Round Tale

(The Hosting News) – topseos.com, an independent authority on Search vendors has named the Top 50 Pay Per Click Management Services for the month of September 2010. All the Pay Per Click Management Service providers identified next to thousands of other Pay Per Click Management companies have gone through a comprehensive process evaluated by a qualified and experienced team of researchers. The Pay Per Click Management providers evaluated and ranked have displayed a concrete understanding behind the services they provide.

“A good pay per click management firm is one who is able to understand not only its clients, but also the nature of the internet. Where should a message appear? How long should it appear for? These considerations are just the tip of the iceberg. In order to find the best among the thousands of Pay Per Click Management optimization companies, our team has designed an evaluation system to identify the leading firm in this field. All top ranking Pay Per Click Management Firms displayed a thorough knowledge in PPC services,” said Jeev Trika, Managing Partner of topseos.com (http://topseos.com).

The Best Top 50 Pay Per Click Management Optimization Companies in the US for September 2010 are:

1.    JumpFly, Inc.
2.    WebiMax
3.    SEOP
4.    Pepperjam Agency
5.    ThinkBIGsites
6.    WebMetro
7.    SEO Image Inc.
8.    Customer Magnetism
9.    eVisibility, Inc.
10.    SEO Inc
11.    NETexponent LLC.
12.    Outrider
13.    Bruce Clay Inc.
14.    Reprise Media
15.    Enquiro Search Solutions Inc.
16.    Morpheus Media LLC
17.    Target Logics
18.    KeyRelevance
19.    SpiderSplat Consulting Inc.
20.    Efficient Frontier Inc
21.    Distilled
22.    RedFly Marketing
23.    WebRanking
24.    Internet Marketing Inc.
25.    Spark Inbound Marketing
26.    SEER Interactive
27.    iProspect
28.    Netvantage Marketing
29.    Marcel Media
30.    Stone Interactive Group
31.    Exclusive Concepts, Inc.
32.    Best Rank Inc.
33.    Jenesys Group
34.    JellyFish
35.    LoveClients Inc.
36.    Zero Company
37.    The DG Group
38.    Levert Marketing
39.    eVision LLC.
40.    Page Zero Media
41.    Mindfire Interactive
42.    Advance Design Interactive
43.    NetMark Essentials
44.    iMajestic Performance Based SEO
45.    StraightForward Media LLC
46.    Keyword Search Pros
47.    ROI Revolution
48.    The PPC Auditors
49.    Leverage Marketing, Inc.
50.    Loka, Inc.

With the purpose of finding out the best pay per click management firms in the industry, topseos.com has designed an evaluation criterion. Their research team has gathered feedback from three (3) clients of these firms to get information about their performance and services. A list of questions has been provided that include both general and project-specific queries such as, “What type of needs analysis was conducted before work initiated?”, “What type of a ROI were you anticipating, what was achieved and in what time frame?”, “What would be 3 things you would change about your experience?”, “What was your total investment?”, “Rate your overall experience (1-10; 10 being the highest)”, “How is your PPC campaign monitored actively and how are the bid adjustments made?”, “How were your click-through rates improved?”, “What techniques were utilized to lower the cost per conversion?”, “Are the PPC campaign reports useful and easy to understand?” and “By what % have you increased your PPC budget and over what time?”

Pay Per Click Advertising is one of the rapidly growing forms of online advertising. On the other hand, popularity also represents a number of players in the same field. There is a large number of companies that started to provide pay per click management services but there are only a small number of competent providers that have the capacity to deliver what they have promised to their clients.

Source: topseos Names Top 50 Pay Per Click Management Companies

(The Hosting News) – topseos.com, an independent authority on Search vendors has named the Top 50 Pay Per Click Management Services for the month of September 2010. All the Pay Per Click Management Service providers identified next to thousands of other Pay Per Click Management companies have gone through a comprehensive process evaluated by a qualified and experienced team of researchers. The Pay Per Click Management providers evaluated and ranked have displayed a concrete understanding behind the services they provide.

“A good pay per click management firm is one who is able to understand not only its clients, but also the nature of the internet. Where should a message appear? How long should it appear for? These considerations are just the tip of the iceberg. In order to find the best among the thousands of Pay Per Click Management optimization companies, our team has designed an evaluation system to identify the leading firm in this field. All top ranking Pay Per Click Management Firms displayed a thorough knowledge in PPC services,” said Jeev Trika, Managing Partner of topseos.com (http://topseos.com).

The Best Top 50 Pay Per Click Management Optimization Companies in the US for September 2010 are:

1.    JumpFly, Inc.
2.    WebiMax
3.    SEOP
4.    Pepperjam Agency
5.    ThinkBIGsites
6.    WebMetro
7.    SEO Image Inc.
8.    Customer Magnetism
9.    eVisibility, Inc.
10.    SEO Inc
11.    NETexponent LLC.
12.    Outrider
13.    Bruce Clay Inc.
14.    Reprise Media
15.    Enquiro Search Solutions Inc.
16.    Morpheus Media LLC
17.    Target Logics
18.    KeyRelevance
19.    SpiderSplat Consulting Inc.
20.    Efficient Frontier Inc
21.    Distilled
22.    RedFly Marketing
23.    WebRanking
24.    Internet Marketing Inc.
25.    Spark Inbound Marketing
26.    SEER Interactive
27.    iProspect
28.    Netvantage Marketing
29.    Marcel Media
30.    Stone Interactive Group
31.    Exclusive Concepts, Inc.
32.    Best Rank Inc.
33.    Jenesys Group
34.    JellyFish
35.    LoveClients Inc.
36.    Zero Company
37.    The DG Group
38.    Levert Marketing
39.    eVision LLC.
40.    Page Zero Media
41.    Mindfire Interactive
42.    Advance Design Interactive
43.    NetMark Essentials
44.    iMajestic Performance Based SEO
45.    StraightForward Media LLC
46.    Keyword Search Pros
47.    ROI Revolution
48.    The PPC Auditors
49.    Leverage Marketing, Inc.
50.    Loka, Inc.

With the purpose of finding out the best pay per click management firms in the industry, topseos.com has designed an evaluation criterion. Their research team has gathered feedback from three (3) clients of these firms to get information about their performance and services. A list of questions has been provided that include both general and project-specific queries such as, “What type of needs analysis was conducted before work initiated?”, “What type of a ROI were you anticipating, what was achieved and in what time frame?”, “What would be 3 things you would change about your experience?”, “What was your total investment?”, “Rate your overall experience (1-10; 10 being the highest)”, “How is your PPC campaign monitored actively and how are the bid adjustments made?”, “How were your click-through rates improved?”, “What techniques were utilized to lower the cost per conversion?”, “Are the PPC campaign reports useful and easy to understand?” and “By what % have you increased your PPC budget and over what time?”

Pay Per Click Advertising is one of the rapidly growing forms of online advertising. On the other hand, popularity also represents a number of players in the same field. There is a large number of companies that started to provide pay per click management services but there are only a small number of competent providers that have the capacity to deliver what they have promised to their clients.

topseos Names Top 50 Pay Per Click Management Companies

(The Hosting News) – About 6 months ago G.I. Partners approached SoftLayer about doing an investment in the company,” Lance explains. “They have done a lot of investment in this space overall including Digital Realty, Savvis, Telx, The Planet and most recently ViaWest. After they approached us and we started going through due diligence, we began to find there was a lot of common DNA with The Planet and so as we began to close the process over the last 30 days or so, we started exploring the possibility of putting these two companies together.”

That common DNA doesn’t just extend to the family history between the two companies. It also includes many mutual customers. They both also target the dedicated and cloud hosting space. However, if both companies were purely similar, merging them would simply create a larger company, which is technically not a bad thing…, but it would be somewhat boring.

In addition to the similar fields of interest, SoftLayer brings their infrastructure know how. The plans for the merger include moving customers to SoftLayer’s automation layer. This translates to the new company able to take on more customers, keeping staff low, and yet maintaining their high-grade support.

The Planet offers an enterprise level suite of services. Namely, The Planet will bring colocation and managed hosting to the party. Along with these hosting addons, The Planet also brings in enterprise level hosting features and the expertise in handling those services.

SoftLayer, up until recently, has avoided the colocation and managed hosting spaces. They have instead focused on their target niche and have not deviated from that path. And yet, if they do merge with The Planet, adding those services is part and parcel of the new company. So why now? Why would SoftLayer, who have been disciplined in avoiding the watering down of their brand, want to increase their services and in fact, consider adding those services as a definite strength?

“It’s been on the drawing board for a long time and we are going to bring a SoftLayer approach to those two types of services that are not yet seen in the industry. As we talk about it internally we are going to pull out a big stick and poke a lot of our competitors in the eye when they see what we are going to do to colocation and managed services,” says Lance.

On the possibilities of an IPO, Lance says, “I think that [an IPO] is the most logical step for the combined companies, putting them together they are going to be about 300 million in revenues and growing rapidly and you get to a point where the number of potential suitors out their drops dramatically simply because of the size of the company so an IPO becomes the natural choice.”

(“So if you want to sum it up, you could say we are strapping on the gloves, ” says Doug. However, you sum it up, the potential merger between The Planet and SoftLayer could be a hosting juggernaut rivaled by very few especially in the dedicated server market.

Source: SoftLayer and The Planet Shed Light on Merger

Although shared hosting is the most popular type, there are also many drawbacks which cause hosting customers to look elsewhere. With other types of hosting available such as dedicated hosting, multiple domain hosting and co-location hosting, customers have many options.

Depending on the need of the customer, shared hosting might be a good choice. On the other hand, as sites expand and consume more storage and bandwidth, the move from a shared hosting service might be the best choice.

The top five drawbacks include:

1. A reduced level of security
2. Limited resources
3. Website can go offline if too resource intensive
4. Lack of permission to install programs and software
5. Lower quality

One of the primary drawbacks of shared hosting is a reduction in the level of security offered by the provider. Since the server is shared with numerous other websites, the risk of security threats greatly increases. Although there are measures to decrease security issues, the server has a greater chance at being a target which decreases uptime.

Another concern for customers is the availability of resources. As the site is first created, the basic hosting plan offers plenty of storage and bandwidth. However, as the site and other sites on the server grow, they require more resources. If a website develops a good deal of traffic, it affects all other sites on the server since the resources are shared.

This often leads to receiving a restricted service message. If a website is too resource intensive, due to the number of other sites on the server, it could become deactivated and go offline. This is extremely detrimental to business.

Additionally with shared services comes a lack of permission to install programs and software. The server is run by a company so they usually don’t grant the authority to install any program. Each program can affect their other customers linked to that server.

Finally, another significant issue with shared hosting services is the lower quality offered to the customer. There will be more problems than other types of hosting due to the fact that everything is shared. This also will significantly decrease the speed of the connection, especially during high traffic periods.

Although shared hosting services are the preferred method because they offer extremely inexpensive packages; this isn’t the only reason to choose a host. There are many drawbacks to this method of hosting that can have a significant effect on business.

(The Hosting News) – More and more frequently, imitations of well-known domains are misused for various, sometimes criminal, activities.  The target of the masterminds is primarily companies, and the effect on the victims’ image is often tremendous and can lead to a loss of customer trust.

In the fight against the increasing misuse of brand names on the Internet, 1&1 Internet Ltd has launched an initiative – the provider now offers domain packages in bundles of 5 to help companies protect their reputation by simply securing the closest alternatives to their desired Internet address. This prevents cyber-squatters from using addresses that are deceptively similar to company domains for their fraudulent activities.

According to the latest publication of the Brandjacking Index, the risk of brand misuse worldwide is the highest in US, Germany and UK.  More than 80 per cent of all websites using brand names for illegal purposes originate from these three countries.  The most popular method used by the online fraudsters is cyber-squatting.  Cyber-squatters are those who tap into unused domains to get an Internet address very similar to that of a company. In 2009, the World Intellectual Property Organization created by the UN handled 2,107 cases of suspected misuse.  According to experts, however, the estimated number of unrecorded cases exceeds several hundred thousand.

Another very popular fraud scheme is typo-squatting. In this case, the perpetrators speculate on misspelled URL entries and register domain names with a slightly different spelling. The goal of the fraudsters is to lure as many visitors as possible to their website where unsuspecting Internet users are offered third-party goods for sale.  Visitors to these sites can also get stung with malware, such as viruses and Trojans.

Private users may also land on deceptive phishing websites that appear genuine and prompt them to enter personal information such as passwords or bank and credit card information. “The increasing misuse of domain names does not only put companies at risk, but presents a threat to private users as well.  We believe that there is an urgent need for action, and see our initiative as another step in our fight against online fraud” says Oliver Mauss, CEO of 1&1 Internet.

The 1&1 initiative consists of two elements.  Firstly, 1&1 will suggest strategic domain names for registration that utilize other common domain extensions.  Secondly, 1&1 offers a domain product that includes the additional domain reservations at a significantly reduced price.  A 1&1 bundle of 5 domains, for example, costs £19.99+VAT for the first year. Compared to the respective individual prices, the bundle offer provides great savings. 

The offer also applies to existing customers – a customer who already has a domain registered with 1&1 can now register additional domains via the 1&1 Control Panel.  Following an availability check, a list of available alternative domains will automatically be displayed on the 1&1 website page for customers to consider.

For more information on 1&1 domains visit the website at www.1and1.co.uk

1&1 Offer Helps Prevent Misuse of Domains

(The Hosting News) – More and more frequently, imitations of well-known domains are misused for various, sometimes criminal, activities.  The target of the masterminds is primarily companies, and the effect on the victims’ image is often tremendous and can lead to a loss of customer trust.

In the fight against the increasing misuse of brand names on the Internet, 1&1 Internet Ltd has launched an initiative – the provider now offers domain packages in bundles of 5 to help companies protect their reputation by simply securing the closest alternatives to their desired Internet address. This prevents cyber-squatters from using addresses that are deceptively similar to company domains for their fraudulent activities.

According to the latest publication of the Brandjacking Index, the risk of brand misuse worldwide is the highest in US, Germany and UK.  More than 80 per cent of all websites using brand names for illegal purposes originate from these three countries.  The most popular method used by the online fraudsters is cyber-squatting.  Cyber-squatters are those who tap into unused domains to get an Internet address very similar to that of a company. In 2009, the World Intellectual Property Organization created by the UN handled 2,107 cases of suspected misuse.  According to experts, however, the estimated number of unrecorded cases exceeds several hundred thousand.

Another very popular fraud scheme is typo-squatting. In this case, the perpetrators speculate on misspelled URL entries and register domain names with a slightly different spelling. The goal of the fraudsters is to lure as many visitors as possible to their website where unsuspecting Internet users are offered third-party goods for sale.  Visitors to these sites can also get stung with malware, such as viruses and Trojans.

Private users may also land on deceptive phishing websites that appear genuine and prompt them to enter personal information such as passwords or bank and credit card information. “The increasing misuse of domain names does not only put companies at risk, but presents a threat to private users as well.  We believe that there is an urgent need for action, and see our initiative as another step in our fight against online fraud” says Oliver Mauss, CEO of 1&1 Internet.

The 1&1 initiative consists of two elements.  Firstly, 1&1 will suggest strategic domain names for registration that utilize other common domain extensions.  Secondly, 1&1 offers a domain product that includes the additional domain reservations at a significantly reduced price.  A 1&1 bundle of 5 domains, for example, costs £19.99+VAT for the first year. Compared to the respective individual prices, the bundle offer provides great savings. 

The offer also applies to existing customers – a customer who already has a domain registered with 1&1 can now register additional domains via the 1&1 Control Panel.  Following an availability check, a list of available alternative domains will automatically be displayed on the 1&1 website page for customers to consider.

For more information on 1&1 domains visit the website at www.1and1.co.uk

1&1 Offer Helps Prevent Misuse of Domains

Odds are that you’re doing something dreadfully wrong with your Facebook presence.  Hosting companies compete in an increasingly commoditized space– there’s pricing pressure on a similar product offering with undifferentiated marketing.  PPC is expensive, yet many hosting companies are reliant upon Google AdWords for traffic.

Enter Facebook– not just a place for teenagers to socialize and post drunken photos, but a serious place to do business and target other businesses.  Here’s our top 7 Facebook optimization tips:

1. Having a Facebook fan page is not enough– if you don’t drive traffic to it via ads and tie it in with your regular website, there’s no point.  Did you know that when using Facebook’s ad platform, you can target by job title and company name?  Now you can fine tune your message by industry and profession– and the conversion rates are MUCH better this way.
2. Treat your Facebook page like a support center– You staff up for folks to answer the phone, so make sure you’re “open” on Facebook to answer the same inquiries about how they have a question about which type of dedicated server they need, how to choose a domain name, or whatever.  Thus, allow posts by not just your page, but also others to show– this is not the default option.  And when you change it, you allow your fans’ comments to show up, which is absolutely key to viral growth.
3. Use the Facebook Fan Box– You may have heard me speak at HostingCon about landing page optimization or other topics.  Beyond just testing images, headlines, offers, button color, and such– you can go straight to the root of why people convert– because of the trust generated from their friends using your hosting company.  The Facebook Fan Box is a widget you can paste in, showing how many people are fans of your page, including how many of their friends are.  Of course, you need to increase this number before putting in the fan box.
4. Choose your username– Yes, you can choose a vanity url– just go to facebook.com/username.  You’ll need to get at least 25 fans first, otherwise the option is grayed out for you. For example, see my Facebook profile .
5. Make sure it’s a Facebook fan page, not a profile– People have profiles, while businesses have pages.  By having a page, you can advertise, install applications, and promote yourself in ways that aren’t possible in other forms.  Groups are outdated, too– once you go over 5,000 members in your group, you can’t message people anymore. From a SEO standpoint, Facebook has clearly said to use fan pages, as that’s where link juice is being funneled.
6. Focus on people, not servers– Most hosting companies are not able to separate out what they actually do versus how they should be marketed.  I like to give the example of how Nike sells “authentic athletic performance” as opposed to “the finest quality rubber, plastic, and leather sewn together by low wage workers you can buy”.  Thus, on your Facebook page, focus on customer testimonials– lots of them.  Don’t just say you have great service– show it by allowing people to chime in.
7. Manage your reputation– Of course, if your service does suck, then Facebook is only going to magnify that.  So Facebook marketing doesn’t work for companies that don’t actually provide a great service and take care of your customers.  Encourage happy customers to give you a positive review or even provide an incentive for prospective customers to sign up via Facebook. For example, you can have a coupon code “FACEBOOK” that gives them 2 months of free hosting if they sign up and post it to their wall.  Now your marketing is trackable and viral.

Dennis Yu is CEO of BlitzLocal, a boutique firm specializing in Facebook marketing.  He is an international speaker and author,  having presented at HostingCon, SMX East, SMX West, Affiliate Summit, National Public Radio, TechCrunch, Entrepreneur Magazine, and others.  You can reach him at dennis@blitzlocal.com.

Dennis Yu gives Facebook optimization tips for hosting companies

Odds are that you’re doing something dreadfully wrong with your Facebook presence.  Hosting companies compete in an increasingly commoditized space– there’s pricing pressure on a similar product offering with undifferentiated marketing.  PPC is expensive, yet many hosting companies are reliant upon Google AdWords for traffic.

Enter Facebook– not just a place for teenagers to socialize and post drunken photos, but a serious place to do business and target other businesses.  Here’s our top 7 Facebook optimization tips:

1. Having a Facebook fan page is not enough– if you don’t drive traffic to it via ads and tie it in with your regular website, there’s no point.  Did you know that when using Facebook’s ad platform, you can target by job title and company name?  Now you can fine tune your message by industry and profession– and the conversion rates are MUCH better this way.
2. Treat your Facebook page like a support center– You staff up for folks to answer the phone, so make sure you’re “open” on Facebook to answer the same inquiries about how they have a question about which type of dedicated server they need, how to choose a domain name, or whatever.  Thus, allow posts by not just your page, but also others to show– this is not the default option.  And when you change it, you allow your fans’ comments to show up, which is absolutely key to viral growth.
3. Use the Facebook Fan Box– You may have heard me speak at HostingCon about landing page optimization or other topics.  Beyond just testing images, headlines, offers, button color, and such– you can go straight to the root of why people convert– because of the trust generated from their friends using your hosting company.  The Facebook Fan Box is a widget you can paste in, showing how many people are fans of your page, including how many of their friends are.  Of course, you need to increase this number before putting in the fan box.
4. Choose your username– Yes, you can choose a vanity url– just go to facebook.com/username.  You’ll need to get at least 25 fans first, otherwise the option is grayed out for you. For example, see my Facebook profile .
5. Make sure it’s a Facebook fan page, not a profile– People have profiles, while businesses have pages.  By having a page, you can advertise, install applications, and promote yourself in ways that aren’t possible in other forms.  Groups are outdated, too– once you go over 5,000 members in your group, you can’t message people anymore. From a SEO standpoint, Facebook has clearly said to use fan pages, as that’s where link juice is being funneled.
6. Focus on people, not servers– Most hosting companies are not able to separate out what they actually do versus how they should be marketed.  I like to give the example of how Nike sells “authentic athletic performance” as opposed to “the finest quality rubber, plastic, and leather sewn together by low wage workers you can buy”.  Thus, on your Facebook page, focus on customer testimonials– lots of them.  Don’t just say you have great service– show it by allowing people to chime in.
7. Manage your reputation– Of course, if your service does suck, then Facebook is only going to magnify that.  So Facebook marketing doesn’t work for companies that don’t actually provide a great service and take care of your customers.  Encourage happy customers to give you a positive review or even provide an incentive for prospective customers to sign up via Facebook. For example, you can have a coupon code “FACEBOOK” that gives them 2 months of free hosting if they sign up and post it to their wall.  Now your marketing is trackable and viral.

Dennis Yu is CEO of BlitzLocal, a boutique firm specializing in Facebook marketing.  He is an international speaker and author,  having presented at HostingCon, SMX East, SMX West, Affiliate Summit, National Public Radio, TechCrunch, Entrepreneur Magazine, and others.  You can reach him at dennis@blitzlocal.com.

Dennis Yu gives Facebook optimization tips for hosting companies

Odds are that you’re doing something dreadfully wrong with your Facebook presence.  Hosting companies compete in an increasingly commoditized space– there’s pricing pressure on a similar product offering with undifferentiated marketing.  PPC is expensive, yet many hosting companies are reliant upon Google AdWords for traffic.

Enter Facebook– not just a place for teenagers to socialize and post drunken photos, but a serious place to do business and target other businesses.  Here’s our top 7 Facebook optimization tips:

1. Having a Facebook fan page is not enough– if you don’t drive traffic to it via ads and tie it in with your regular website, there’s no point.  Did you know that when using Facebook’s ad platform, you can target by job title and company name?  Now you can fine tune your message by industry and profession– and the conversion rates are MUCH better this way.
2. Treat your Facebook page like a support center– You staff up for folks to answer the phone, so make sure you’re “open” on Facebook to answer the same inquiries about how they have a question about which type of dedicated server they need, how to choose a domain name, or whatever.  Thus, allow posts by not just your page, but also others to show– this is not the default option.  And when you change it, you allow your fans’ comments to show up, which is absolutely key to viral growth.
3. Use the Facebook Fan Box– You may have heard me speak at HostingCon about landing page optimization or other topics.  Beyond just testing images, headlines, offers, button color, and such– you can go straight to the root of why people convert– because of the trust generated from their friends using your hosting company.  The Facebook Fan Box is a widget you can paste in, showing how many people are fans of your page, including how many of their friends are.  Of course, you need to increase this number before putting in the fan box.
4. Choose your username– Yes, you can choose a vanity url– just go to facebook.com/username.  You’ll need to get at least 25 fans first, otherwise the option is grayed out for you. For example, see my Facebook profile .
5. Make sure it’s a Facebook fan page, not a profile– People have profiles, while businesses have pages.  By having a page, you can advertise, install applications, and promote yourself in ways that aren’t possible in other forms.  Groups are outdated, too– once you go over 5,000 members in your group, you can’t message people anymore. From a SEO standpoint, Facebook has clearly said to use fan pages, as that’s where link juice is being funneled.
6. Focus on people, not servers– Most hosting companies are not able to separate out what they actually do versus how they should be marketed.  I like to give the example of how Nike sells “authentic athletic performance” as opposed to “the finest quality rubber, plastic, and leather sewn together by low wage workers you can buy”.  Thus, on your Facebook page, focus on customer testimonials– lots of them.  Don’t just say you have great service– show it by allowing people to chime in.
7. Manage your reputation– Of course, if your service does suck, then Facebook is only going to magnify that.  So Facebook marketing doesn’t work for companies that don’t actually provide a great service and take care of your customers.  Encourage happy customers to give you a positive review or even provide an incentive for prospective customers to sign up via Facebook. For example, you can have a coupon code “FACEBOOK” that gives them 2 months of free hosting if they sign up and post it to their wall.  Now your marketing is trackable and viral.

Dennis Yu is CEO of BlitzLocal, a boutique firm specializing in Facebook marketing.  He is an international speaker and author,  having presented at HostingCon, SMX East, SMX West, Affiliate Summit, National Public Radio, TechCrunch, Entrepreneur Magazine, and others.  You can reach him at dennis@blitzlocal.com.

Dennis Yu gives Facebook optimization tips for hosting companies

Odds are that you’re doing something dreadfully wrong with your Facebook presence.  Hosting companies compete in an increasingly commoditized space– there’s pricing pressure on a similar product offering with undifferentiated marketing.  PPC is expensive, yet many hosting companies are reliant upon Google AdWords for traffic.

Enter Facebook– not just a place for teenagers to socialize and post drunken photos, but a serious place to do business and target other businesses.  Here’s our top 7 Facebook optimization tips:

1. Having a Facebook fan page is not enough– if you don’t drive traffic to it via ads and tie it in with your regular website, there’s no point.  Did you know that when using Facebook’s ad platform, you can target by job title and company name?  Now you can fine tune your message by industry and profession– and the conversion rates are MUCH better this way.
2. Treat your Facebook page like a support center– You staff up for folks to answer the phone, so make sure you’re “open” on Facebook to answer the same inquiries about how they have a question about which type of dedicated server they need, how to choose a domain name, or whatever.  Thus, allow posts by not just your page, but also others to show– this is not the default option.  And when you change it, you allow your fans’ comments to show up, which is absolutely key to viral growth.
3. Use the Facebook Fan Box– You may have heard me speak at HostingCon about landing page optimization or other topics.  Beyond just testing images, headlines, offers, button color, and such– you can go straight to the root of why people convert– because of the trust generated from their friends using your hosting company.  The Facebook Fan Box is a widget you can paste in, showing how many people are fans of your page, including how many of their friends are.  Of course, you need to increase this number before putting in the fan box.
4. Choose your username– Yes, you can choose a vanity url– just go to facebook.com/username.  You’ll need to get at least 25 fans first, otherwise the option is grayed out for you. For example, see my Facebook profile .
5. Make sure it’s a Facebook fan page, not a profile– People have profiles, while businesses have pages.  By having a page, you can advertise, install applications, and promote yourself in ways that aren’t possible in other forms.  Groups are outdated, too– once you go over 5,000 members in your group, you can’t message people anymore. From a SEO standpoint, Facebook has clearly said to use fan pages, as that’s where link juice is being funneled.
6. Focus on people, not servers– Most hosting companies are not able to separate out what they actually do versus how they should be marketed.  I like to give the example of how Nike sells “authentic athletic performance” as opposed to “the finest quality rubber, plastic, and leather sewn together by low wage workers you can buy”.  Thus, on your Facebook page, focus on customer testimonials– lots of them.  Don’t just say you have great service– show it by allowing people to chime in.
7. Manage your reputation– Of course, if your service does suck, then Facebook is only going to magnify that.  So Facebook marketing doesn’t work for companies that don’t actually provide a great service and take care of your customers.  Encourage happy customers to give you a positive review or even provide an incentive for prospective customers to sign up via Facebook. For example, you can have a coupon code “FACEBOOK” that gives them 2 months of free hosting if they sign up and post it to their wall.  Now your marketing is trackable and viral.

Dennis Yu is CEO of BlitzLocal, a boutique firm specializing in Facebook marketing.  He is an international speaker and author,  having presented at HostingCon, SMX East, SMX West, Affiliate Summit, National Public Radio, TechCrunch, Entrepreneur Magazine, and others.  You can reach him at dennis@blitzlocal.com.

Dennis Yu gives Facebook optimization tips for hosting companies