, Fathom Company News, Usability, Web Design

SEO for the Trade Show [Interop]

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Brad Miller

Trade shows are great for so many things: brand recognition; meeting customers and prospects; mixing and mingling with colleagues. Also long hours, sore feet and big dinner bills. But it can be good for other things as well, namely online marketing, including SEO, social and link-building. Here’s how and why:

Social
Social media marketing is a big part of search results and is increasingly becoming more important. Followers, likes and interactions are recognized by Google and can have a positive impact on your rankings. That said, IT trade show Interop provides hourly updates from its feed and has more than 5,000 Twitter followers. By acting similarly, you, too can increase your visibility on social networks and search engines. You can also increase foot traffic to your booth at the show. Here are some examples:

Promo codes
Let your audience know you have promo codes and show it how to get them. Offering this kind of discount is a great way to interact with customers, prospects and colleagues. Make sure your BDM team is involved and actively using them.
Give-aways
Giving away products is a great way to get traffic to your booth. It’s also a great way to get people buzzing about you in the social space. Let everyone know what you’re giving away (standard iPad or a Hawaiian vacation) and how they can get involved. Perhaps if someone follows you on Twitter and stops by the booth, they get two entries instead of one.
Show updates
During the show, provide constant feedback via your social networking platforms:
- How is the show going?
- How was the latest keynote speaker?
- Let everyone know your keynote is about to speak
- Let everyone know before you’re giving away a prize

Blogging
Content should be written and optimized for your blog to promote your involvement before, during and after the show. Search engines love fresh, well-written content. If you’re not already blogging, then start today. If you are blogging, then tradeshows like Interop provide avenues to add great content. Examples:

Before the show
Let everyone know you’re attending. This can include where your booth is located and when your team is speaking. You can also talk about the products you’ll be displaying and provide a link within the blog to those product pages. Let your audience know why they should stop by the booth. Are you giving anything away? Will you have product demos available? Maybe you’ll have free pizza and beer; if so, that’s a great blog post.
During the show
Much of the updates during the show can be broadcasted via Twitter or other social channels (see “show updates” above), but a solid daily blog post with the highlights can also be compelling. What are the key takeaways from the day? Did you have a big rush of people to the booth? If so, take a picture and let everyone on your blog know about it. Link the blog post to the product that had everyone’s attention. Perhaps you generated a ton of interaction during a panel your product manager sat on. If so, post the questions and answers.
After the show
Make sure to wrap everything up with your overall impression of the conference with the highlights.

Link-Building
Link-popularity building is the foundation of many successful SEO programs. Generating relevant and quality backwards links not only helps improve rankings, but also drives quality website traffic and supports branding. There are numerous link- building opportunities assocated with tradeshows like Interop. For example:

Exhibiting and sponsorships
If you’re sponsoring or exhibiting at the show, chances are you’ll have an opportunity to let the world know via the show’s website. For example, see Interop’s list of exhibitors. The majority of the companies that are paying for a sponsorship have no information about what they do, let alone a link back to their website.
Speaking
Is your company speaking at Interop? If this is the case, make sure you completely fill out your speaker’s bio. The majority of the bios are left blank. Again, this is a great place to get great backward links to your online properties: website, blog, Twitter profile, etc.
PR/Blogging
As mentioned below, press releases and blogging can drive quality links back to your website. Getting the proper keywords, content and links within your PR campaigns can have a significant impact on SEO.

PR
Before the show, the PR buildup should be in full swing. This will include press releases, social activity, speaking engagements and editorial pushes. Be sure to cover:

Press releases
Get the right keywords into your announcements and have links pointing to the most relevant pages, NOT just your homepage or events page. If you’re featuring a product, send the readers to the proper product page.
Awards
If you’re exhibiting, chances are you have new products or updates to existing products to promote. Make sure they’re considered for any awards. Your company winning—or at least being considered—can have a big impact on customer perception in online research, along with making your sales team very, very happy.

Website Optimization
Trade shows like Interop give you the opportunity to add freshly optimized and engaging content in a new way:

Site content
Product pages can have calls-to-action that hit home with visitors and prospects. For example, if you’re featuring a product demo during the show, state that on the product landing page: “See the desktop virtualization software in action at Interop, booth #9555.” You can also create entire new pages about your exhibit. For example, if you’re featuring a “big data” product that isn’t ranking for a keyword like “big data analytics,” you can create an additional page that speaks your booth promotions, demos, team and Interop interactions that are centered around the “big data analytics” product.

Gasoline on the Fire
Here at Fathom, we love it when our clients are attending trade shows like Interop. They are the perfect opportunity to boost rankings, traffic and leads in a new and creative way. Using an analogy, SEO is like a fire—the more logs you throw on the fire, the bigger it gets. Properly marketing your participation in trade shows is like adding a log doused in gasoline to your fire. Poof!!

Posted in Conferences and Events, Online Marketing, SEO, Social Media | Tagged event marketing, Interop, trade show, trade shows

Women in Business – Lessons I Learned

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Jenni Ramminger

In honor of National Women’s Day, I’d like to share my experience at Kent State’s “Women in Business” conference that myself and two coworkers attended yesterday. At Fathom, we are very lucky to be given the opportunity to attend conferences to further our learning experiences, industry knowledge and to grow, both personally and professionally. If you’re one of those people who question the value of conferences or feel they bring nothing new to your world, please read on!

Heading into this conference, I must admit I was skeptical. Being a woman in business, I was wondering what else I could possibly learn that I didn’t already know. From the struggles women used to face to the opportunities we have today, I was pretty sure I’d already heard it all. But boy was I wrong! Leaving the conference, I was filled with an energy, passion and desire for the little things in life. These feelings were brought out by the inspiring women who told their stories, shared their successes and provided insight into the business world and beyond.

The main point most of these successful business women made was that life is not about being successful at business – it’s about finding the place where your passion and the world’s needs collide. When you’re passionate about your profession (or anything for that matter), you can and will do great things. The same is true for your company – if you can find something that differentiates you from your competitors and turn that into a value proposition that speaks to the needs of your customers, you’ll find a recipe for long term success.

Another key takeaway was to eliminate the negative influences in your life. Whether it’s on a personal level with your friends, or a professional level with fellow employees, it’s important that you surround yourself with positive people and inspire others around you to be positive. Positive people will catapult you (and your company) forward.

The keynote speaker, New York Times Best Selling author Regina Brett, was perhaps the most inspiring of all women at the conference. Throughout her life, Regina experienced struggles – as a single mother who battled breast cancer, she was forced to accept truths about life that helped her overcome personal and professional obstacles. Her truths were outlined in a renowned column titled “50 Life Lessons”. They were also included in the book “Be the Miracle – 50 Lessons for Making the Impossible Possible”. The entire “50 Life Lessons” article can be read here, but a few key thoughts that can be applied to both your personal and professional life are below:

When in doubt, take the next small step
Over-prepare, then go with the flow
No matter how you feel, get up, get dressed and show up
If you don’t ask, you don’t get
Get busy on the possible
We all do the same things – it’s how we do them that make a difference
Sometimes it’s enough to make one person happy
Get in the game
Aim higher
We aren’t meant to live forever – create something that will

In addition to these points above, Regina also mentioned a powerful quote that is now hanging above my desk. This quote is one by Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, and begs the question - “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to be doing what I’m doing today?”. This quote is thought provoking and speaks to all who truly are passionate about their jobs, companies and professional futures. If you or your company are not on the path you always envisioned, don’t be afraid to take the broken path to where you want to be. You might stumble along the way, but taking one small step in the right direction is all you need to start achieving your goals.

Posted in Conferences and Events | Tagged fathom, internet marketing, Online Marketing, SEO advice, SEO Tips, tips

Straight Outta MIT Sloan: Why Sports Analytics Is Hot

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Steve Kessen

What topic could bring the likes of comedian Drew Carey, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, ESPN’s Bill Simmons, Forrest Gump producer Steve Tisch and me to a 30-degree, snow-covered Boston this past weekend?

Analytics
The hottest buzz in the sports industry today is analytics. It was one of the hottest topics at the National Sports Forum in January and consumed the sold-out Hynes Convention Center in Boston this past Friday and Saturday at the 6^th annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

So why is analytics so hot?
It’s simple. Analytics helps companies make more money by working smarter, not harder.

Gone are the days when a team’s ticket sales staff blindly opens up a phone book to make 100 cold calls a day (yes, teams actually used to do this!). With the sophistication in technology, brilliant minds (like those of the team at Fathom), and strong business acumen, sports organizations are starting to realize the benefits of analytics.

So you’ve run some analytics, now what?
Running the numbers and identifying the trends is only the beginning of the process. The success really comes from activating the knowledge and insight gained in the analysis phase.

Better understanding your customers and getting a 360-degree view of the fan’s behavior (ticket purchasing trends, merchandise/concession sales, interaction on social media and email marketing campaigns, mobile and website interaction) help position the sport organization to pitch the customer the right product, at the right time, through the right communication method.

This is where digital marketing comes into play. Without the digital marketing tactics that turn knowledge into revenue, analytics are just fun facts.

Through digital marketing, an organization can have a true one-to-one relationship with the fan. Technology allows teams to send customized messaging to each specific individual—optimizing the opportunity for a closed sale. Through each digital interaction, new insight is gained and added to better understand the fan. This is the key to turning simple “analytics” into revenue.

What topic could bring the likes of Comedian Drew Carey, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettmen, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, ESPN’s Bill Simmons, Forest Gump Producer Steve Tisch and me to 30 degrees and a snow covered Boston this past weekend?

Analytics

The hottest buzz in the sports industry today is analytics. It was one of the hottest topics at the National Sports Forum in January and consumed the sold out Hynes Convention Center in Boston this past Friday and Saturday with the 6^th annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

So why is “analytics” so hot?

It’s simple. Analytics helps companies make more money by working smarter, not harder.

Gone are the days that a team’s ticket sales staff blindly opens up a phone book to make their 100 cold calls a day (yes, teams actually use to do this)! With the sophistication in technology, brilliant minds (like the team at Fathom), and strong business acumen, sports organizations are starting to realize the benefits of analytics.

So you’ve run some analytics, now what?

Running the numbers and identifying the trends is only the beginning of the process. The success really comes from activating the knowledge and insight gained in the analysis phase.

Better understanding your customers and getting a 360 degrees view of the fan’s behavior (ticket sales purchasing trends, merchandise/concession purchases, interaction on social media and email marketing campaigns, mobile and website interaction) help position the sport organization to pitch the customer the right product, at the right time, through the right communication method.

This is where digital marketing comes into play.

Through digital marketing, an organization can have a true one-to-one relationship with the fan. Technology allows teams to send customized messaging to each specific individual in a way to optimize the opportunity for a closed sale. Through each digital interaction, new insight is gained and added to better understand the fan. This is the key. Turning “analytics” into revenue.

Analytics are just fun facts without the best digital marketing tactics to turn knowledge into revenue.What topic could bring the likes of Comedian Drew Carey, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettmen, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, ESPN’s Bill Simmons, Forest Gump Producer Steve Tisch and me to 30 degrees and a snow covered Boston this past weekend?

Analytics

So why is “analytics” so hot?

It’s simple. Analytics helps companies make more money by working smarter, not harder.

So you’ve run some analytics, now what?

Running the numbers and identifying the trends is only the beginning of the process. The success really comes from activating the knowledge and insight gained in the analysis phase.

This is where digital marketing comes into play.

Through digital marketing, an organization can have a true one-to-one relationship with the fan. Technology allows teams to send customized messaging to each specific individual in a way to optimize the opportunity for a closed sale. Through each digital interaction, new insight is gained and added to better understand the fan. This is the key. Turning “analytics” into revenue.

Analytics are just fun facts without the best digital marketing tactics to turn knowledge into revenue.

Posted in Analytics, Conferences and Events, Predictive Analytics, Sports/Entertainment | Tagged Bill Simmons, Drew Carey, Forrest Gump, Gary Bettman, Mark Cuban, MIT, MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Sloan, Steve Tisch

My Top Five SMX West Takeaways

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Angela Verlei

After finally recovering from my trip to SMX West last week, I’ve started sifting through the many pages of notes I took during the conference. All of the sessions were extremely beneficial and I had the opportunity to learn from industry leaders such as Danny Sullivan and Susan Wojcicki. Every evening I left on total information-overload. But I mean that in the best possible way, of course!

While reviewing my seemingly endless pile of notes, I noticed some trends emerging. So, if you weren’t fortunate enough to visit the San Jose SMX conference yourself, consider my top five takeaways:

1. Become a Social Butterfly

If you’ve been resisting social media, you could be severely hindering the success of your business. I know what you’re thinking, no one is going to follow your business on Facebook. That’s where your creativity comes in. If you have a business that wouldn’t traditionally gain followers through social media, offer people a reason to follow you. For example, if you run a bank, maybe you can offer financial tips to people who check in to your business on Foursquare (after all, there are an average of 23 check-ins every second). Own a real estate business? Consider offering people who like you on Facebook insider information about local bars, restaurants and stores.

2. If you aren’t on Google+, Now is the Time to Join

If you didn’t already guess it from my first takeaway, social media was huge at SMX West this year, and Google+ was no exception. While many businesses are resisting the adoption of this social media channel, it offers a variety of important benefits for businesses. Did you know that only 57% of Fortune 100 Companies are currently using Google+ and of those 57% only 3% encourage visitors to visit their page by using badges on their homepage. Put yourself ahead of the competition by being the first in your industry to take advantage of this growing social channel. Google+ results are already showing up in Google SERPs. Make sure you are taking full advantage of this opportunity for your business to show up in the results.

3. Differentiate or Die

While it may seem dramatic, if you don’t differentiate yourself you won’t survive in the results. When searching Google for “how to make French toast,” you get almost 32,400,000 search results. How many of those do you think are really relevant to that search? Maybe four or five. That means, if you aren’t showing up in the top results for your key terms, it might be time to change your tactics. By keeping your content fresh, integrating social media, personalizing your content, and most importantly, creating content that is truly relevant to the searcher, you can start to differentiate yourself from the millions of other search results.

4. Understand Your Mobile Users

If you find that people are searching for your business on mobile phones, it is your job to create a mobile site that is as user-friendly as possible. People that are searching on their mobile device have a completely different mindset than those searching on a traditional laptop or PC. The cognitive strain is so much greater for a mobile searcher. When creating your mobile site, cut through all the distractions give your audience a simple, user-friendly platform.

5. Create Killer Content

Is content really still king? According to the speakers at SMX, yes! 92% of marketers agree that content creation is very or somewhat effective as an SEO strategy. How can you create content that is truly killer? Get in touch with your audience. Revisit your customer personas, tighten up your pages that drive the most income for your business, clean up outdated content, and focus on creating conversion-friendly content over Google-friendly content.

Now do you understand why I was on information-overload all week? While this may seem like an overwhelming to-do list when it comes to your SEO, if you just implement a few of these ideas and grow on them over time, you can improve your conversions and rankings.

Posted in Conferences and Events, Content Creation, Google, SEO, Social Media | Tagged Danny Sullivan, foursquare, Google, mobile, personas, SMX, SMX San Jose, SMX West, Susan Wojcicki

Fathom Unveils Directory of Twitter Tools

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Paul Richlovsky

If you are involved with serious Twitter marketing for business, then we have a resource you shouldn’t miss. As seen by attendees of today’s SMX Social Media Marketing 2011 conference (Scottsdale, Arizona), Fathom’s new directory of Twitter tools contains something for every kind of professional Twitter user. And we’re not just showing you the directories for followers and professional groups that everybody already knows about.

Speaker Kurt Krejny instructed on different ways businesses can use Twitter to analyze their followers and get results that matter in his presentation, “Twitter Analysis & Action: Cater to followers and attract influencers with a laser-focused strategy.” He was one of three members in the panel discussion—“Boosting Business with Twitter Marketing”—moderated by Search Engine Land’s Elisabeth Osmeloski.

Check out the searchable Twitter marketing tools directory for:

short descriptions of every tool;
links to each tool’s website;
multiple categories of tools based on business need;
future updates;
your own additions! (tell us @fathomSMtools or @FathomOnline with the hashtag “#TwitterTools”)

Posted in Analytics, Conferences and Events, Online Marketing, Social Media | Tagged Arizona, Elisabeth Osmeloski, Kurt Krejny, Scottsdale, SMX, SMX Arizona, Twitter, Twitter tools

2011 Midwest Social Media Summit: The Ultimate Summary

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Paul Richlovsky

Content. Yesterday’s Midwest Social Media Summit in Landerhaven can be summed up in a single word: content. The concept was most boldly illustrated in content marketing evangelist Joe Pulizzi‘s proclamation that “Mediocre content does nothing for your business.”

Make no mistake about it, content was the word of the day. For all the talk of social media, nearly every single speaker or panelist preached the virtues of having quality content that resonates with your audience. Consider: if you want to actually achieve anything meaningful with social media for your business (besides simple connections), you need to have valuable content that lends itself to sharing.

“Well, of course,” you’re saying, “tell me something else I don’t know.” And where are the social media secrets? How do you rule Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn et al.?” Don’t worry, the experts had a few things to say about that, too. If you couldn’t make the event (or spent all your time there checking email, Twitter and LinkedIn on two devices), below are my CliffsNotes.

The Ultimate Highlights of Midwest Social Media Summit

Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences and Events, Content Creation, Mobile, Online Marketing, Social Media | Tagged content, content marketing, Midwest SMS, Midwest Social Media Summit, mobile, Smart Business, sms, Social Media

Page 1 of 612 3 4 5...»Last »

Fathom Blog

News & analysis on digital marketing & analytics

Category Archives: Conferences and Events

Learn To Reduce Website Friction at Fathom-Hosted NEOUPA Event

What you’ll learn

Women in Business – Lessons I Learned

Straight Outta MIT Sloan: Why Sports Analytics Is Hot

Search Blog

Recent Posts

Get Blog Updates

Categories

Archives