In October of 2010, Zoomerang partnered with GrowBiz Media and launched a survey in an effort to understand how small to midsized businesses used their marketing budget in 2010 and what changes they were planning for 2011. The survey was sent to businesses with less than 1,000 employees across the US )sorry I haven't come across a similar survey with Canadian SMBs).

I admit a sense of astonishment in seeing that only 54% of the 751 respondents indicate that their business currently has a website. Not so surprising was that E-mail and social media marketing continue to grow in popularity. Heading into 2011, most SMBs plan to increase their marketing spend in both online and print mediums, with online activities receiving the largest increases.

Here are the Key Takeaways –
• Businesses are continuing to adopt social media and build these practices into marketing budgets.
• The growth of social media could be linked to more than half of the businesses surveyed having a marketing budget of $1,000 or less.
• Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are the top three social networks, respectively, utilized by SMBs.
• Respondents under the age of 30 are the highest adopters of social media.
• The top five budget areas that SMBs plan to increase in their 2011 marketing budgets are: website, e-mail, direct mail, social media and print advertising.

For more information on the survey and its results, click here to download the report in its entirety.

Paul Bies



President,
Mystique Creative

Specializing in executive travel, Image Air Charter is a charter and aircraft management company dedicated to providing the executive traveler with the highest level of aviation travel services. In that effort Mystique Creative was hired to design and develop a site that would allow their customers and prospects to easily examine their ever growing fleet and full service offering.

The site allows visitors to quickly access basic fleet specifications from the top level pull down menu - delivering more detailed information upon click through to specific fleet pages. The site features an interactive range map allowing comparison of the distances each aircraft in their fleet can fly between takeoff and landing.
Indulge yourself… Visit site>

Paul Bies



President,
Mystique Creative

While the answer is technically yes, a better ending to the question may be – 'will it be around long?".

98% of internet business fail or are unable to provide business owners with a substantial income. Lack of targeted website traffic is a major factor leading to their demise. So, unless you're spending a wad of dough pushing traffic to your site, it is imperative that you understand the importance of search engine optimization to the success of your site.

Search engines are the largest source of web traffic and will continue to be so in the years ahead. In this respect SEO becomes the most crucial factor for any website. And in the Search Engine space Google absolutely dominates when it comes to actually driving traffic to websites.



Do you know how your site is performing in regards to the search engines? If not, I invite you sign up for Mystique Creative's Free Website Checkup.

Imagine the value of knowing if, or why, your site is underperforming, and how it can be improved. This comprehensive and objective analysis will help you by pinpointing problem areas and recommending solutions. Instead of replacing your site, you may be able to revitalize it, saving the company time and money.

For more information visit: http://www.mystique.ca/checkup/

Paul Bies



President,
Mystique Creative

As the Internet evolves, so do the offerings of search engines as they battle to get your attention. New engines form constantly with changes in technology and old ones leave us behind.

Here's a sampling of some you may already know:

AOL Search - A Google powered search engine used by AOL users also pulls listings from the Open Directory Project.

AltaVista - the Internet's first Web Index, has very comprehensive coverage and a wide range of power searching commands, which make it a particular favorite among researchers. It gets its listings from Yahoo! Search.

All The Web - uses results from Yahoo! Search plus an index of tens of millions of pdf and doc files.

Ask.com - (formerly Ask Jeeves) is a human-powered search service that attempts to direct you to the exact page that answers your question. If it fails to find a match within its own database, then it will provide web pages from their search engine.

Bing - Microsoft's MSN web portal also offers free email, instant messenger, and a directory. It previously used Looksmart for its search results but now provides access to Yahoo's listings.

Excite - A popular web portal (a page that, in addition to search, includes news, sports, weather, email and much more) on the web. Excite uses a metasearch engine that searches Google, Yahoo and Ask listings.

Google - Currently the most popular search engine, makes heavy use of link popularity as a primary way to rank web sites. This can be especially helpful in finding good sites in response to general searches such as "cars" and "travel," because users across the web have in essence voted for good sites by linking to them.

Google is also known for a wide range of features including: cached pages, excellent spell checking, access to dictionary definitions, stock quotes, street maps, telephone numbers and more. The Google Toolbar is also very popular.

HotBot - has advanced search features and presents listings from either Ask.com or MSN and the Open Directory Project

LookSmart includes past and popular searches right on their home page. They also have a pay per click advertising program.

Lycos - another web portal offers "personalized content" including free email, websites, blogs and photo sharing. They include listings from the Open Directory Project. A good looking site.

Netscape Search - Netscape Search's results come primarily from Google and the Open Directory Project.

Open Directory Project - Uses volunteer editors to catalog the web. It was acquired by Netscape in November 1998, and the company pledged that anyone would be able to use information from the directory through an open license arrangement. Netscape itself was the first licensee. Lycos also uses the information for its main service and within Lycos-owned HotBot. Here's more information about Open Directory.

Search.com - A metasearch engine owned by CNET, that searches Google, Ask.com, LookSmart and dozens of other leading search engines to bring you the best results.

Snap - An innovative search company that offers previews of websites in search listings.

WebCrawler is a metasearch engine that combines results from Google, Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com. They also offer a toolbar with Dictionary Search that you can download.

Yahoo! Search - Once the web's most popular search service is still a good alternative to Google. Yahoo is the oldest major web site directory, having launched in late 1994.

Frank Beecham
Webguy
Mystique Creative

Scents Alive ia a custom manufacturer of natural personal care, skin care, pet care, and natural candles.

Since 1987, they’ve helped customers formulate better quality natural products, or reformulate their existing products to make their lines more natural.

Mystique Creative was commissioned to create a new website that was not only fresh but optimized for the search engines. Traffic is up as a result, as is business!

Paul Bies

President,
Mystique Creative