Monday, August 24, 2015

Stay out of the Trash

Email marketing is one of the most effective and efficient ways to "Sell your Stuff."  As streamlined as this way of marketing has become, there are still a few "gotchas" of which you need to be aware.

One of those gotchas is
how you treat the people on your list, especially those who don’t open your emails.

Internet service providers such as Gmail, Yahoo! and others do goofy things. Because they’ve been inundated with spam throughout the years, they’ve developed some intricate ways to determine how “good” your email list is. On the surface, they’ll rate how many inbox bounces you’ve gotten, how many emails you’ve had marked as spam, and so on.

If you don’t earn a good rating, the emails you send might not even hit your subscribers’ inbox at all; instead, they'll go sit in your spam folder. Because of this, your goal should be to have an engaged list, one that has a good percentage of emails that get opened and read.

It’s good practice to “cull the herd,” so to speak. Take the people who haven’t opened an email in a set amount of time—say, two months, give or take—and put them on an entirely different list with an entirely different provider. This way, the ISPs won’t count those not-engaged subscribers negatively toward the health of your list, and your primary emails will land in inboxes and not junk folders.

If you would like to setup or streamline your email list, please contact me and get started today.

Dave Horton
Dave Horton Advertising
239-687-9499
dave@davehortonads.com
davehortonads.com



Friday, August 14, 2015

Your Website Title Can Make You King

What is a website title tag?

A website title tag defines the title of the document. If you right click off the side of your website, then left click "View Page Source" your website code will appear. Your page title will appear somewhere near the top between the 2 title tags . The title code on my website homepage looks like this.
Since Google only displays the first 55 characters of your title, try to keep it short, or at least get your most important keywords at the beginning of the title. The copy in purple is my business title tag on Google.

Why is a title tag important?

Your website title tag is one of the most important tools you can utilize to get your site ranked high on search engines. The use of proper keywords ( words a potential customer uses in his Google search) is a must to rank high. Your potential customers won't find you if you use ineffective keywords, as less than 1% ever go beyond page 1 on any search engine.


How do I change my title tag?
Each website design software is different, so there is no one easy answer. I recommend referring to your software support, or contact me and I will determine which keywords will attract customers, and insert these keywords in title tags on your website.

Dave Horton
Dave Horton Advertising
239-687-9499
dave@davehortonads.com
davehortonads.com

Friday, October 22, 2010

Free Logo Art From Any Company

Have you ever faced a dead end when searching on line for a company logo? Say you are working on a project and the logo art provided for you is low resolution and can't be used. Maybe you need your favorite sport's team logo in high resolution.

Brands of the World is the world's largest library of brand logos in vector format available to download for free.





After creating an account, simply type in the company's name in the search area and the vector logo and variations of it will appear. Then click download and save the logo to your file.

Be sure to read the intellectual property of the copyright rules associated with use of any logo.

Dave Horton
Dave Horton Advertising

See http://davehortonads.com/ or visit me on Facebook

Email me at davehortonads@gmail.com

Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Easiest Way To Fix Photo Red-Eye

An otherwise great photo is ruined by red-eye. You don't have Photoshop, and you try to color the eyes with a cheap Paint program, only to find your efforts makes your subjects look like Zombies.

A FREE and easy way to fix red eye is by using Picnik, an online photo editing service. See how I edited a photo using Picnik.

1. Go to the Picnik website and click Get Started Now!, then on the next page click Upload a photo.

2. Once your photo is displayed, tell Picnik whether the subject is a human or furball.

3. Hover the tool above each eye and click once. Picnik automatically fixes each eye.


4. Save photo. It's that easy!


Picnik also offers other photo editing tools such as cropping, rotating, color adjustments, exposure and auto-fix.

If you have difficult photo restoration that can't be solved with Picnik, please contact me, as I can do cool stuff like eliminate ex-spouses out of family photos or add a person to a staff photo who was absent on picture day.


Dave Horton
Dave Horton Advertising

See http://davehortonads.com/ or visit me on Facebook

Email me at davehortonads@gmail.com


Thursday, August 26, 2010

Why Not Just Pay To Be #1

As I discussed in a previous blog, being on Google Page 1 is very important if you wish to reach your target market. There are two ways to get to Page 1, either by natural search listing, or pay to appear on Page 1.

Effective natural search listing is done through skillful SEO (Search Engine Optimization) using proper meta tags, keywords and other tools.

Sponsored links are pay-per-click listings that appear on Google page 1, usually on the right side of the page or in a pink box. No SEO work is needed to achieve this ideal position.


It's easier to pay and get results immediately, but is this the correct decision?

A recent Google study found that searchers were 72% more likely to click on a listing that is naturally ranked than a pay-per-click listing.

Why?
Searchers know that natural listings have been vetted by a secret Google algorithm which ranks sites by relevance. Searcher know a naturally listed site is more relevant because it's position was earned, not bought.

Why I am most qualified to build your website or tune up your existing poor performing site?
As an exercise, type "Naples Advertising Agency" into Google.

You will find my company in the all-important Page 1 Position. My #1 position is extra cool since advertising agencies are the pros at SEO. There are many ad agencies below me in Google that brag about their SEO talents. Why are they not above me in their own category?

Dave Horton
Dave Horton Advertising

See http://davehortonads.com/ or visit me on Facebook

Email me at davehortonads@gmail.com

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Stimulating Sign Savings

Across America, every road project paid for with federal stimulus money will have one detail in common: a big green sign that advertises your tax dollars at work.



In New York, the biggest, 84-square-foot signs could cost up to $8,300 each to make ($98 per square foot.)

I could save the taxpayers of New York $7,208 per sign as I can make an 84 square foot sign for only $1092 ($13 per square foot.) In addition, I could bring commute time pleasure to motorists with a more pleasing and logically arranged sign, like this one I designed for a construction client in Naples.



My signs are created on my desktop computer using the latest graphics programs, and outputted on full color vinyl, laminated and mounted on either treated wood, PVC board or metal. Signs I create include a 3 year full warranty.

When calling for your next sign, please ask the sign company how much a sign costs per square foot. If their cost is over $13 per square foot, you are paying too much, like the tax payers in New York.

See some additional signs I've designed and installed on my website.

Dave Horton
Dave Horton Advertising

See http://davehortonads.com/ or visit me on Facebook

Email me at davehortonads@gmail.com

Friday, May 21, 2010

Know Your Place!

Still can't get your business onto Google page 1?

Google Places is a feature that will get your business listed on a map that appears on page 1 of Google. And it's FREE!



When someone initates a Google search, a map appears with locations pinpointed with a link to an informational page with details such as your contact info, description, business categories, operation hours, payment options, photos, videos, custom info and even a hyperlink to your own web page. You can even add coupons to your Google Places listing.

In addition, Google offers a personalized dashboard within Google Places that includes data about how many times people have found your business on Google, what keywords they used to find it and even what areas people traveled from to visit your business. This great marketing tool can help you make decisions within your own business. You can concentrate your efforts to fill the demands that Google search says people are looking for.

My clients have moved to page 1, you can easily do so too. Please contact me if you need assistance with Google Places.

Dave Horton
Dave Horton Advertising

See http://davehortonads.com/ or visit me on Facebook

Email me at davehortonads@gmail.com