OrangeSoda Internet Marketing Blog

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Don’t tell anyone, but until now, OrangeSoda has probably not kept the fire code! We keep growing until we literally ran out of space. We got very close with our coworkers as we tried to accommodate new employees. The SEO team ended up taking over a conference room that made it look a little like we worked at a bank. We almost ceded into our own company.

Today that all changed. OrangeSoda moved offices about 5 minutes north or Orem to American Fork, Utah. We have sparkling new cubicles which are so roomy. There are balloons, the walls are painted orange, and the atmosphere this morning is festive as we set up at our new office. When we started planning the move, the office was much bigger than we needed. Now we almost fill it.

It’s great to be a part of a company that is growing!

OrangeSoda is pleased to announce a strategic marketing alliance with Google as a Google’s AdWords™ reseller. Google works more closely with their resellers help them optimize Google AdWords accounts for small or local businesses.

We manage paid search advertising for our clients on Google (answer to what is Google AdWords?), Yahoo, and MSN. This is one of the most efficient ways to advertise because your ad is shown when people are actively searching. Managing a campaign is a lot of work and to perform well you must constantly test and advertise (more on this in a future post).
To become a reseller, a business must meet Google’s requirements, including:

• Employ a direct sales force that sells to local businesses
• Have existing relationships with at least 500 customers
• Demonstrate experience servicing and supporting local businesses
• Share Google’s desire to provide a high quality user and advertiser experience

OrangeSoda is already a Google authorized company and this is a level up from that designation. Our clients will benefit from the extra resources we can utilize to maximize their campaigns.

According to Search Engine Land…”The level of support once one becomes an AdWords Authorized Reseller is fantastic…”

I’ve noticed a trend with clients - some have news and new information coming out all the time. Others struggle to come up with ideas. For search engine optimization and to establish yourself as an expert in your industry, you need quality content. One of my favorite methods to get new traffic to your web site is through an online press release.

Online press releases are press releases released online. Instead of just posting them on your site, your news is distributed through sites like Google News, Yahoo News, and on related sites and blogs. The best sites charge for this service.

Before you can release news online, you have to come up with something newsworthy. If you can’t come up with a news angle, your story is better distributed as an article - or else an advertisement.

“What makes a story newsworthy? For the media to consider your announcement newsworthy it must have a strong news angle and be interesting. The angle (or news peg) is the story hook; the news event; the controlling issue; the reason for the media to publish your story. Your news release needs tell people your story.” - PRLeap blog on “writing a press release”

There are usually newsworthy things happening in your business all of the time, but you’re not used to recognizing it. Look at your stats, sales, and what is happening in your business or industry and why. That’s usually the start of a good story.

First: brainstorm. Are you hiring more? Less? Are you involved in a good cause? Were you featured on a TV show, popular web site, or magazine? Is there something unexpected in your business?
Tips to Get Ideas for Newsworthy Stories:

1. Tie into the season or time of the year – like if you installed heated driveways, you would note how summer is the time most people plan for a heated driveway.
2. Tie into larger stories like politics, trends, social developments (like gas/energy prices, housing prices, credit slump or even trends and hot topics in your industry. You can look at industry magazines or web sites for ideas on stories that you could put your take on).
3. Human Interest – create news around how a client or person was personally affected by your business, etc.
4. New Development – a new feature for your product or web site, a new site or blog, trends in your industry or business, new hire, new investment, awards, partnerships, speaking engagements, events, contests, sponsorships, etc.

If you still can’t think of anything to write about, find news stories from your industry and give your unique take on the news.