Marena Studios » Websites

Got a +1

admin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:35:27 +0000

We Facebook, tweet, tumble, stumble, and share. Just when we thought we were all Linkedin, the masterminds behind Google emerge with a new social networking site called Google+. Lucky for us, it comes with a whole new set of social terms to learn.

If your latest lingo consists of liking, posting, and chatting you’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Now you not only have friends, but “circles” to share with, can form “hangouts” to video chat with friends, suggest links based on your “sparks,” and “huddle” up for a group text from your Smartphone.

And yes, it comes with a new button to share on your business’ website. It’s called the +1 button. The button can appear in Google search results, on ads, and sites throughout the web. Similar to Facebook’s “like” and Twitter’s “tweet” buttons, +1’s are public and when users like a search result they can click it. Searchers whose contacts have clicked the +1button will receive personalized annotations from their gmail chat buddies, their Google contacts, and people they are following on reader&buzz.

Not convinced? +1 buttons not only encourage people to visit your website over your competitors as it has been recommended by many people but it may also affect search ratings. Google will rank websites that have many +1 clicks higher for related search terms.

At Marena Studios we can set your business up with a Google+ account and add the +1 button to your website and online marketing. We can customize the button according to your preferences and analyze the effects of the button using Google analytics.

Better get connected! Your invite to this social event even comes with a plus one!

A second web site launches for Watson Pharmaceuticals

admin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:19:54 +0000

On June 9^th, we launched a second corporate web site for Watson Pharmaceuticals (http://www.ourwinningbehaviors.com) to unveil their new Winning Behaviors initiative. Winning Behaviors is Watson’s new corporate culture theme, going to 6,000 employees worldwide. The site & campaign was launched at a ceremony dedicating their new corporate offices in Parsippany, NJ. In addition to the site, Marena Studios created all employee communications material, including building wraps and signage for the unveiling of the new corporate offices.

Watson.com goes live

admin — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:34:48 +0000

Marena Studios is pleased to announce the launch of Watson.com new site. We had the privilege of being retained by them less than 2 months ago. In this short time, we have forged a great relationship with their communications team and met their deadline of launching a new site in conjunction with the release of their annual report. Here are some before and afters for you to take a look at.

When it comes to SEO, Content is Still King

admin — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 16:40:14 +0000

Is a website’s content really that important? If you want to rank well on search engines, yes. Search engines are all about content. When searchers type in a query on a search engine, it produces search results that show the most relevant content in its repository based on the keywords in the query.

Quality website content is king. Google handles about 34 000 searches per second. Think about livepage.apple.com that for a minute – that is 2,040,000 searches per minute and 122,400,000 searches per hour. Consumers are looking for information and they want relevant, informative content.

In order for your website to appear on search engines’ result pages your website content has to be well optimized. That’s where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) fits into a digital strategy. SEO comprises a number of factors, but your content and keyword strategy play an integral part in your overall natural search campaign. The goals you want to achieve through your SEO campaign (e.g. increase sales or offer informative content) will also have an influence on your website’s content strategy.

Many website owners make the mistake of writing content for search engines by stuffing keywords into the copy. This results in the website copy being difficult to read for human users – a sure way of losing website visitors. First and foremost always write for your human traffic, then go back to the content to see where you can fit in relevant keywords without breaking the flow of the copy. Internet users are more likely to scan online copy, so content needs to flow easily and logically. To make it easier for visitors to scan your web copy, bold the keywords and key-phrases you want them to pay attention to.

An analytics package will tell you how visitors engage with your website and which pages have the highest exit rates. A high exit rate on a certain page could indicate that visitors are not finding what they are looking for on that page. There is no excuse for not making use of an analytics package, especially since there are numerous free options available (like Google Analytics).

Courtesy of Articlesbase, Alter Sage, SC #2608285

Marena Studios designs new site for urbanedgeny.com to launch April 14th

admin — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:01:16 +0000

Marena Studios a excited to announce a strategic partnership with Urban Edge. We gave this company, who shares space with us at 12 West 23rd Street, a fresh look for their website urbanedgeny.com, and devised an advertising campaign to connect with the target market of renters and buyers. This is an all no-fee real estate listings site with all the listings coming direct from the owners. For anyone who has searched for a home in New York, a site full of no-fee listings that cuts out the hassle and expense of a broker isn’t a tough sell to begin with!

Marena Studios creative approach for the site’s model was simple. Communicate to the user and owner that “No fee=No Brainer”. On the home page the USP’s of going direct is portrayed through a series of lighthearted banners. The overall design of the site is clean and contemporary with a focus on longevity and ease of use.

The studio is also designing all the supporting collateral materials to help launch the site, so be on the lookout for Urban Edge branding in your neighborhood!

Check it out, tell your friends, find a new NO FEE Apartment, save some bucks!

Site is live but still in Pre-Launch phase http://www.urbanedgeny.com

Small Businesses to Increase Keyword Counts in Search Marketing

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:03:59 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I highlighted the general move by small businesses into search marketing. WebVisible’s survey indicated that the typical small business spent $1,658 on search marketing in Q3 2009. Another detail that came to light in that survey is the increase in the number of keywords used by small businesses.

WebVisible analysts note that the typical small business used 55 keywords in their search campaigns in Q3 2009. This compares to the 43 keywords the typical small business used in Q3 2008. Analysts expect the number of keywords and general complexity in small business search campaigns to grow though they have a way to go to reach the thousands of keywords employed by large advertisers.

The WebVisible survey also revealed significant differences between small business types when it comes to search marketing and the number of key words used. Here’s a list of businesses, their amount as a percentage of total advertisers using search, and the average number of keywords used:

Attorneys/Legal Services 7.68% (105 keywords)
Dentists 4.97% (74 keywords)
Air Conditioning Services 2.63% (55 words)
Physicians & Surgeons 2.03% (57 words)
Insurance 1.97% (69 keywords)
And what are businesses getting in exchange for this activity? Once a small business spends over $100 in a quarter on a search marketing campaign with good keywords, the click through rate (CTR) is 1% or higher. CTR leads to conversion action on the marketer’s Web site of 32%. Conversion actions range from submitting an e-mail to bookmarking the page to viewing a video. With results like this, it’s easy to see why so many small businesses expect to increase their spending on search marketing in 2010.

[Source: State of Small Business Online Advertising Q3, WebVisible, Fall 2009]

iPerceptions: Why website visitors aren’t buying

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:44:46 +0000

According to iPerceptions’ E-commerce Industry Report Q2 2009, 38.6% of the 360,000 or so visitors to the 160 websites tracked were in the research stage of the buying process while just 17% were at the buying stage.
Delving into the data, iPerceptions was able to establish several reasons why visitors weren’t purchasing. The main reason was that visitors weren’t able to find what they were looking for (34%) while price and navigation/usability issues tied in second place (13%) followed by shipping policies (9%).
With over a quarter (27.1%) of website visitors arriving from search engines, it is imperative that online retailers take steps to ensure that they only appear in search engine results for products they actually sell.
At the same time, checking out site navigation and usability to ensure visitors can easily find product specifications, customer service information, delivery and payment options will help guide and reassure the consumer along the purchase funnel.
“By structuring their sites so that visitors can look for – and find – crucial decision-making information, companies can remove a major hurdle responsible for causing would-be purchasers to eventually abandon the process altogether,” said iPerceptions’ President and CEO, Claude Guay. “This is extraordinarily valuable information for online retailers as we move into the holidays, and something that should really make marketers stand up and take notice.”

Internet Marketing 101: Why light leads are better than simple clicks

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:32:35 +0000

This is the theory which runs Reply.com. The company engages a platform using light leads rather than simple clicks to help marketers engage consumers, convert sales and increase revenue. CEO and found Payam Zamani explains light leads this way, “Consumers who are interested in buying a car go to a jump page and are asked where and what they want to buy. Since [Reply.com] knows that piece of information, we can categorize auto-buyers and get that information to the advertiser. The advertiser buys that traffic on a Cost Per Lead (CPL) or Cost Per Enhanced Click (CpEH) basis.” Over the past ten years, performance based marketing has increased from $77 million (1998) to just over $13 billion (2008). This is a 67% increase as marketers figure out how to manage paid search and other online campaigns. How important are these light leads in the performance marketing space? Considering the majority of consumers, 84% according to a Brand Reputation survey, research purchases online prior to buying, these light leads can be incredibly important especially to hyper local businesses. Auto dealers, local restaurants, local merchants and brands can take enhanced clicks and the information compiled by Reply.com to engage local consumers and convert sales – both online and offline. To date, Reply.com has seen revenues in some ad categories increase by up to 80% versus using other advertising platforms. What can a light lead do for the marketer? • Gives marketers targeted traffic without heavy keyword buys • Offers geographically targeted traffic • Offers segmented traffic based on geographic location and purchase intent “Enhanced clicks direct consumers to an advertiser’s customized landing page. The advertiser gets the consumer location and intent-to-purchase without managing keywords or text campaigns,” said Mr. Zamadi. “Leads are distributed through an auction interface, giving the marketer price, quality and volume control. The moment a consumer clarifies their intent and location, the click is enhanced. Because it includes user-submitted information the advertiser knows what the consumer wants and where the consumer is which gives them a better conversion rate.” The other benefit to using light leads is that the advertiser receives the consumer location; geographically targeted ads or, in this case, taking only leads from a specific geographic area, has been proven to give advertisers a higher return on investment for the overall campaign. This is becoming more and more important as advertisers try to squeeze as much as they can from each ad, auction buy and campaign. “There is a need, especially in the last 12 months, to become more profitable,” said Zamani. “Services who can cut waste and not force advertisers to buy unwanted traffic or unmonetized traffic have done well. I see [marketers] wanting to broaden their reach but pay accordingly. For example, a woman of thirty may be the perfect demographic target but women between forty and fifty may also be strong leads. I, as a marketer, would pay a premium for the perfect target but would expect a lower cost for leads outside that perfect targeted base.”