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Arlene O'Reilly

Oct 24
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MindsEye Moon

Listings Builder

By Business Development, Listings Builders, SEO

Get found. Generate traffic. Grow revenue.
Wondering how to show up online? Kick-start your online presence, or correct your online listings!

Establish accurate business listings and appear in more places across the web. Packed with three powerful presence management tools—Listing Sync, Listing Distribution, and My Listing—this is the most comprehensive business listing solution on the market.

Listing Sync: Quickly establish accurate business listings on dozens of reputable sites. Plus, sync to Google My Business, Facebook, and Twitter for no additional charge.

Listing Distribution: Build accurate business listings on the four major data aggregators—Factual, Acxiom, Infogroup, and Neustar Localeze. These aggregators are referenced by over 300 websites.

My Listing: Create a mobile-responsive business listing that is optimized for local search.

Google Insights: Understand how your business is performing on Google Search and Maps. Google Insights in Listing Builder that provides a valuable glimpse into your customer’s activities.

Learn More
Oct 24
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Reputation Management

By Business Development, Digital Marketing, Reputation Management

Monitor and manage your online reputation.

Today, your business’s reputation is defined by your customers. Reviews, accurate business information, and social media activity all impact your reputation and whether a consumer decides to do business with you or not. You need a way to manage all of these factors in a scalable way.

We can help you with your online reputation! It is also one of the most affordable services that protects your brand, CEO, and key staff members. Monitor what people are saying about you online and improve your visibility in local search. See how you stack up against the competition, stay in the know with automated alerts, and get progress reports to see how your reputation has improved.

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Oct 24
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Digital Advertising

By Digital Advertising, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Instagram Ads, LinkedIn Ads

Clicks don’t equal money in the bank.

Use CRM and web analytics data to inform your ad campaigns and see exactly which ads are turning prospects into loyal customers. How would you like to report on real advertising ROI with complete precision?

The data you get from individual ad networks gives you only part of the picture. Our ads tool goes beyond traditional ad metrics like impressions, clicks, and cost-per-click to report on actual leads and ROI generated by every Facebook and Google ad. You’ll be able to combine deal data with ad data and know exactly how your paid advertising contributes to the bottom line so you can stop struggling to justify your ad spend.

Our ad tools eliminate manual uploads and enable ongoing automatic targeting of prospects, subscribers, or any other audience you want to convert.

We also manage Google Ads accounts for our clients, including display ads and YouTube ads. There is no black and white formula in digital advertising, contact us —we are ready to assist you with your goals!

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    Oct 22
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    Social Media Engagement

    By Social Media, Strategy

    What is a social media engagement strategy? Here is what one would look like: run a Facebook contest, this has the potential to attract new leads and drive traffic to your social media channels and website.

    The benefits of running a Facebook Contest:

    • Boost engagement, traffic and Likes on your Facebook Page

    • Ability to reach new prospective customers – there are tons of Facebook users who may be interested in your product or services, but are unaware of your brand

    • Building your Database / email list

    • New sales through lead nurturing

    • Deeper understanding of your customers from data pulled from Facebook’s Open Graph

    Depending on the size of you company, and the income goals, ideally a brand should have 1000 people engaging on a Facebook Page over the course of a week.  The more engagement on a social channel, the more traffic to your website, the more points of conversions.  To be clear, points of conversion is achieving the goals that your business has set up:  Selling products or services, obtaining new members, receiving a donation.

    If you are looking to raise your bar in social followers, contests will boost your engagement ten-fold! There are various approaches depending on your businesses status.  If you have low engagement, it’s a good idea to run a starter contest such as a Sweepstakes or Vote contest.

    These types of contests have a low barrier to entry and will encourage a higher percentage of people to enter as they only need to enter their contact information to enter.  On the other hand, if you have a high amount of engagement (over 1000 people engaging with you) then you’re in a prime position to run an Intermediate or Advanced contest requiring users to create and share something or make a purchase to enter.

    Here are examples of starter, intermediate and advance engagement contests:

    STARTER

    SWEEPSTAKES

    A Sweepstakes is the simplest type of contest and requires users submit their email address, click ‘Enter Contest’ and they’re entered into a random drawing for a prize. This is the best type of contest to start with if you have low engagement on your Facebook Page.

    VOTE CONTEST

    A Vote Contest gets users to interact with your brand in a personal way. You can get them to vote for which products should appear in your next product line, go on sale or which products they like the best.

    INTERMEDIATE

    Intermediate Contests are asking for more than contact information, and require users to submit a piece of user-generated content to enter.

    PHOTO CONTESTS

    Photo Contests are an easy way to entice users to upload a photo and have the community vote on their favorite to win. Most people have a camera phones and taking a photo is super easy. To maximize entries, choose general theme that most users will be able to get a photo of. Ex.) Your favorite seasonal activity.

    Photos are the best type of content to ask for as they are eye-catching and easy to digest. We highly recommend using this type of contest if you’re looking to get user-generated content.

    PHOTO CAPTION CONTEST

    Photo Caption Contests entice users to write a caption for a photo of your choosing to enter. The community then votes on their favorite caption. This is an easy way to take advantage of online memes.

    ESSAY CONTEST

    Essay Contests are a great way to hear the thoughts, feedback and stories of your customers. Have entrants write about an experience they had using one of your products or a time spent at one of your physical locations. The community can then vote on their favorite.

    ADVANCED

    Advanced Contests and promotions require a high level of engagement. These contests and promotions require entrants to submit a time-consuming piece or content or pay money to get a reward. It’s a good idea if you only run these contests when you have a large audience as only a very small percentage of users will take the time to enter:

    VIDEO CONTESTS

    A video contest requires entrants to submit a video under the guidelines you choose. This is harder than taking a photo but it has the potential to give you great user generated content for your business.

    PINTEREST CONTEST

    Pinterest Contests entice users to create a board on Pinterest and submit their link to enter. This contest gives your business reach beyond the Facebook platform.

    GROUP DEAL

    Get users excited about taking advantage of a limited- time offer. To be successful you’ll need to offer a minimum discount of 40% of the cost of your regularly-priced item, to be attractive enough for users to purchase right away.

    It’s easy to incorporate elements of your brand into your contest. When you do this it will get people talking about your business and not just the contest prize.

    HERE ARE SOME EASY WAYS TO INCORPORATE YOUR BUSINESS INTO YOUR CONTEST:

    Let entrants decide on your next product line or marketing campaign using a Vote Contest.

    Have entrants caption a photo of one of your products in a Photo Caption Contest.
    Get people to create a board on Pinterest and include their favorite items that you sell. Encourage entrants to write an essay about how they use your products or why they like them so much.

    Tell them to upload a photo of themselves using your products or at your business.

    Make sure the Title of your Contest and the Contest Image incorporate your brand – as these are the things that will get shared and will be seen the most.

    If you are feeing shorthanded or overwhelmed, let us know.  We can discuss your goals and understand that there is no black and white solution, nor is it simple posting  when it comes to building out social media channels and followers.

    Sign up for our newsletter for upcoming resources.  We hope to work with you soon.

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      Oct 03
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      Strategy

      By Analytics, Branding, Business Development, Strategy No Comments

      ”"... you have 1 second to arrest someone’s attention and 3 seconds to pique their interest."

      A. M. O'Reilly

      The best creative campaign is worthless if it’s not strategic. It’s the same as a handsome face with no brains.

      In the global digital culture of today, you have 1 second to arrest someone’s attention and 3 seconds to pique their interest.   Competing brands require a strategy plan that defines who to target, where to focus, when to act, what to offer, and how to say it. 

      From analysis, to journey mapping, to UX / UI + content strategy, the work of our team with your vision shapes our creative, campaigns, and results.

      Strategy Case Studies

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        Oct 02
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        Tech Site Management

        By SEO, Technology, Web Tech Service + Hosting No Comments

        Top 5 Reasons To Update Your Website

        Do you take care of your car and get a tune-up every 10,000 miles? Do you go to the doctor at least once a year for a checkup? Do you have cable or satellite TV that automatically updates itself? 

        How about your computer system?  If you are a business owner, you must, must, must include your website in a maintenance plan. Your business is important to you, and you would like it to be a value to your customers too. I’ve always said, “Websites are your virtual core representative and should make money while you sleep. No employee can do that.”

        Here are the top 5 reasons to have a website technical maintenance plan:

        1.  Software Updates and Programming.  Custom built websites always have third-party software integrated using applications. When these applications are updated by the developers they can become dysfunctional or incompatible with your website if it’s not technically updated. As we all know, technology is not perfect. Meaning, when you perform a technical update on a website, be aware that applications that are implemented within the site can likewise become dysfunctional or incompatible if the applications have not been updated.  Do not think that you only have to push a button and it will all work, that is not the case.
        2. Content. If you don’t update content on your website, eventually it will decline in the search engine rankings. Search engines regard websites with recent, new content as the key to web users. Your content might be stellar, but if it’s the same content as it was three years ago, then search engines crawlers could pass over it searching for newer, key content that your competitors are using.
        3. Security. Websites and social media accounts getting hacked are becoming more and more frequent. Security flaws can rear their ugly heads on any website, new or old, but the likelihood of security flaws affecting an older website is much greater as it relies on older less secure coding and technology.
        4. Load Times. Often, when a tech developer is performing a technical update on a website, he/she needs to check the speed of the site. First, to make sure it did not slow down and if its performance is lacking, they need to customize programming.  When all programming is good, often the site speed will increase matching the newer technical features becoming available.
        5. User Experience. If your site is not designed to meet the expectations of new customers, then you will lose them. Simply put, today’s digital culture has high exceptions and you will lose respect for your brand if you look like Broadway with ads all over the place, or it looks like it was designed it five years ago. Including new design features as well as unique content is required along with knowing what is the industry’s standard practice.

        If you are a small business or DBA, and have a small budget, I recommend using template style website services like Squarespace or Wix. Both are fairly reasonable in price and provide basic web services. The downside is that support is not immediate. When a site “goes down” you just have to sit tight and trust it will come back online. You are also restricted in terms of add-on aspects.

        For competitive businesses that need to get a human on the phone when you have an issue or question, let’s talk.

        Our tech partner company Rogue Wave Strategies offers Hosting and Website Technical Service Plans. Prices vary for non-profits and e-commerce sites, and by the volume of the site.

        Claim your free website audit.

        New England, New York, and Washington DC businesses can claim a free website audit & 30-minute review call.
        Let's Talk!
        Oct 02
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        Business Analytics

        By Analytics, Digital Marketing, SEO No Comments

        ”… I heard an analytics programming hack who could barely communicate claim that his specialty was data storytelling. I nearly spit out my club soda.
        The concept of data storytelling is a fine example of the language gap between executives and the analytics community. Many analytics professionals equate “data storytelling” with data visualization. In other words, graphs. When an executive asks for “the story,” that means a brief explanation, in words, perhaps with pictures."

        Meta S. Brown, Forbes Magazine

        Reviewing your business analytics once a quarter with your marketing team to review how your PPC ads performed is really just the tip of the iceberg. There is a missing link between business executives, the creative team, and the analytics team.

        I had a first-hand experience recently at a business conference workshop for non-profits. The speaker was stating multiple points on the importance of using data analytics, as part of the decision making process. Looking around the room, most of the attendees were in their 50’s – 60’s, with a sprinkle of millennials. The mature audience was interested in what he was saying and we ended up talking in small groups. In our group, we had an under 40 analyst, who was very skilled at talking-up her knowledge of data analytics, attempting to combine this with the trending keyword “storytelling.” The executive sitting next to me was not impressed. I recognized that the analysts attempt to dazzle our group with her brilliance (or baffle them with bull), was ineffective at best.  If that were a sales pitch, she was more interested in hearing her self talk rather than listening to what the group level of knowledge was, furthermore completely missed the boat at understanding who else she was sitting with.

        Personally, I really respect the analysts on our team. They make our jobs easier overall. I compare us to the TV show CSI—it’s all about very cool geeks trained in forensics teamed up with investigators that understand human behavior and specialize in crime opposition. These types are a perfect match for storytelling. 

        My point is, cultural society has changed so much and continues to constantly do so that we’re all communicating digitally. So the question is: how can you not pay attention to your business analytics? 

        I had one client who we were working with for a little over a year, and she brought to my attention that her analytics flatlined right before we went live with a new site. The client rightly so asked what did we do? We hadn’t done anything. In fact, nothing had been done for a long time even before we came on board. As our analysts determined that the old site had not been updated in over two years and was hacked. They never knew it and luckily the new site went live before any real damage was done. 

         If you don’t have the time to look at your analytics on a weekly basis, then hire someone. That person or company should have proven skills at problem solving, excellent data skills, combined with outstanding communication abilities. Look for people who listen and ask probing questions. Your team must understand the problems before they can help to solve them.

        Also, consider providing training for existing staff, but do yourself a favor and keep realistic goals.  

        Our team will be offering webinars in 2019 on topics I’ve mentioned.  Please sign up for our newsletter if you or your staff are interested in learning more. If your analytics have you up-side-down, we can help.  Fill out our form below, and we will get back to you within 24 hours.

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          Oct 02
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          Artificial Intelligence - Alexa

          AI – Alexa

          By AI / Artificial Intelligence, Technology No Comments

          Alexa helps you stay connected to the news and answers to your questions quickly.

          We personally love her!

          Alexa is Amazon’s cloud-based voice service and the brain behind tens of millions of devices including the Echo family of devices, FireTV, Fire Tablet, for starters.

          Our tech partner company, Rogue Wave Strategies, is a group of experienced designers and developers that includes using the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) in their tool bag. With ASK, our clients can leverage Amazon’s knowledge in voice design to engage with their customers on an entirely new and innovative way. Reimagine your customer experience and reach customers where they are.

          Interested? Reach out to us for a brief overview of how we can help.

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            Sep 02
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            Technical SEO

            By Digital Marketing, SEO No Comments

            It is an ongoing strategy.

            ”Remember, SEO is a never-ending process,” says Jason Bayless, Owner of BestSeoCompanies.com, a website which tracks and ranks the efficacy and service of many of the nation’s leading SEO providers. “If you’re not moving forward and improving your position, you’re losing ground to a competitor who is. That’s a simple fact of how the process works. Don’t let your competitors outmaneuver you by ignoring this valuable tool for your business.”

            Jason Bayless, Owner of BestSeoCompanies.com

            Compared to the costs associated with other forms of digital marketing, advertising, social media marketing, or purchasing leads for an email marketing program, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) provides fairly good ROI. While Pay Per Click (PPC) may drive more revenue and social media may be more important for your image brand, your organic SEO remains the bedrock of your online presence. This is not a one-time campaign; this is investing in your company’s growth.

            I say this all the time to clients, technology changes as fast a shifting sands on the coasts. With each and every update to its search algorithm, Google and other engines change the way they look at websites. In order to compete, you need to be on the top of that wave.

            Approximately 80-90% of customers now check online reviews prior to making a purchase, and this number is only expected to increase.

            Web users are now using multiple devices when researching online. If your site is not mobile friendly or using abandoned checkout technologies, you will most likely lose that potential customer to your competition.

            Our tech partner company, Rogue Wave Strategies, offers packaged services tailored to your business goals. Reach out to us, and let’s set up a time to talk.

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              Aug 17
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              360 Interactive Imagery

              360 Interactive Imagery

              By 360 + Interactive Imagery No Comments

              When viewing a 360-degree image, you spin around and control the direction simply moving your finger on the image. It’s cool the first couple of times, but one can lose interest without engagement.  

              When one adds levels of interactive elements to a 360-degree image, it’s like having a microsite within your social media. Interactive triggers are called hotspots that pop up when you click it. The standard usually shows either an image, animation, or movie with the intention to communicate direction, information, demonstration, or using a call to action, such as a sign-up, donation, or purchase.

              Staff training. Knowing how fast technology changes and because workplace training is mandatory by law, every company needs to stay on top of technology updates and provide training for staff. Providing traditional training for employees, keeping them up-to-date can be time, cost, and labor intensive. Virtual training is not only time and cost efficient, but it’s also trackable. Senior management can monitor what the employee viewer clicked on, how long they watched it, and how they problem solved.

              Selling products often need to have a book of instructions, in multiple languages, and often littered with grammatical errors, occasionally leaving out one sentence that is crucial for someone trying to follow directions. Below is an example of how SEARS gives direction and customer follow-up after purchasing an appliance.

              SEARS Home Services uses an interactive photo within their learning section article to explain common dryer misuse, along with tips to correct them and get dryers running properly. In addition to including common problems and helpful solutions, SEARS tags a YouTube video featuring top tips from a technician, and a link to schedule a demo with their repair services. The design uses custom icons and their own logo to match the look and feel of their website, reinforcing their brand.  

              Next, we show an example of a 360 interactive image promoting a cruise ship. Once the viewer enters, they have control over viewing in full screen with hotspots in the upper mid area, as well as images below that click through to additional areas of the ship in 360 images. Our issue with this project is that there is no indicator to the home area for the viewer to navigate to, or more importantly, a call to action to purchase tickets.

              Join our mailing list if you want to be informed on our own productions that will surpass these samples above.  If you would like to talk to us about producing a 360 interactive image for you, please fill out the form below.

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