Avoid Being Cheated by Online Advertising Companies

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How Businesses are Changing the Way They Spend Advertising Money

By Hector Cisneros

Over the past seven years, I have been writing about the latest trends in online marketing and advertising. Many things have happened, and changes are as constant as change itself. What doesn’t seem to change is the fact that major marketing players keep trying to stack the deck in their favor without regard for the return on investment that they provide businesses. Recently, Google made lots of negative headlines because they were serving up ads on inappropriate YouTube channels for some of their biggest corporate clients. It’s easy to understand the sensational headlines when a large corporation pulls millions in ad money from the likes of Google or Facebook. However, little is said when millions of small company’s websites take it on the chin because Google changes its search algorithm or Facebook policy flip-flops canceling ads running mid campaign. If you consider how these advertising giants wield absolute control over how business is advertised online, you quickly start to realize that you must have a plan B in place if you want to succeed. In this episode of Working the Web to Win, we will explore the current state of online advertising. We will ask the question, “How can businesses protect themselves from the power these mega advertising giants wield?” We will provide the steps needed to make sure you have a good plan B in place so that you will get your money’s worth.

How Nonprofit organizations Can Get The Most Out of Social Media

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Includes 24 Tips and Best Practices

By Hector Cisneros

A couple of years ago I was asked by the Clay County Chamber to put together a panel of social media experts so we could put on a Clay Chamber University program to help its members better understand and utilize social networking. The panel had five members who contributed topics, questions and answers to be used during the program. A moderator would bring up the questions, and each panelist would then elaborate on their perspective answer. Members of the audience could also ask questions and receive answers directly from the panel. The program was a huge success, and it prompted me to later write my hit article called; Social Media Tips, Tricks and Best Practices from the Pros. This article remains very popular and can be very useful for anyone trying to maximize their return on social media marketing. In this article, I will focus my coverage on helping nonprofits maximize their return. So, get ready to share these tips, tricks and best practices with your favorite charitable organizations as we explore how nonprofits can get the most out of social media marketing.

The Latest Tax & New IRS Scams Attacking US

By Hector E. Cisneros

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They say that the only sure things in life are death and taxes. Well, I‘m here to add a new one to this list, tax scams! Every year starting around January the scam artists ratchet up their scam machines and start grilling the elderly, desperate and greedy who are naive enough to believe what these conmen are selling. Every year they seem to get better at their schemes, so this year I thought I would give our readers a heads up on the latest and scariest Tax and IRS scams being perpetrated on the US population. So, sharpen your pencils tax preparers and learn about the latest Tax and IRS scams lurking on the World Wide Web.

Is Social Media More Powerful Than Face to Face Networking

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By Hector Cisneros

Most people are aware that social media shares, comments, and ratings have the biggest impact on the reputation of products and services provided by businesses today. Yet there are many who believe that social media will never replace face to face networking. I believe that most of us would agree that word of mouth is the most valuable form of advertising, right? Well, what if you could maximize your social media word of mouth by systematically using the tools that social media provides. What do you think would happen to your sales, reputation and the growth of your business? In this episode of Working the Web to Win we will explore how to use social media tools and techniques to maximize your positive word of mouth and grow your business. We will answer the questions of why this is important, how you go about building trust and credibility and how to use social equity to get more sales. We will also try and answer the question of which is the most powerful form of word of mouth marketing. So, get ready and fire up your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn engines as we explore the many ways to maximize word of mouth in social media.

What is the Ideal Length of a Social Post? What Makes It Work?

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By Hector Cisneros

Self-proclaimed expert bloggers and social media pundits all talk about the ideal length of a post. Whether it’s a blog or a tweet, on Facebook or another social net, every so-called expert has an opinion on what the ideal length of a social post should be. Well, I am here to tell you that most of these pundits are full of themselves. The reality is that the internet is an evolving medium. People’s tastes, tolerance, timing, and needs are evolving as the world itself evolves. In this episode of Working the Web to Win, we will explore the ideal ranges of social posts, including blogs, videos, podcasts and of course social media post. So, grab your pencil and get ready to take notes as I share the secret code of ideal social posts.

The Secrets to Building an Audience for Your Business

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By Hector Cisneros

We are now more than a decade into the 21^st century. Our world has evolved from one where the dominant communications medium was unidirectional, to one that is bidirectional. We have moved from a world that was market driven to one that is now consumer driven. Businesses today must not only cater to a target audience they must develop a fan base that is willing to follow and share their message and show their loyalty by consuming their products and services. To ensure their survival, a business must either build their own audience or buy exposure to someone else’s audience. The good news is that the network TV, Radio and Print media don’t have exclusive control of the internet. More importantly, the internet allows anyone who is willing to spend their blood, sweat, time, money and tears to build their own audience. In this episode of Working the Web to Win, we will explore the secrets to building a strong internet audience. One that can not only sustain a business in good times but one that will allow a business to grow and flourish even in a down economy. This article will provide you with an understanding of the prerequisites needed for success along with more than a half-dozen detailed tactics to grow your fan base. It will also provide links to dozens of articles that will broaden your understanding of the 21^st-century opportunity.

Dozens of Little Known Features in Google Search That You Need to Know

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By Hector Cisneros

Google is the dominant player in the SEARCH arena! It controls 70 to 80 percent of all searches that take place. But did you know that most of the search users don’t use 90% of the capabilities of Google Search? What would it mean to you and your business if you could improve the efficiency of your search by 10 to 50%? What if you could execute a search effortlessly for all kinds of useful and necessary questions. You know what I mean? The kind of questions that pop into your head, but don’t execute because you don’t find what you’re looking for? Well, in this episode of Working the Web to Win we will dig deeper into Google Searches functions, its tools and many of it's not so well known capabilities, so you can quickly do a search and get what you want.

Don't Pull the Trigger on Advertising with Your Eyes Closed

By Hector Cisneros

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Shoot - Ready - Aim - That's the most common method, small businesses use when implementing their marketing. A common scenario goes something like this.  An advertising sales rep will pitch them on some marketing, and if they like what they hear, they make the buy. Often the sales rep will be armed with some statistics that have little relevance to the business’ target market. But in most cases, the small business owner doesn’t fully understand what the sales rep is telling them. And to avoid looking uneducated, they avoid asking the hard questions. To make matters worse, most small businesses don’t know what their target market is, what their unique strengths are, what their weakness are and who their real competition is. In this episode of Working the Web to Win, we will explore all these questions and more as we tackle the all so common problem of Shoot, Ready, Aim.