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Aerial Photography
Photography has been an integral part of our host of services. Business portraits, landscape and real estate photography, instructional videos, product presentations and now, proudly announcing the latest trend: aerial photography. Through our Brickell Photography web site, we are now able to offer our clients drone photography services. Before you choose your next aerial photography partner, make sure they are FAA certified and approved. We are. For more details and session bookings, go to Brickell Photography
No, Macs Are Not Immune!
You’ve known it for a while, and this latest bit of “horrendous news” doesn’t even have to do with the eternal “PC vs. Mac” battle: yes, Macs are also vulnerable to security breaches, albeit in a much smaller proportion than other platforms and, no, it’s not because of their smaller market share. However, this not being the point of this note, we invite you to please read the comprehensive report on the latest and scariest Mac scare. As always, there’s a fix, and please make it the point of reading this to establish if your own Mac has been affected and implement the counter-measures right away. The full article HERE
QR Codes – Dos and Don’ts
Think You’re QR Savvy?
QR Codes Used Right
I’m in one of my neighborhood’s new Italian places. I notice their business cards have a new design, with a QR code. “Cool”, I say to myself, “these people know what they’re doing, glad to see a small business taking advantage of something so modern. I wonder how it’s working for them.”
Before asking direct questions, I took the card in my hand, pulled out my cell phone, scanned it. I was curious to see what landing page they were using, of course. Having done a few of these myself for some clients, I was sure that I was going to end up on some discount or special offer page, either on their web site (that had been finally up and running for a couple of months), or some other “marketing page”, as it were.
Nothing. The QR code sent me to… their Google Places listing. What? I mean, I’m in the store, I am holding their business card in my hand. The QR code takes almost half of the space on that card. All that just so I can get to their physical address (already listed on the card, of course) on Google?
Now, everybody and their marketing expert is touting the inevitable raise of the “mobile internet”, and that’s fine, the statistics are supporting it (though I personally have my doubts). So, deciding to have a tool that gets you a piece of that market… good move. Using it the wrong way… oops, not so good.
Luckily for this business, while the ownership of smart phones has seen giant increases in numbers in the past few years, the use of many of its smart features has not. Certainly, not the use of the QR code scanning ability. In fact, from July 2011 to May 2013, QR scanning barely rose with around 10,000 users (from around 15,000 to around 25,000), while the owners of such phones kept becoming a real army: from 80,000 to around 140,000. (MarketingCharts.com)
So, what’s wrong with having a QR code available for your customers, existing or potential? Nothing. Even if not too many of them will scan those nifty graphic squiggles, eventually, if they buy, it still adds to the bottom line, right?
Wrong. At least, not if the user lands on your general web page, or, worse even, on your Google Places listing. Guaranteed, the money spent on printing those “high tech” business cards won’t turn into an investment by getting you clients in return.
Turn it around!
The best way of using QR codes, in one word: promos. And yes, use them in conjunction with other marketing channels. Do your “visitors” a favor, inform and educate them about those QR codes, while helping your bottom line in the process. Advertise them on your web site, or post them on your walls, windows, doors (real or virtual). Create them, but also create a special landing page where they will lead the users.
Give them a way to sign up or immediately take advantage of a discount, or entice them somehow to interact with your product. Remember, they need to download a code reader to their smart phone first, or learn how to use one if they already have it installed. Advertise the codes and the way they can be used, as well as the advantage to your potential (or existing) customer in using them. This way, if nothing else, you at least know you will have recovered the printing costs for those business cards, and created some “buzz” about your brand in the process. Win-win.
Better yet, since we are talking mobile marketing, tie that QR code in with a text messaging service, offered to your customers as a means of receiving exclusive, regular discounts on your products. That is the best incentive for them to go out of their way to interact with your brand, and increase their high tech mojo in the process. Slowly but surely, you’ll end up with yet another “nugget” that will pay dividends on the long run: a new (or increased) list of leads, whose high value is expressed in cell phone numbers. Like email updates, you can use text messages for the same purpose, and potentially reap even more immediate results.
Obviously, a strict “non disclosure” policy is mandatory, assuring your users that their info will NEVER, under any circumstances, be shared with third parties, and it will only be used for the purposes stated when you collected them.
Photo by Clever Cupcakes from Montreal, Canada (QR Code Cupcakes – Another Angle) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Promotional Videos Gallery
In the spirit of boosting our own and our clients’ online marketing, here are some of our promo videos, aggregated into a video gallery thanks to the possibilities offered by Viewbix. eBiz Miami will create your promotional video customized to the specific needs of your business.
Happy clients
The videos showcased here are only a few examples of customized promotional videos created for our clients. Get yours today and increase your exposure to your online markets.
Promotional videos are an integral part of any serious online marketing efforts. There are many ways to approach the creation of an online video, but the most successful ones are proven to be those that are short (30 to 90 seconds) and contain the competitive advantage of your business, coupled with a call to action. Take a look at the examples above, in order to see these techniques hard at work.
For a more in depth look, visit the web site we created specifically for the Real Estate market in South Florida, floridarealtorsvideos.com
Promotional Video for Online Marketing Services
It’s Online Video Marketing
We give you eBiz Miami’s promotional video for online marketing services. Looking around for a “different” kind of online video production platform (we’re aleady successfuly using Animoto and Spotmixer), we found just what we were looking for. We found PowToon. It is more like an online animation platform, that lets you build catchy promo videos for your business. The catch? Well, it’s… cartoonish. We took it for a spin:
Online video marketing has been taking off at a rapid place. Original presentations are always a plus.
Number One in SEO for Miami
SEO Results – the right way (“White Hat”)
OK, a quick check on search results for the keywords that describe our company and its services, found eBiz Miami ranking FIRST in SEO results for “miami online presence” in Google search (third in Bing and Yahoo). Also, typing in “Miami internet marketing results guaranteed” (our slogan) will show eBiz Miami, Inc. as the first UNPAID search result in Google, second in Bing, and covering third, fourth and fifth position in Yahoo.
Truly, being a little bit more devoted to behind the doors inner workings on clients’ web sites, project management and IT infrastructure, we will have to acknowledge that our own SEO efforts were kept to a minimum (e.g., just checking periodically the search engine results), nothing active, no advertising, no PR. It seems, as of right now, braggging rights for practicing what we preach will be in order.
Again, as we tell all our clients, SEO alone won’t get you far, but it sure is a stepping stone in online presence for any company on the internet today. Followed by good, down to earth internet marketing practices (email marketing, content management, interactive techniques, etc.), your company will always see guaranteed results from your investment in your online presence.
Of course, the obligatory disclaimer follows: results in ANY position on SERP (Search Engine Results Page) are never guaranteed. Our ranking is as shown today, and we did all the right things to earn it. But search engine results always fluctuate, depending on many factors. The first one is always that particular search engine’s algorithm for indexing and displaying web sites. Then comes, obligatory, the quality of content of the web site, followed by the correct registration with online directories, the number of inbound links, proper keywords and descriptions, etc…
eBiz Miami, Inc. does not practice or advocate “black hat SEO”, which is a technique touted as “marketing method” by some self-proclaimed SEO experts. That involves, in the FIRST PLACE, breaking the search engines’ rules of using “organic” ways of boosting a web site’s ranking (some listed above, coupled with good choice of keywords, meta tags, etc.). Black hat techniques involve keyword stuffing, keyword masking (or invisible text), artificial inbound linking, etc. These techniques will actually work, albeit for a short time, after which the reputation of your web site will be damned for a very long time. Afterwards it will be very difficult to have your site ranked higher, when you finally start using “white hat” techniques. More about this, HERE
Ladies First: Real Estate Agent Promotional Video
We are expanding our video services into the real estate world. We didn’t plan it like this, but as it happened, we couldn’t have hoped for a most presentable – well, why don’t we say it right: attractive, real estate agent to start using our services.
Chita Parus is a most dedicated, hard working Realtor®, with Charles Rutenberg Realty brokerage. She does everything with a smile. We tried to capture all these qualities in her first real estate agent promotional video, and presented just with the right dash of humor. She worked hard for this video, no wait! We worked hard for the video, but she surely worked hard for the listing depicted here, which she just sold, for $1,100,000 in one of the nicest areas of Fort Lauderdale. See more about Chita and her listings at her web site.
Be the next real estate agent to benefit from a promo video clip that will help sell your listing and promote your professional image!
Active and Interactive: Online Video Production Just Got Easier
So, when you discover something good, pimp it up. We’re talking about Viewbix – a new way to make your video clips more than interactive. It lets the viewer actively take the next steps that will help you, the video creator, or the subject of your video. Check out this promo clip for Gladys Karina Sandino, if you decide you want something similar, guess where you would click?
We plan on using Viewbix for all our online video production projects, and we are working on “pimping up” more of our past productions with great results.
Video creation becomes easiear and easier these days. Many online tools enable just about everyone to upload a few video clips, pictures, throw in a few tag lines and off they go. eBiz Miami has not shied away from those services in the past. We occasionally use Animoto and the like if we want to turn around a video creation project that does not require too many tweaks. However, knowing the ins and outs of video production is paramount, no matter if you take the easy route, or use more sophisticated programs, such as Final Cut or Adobe Premiere.
Internet Marketing Update: Primer Complete?
Learning Internet Marketing basics:
Primer: a short informative piece of writing (Mirriam Webster Dictionary).
Well, informative, yes, but short? All things considered, covering as many “basic” things as possible about internet marketing is no easy task. It goes without saying you can’t cover them all. But how do you chose the most important? How do you make sense of the mumbo jumbo, for the neofite, as well as for the iniated? SEO, CMS, PPC, PPM, Adwords, Adsense, ROI… Unkown language to some, familiar to others… Not an easy task, bringing an internet marketing update to the attention of as many interested people as possible.
The topic sits at the croassroads of at least four major fields: technology, advertising, communication, business. Make it easy enough for beginners, yet squeeze enough new stuff in it for the initiates. You end up with ths:
Internet Marketing Primer. With the ammendment, of course, that our newsletter, regular web and facebook updates will always give you more. Enjoy, and feel free to comment!
Oh, and fi that’s not enough, there is always the Newsletter, along with our Facebook updates!
Personal Twist? Roger That! Your Passion Is Your Brand
“Thank you. Forty-six years ago on April 3, 1967, I became the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. Some of you have read my reviews and columns and even written to me since that time. Others were introduced to my film criticism through the television show, my books, the website, the film festival, or the Ebert Club and newsletter. However you came to know me, I’m glad you did and thank you for being the best readers any film critic could ask for.”
Two days after this heartfelt statement, Roger Ebert’s human vessel stopped functionning. But in the mesmerising universe of moving pictures, his stories will always help us sail in the right direction, no matter in which journey we embark.
I am one of those people to whom Roger was thanking. But more importantly, I am one of those who will always thank him.
Why talk about a movie critic on an internet marketing web site? Well, for one, it is personal. I was always a moviegoer, but Roger made me an impassioned one. Like many, I preferred his words over others’ not only because they were so masterfully and subtly crafted, but because his reviews always revealed things that helped me make up my own mind.
His stories about stories were transporting me way beyond the action of the movie, either in the universe where the original idea came from, or in the one where it had taken the shape of the movie. I learned, this way, about actors, directors, writers, producers and their craft. About the heroes, foes, or any other characters those movies depicted.
His knowledge was encyclopedic. But no matter what he wrote, it never felt pretentious, Roger would impart that knowledge with exquisite wit and perception, but most of all, with the ultimate quality: his love of the movies.
It was this love, coupled with his talent for words, that transformed Roger Ebert into a household name not only for the Chicago Sun-Times, but for the world of motion pictures at large. Indeed, he succeeded to be a lasting brand in a world of ever vanishing ones, by remaining the same kid-like movie enthusiast while enticing thousands to step into the theaters, with his wit and introspection.
In PR Week, I recently discovered an article that ties Roger Ebert to the world of marketing. The author finds quite a few compelling arguments to make. It is entitled “Ten things marketers can learn from Roger Ebert.” To those, I would only add one: create thankful people. Maybe this isn’t as much a separate argument, as it is an all-encompassing one. When the brand is you, it cannot be exclusively about you. It is always about those that you touch, and how you have touched them. I know no better way to be in anyone’s life than being thanked to, honestly, fondly.
Thank you, Roger Ebert!
A Lesson in Instant SEO Results: The Case of Romanianlink.net
For years I’ve been touting the virtues of implementing new business sites on the WordPress platform. I’ve been encouraging my clients to choose WordPress because of its two main characteristics:
- Easy to update, no programming skills necessary. Upon delivering your web site, I give you a basic lesson in how to operate the “back door” workings of your web site, you either do it yourself or assign someone in the company to do it and start reaping the benefits of a simple, yet efficient CMS-based (Content Management System) internet tool that will bring notable additions to your bottom line
- Search engines give priority to content that comes in the form of news. While this is the major scare for decision makers in companies who are looking into getting their first web site, having regular content added to your web site isn’t as difficult as it seems, and it doesn’t have to be daily. The payoff, however, is a visible increase in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) impact.
Case in point: Romanian Link. A web site many years in the making, it is one of the independent initiatives of eBiz Miami, Inc. It is a portal destined to promote and collect positive news about Romania and its rich culture, as well as the talent, resourcefulness, dedication and achievments of Romanians, be it within the borders of their country or abroad. It is not the time and place to discuss more details here, suffice it to say that, two days after its official launch, Romanianlink.net is already on the third position on Google search listings for the “romanian link.” keywords.
How was that possible? The search engines take weeks, sometimes more than a month, to properly index a web site. To be sure, we didn’t even submit it for indexing, yet, and the web site didn’t come up in the result as such. However, the NEWS contained within the web site did. More precisely, the latest posting, which was, in fact, a photo gallery of pictures submitted by one of the contributors to the web site, showcasing the beauty of over 100 places in Romania, natural as well as architectural (see post HERE).
This only goes to show that practicing what you preach pays off and here’s hope that future clients will take heed to our advice without reservation in the future. WordPress is not the only platform that can be used for this purpose, but it is by far the most popular and most flexible when it comes to implementation. If you have a more complex enterprise-based project to bring online, platforms like Joomla, Drupal and Concret5 are viable options, albeit for more heavily CMS based projects.
Cook American Apples
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, announces Macs will start to be manufactured in the USA again.
Apple has decided to bring back home some of its manufacturing, starting in 2013. CEO Tim Cook announced, in an interview with NBc’s Brian Williams, that starting with 2013, Apple will bring some of the manufacturing to the US.
“Next year, we will do one of our existing Mac lines in the United States.”
While he did not specify which product Apple decide to manufacture at home, the news is nonetheless worthy of praise. Apple doesn’t have a history of not following up on its promises, at least not under its founder, Steve Jobs, who recently passed away. This isn’t only a bold move from a marketing standpoint, but it is definitely a welcomed initiative and a sorely missed contribution to the US economy by any big company manufacturing goods in the cheap labor markets of Asia. We look forward to seeing others follow suit.
