Tag Archives: SEO

Anyone can be a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professional right?

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I was just going through a Search Engine Land discussion thread that was posted through their Linked In profile and it was all about “What passes for an SEO professional”. Needless to say it has 94 posts over a 4 month period – mostly about how people have paid for SEO and never realized results and trying to establish some sort of benchmark or certification to protect people from have a bad experience with Search Engine Optimization because anyone can call themselves an “expert”.

Really, almost anyone who builds websites would be an expert compared to the average business person. Part of finding a good source for your SEO partner is knowing what to ask for. Lots of web people can say a lot that sounds good to the average business person, and they probably do know what they are talking about. BUT…execution of strategy makes all the difference in the results you achieve.

I have had to explain to customers that they didn’t necessarily get “screwed” with their web site or SEO, but it is just because they didn’t know the questions to ask and the person they worked with just didn’t know how to follow best practices or execute to maximize results. There are over 200 factors that go into determining how a site will rank, and unless you have pretty deep pockets, you will have to rely on execution to get results with a focus on 10% of these factors.

It is about properly setting expectations and working to achieve those. You cannot guarantee someone everything they want unless you are using what is known as “black hat” techniques – but you measure you results and guarantee your work based on those properly set expectations. And black hat catches up with a site eventually.

Tips for successful SEO:
1. Be very specific with the keywords or phrase you want to get ranked
2. Understand that this is an ongoing process and you could check every hour of the day and see your own results vary probably up to 10 positions for the same keyword or phrase.
3. Ask for references and examples of work.
4. This is more of an ongoing relationship to be successful – doing it once and expecting it to last is going to be VERY temporary for results.
5. Don’t spend all your budget “up front” or for one time optimization. It should be a 6 month budget because then you have the money to adjust once you start to see results.
6. There are basics to effective SEO, but every client engagement should be based on what that client wants to accomplish so your “plan” should be based on your desired goals.
7. Algorithms change regularly – usually 1-2 major changes a year, so there is no long term solution other than to tweak your optimization and it takes some work in order to keep SEO “expertise” by your resource. If you are reading it in a book, it is already TOO OLD to really help.
8. If you are starting from ZERO and don’t rank for much of anything but your name, anyone should be able to move the bar for your results. Understanding if you are getting maximum value for your money is much harder for you to quantify unless they help you quantify it. Ask them. Ask for today, and ask for 6 months from today.
9. Be prepared to have more content and pages than you EVER had and have your site grow in pages in order to have enough content to create the quality scores and keyword density you need.

There are many more things to effective SEO, but I don’t want to go on forever. If you want to have a discussion, just contact us at www.bevelwise.com and we will be glad to answer your questions and help further.

Twitter to be Indexed on Google and Bing

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Both Google and Bing (with Yahoo SERP going to be powered by Bing they will really be one in the same) plan to begin indexing Twitter tweets in 2010. That will allow them to show the the tweets within the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP). This will more than likely be the first test for real time, non-paid, content to be indexed and shown on SERPs. That means you should position your Brand for more in depth, relevant, and timely tweeting because you will be able to move the bar on the search engines more quickly.

This will also help move Twitter from the social space into the main stream for business purposes because this will make it relevant on so many levels. Effecting real time search results? That is power. I would see Blogs getting the real time priority next(especially those using Blogger if you are Google) as they already help immensely with index-able content on a site. One would have to think that Facebook posts would be on the short list as well to go real-time

Success in Local Business SEO

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1.Non-Business Name Searches: It’s great if people searching the internet are discovering your website without typing in the name of your business. Probably most of these visitors were previously unaware of your business. This signifies that your website is ranking well for phrase that describe its location and the type of products or services.

2. Specific Service or Product Searches: If your company offers a exclusive product or service you will definitely want to be found for it. These keywords will point to your website because you have a search engine friendly website well optimized even for its more unique services.

3. Searches by Zip, Street, & City: An important component of Local Business SEO if having your address in the footer or on every page of your website. Your company can even gather online traffic for searches by multiple zip codes across your region. This is also a result of having a well optimized map listing. For example, in your Google Local Business Listing, make use of targeted keyword phrases in your list of services or products.

4. Synonyms for Products or Services: If your website is well optimized, it will be able to draw traffic from multiple keywords describing its services. Optimize for multiple phrases to describe your business’s services and products on pages within your website.

Should I try SEO or PPC for my Website?

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a long-term investment. You’ll often hear it when an InternetMarketer sets expectations at the beginning of an SEO program. If someone promises “instant” SEO results, run to the nearest exit – it is generally not possible following ethical practices. Meanwhile, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) programs, a.k.a. paid online advertising, are known for delivering immediate returns on investment. But sometimes clients expect SEO projects to return PPC-like results, leading to unhappiness all around.

I have heard PPC vs. SEO to be described as a farmer and a grocer. This may help demonstrate the primary difference between results that can be expected from SEO and PPC advertising. A grocer buys a product, and then immediately turns it around for a profit. A farmer invests his time, along with seeds, water and fertilizer, and then, over time, harvests a crop that can be sold.

The grocer is dealing in PPC, while the farmer is taking on SEO. Both processes offer a return on investment, but success in either requires an understanding of what can be achieved. The great part about PPC is that you can adjust you budget anytime you want. You can also get a good idea of which keywords are getting searched the most on a day-by-day basis.

Your website is the best way to reach customers and prospects 24 hours a day. Working with the right search marketing firm will ensure realistic budgets and attainable targets. Search engine optimization doesn’t happen over night. Typically, a solid campaign takes a minimum of three months to move the needle and really 9-12 months to really of concerted effort to maximize your results.

Bevelwise Media can turn the faucet on with certain PPC, but true optimization will take more time and effort, especially on a national or global scale versus local, but the results can be incredible.

Can’t figure out what to do? Contact Bevelwise for a free Website x-ray analysis. We can check out how your website is performing right now, and give you steps to take to optimize for success.

To www or not to www

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When you go to a website, say Bevelwise for instance, do you type www.bevelwise.com or bevelwise.com in the address bar? If you care at all about SEO what your users type into their address bar should concern you.

Personally, I type the www because technically bevelwise.com is the main domain, the house that all of the services live under. By typing the www I am telling bevelwise.com that I would like to see the website of bevelwise.com. If I were to be transferring a file I would be using the File Transfer Protocol, and I would expect the bevelwise.com house to be looking for this type of access request at ftp.bevelwise.com.

I understand that www, ftp, cdn, rss, etc, are all just sub-domains on the main domain of bevelwise.com and that what really matters is what protocol / port is being used to make the request.

To take this to a more relatable direction, let’s take a street address: 1313 Mockingbird Ln. We can analyze this address in much the same way as we do a domain. Consider if we think of the domain “bevelwise.com” being the equivalent of the street “Mockingbird Ln.” Now, if we wanted to go to the Munsters house (1313 Mockingbird Ln. is their address on the TV show), we could technically find the house by going to Mockingbird Ln and looking around. I assure you we would eventually find it and get what we came looking for. But, if we add the house number (1313) to that address, we have the complete street address of what we are looking for, much the same as when we put the www in front of a domain when we want to go to a website.

I know there are a lot of people out there in the technology industry that are of the belief that the www is irrelevant and unneeded and is only added as a DNS record to help those people out there who don’t know any better. However true this may be from a purely technical standpoint, we need to think about the users of the internet who, as a majority, are not technically savvy.

So, from my understanding, Google will see www.bevelwise.com and bevelwise.com as two different and separate sites regardless of the fact that one is a sub-domain and one is a primary domain. It will be seen as 2 sites with the same content and will get a negative mark.

Now to help with this issue, we basically have 2 choices in this scenario. Forcibly add the www via 301 redirect when someone goes to bevelwise.com, or forcibly remove the www when someone goes to www.bevelwise.com. I personally lean towards adding the www in any case where the address requested is not already a sub-domain request (i.e. bevelwise.com will be changed to www.bevelwise.com, but ftp.bevelwise.com will not be changed to www.ftp.bevelwise.com because ftp.bevelwise.com is already qualified with the ftp prefix).

Just for fun, take a look at your browsers address bar right now, when coming to this site, did you put the www in there or no, any reason why you did one way or another? Call it a personal and professional curiosity.

Social Media Optimization: Business Marketing Mix

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Social media optimization is a set of methods for generating publicity & conversations through social media and online communities. Social media optimization is related to search engine marketing, but differs in several ways, primarily the focus on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit. Search Engines also “love” this type of content because it is updated often, and seen as new and fresh.

A social media campaign means developing a great message and then reaching out to people, while giving them an incentive/reason to pass it on to other people. Social media optimization is a kind of viral marketing, where word of mouth is created through the businesses and people connecting and having 2-way conversations online.

For Business Social Media to work well, you need constant updates and make them interesting!! Also, you need fans who care enough about your message to pass it on to their friends. This is how something (good or bad) can get spread extremely quickly. If people like something and find it useful, they will link to it and tell their friends. Like anything else online – understanding the motivations and culture of the audience is key to making social media work.

Social media software applications include:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social media should be in your marketing mix, but it needs to be done right! Make it work for your specific target audience. Develop a great message and reach out to people…then hope they pass it on! Social Media is about connections, so make it a 2-way conversation.

Please contact Bevelwise if you would like to add Social Media to your company’s marketing mix and need some help.

Many other sources have assembled lists of social media sites. Relevant Social Media helpful spots:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/top-list-of-social-media-sites
http://nextmark.typepad.com/blog/2009/07/top-100-b2b-social-media-cheat-sheet.html
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/my-best-advice-about-social-media/

http://www.mintblogger.com/2008/02/definitive-list-of-30-popular-social.html

Local Business SEO – #1 Use a Local Phone Number

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What can a local business do online when competing with a big, national brand? The websites of both local and national brands make their products/services available 24/7. But one thing big brands lack is community uniqueness and it can be as simple as a local phone number. Sometimes people just need to talk to a real, live human being, and this can be what sets you apart.

Admit it, the internet can be a bit impersonal. If you are a local business, adding you physical address and the phone number (with a local area code) gives evidence that you are a real person – which makes people feel more comfortable. It gives your customer a convenient way to order, but most importantly it means that a real person is give service.

  • A phone number is instantaneous way to get your visitors’ feedback
  • A prominent phone number on a website builds trust and confidence.
  • Local SEO Factor
  • A telephone number is how Local Business Listings verifies that your listing is valid (Google will actually call you!) It is an on-page trust identifier.
  • It is also believed that Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing often combine the local area code with local search ranking factors.

Make the most of Contact Information

A business’ address and phone number are instrumental for conducting business locally. But this contact information also provides a critical clue to search engines that a business is local in nature. Make sure to display:

  • Your full address (with Zip Code) on the footer of every page, with prominence on the “Contact Us” page
  • Local phone number, even when a toll-free number is available
  • If appropriate, provide information on areas served
  • Driving directions and a local map

List your Local Business on Search Engines. These ones are free for basic listings:

From here, you actually have to answer this phone when it starts ringing off the hook!

Of course, please feel free to Contact Bevelwise if your business needs a better web presence.

Should I put my marketing dollars into Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising, or a blended online media strategy?

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How do you know if you should use Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Can I get better results from Pay-Per-Click (PPC)? These are the main two strategies in use today, especially for the small to medium enterprise. Both strategies are entirely different and it can be difficult to decide which one is best for you or how to combine both strategies for maximum effectiveness.

You have to determine what you are trying to accomplish via the web and your website. That will drive everything else. If you don’t have the right objectives for what you want to accomplish, then you can wind up wasting a lot of money trying to figure it out and feeling like all you did was “spin your wheels”. SEO and PPC are the best sources to drive you targeted traffic and only pay for targeted traffic, but you have to be intentional about them and what you expect from each.

SEO and PPC continue to grow as more and more people are using the Internet and become more web savvy. It is the best source for people worldwide to find information they want on a 24 hour basis. That will keep these two industries growing. Let’s back up a second and define these a bit closer for some of those people who might know much about these subjects. SEO takes place on your own website site. There are pieces and parts to a website that the Internet search engines, crawlers, and indexes look for to determine if your site is a good match for particular keywords and search terms. Most experts will tell you that parity has been reached in search, so now it comes down to the user experience and how fast a search engine gets you to the results and relevant content you were looking for.

PPC refers to advertising on a search engine that charges on a per click basis whenever a visitor clicks on one of your ads. The order of ads is an algorithm and Google (62% of all searches), Yahoo (20% of all searches), and Bing (formerly MSN and 10% of all searches) all use different ones to determine the best match. This will continue to change now that Yahoo and MSN/Bing have announced their partnership for search – so we are sure a new algorithm for these sites will emerge soon and cause another adjustment. The newest factor in the game for Google is what is known as quality score. It has always used this to rank your site and pages organically, but now it is a factor in how well your PPC campaign will perform. Yes, how well your landing page and it’s URL are optimized will effect what you pay per click, who shows up on the top of the list, and if you bid the most, you are not guaranteed the #1 spot. This is directly related to that “user experience” criteria.

SEO tries to change your overall search engine ranking by looking at your URL and analyzing all of the content on your pages and meta data (behind the scenes) to see how good of a match that page and your website is for a particular keyword or search phrase. This also needs to happen page by page – having the same information on every page or in every page’s meta data, will actually discount your URL to the search engines. It needs to be specific to what they will find on that page. Also, putting too many different items on a page will not allow you to optimize it to its full extent to produce maximum results. It will also not allow you to effectively optimize for each item because what you can do and the “space” available for optimization, do not allow for the words and phrases you need (for example, a title tag really needs to be less that 70 characters in length). SEO is also considered a long term solution. You cannot do it just once and let it go for 6-12 months. You should pay some attention to it monthly after your initial optimization takes hold (like 120 days after their first pass on your site). Consider this just like changing some of the content on your website, this will help the engines pay attention to you. Ultimately you would want your optimization to allow for you to not have to pay for clicks on your brand name and your top 5-10 keywords and phrases because you already have page one ranking for them. Be prepared for this to take 120-180 days to really start to show some results but that is based on where your starting point is.

Bottom Line of what you can expect

PPC:

  • Instant Traffic and results if it is done right
  • Pay for what you get – no residual effects
  • This is extremely intentional – to an industry, geographic market, product or service
  • Optimize for performance, negative keywords, etc
  • Can pause at any time so little risk
  • Typically done with lower budgets
  • Can control what it says, when and where it runs and to what audiences
  • Is now tied to how well your landing page and website are optimized with Quality Score
  • Once you reach your daily budget it shuts down
  • Easier to target a specific market or industry

SEO:

  • This is a marathon, not a sprint solution
  • If you are optimized, you will always rank for the keywords and phrases you want – it will never shut down or reach a budget
  • Results are harder to measure – because of all the ways to drive traffic
  • Need to set metrics and goals prior to starting it
  • Start with an amount to get started and have someone spend some time monthly continuing these principles if possible
  • Will need to update and change as strategies and search engines change their algorithms and competitors change their websites, PPC and SEO strategies
  • Allows you to rank for higher priority keywords and broaden your exposure through PPC
  • Delivers the most qualified traffic – this comes from people who are actively seeking out products and services that you offer and not just browsing the web.

So what should you choose?
Well, it depends on how much money you are willing to spend, what your time line is, your goals and how you want to measure results. It is easy to blow through money with PPC unless you test, optimize and pay some attention every month. Typically it will produce results in the first 30 days but you will always have to pay for them. If you want to position yourself for long term results and establish your presence to your target audience and market, then spending some time in SEO will help be your solution. SEO is more permanent depending on your strategy and will build long term equity for your website, PPC will drive results and help you be specific to a particular industry, geography, or time period. If someone finds you through organic/natural results, you typically have more credibility because that is harder to accomplish and anyone can “pay” for advertising. If you can do it, we would recommend balancing both of them. Set your goals and then allocate X hours a month optimizing your site and equivalent dollars to PPC, but always be evolving and optimizing.

Improve Adwords Pay-per-Click (PPC) Quality Score to Lower your Cost-per-Click

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It can be very confusing to understand a keyword’s quality score. How does Google concoct my score? What’s a good quality score to receive? Why bother improving quality scores?

Bevelwise complied a bunch of information from the AdWords blog and help center to help clear this up.

Quality Score ensures that Google only shows relevant ads to its users. Searchers want to find the information they are looking for quickly and easily and Quality Score helps Google show more relevant ads. To make sure that your potential customers see your ad, you need to pay attention to Quality Score. It also influences your ads’ position, and it partially determines your keyword’s minimum bids, which can help reduce your budgets.

Quality Score is used in several different ways, including influencing your keywords’ actual cost-per-clicks (CPCs) and estimating the first page bids that you see in your account. In general, the higher your Quality Score, the lower your costs and the better your ad position.

Quality Scores 1-10

  • 1-4: The keyword isn’t very relevant to users, and as a result may have a very high first page bid. This means that the keyword is not performing very well for your website, or even for your competitors sites. Try experimenting with variations of this keyword by using plural/singulars or grammatical tweaks. If you’d like to keep advertising with this keyword, you can optimize instead. To do this, try lowering the first page bid, writing a more targeted, relevant ad, or improving your landing page content.
  • 5-7: This keyword is performing well, and there isn’t a need to worry too much. On a grading scale, our AdWords Specialist at Google, said “a 6 or 7 is equivalent to an A-.” It may have a mid-range first page bid, and the keyword may not be very costly. Optimization can lower your overall costs, draw more clicks to your ads, and result in a better return on your investment (ROI). If you want to further optimize, try using more targeted ad text and keywords or improving your landing page content.
  • 8-10: The keyword is extremely relevant and may have a high click through rate (CTR), relevant ad text, and a unique, relevant landing page. The first page bid for this keyword may be low. This keyword is very relevant and effective for your ad campaign. Our AdWords Specialist at Google, said that it is very rare to get this high of a quality score from Google.

Quality Score Formula:

  • The historical click-through rate (CTR) of the keyword and the matched ad on Google
  • Landing page quality
  • The relevance of the keyword to the ads in its ad group
  • The relevance of the keyword and the matched ad to the search query
  • Relevance of ad text (especially the title)
  • Historical account performance (CTR)

How Quality Score Impacts Your PPC Campaign:

  • Cost-Per-Click – A keyword’s Quality Score influences its CPC – that is, how much you’re charged for a click on your ad when it’s triggered by that keyword. The higher a keyword’s Quality Score, the lower its CPC, and vice versa.
  • First Page CPC Bid Estimates – On your Keyword Analysis page, you’ll see a metric labeled ‘Estimated bid to show on the first page.’ This metric, also called the ‘first page bid estimate,’ approximates the cost-per-click (CPC) bid needed for your ad to reach the first page of Google search results when the search query exactly matches your keyword. The estimate is based on the Quality Score and current advertiser competition for that keyword. Ad placement will still be dependent on Quality Score, your cost-per-click (CPC) bid, your budget and account settings, and user and advertiser behavior.
  • Eligibility to Show Up when Searched for – Every time one of your keywords matches a search query, our system evaluates its combined Quality Score and cost-per-click (CPC) bid to see if it’s eligible to enter the ad auction. Keywords with a higher Quality Score will be eligible to enter the auction more easily and at a lower cost. Our goal is to encourage relevant ads for our users, so our pricing system is designed to favor more specifically targeted ads and keywords.
  • Ad Position – Ads are positioned on search and content pages based on their Ad Rank. The ad with the highest Ad Rank appears in the first position, and so on down the page.

Monitoring Your Quality Score

Search advertising is a dynamic, evolving marketplace, and the Quality Score of your keywords can fluctuate. Google continually monitors the performance of all ads, keywords, and landing pages to reward high quality ads and encourage advertisers to improve low quality ads. The best way to maintain a high-quality, cost-effective campaign is to frequently optimize your account to help ensure your ads have a high Quality Score.

Improving a Keyword’s Quality Score

Optimization is the best way to increase your keyword’s performance (Quality Score, CTR, conversion rate) without raising costs. If your Quality Score is very low (below a 5), you may be using keywords, ads, or landing pages that aren’t as targeted or relevant as they could be. This can mean higher cost-per-clicks and a potentially poor ROI. Remember: The higher the Quality Score, the lower the price you’ll pay when someone clicks on your ad.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) focuses on keywords and relevance of pages to popular keywords. Looking at quality score, if your landing page isn’t viewed by Google as relevant to the search query, you can work improving landing page content, meta tags, image tags, etc to make the page more relevant and possibly improve your Quality Score.

While a high quality score may seem like the most important part of your PPC campaign, the conversion rate is a best indicator. A high CTR or Quality Score doesn’t necessarily mean a high ROI or that people are buying your product or service. The conversion rate tells if your keyword is driving sales, sign-ups, or whatever else your company is trying to achieve.

For more information please contact us or read our whitepaper.

 

References

http://adwords.google.com/support/
http://adwords.blogspot.com/

http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/

Print or SEO?

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The Grand Rapids Press announced in yesterday’s edition that they are making employee cuts and possibly future cuts to delivery in the coming months due to the “current economic climate.” Publisher Day Gaydou had been keeping this under wraps but had to come clean with readers after the Ann Arbor News and other Booth Newspapers announced their cutbacks yesterday. The Ann Arbor Press is shuttering it’s entire print organization just weeks after the Seattle Post-Intelligencer did the same.

What does this mean? Further evidence that newspaper readership is declining, and if you are a marketer still using print advertisements as your primary marketing channel while ignoring local search, then you are missing the boat.

Take this opportunity to reassess the ROI from all your marketing channels. Ask yourself if traditional media is achieving the objectives needed to be profitable.

Internet Marketing, be it Paid Search, Organic Search, Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc) and web portal advertising should be a key part if not the cornerstone of your marketing mix.

SEO (search engine optimzation) is most important though. There are endless reasons why search engine optimization must be implemented into your marketing strategy before you are left in the dust of your competition. Here are the top 5:

  1. Absence of risk. In many cases, paid advertising is subject to click fraud risk and competitor’s black techniques (such as using software that would click your ads thousands of times without any real profit to your site; however, you pay for each click to the search engine). High-tech pay-for-performance programs (such as Google AdWords) claim to have advanced protection against such behavior (and they do have), however the risk can never be reduced to zero. SEO is free of any risk. Unless you spam or make obvious mistakes, it cannot damage your business.
  2. Reliability. Banner ads or paid search engine placement work until the marketing budget depletes. Then, the site disappears from the listings, and your returning customers cannot find you any more (new visitors cannot find you either). SEO helps buffer this process, so you can gradually reduce the advertising budget as you’re increasing your results obtained from organic search engine listings. Also consumers are more likely to purchase from a site ranked high in the search engine results than from an evidently placed advertisement
  3. Brand awareness. A web site having a high ranking means more people see the name of the company and become familiar with the company and its products, even if they haven’t made a purchase. A surveys show that consumers are twice as likely to recognize businesses ranked in the top three in search engine results than those appearing in banner ads.
  4. Targeted traffic. Search engine optimization brings paying customers to your door step. The customers that SEO bring you are long for your products/services as they have entered your websites keywords/phrases into the search engines. SEO will further help you transform visitors into buyers by analyzing their behavior once they find your site. You will learn how to transform these visitors into buyers by utilizing the content of your website in the most effective manner possible.
  5. Affordability. In comparison to banner ads, which cost between $2500 to $35000 a month and outsourced SEO plan costs as little as $1000.

These are only 5 of the reasons which substantiate why SEO is the single best investment for all marketers.

Think about it. And don’t forget to recycle!!