You’ve probably heard about it by now, but Google and the other major search engines have started indexing “real-time” information from social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

So when customers are trying to find you on the web, your business not only competes with other web sites, it has to also compete with blogs, online videos, mobile apps, and now real-time information coming from social networking sites too!

But don’t worry – your Online Expo Booth can help you get noticed by your customers and the search engines alike, giving you a great way to stand out from the crowd, build inbound links, and drive new traffic to your web site!

As the web becomes a more diverse place, not all customers will want to interact with businesses in the same way. So in the past, a web site alone may have been sufficient in meeting your customers’ needs. But today, consumers expect to interact with your business whether through your web site, social networking sites, or interactive web sites like your Online Expo Booth.

One of the most important benefits you have with your Online Expo Booth is that it provides you with additional inbound links – a huge factor in determining where your business shows up in the search engine rankings. So between the inbound links built-in to your Online Booth and the Social Networking profile links available, there are up to 11 separate inbound links you can use to help customers and search engines find you more easily online.

So if you haven’t updated your Online Expo Booth in a while, or if you still have not added your Social Networking links to your Booth, now is a great time to make sure you are getting all of the benefits available from your Online Expo Booth!

Spring is on the way – and with it come the many Business Expo events that Chambers sponsor in local communities to promote you – their Chamber members!

Whether you are a long-time exhibitor or a show attendee at these events, Business Expos are a great opportunity for you to promote your business, network with others in the community, and discover new business opportunities among the new faces (and old friends) that you connect with.

Your Online Expo Booth is a natural extension of the physical Business Expo, and you can use it to extend all the benefits that come with Expo participation far beyond the actual event and keep the momentum going all year long – online where people can find you 24/7!

As you prepare your displays and marketing materials for your upcoming Business Expo, don’t forget to take a look at your Online Expo Booth as well. Each time you update the information in your Online Expo Booth, you not only provide your visitors with the fresh information they want, but you also provide fresh content for the search engines to index as well.

For More Marketing Impact, Try These Tips:

1. Match your online booth’s content to the promotions you’re planning for your physical expo booth. Update your coupons, PDFs, and even photos and logos to match the materials in your physical booth, which will help reinforce your message in both places.

2. Go Social! Make sure that your social networking profiles are listed in your Online Expo Booth, and cross promote your booth with your social profiles as well. This will also help build additional inbound links and generate interest and additional visitors to your booths, both physical and virtual.

Updating your Online Expo Booth information not only keeps visitors interested and engaged, it also provides the search engines with fresh content to index – and search engines LOVE fresh content! Here are some ideas for updating your booth that can also help boost your rankings in the search engines:

1. Upload New PDF Files
   Search engines have no problem indexing the content of pdf files, so be sure to change out the pdf files in your Online Expo booth regularly. For extra SEO points, work your keywords into the text of the pdf document, and add a link or two that lead back to your web site.

1. Update Your Keywords
   Your Online Expo Booth’s Marketing Center has a specific field available for search engine keywords and phrases. The information you add to this field becomes “meta data” in the behind-the-scenes HTML code for your booth, helping search engines to find your booth more easily. Update your keywords and phrases in this field, and then be sure to weave these same keywords into the content paragraphs of your booth as well.

1. Link to your Social Profiles
   Google recently announced that it is now using information from Facebook and Twitter in its search results, which further emphasizes the power that these new social networking sites already wield. Use this to your advantage by adding your social profiles to your Online Expo booth. This gives the search engines some additional paths to follow to help them discover even more about your business.

We are planning to launch some exciting new features this year!

Interactive Media
With the increasing popularity of social media and interactive web, we want you to also take advantage of this technology in your Online Expo Booth. Early this year we will be adding the capability for you to upload web video to your booth, or add an interactive slide show to your booth to visually showcase your business.

Booth Stats Tracking
Also coming early in 2010 will be the addition of a custom stats tracking module that will allow you to monitor your booth’s traffic, see which links were clicked, track which keywords your visitors used to find you, and more!

There are several exciting things ahead for the Online Expo Program, so watch for these new features in 2010.

Research shows that 73% of Americans spend time on the web EVERY DAY. With so many people on the web, it makes sense for your business to do everything possible to stand out and get noticed. Your Online Expo Booth is a great way to promote your business and get more attention online – where your customers and potential customers are already looking!

You should also be using every available tool to help capture attention for your business, and your Online Expo Booth has plenty of tools you can use to help your business get noticed on the web. Are you taking full advantage of this opportunity?

Your booth is already working for you 24/7/365, so here are some things you can do to leverage its power and generate even more attention for your business:

Update Your Information
Is your contact information up-to-date? Are you offering any new or additional products or services? Give your booth’s content a quick once-over to make sure you’re representing your company in the best possible light.

Upload PDFs
Your booth allows for two PDF uploads – take advantage of this feature! Upload your company brochure, a data sheet, your Calendar of Events, flyers, testimonials, or anything that you think will capture your visitors’ attention and give them the information they’re looking for.

Promote Your Specials
Are you offering any specials or limited-time offers? You can upload your most recent coupons directly to your Online Expo Booth to advertise your latest deals and promos. Give your booth visitors a little extra incentive to engage with you by making your special offers available right in your booth!

Get Social
Make it easy for your booth’s visitors to stay connected with your business – add your Social Profiles to your Online Expo Booth. You’ve already done the work to create social profiles, so make the most of your efforts and include them in your booth!

These simple updates can go a long way toward getting visitors to notice you and drawing more attention to your business on the web.

With the Holiday Season rapidly approaching, there are a few easy updates you can make to your Online Expo Booth to promote your Holiday events, special offers, and more – just use these four easy steps to give your Online Expo Booth some extra selling power for you this Holiday Season!

1.) Update Your Coupons:
Is your business gearing up for the coming season? Promote your special offers for the Holidays! You can upload your most recent special offer to the Coupon section of your Expo Booth to advertise the great deals you’re giving shoppers this season. Having your latest holiday coupons available can give booth visitors a little extra incentive to shop with you this Holiday Season.

2.) Fresh PDF Files:
Did you know that your Online Expo Booth allows you to upload two additional PDF files? The newly upgraded PDF feature in your Expo Booth allows for much faster PDF upload, making it easier than ever to keep your content fresh and relevant for the Holiday Season. Not sure what to post? How about an invitation to your Holiday Open House, a flyer for a Holiday Sale you’d like to promote, or your company’s Calendar of Events for this Holiday Season?

3.) Optimize Your Booth:
Optimize your booth for the search engines! In your Booth’s Marketing Center, there is a specific field available for search engine keywords and phrases, which can hold up to 250 characters. The keywords (and phrases) that you add to this field automatically become “meta data” in the behind-the-scenes HTML code for your booth, helping search engines to find your booth more easily! In fact, many Online Expo booths come up in the search engine listings ahead of a company’s own web site! Make it easy for holiday shoppers to find your booth (and as a result, your holiday coupons, promotions, and events) by adding or updating your booth’s search engine keywords.

4.) Social Networking:
Are you using Social Networking like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook? Make it easy for your booth’s visitors to stay connected with your company – add your Social Profiles to your Online Expo Booth! You already put the work into creating your social profiles, so why not make it easy for booth visitors to also engage with you on the social networks as well?

With these four easy steps, you can quickly and easily Deck the Virtual Halls of your Online Expo Booth for a successful Holiday Season.

Did you know that your Online Expo Booth now gives you the capability to link to your social networking profiles?

By now you are probably aware that Social Networking is the hottest topic in online marketing today. By incorporating Social Networking profiles in your Online Expo booth, you can give your business additional exposure online and further integrate this new technology into your online marketing efforts.

Give your booth visitors multiple ways to connect with you, and make it easy for customers and prospects to find your social profiles – right from your Online Expo booth! Just log in to your marketing interface and click on “Update Booth Info” to add your social networking profile links today!

Do you want to learn more about Social Networking for small business?
View our Online Presentations here!

Are you already using Social Networking for your small business?
Add your information to your Online Expo booth today!

With all of the new Online Expo features we’ve added lately, there are lots of new ways for your business to get noticed online with your Online Expo booth. But – we also know how hard it is to find time to make updates to your booth. If you’re like most users, it’s just one more task on your To-Do List that often gets pushed to the bottom.

So to help you take advantage of all the new features in your booth, we are offering current Online Expo participants FREE QUARTERLY MAINTENANCE for 2010, but only if you sign up by December 15, 2009.

Sign up by December 15, and at the beginning of each quarter in 2010 we’ll send you a short email form that you can fill out online. It’s easy – simply fill out the form, and we’ll make the updates to your booth for you – at absolutely no cost!

Imagine having your booth updated with:

• January 2010: Start the New Year with a fresh, updated booth!
• April 2010: Let customers know what’s new for Spring
• July 2010: Avoid the summer slump – promote your special offers!
• October 2010: Get your Booth ready for the Holiday Season

Your Online Expo booth is a great promotional tool that is already working for you 24/7/365. Why not take advantage of all the new features that you may not yet be using? Let us keep your booth information fresh, up-to-date, and working for your business with this special, limited-time offer.

Sign Up Now >>

Simply having a web site for your company is not enough anymore – not only do your customers expect to see you where they are already spending their time (e.g., social networking sites), but search engines are increasingly listing content from sites like YouTube, Twitter, and – you guessed it – your Online Expo booth! In fact, an Online Expo booth often ranks higher in the Search Engines than a company’s own web site!

Over the past few months we have added several new features to your Online Expo booth, making it easier than ever to give your company an expanded online presence. For instance, now you can:

• Add SEO data to your booth (keywords that become meta-data) – follow up by using your keywords within your content.
• Add your Social Networking Profiles to your Online Expo booth – it’s easy to do, and it allows your booth’s visitors to connect to you in a variety of ways.
• Add PDF files more easily – the PDF upload feature has been redesigned to make it quick and easy for you to instantly upload pdf files to your Online Expo booth. Did you know that Search Engines can also “read” the text in your PDFs? Sprinkle your keywords throughout the PDFs you upload to add extra “link juice.”

A few simple updates to your booth can do more than you think to expand your reach online and boost your search engine rankings.

Five Sparrows will be attending this year’s MCCE (Michigan Conference of Chamber Executives) Annual Conference and Expo.

FIVE SPARROWS – KICKING OFF THE CONFERENCE!

Social Marketing: Tips, Tricks, and Tactics for Using Social Media

Wednesday , October 28
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Five Sparrows is excited to be presenting the “lead-off” seminar at this year’s MCCE conference! The seminar will include live demonstrations and hands-on examples of creating an integrated social marketing strategy using today’s top social marketing sites.

ALSO NEW THIS YEAR – IN-BOOTH SEMINARS!

On Thursday, Oct. 29, Five Sparrows will be offering Social Networking mini-seminars (about 10 minutes each) right in our booth!

If you’re attending the conference, be sure to stop by and say hello. You won’t want to miss these quick, informative FREE seminars!