Is Your Email Smartphone Friendly? 5 Tips for Going Mobile

Stacy Carlson
Email Marketing Consultant

In recent months, "mobile" has been the focus of much attention. That's no surprise when you consider the explosion of mobile devices - from tablets to smartphones - that are now available to consumers.

These statistics offer some food for thought as to why a mobile strategy is more important than ever:

• Mobile devices are expected to outsell PCs in 2011.
• eMarketer projects U.S. smartphone users will reach 73.3 million by the end of 2011.
• 58% of adults now use smartphones for more than making calls - they surf the web, read email, socialize online, watch videos and more. (Pew Internet Project)

With 1 in 6 emails being opened on a mobile device, your email program is the perfect place to focus your mobile strategy. By optimizing your messages for a mobile environment, you can make cost-effective changes that enhance the user's experience and ensure your message gets through no matter what the screensize.

1. Link to a mobile version of your message. By including a plain text version of your HTML message, you can help to avoid potential issues for people using a device that does not support HTML.
2. Don't crowd your links - Plan for “fat fingers”. You must consider how fingers are going to navigate the links on a touch screen. They are less accurate than a cursor, so be sure to leave ample room between your links. You’ll need to rethink elements like a navigation bar with multiple links in it or stacked links that could be frustrating for some people to click.
3. Be succinct. Make your content scannable for subscribers on-the-go. When it comes to the written content of your email it’s best to keep it brief and bold. Try using fewer words and shorter sentences.
4. Use alt tags effectively. Alt tags are used to describe any images included in your email. This email marketing basic is important because not all mobile devices will display your images correctly. By including alternative text, you can be sure everyone gets the message that an undisplayed image was supposed to convey.
5. Remember the basics. Not to oversimplify, but basic best practices will always make your email more effective regardless of the environment they’re in. Always clearly convey who you are and your offer through your “friendly from” and subject line. A clear call to action once the email is opened should communicate exactly what you want your reader to do.

Ideally, it's important to be mobile friendly in all aspects of your online marketing.  Having mobile ready website is key to catering to this growing market segment.  Be sure you're taking full advantage of the rapidly growing mobile marketplace.

Questions?  Feel free to contact me for more information.

Get Your Online Marketing Questions Answered in Our Next eAcademy Webinar

Are your Online Marketing efforts up-to-date?  The world of Online Marketing is constantly changing. From SEO to Social Media to Email Marketing, staying current is always a challenge.

We decided to let you determine the topics we cover in the next Visual Data Systems eAcademy webinar. Our Online Marketing Team will take your questions and answer them in a roundtable discussion format.

Get Your Online Marketing Questions Answered

Email your question to Marketing@VisualDataSystems.com with the subject line "Webinar Question". All questions must be received by November 1st.

Online Marketing Roundtable

Wednesday, November 2 at 3PM

Register Now for this informative discussion.

Our experts will draw from their varied specializations and backgrounds, as well as personal experiences and successes, to help you move forward with your marketing efforts.

Send us your question today. If we don't get to it during the webinar, stop by our booth at RezFest to talk with a member of our team.

Google Places: Recent Changes Explained

Lauren Magyar
Online Marketing Consultant

If you need a review on Google Places, you can find my webinar here: Understanding Google Local Search and How to improve your presence in Google Places.

Google is consistently rolling out changes to their products & services to improve usability and, of course, to keep all of us on our toes. This time the changes are to Google Places. Google Places is a major source of traffic for our clients and has become increasingly more popular. This is most likely due to the influx of smart phone users & the merge of organic & local listings. This newfound popularity could have been the stimulant behind the recent changes.


By far, the biggest change to Places is that Google is no longer displaying reviews from third party sites. This means that all business reviews from Yelp, TripAdvisor, Flip Key, etc. are no longer shown on your Google Places listing. The user has to physically click those reviews from the Search Results Page to see the them. Here is what the Search Results page looks like when you Google a Holiday Inn in Miami:

 In the past, when you clicked on the reviews, it would take you to the business’ Google Places page. Now the reviews are showing up on the actual sites. This major change makes it harder for users to find all the reviews for your business. Now, the main sources of reviews are coming from Google Places where most companies don’t have many reviews.


To encourage more reviews on the Places pages, Google made the ‘Write a Review’ button more prominent on the page:

So what does this mean for the vacation rental industry? This means that your company’s online reputation management strategy needs to be updated. Instead of just trying to get reviews anywhere online, the goal should be to make sure your company has an equal number of reviews across all major review sites. (These include Yelp, TripAdvisor, Flipkey, Google Places) Since most companies don’t have many reviews on Google Places now, it would be in your best interest to focus on obtaining reviews on your Places Listing first while continuing to monitor the other major review sites. For more information on managing your online reputation management, keep an eye out for Visual Data Systems upcoming webinar by Mark Randle and Emily Thompson.

Visual Data Systems Announces Fall 2011 eAcademy Webinar Schedule

The busy summer season has ended and it’s time to sit down and catch up on your online marketing efforts. Visual Data Systems is proud to reveal our fall webinar schedule with fresh topics and new ideas.

The eAcademy series of educational webinars was started by Visual Data Systems in 2009 and since that time, several thousand people have taken advantage of these webinars dealing with a wide range of online marketing topics that varies from the newest in Social Media and SEO to Best Design Practices and several very successful webinars dealing with email marketing. If you missed any of our previous webinars or want to see what topics have been covered, access our past eAcademy webinars or visit the Visual Data Systems website.

This fall, Visual Data Systems will be presenting five webinars, four of which are free and one advanced webinar that will cost attendees $250 and which will be limited to the number of attendees.

The eAcademy schedule for the Fall of 2011 is as follows:

September 30, 2011: Online Reputation Management – Who’s watching your company’s name?

October 19, 2011: Email Marketing & Social Media: Keys to Developing A Successful Road Map

November 2, 2011: Online Marketing Roundtable (SEO/Social Media/Email Marketing)

November 30, 2011: Facebook Revealed – Learn everything you ever wanted to know about Facebook (Advanced Paid Track)

December 14, 2011: Mobile Websites and Your Business – Why You Are in Danger of Getting Left Behind and What To Do About It

“As a company we believe in the old adage that an educated consumer is the best consumer,” states Kelly Hurley, COO/EVP of Visual Data Systems. “With that in mind – we came up with our way helping educate consumers in the vacation rental and real estate industries – eAcademy over two years ago. Since that time the series has proven very popular as we make sure that each and every presentation allows the attendee to take home information that will help them immediately improve their business and hopefully make better plans for the future.”

“From our founding over 18 years ago, Visual Data Systems had always prided ourselves on being the leading innovator in the realm of website design, technology and online marketing for the vacation rental industry and the eAcademy Webinar Series is another great example of our innovation and leadership. As our friends and clients in the vacation rental industry face increased competition – they must familiarize themselves with and understand many different and new forms of emerging marketing opportunities. Our expertise in these fields puts in the perfect position to help our clients and others understand what they can and should be doing to be better business people. We look forward to continuing this series for as long as it is needed and invite all interested parties to participate,” stated Paul Herman, CEO & Founder of Visual Data Systems.

If you think these webinar topics will benefit your company, please sign up today!

On the Road with Visual Data Systems

Check Out Our Fall Conference Schedule
Visual Data Systems will be out and about this fall, presenting at and attending a variety of conferences.  We invite you to stop by and see us to find out how you can benefit from our more than 15 years of experience in the vacation rental industry.
Explore our products and services including: Social media consulting package Away Wee Go!™ mobile websites Website design Online marketing programs Encore managed email marketing If you're attending one of the conferences listed below and would like to meet with us - we want to know. Give Alisa Holmes a call at 410-964-8665, ext. 234 or email her at Alisa@VDSYS.com to arrange a time to meet.
Fall 2011 Conference Schedule
Outer Banks Association of Realtors Tech FairOctober 5, 2011 Kitty Hawk, NC - Mark Randle and Alisa Holmes.
VRMA Annual ConferenceOctober 9-12, 2011 Orlando, FL - Robert Gray, Alisa Holmes, Paul Herman, Henry Sery and Emily Thompson.
RezFest 2011November 8-10, 2011 Las Vegas, NV - Paul Herman, Alisa Holmes, Mark Randle, Henry Sery and Emily Thompson.
HomeAway Software for Professionals Breakfast SeminarsNovember 15, 2011 Hilton Head, SC November 17, 2011 Cape Cod, MA
Expanding Our Expertise
Staying on top of current trends and increasing our knowledge base is a top priority.  Earlier this year Paul Herman and Lynn Middleton went to the User Interface Engineering Web App Masters Tour in Minneapolis, MN.  In July, Mark Randle, Henry Sery and Chelsea Frye earned their email marketing certification at a seminar hosted by MarketingSherpa. Members of our team will attend various industry conferences through the end of 2011 and into 2012. Fundamentals of Project Management - September 21, 2011 Towson, MD - Robert Spertzel and John Albaugh Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo - November 15-18, 2011 Chicago, IL - Online Marketing Team An Event Apart Design Conference - February 6-8, 2012 Atlanta, GA - Design Team

Visual Data Systems Online Marketing Team Members Receive Email Certification from MarketingSherpa

 

Chelsea Frye
Online Marketing Consultant
Visual Data Systems

As a member of the Visual Data Systems Online Marketing Department, I am happy to share some good news! Four of my fellow co-workers and I earned our Email Marketing Certification from MarketingSherpa  in 2011.

Kelly Hurley, COO and Stacy Carlson, Online Marketing Consultant renewed their certifications in the  Spring of 2011 and in July, Mark Randle, Online Marketing Manager, Henry Sery, Senior Online Marketing Consultant and I earned our certifications.

MarketingSherpa – a member of the MECLABS family of companies – is a leading research and consultancy firm that uses rigorous scientific testing to help business leaders get the best use from sales and marketing technology and resources including Internet marketing, website optimization and lead generation and nurturing.

All five team members attended training conferences offered by MarketingSherpa in which multiple advanced email marketing concepts and best practices were introduced and thoroughly detailed. Training and educational classes ranged from the biggest challenges email marketers face, how to build quality email lists, how to engage your audience, and many more. Several case studies were presented as examples of a problem faced and what the solution was for improvement.

“Armed with an advanced level of expertise, the Visual Data Systems team is now able to apply new concepts and strategies to our already successful Encore email marketing campaigns. This certification reinforces our commitment to staying up-to-date with emerging email marketing trends and best practices, as well as technological advancements,” stated Kelly Hurley, COO of Visual Data Systems. “Over the years, we have found that email marketing when properly managed can bring a high return on investment for our clients and we will continue to enthusiastically support this service through our innovation."

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly.

Understanding Google+: Three Key Features Explained



Lauren Magyar
Online Marketing Consultant
Visual Data Systems

 The rumors are true; Google has officially announced their new addition to the Social Media world with Google+ . Estimating to reach 20 million users by the weekend, Google+ is grabbing attention in the online world and starting to look like it could be a plausible threat to Facebook.

The similarities between the two social sites are undeniable, but Google+ has some additional features that make it unique:

Circles
The new and better way to categorize everyone on the web is through circles. Google+ starts each user with standard categories such as ‘Friends, Acquaintances & Family’.









After that, it is up to you to create your own circles. What does this mean? No more work profiles or blocking specific people from pictures. Now you can create a group labeled ‘Coworkers’ and post company/industry-related information directly to people who are interested. So your friends won’t have to see work-related material and your coworkers won’t see personal information. Circles may not be the ultimate fix for all privacy issues, but it certainly is a step in the right direction.


Hangout
Another new feature introduced by Google+ is Hangouts, which lets you video chat multiple people at the same time. Whoever it is that you choose to ‘hangout’ with is displayed on one screen so every person in the room can hear and see each person at the same time. Google took video chatting to the next level allowing multiple users in one room and then displaying it in your status messages. For example, if I log into Google+ and see that two of my best friends are in a hangout, they can invite me or I can join them permitted that I am in a circle of friends that they allow into the hangout.



Sparks
Google+ makes it easier to find information on your interests through Sparks. Search for a topic in the search menu and you will get a list of recent articles that are similar to what you searched. In addition, Sparks makes it easier to share content with those who share similar interests. You can save your interests and receive updates on the topic you are interested in. Sparks is a great way to find a community of people who want to communicate with you on topics you are passionate about.

Keep in mind that Google+ is constantly monitoring the feedback from people who are using the site and making changes. Much of Google+ is still in the testing phase. Right now, Google+ has allowed a couple companies to create business pages to use as testers. Later this year, it will be opened up to more businesses who want to create pages. If Google allows business pages to use their apps (such as their calendar, analytics, docs and SO many more), it has the potential to be very beneficial for companies.

For more information visit http://plus.google.com/ or http://www.google.com/+/demo/.