Which outfitter would you choose? It’s possible that both companies are equally knowledgeable about rafting and maybe in reality both have the highest quality equipment available – but if a company doesn’t prove to you that they have these qualities, why would you consider them as an option?

It works the same way with the Internet and websites. You wouldn’t send prospects outdated brochures, so why would you have them visit an outdated website? In the same sense, why would Google display an outdated, irrelevant website on the first page of search results? Especially when tons of new and improved websites are popping up everyday.

Remember, search engines are businesses. They want people to keep using their service, so they aren’t going to display results that they deem irrelevant.

What is Relevant Website Content?

Relevant site content is in-depth text on your pages that describes your current services or products, your business achievements and goals, and industry related news. Although each of your pages have their own topic related to your business, it should be easy to see how each page is related.

Even if your services haven’t changed in the past five years, chances are that industry standards or how people view your services have. Your website should convey to readers that your business is up to par with the competition and always striving to meet the needs of your customers.

If it’s been over a month since your site was last updated with new, relevant content, you risk missing out on a first page placement in search results. Is that a chance you’re willing to take?

Google in particular takes a few things into consideration when determining what sites it displays in search results. These include:

Page Rank:

Page rank is Google’s way of determining a page’s popularity and relevancy by examining the number of quality outside links pointing to that page. Pages with a higher page rank are deemed more important than those with a low page rank. You can gain outside links by having “share worthy” content on your website that other sites think is good enough to share and link to.

Page and Site Content:

Do your website’s pages contain interesting, helpful content about your industry and business’s services? Does your text include identifying keywords and SEO in the appropriate places? Do all of your webpages talk about relating topics? These are things Google considers as it scans your website. Adding new content to your site consistently allows you to improve your site content and build up your SEO.

Relevancy:

Distinctive, useful content makes it easier for Google to recognize what your site is about – and posting new content on a regular basis gives Google a reason to scan your site more often. Sites that are frequently updated also keep readers interested. No one is going to stay on your site to read outdated text – especially when your competition is talking about the latest developments in your industry.

You can keep your site up-to-date and on Google’s radar by consistently reviewing your site content every month and by actively blogging. Blogging about industry related topics on a regular basis gives search engines a reason to index your site more often. Blogs also allow you to add keywords to your website and give viewers a reason to return and link to you.

Users were sending the attachments through multiple email messages to avoid email bounce backs. This process was inefficient and time consuming. The company was frustrated.

Then, they discovered that Flexible was offering a Box webinar. This solution could solve their problems – and streamline file sharing through the cloud while improving efficiency. They signed up.

Solving the Problem

Identifying the problem:

After attending the webinar, the company asked Flexible to assist with the migration to Box. Through this partnership, we quickly learned that the firm had a lot of “back and forth” when working on documents. This created multiple document versions. But even worse, the files were saved in a variety of locations on the shared file server. This made locating, tracking and finding out who changed documents difficult and unorganized.

File users were also working remotely. Sales representatives downloaded documents to thumb drives and sent large file attachments through email. This process wasn’t efficient – and was wasting valuable time and resources.

Migrating to the new solution:

We migrated the company to Box. This secure solution allowed them to replace their previous file transfer systems with a streamlined alternative. Organization would be easier with a searchable file index. We also moved the company’s existing files to Box.

The new solution would also create an audit trail. When a file was moved, added or changed, it was traceable.

Box also provided the ability to:

• Work with any mobile device, giving mobile workers access to critical content when they need it.
• Users have anywhere, anytime access to content that is synced across all their devices.
• Ability to add an unlimited amount of internal and external collaborators.
• No on-premise installation, provisioning, maintenance or DMZ setup
• Significantly lower hardware and storage costs.

Security features, including full data encryption, data center backups and redundancy would allow the company to keep sensitive data safe.

Moving Forward

The commercial real estate firm was struggling with inefficiencies that were affecting both staff and customers. Migrating to Box allowed them to replace an inefficient file transfer system – and enjoy a streamlined approach to file transfer and content management.

Staff and operations were downsized and the company’s upscale office was relocated to the owner’s basement. Also, their spacious warehouse was moved to a lower rent option. The lighting distributor would recover from their losses, but for the next year they would operate on a tight budget.

Before the move, the lighting distributor had a premise-based PBX telephone system – which can’t easily be relocated. With a tight budget and fast approaching moving date, the company turned to Flexible for help.

Solving the Problem

Identifying the problem:

The move from business to residential area came with several challenges. For example, access to business class carriers for telephony services was extremely limited. Circuits would go down more often in a residential area – yet, business would need to continue without interruption.

The lighting distributor was also using a premise-based PBX telephone system that was unmovable. We wanted to identify a solution that would easily relocate from residential to office space in the future.

Location would also be a problem. After the move, the office and warehouse would be miles apart, and the company needed a system that would allow staff to “feel” like they were located in the same building.

After considering these problems, we recommended a hosted PBX solution that would be scalable and portable.

Implementing the Solution:

To allow for an easier transition, we moved the company to the hosted VoIP service Shoretel Sky before the relocation date. Since the VoIP system is hosted, they didn’t have to rip it out and move it. Instead, they simply picked up and moved the phones.
Also, Shoretel Sky provided circuit redundancy. If the main circuit failed, the company could leverage the internet as backup.

Staff and customers would benefit from a unified approach with special features, such as 4-digit dialing – even though the office and warehouse were located miles apart.

The long-term solution:

In a year, the company would move from basement to office space. We wanted to provide a long-term solution that was portable – and would scale up and down to meet business needs.

When business started to grow again, Shoretel Sky allowed the company to easily “dial up” their service. They could also add or reduce users without any upfront costs.

Moving Forward

The lightening company was faced with moving their phone system during a stressful time. Partnering with Flexible allowed them to analyze and optimize call flows. As a result, they were positioned better for future growth and had a scalable solution that would grow with the company.

The on-premise servers wouldn’t hold up during the storm. Soon, they would be off-line and the email server would be inaccessible. Sending and receiving emails would become impossible, leaving the company completely paralyzed during the storm. Flexible suggested a proactive approach.

Solving the Problem

Identifying the problem:

The law firm had four on-premise servers, with an internal solution for spam filtering. To operate during the storm, they would need a spam filter that functioned in the cloud with email continuity features. Flexible suggested a solution that would allow employees to send and receive emails from anywhere with an internet connection.

Migrating to new solutions:

We migrated the law firm to McAfee SaaS Email Protection and Continuity. This new solution provided:

• Continuity for outage protection, which engages automatically whenever connectivity to the email server is lost due to planned or unplanned outages.
• Complete inbound email filtering, with over 20 separate filters – with the ability to block 99% of spam before it reaches their network.
• Comprehensive outbound email protection, which provides them with the ability to properly identify and handle malware, inappropriate emails, unauthorized content and other important issues.

Also, since we have a strong partnership with McAfee, we were able to escalate the law firm’s request, implementing the solution within 24-hours with zero downtime. During this time, we also changed the company’s MX records and quickly created new user accounts.

The long-term solution:

After Hurricane Sandy passed, Flexible suggested a comprehensive long-term solution that would strengthen the law firm’s ability to operate during a disaster. This included:

• Migrating on-premise solutions into the cloud
• Migrating email to Exchange Online with Office 365
• Migrating file system in folder shares to Box
• Migrating main application to NetSuite OpenAir

As a result, the company felt confident that when another disaster struck – they would be ready.

Moving Forward

A partnership with Flexible allowed the law firm to take a proactive approach to email continuity. The company’s clients were able to communicate easily with staff during the storm – and they avoided a total email shutdown. And for future disasters, the company was now positioned much stronger.

Renowned marketing expert Gary Halbert is famously quoted as having asked his students: “If you and I both owned a hamburger stand and we were in a contest to see who could sell the most hamburgers, what advantages would you most like to have on your side to help you win?”. The students typically respond by saying that they would want the lowest price, or the best-tasting hamburger, and so on. But Gary stuns his students by telling them: “OK, I’ll give you every advantage you want if I can have just one”.

“What is it?”, they ask.

“Give me a starving crowd!” he tells them.

Search engine advertising delivers the starving crowd that you’re looking for: According to Yahoo! and comScore, 89% of consumers research products and services online before buying them.

With search engine advertising, you can place your business in front of the people who are searching for the products or services that you offer – at the precise moment that they have a need. No other advertising medium today can do that.

Search engine advertising isn’t just for big companies. Growing businesses can compete with larger ones — because the quality of your ad campaign, your website, and the relevance of the user’s search (the word or phrase that triggered your ad to appear) carry much more weight than the size of your business. Not only can you control who will see your ads, but your ads will be effective whether you sell a product or a service and whether you have a large budget or a small one. By adding search engine advertising to your marketing mix, you will see a measurable impact on the number of new prospects you are able to attract to your business.

Prolonged downtime could be catastrophic – especially on Thanksgiving, the day before Black Friday. Production would come to a stop, drivers wouldn’t know where to go, and shipments would be confused, which could damage valuable client relationships.

Previously, the company engaged Flexible Systems to provide Backup and Disaster Recovery (BUDR) Services. With this type of service, Flexible recovers servers virtually and provides remote access in the event of an emergency. The bakery was completely paralyzed and depending on Flexible’s fast response.

Solving the Problem

Identifying the problem:

Flexible knew there was a problem before the client called. We received a “server down” alert from our 24/7 network monitoring system. Flexible’s team sprang into action. First, we got in touch with the bakery’s Network Administrator – then, our on-call engineer started troubleshooting the problem.

He connected to the bakery’s network remotely and identified the company’s main server hosting their ERP system was down. A series of network tests were run to pinpoint the problem. He discovered that a hardware failure was to blame, specifically, a bad system board. The server was 7-years old and no longer covered under any manufacturer warranty – therefore, we couldn’t get a replacement part.

The engineer restored the company’s failed server right onto the backup appliance. Since our BUDR solution is Datto, we had access to a local spin up feature. As a result, we didn’t have to resort to spinning up the server into the cloud, where the backup appliance replicates. Instead, a snapshot was taken within an hour of the crash – and the bakery was up and running again within minutes.

The long-term solution:

Once the immediate problem was solved, Flexible identified solutions that would prevent the situation from occurring again. This included migrating the company’s restored server as well as the rest of their server environment to a VMware vSphere virtualization envelopment.

We designed the solution using HP ProLiant DL360 servers and HP MSA P2000 shared storage, which is also called a SAN. The migration was seamless and accomplished within a short period of time.

Moving Forward

The bakery prepared for the worst. And when it happened, Flexible’s team was available, even on a holiday, to solve the problem. As a result, the bakery’s Network Administrator was able to enjoy the holiday, with minimal interruption – with Flexible handling everything quickly and easily.

In our first installment of social media marketing for businesses, we discussed the importance of determining your business goals and target audience before jumping head first into social media. Business social media accounts require a commitment to content creation, meaningful updates, and monitoring. Each platform offers a different way to reach and interact with customers.

We have already covered the basic atmosphere and components of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, which are by far the most popular and populated social media networks today. But popularity doesn’t always mean success. Some businesses thrive on smaller social media networks such as Google+, YouTube and Pinterest, which allow businesses to reach their audiences through more creative means.

Google+

Google+ fosters a community environment where businesses can interact with potential and current customers. Offering similar features to Facebook but with a much smaller network following, Google+ pages include updates, photo sharing, chats and messaging.

But don’t be fooled into thinking Google+ is just a Facebook copycat. Google+ boasts some unique features not found on Facebook. Features that provide distinct search engine result benefits to businesses that use it properly. Most notable is the Google+ Authorship feature, which allows you to display your name and image next to your blogs that show up in Google’s search engine results. This authorship feature makes your content stand among the other results and has been proven to increase click-through rates.

Google+ also boasts a +1 button feature allowing people to rank the content on your website and on your Google+ account. More +1s, shares and comments can lead to higher rankings in Google’s search engine results.

The Hangouts feature is also unique to Google+, which allows you to set up group video chats with up to nine people at a time. Hangouts also provide a text chat feature and the ability to watch YouTube videos as a group. All of these features can be used to leverage your social media goals and interact with customers.

Google+ should be consistently monitored for mentions of your business, and updates should be posted consistently to get the most out the search ranking features.

YouTube

YouTube is the largest video sharing website online with over 4 billion hours of video watched every month. If you have the right content and customers are watching videos related to your industry online, then you should have a YouTube account. Video marketing is an effective way to share information about your brand and is a less competitive way to rank in search engine results.

Your content should inform, instruct or entertain. People don’t go to YouTube or search for video’s to hear a sales pitch. It’s also important to properly optimize your account and videos with tags, keywords, titles and thumbnails in order to have a chance to rank for them and grab people’s attention.

YouTube videos can be integrated into other social media platforms such as Facebook and Google+, and can be used on your websites and blogs. People can comment on your videos, create video responses, and thumbs up or thumbs down your videos.

Pinterest

Pinterest’s virtual pin board is a fantastic way to showcase your business with images of your products and what you do. Although Pinterest users are primarily female, it’s a great platform for all things visual.

Pinterest boards allow you to dedicate areas to specific products or topics. People can search, like, pin and comment each photo that you pin to your boards. Whenever someone re-pins your content, all of their followers see it also. Viewers can also click though your pins to be taken directly to the corresponding page on your website for more information. It’s a great way to gain exposure for your company and brand.

Like most social media platforms, Pinterest’s community vibe requires more than just a flow of your own company’s content. You should interact with the pins of other users. Share and comment on their  content. As a business you can create a community board and invite your followers to share pins related to your brand or products. It is also it is important to monitor what people are saying about your products and the photos you pin. Use the feedback you receive to improve your strategy.

Still Not Sure Which Social Media Platform is Right for Your Business?

Choosing a social media network for your business doesn’t have to be a headache. If you are still questioning which direction your business should go in, or how to effectively create and share content on your social media accounts, contact one of our social media experts today to find out how our ePresence team can help your business.

Follow ePresence Marketing on Facebook or subscribe to our blog to be the first to know when our evaluations of each individual social media network is published.

Think about it: in the past week how often have you used your smartphone or iPad to conduct some on-the-fly research online? How often do you think people you know have done the same? According to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than half of smartphone owners use their devices to surf the web. This trend is growing so rapidly that some technology experts believe that by 2014 the majority of Internet traffic will be on mobile devices.

So what’s a business owner to do? Do you need to create a different version of your website for every possible screen size? Do you throw your hands in the air and let your customers deal with the hassle of using a traditional website on their iPhone?

The solution you’re looking for is responsive website design.

What is Responsive Website Design?

Responsive website design is a technique that allows your site to dynamically adapt to the device it is being viewed on. One prospect might be viewing your site on a desktop computer, while another prospect is viewing it on an iPhone – in both cases your site will automatically detect the screen size being used and adjust accordingly.

Flexible’s website on iPhone, iPad, tablet, and standard desktop screen sizes.

Responsive design is more than an “add on” that can be plugged-in to a traditional website. Instead, it’s a way of coding your site from the ground up so that it’s easy-to-navigate and user-friendly regardless of the device your prospects are using to browse your site. This kind of improved user experience has tangible results: improved conversion rates, more page loads per visit and more time spent on your site, to name a few. One company, Skinny Ties, reported a 13.6% conversion rate increase and an iPhone revenue growth rate of 377.6% following their decision to go responsive.

Should Your Website Be Responsive?

The simple answer is: yes.

Regardless of your industry or the size of your business, you need to have a user-friendly site that meets prospects where they are. Whether they’re using their iPhone while sitting on the train, or their tablet while relaxing at home in the evening, you want to capture their attention and convert them into customers when they land on your site.

Not sure where to get started? Contact one of our ePresence Advisors today for a free website evaluation »

Sources:

• Pew Internet: Cell Internet Use 2012
• Mary Meeker: Mobile Internet Will Soon Overtake Fixed Internet 
• Data Monday: Impact of Responsive Designs

They engaged several different support companies to remedy the problem without any success. That’s when they turned to Flexible.

Solving the Problem

The company needed an expert with a deep understanding of the custom Linux environment the outside consultant had created. Flexible is staffed with experts in a variety of specialties, including Linux. We engaged a top-engineer, who understood how to bring the systems back in the correct order.

Identifying the problem:

Our engineer examined the company’s challenges. He quickly determined how everything was configured, pointed to each other, and was inter-reliant. So, when the company’s servers crashed – he got them up and running again quickly.

The long-term solution:

The engineer knew the company needed a long-term solution that would address the root of the problem: the power issues. The appropriate equipment wasn’t in place to sustain system operations, which resulted in the frequent crashes.

Our engineer transitioned the company onto a UPS (uninterrupted power supply), which is a large battery backup placed on the servers to prevent power issues. We also implemented several more solutions to prevent future issues.

Migrating to easily supportable solutions:

Flexible assisted with migrating the company off customized integrated applications, which made them too reliant on a single person. Supportable alternatives, included:

• Migrating the virtualization platform to VMware vSphere
• Migrating email systems from Linux based Zimbra to Microsoft Exchange 2010
• Migrating CRM, ERP and eCommerce systems to Windows 2008 R2 servers
• Migrating all file shares from Linux based Samba shares to Windows file shares
• Migrated applications that needed to stay on Linux to Red Hat Enterprise version 6 to enhance efficiency
• Implementing a Windows Active Directory domain, migrating all workstations to the new domain
• Provided software solutions that replaced their custom written applications
• Implemented remote access to the company’s Texas office through Citrix XenAPP

Moving Forward

The company started with customized integrated applications that were difficult to manage internally. But with Flexible’s help, they solved their power issues and migrated to more supportable solutions that anybody can support, even their in-house staff.

This prevents the company from being overly reliant on a single engineer or consultant – and gives them greater control and reliability.

The answer is you don’t. If you are just starting to dip your toes into the social media pool,  being selective about which outlet you choose is wise.  No reason to dive head first if you don’t know how well you can swim.

Which Social Media Network Should Your Business Use?

First  figure out what your goals are. Are you trying to engage potential and current customers? Build relationships? Spread information? Monitor what’s being said about your brand? There is no right or wrong answer to this question, but certain social media sites are better suited for certain goals.

You also need to determine how much time you have to commit to meaningful social media updates and monitoring. Creating accounts then leaving them inactive can hurt your online image. So eliminate all of the little guys and focus on the big dogs. If you’re going to spend precious time on a social media network, spend it where the most people are: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube and Pinterest. In this article we’ll discuss the first three services. We’ll touch on Google+, YouTube and Pinterest later in our next installment of social media marketing for businesses.

Facebook

If you only have time for one social media platform, Facebook is the way to go. With over a billion monthly users, Facebook is the largest social media network in the world and chances are that members of your target audience are hanging out there.

If your goal is to create a community around your brand, get customer feedback or improve customer service, then set up shop on Facebook. Facebook Business Pages provide a great place for reciprocal communication between you and your audience. This requires that your business page be actively monitored and that new content be consistently added.

Facebook followers expect answers to their questions, complaints, and comments in a timely fashion. They also want useful information about products, services, and industry news and events. Making your followers feel involved is the key to Facebook success.

Twitter

Twitter’s fast-paced news feed allows people to get real-time updates from businesses they follow. It’s also a fantastic way for business owners to keep up with industry related news.

With messages limited to 140 characters, Twitter is more about quick information sharing rather than close-knit community building. Actively monitoring Twitter for mentions of your business, and to respond to any questions or comments from followers is a priority.  Your followers will expect some sort of consistent Tweeting from you, be it the monthly sale you’re having or the weekly announcement of your latest blog post.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a low maintenance network that allows you to create a professional source of information about both you and your business. If you’re looking to make business connections, find employees, or to show off your industry expertise, set up both a personal and a business LinkedIn page. They require minimal monitoring and there isn’t an urgent need to post daily updates.

LinkedIn business pages allow you to showcase your business as well as individual products and services. Since each product page displays corresponding employee contact information, viewers with questions or comments can contact employees directly rather than posting to your page as a whole. Viewers can also promote products and services that they have tried and enjoyed.

Business pages also have a section where you can post updates about your business, but it doesn’t promote a community vibe like Facebook. With LinkedIn you’re more likely to attract potential and current employees, business connections, or people trying to confirm the legitimacy of your company.

LinkedIn’s main attraction is profiles for individual people. Having employees create a LinkedIn account can help to promote the expertise of your business, especially when they take advantage of endorsement features, industry groups and recommendations to show off their skills.

What Have We Learned So Far?

There is no such thing as a “set it and forget it” social media platform. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all require monitoring and each one requires a dedicated amount of time to keep viewers happy.

Knowing what your social media goals are will ultimately determine which account you should set up for your business. Don’t let Facebook’s chatty community vibe or Twitter’s fast moving news feed scare you away. This should be a fun and rewarding endeavor that allows you to share your passion with people who are looking for the products or services you offer. Share news that you’re excited about, provide useful tips and information, thank or apologize the customers who leave you feedback, and ultimately be genuine about your business.

If Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn don’t seem like the best fit for your business, stay tuned for  ”Which Social Media Network Should Your Business Use?” – part two – where we’ll review Google+, YouTube and Pinterest. Get notified when it goes live by  liking us on Facebook or subscribing to our ePresence blog.