Our Latest project to assist our clients, and end users of the All Malta Online website, this site acts very much like a Facebook style update site for our clients to promote their latest promotions, offers, new arrivals, stock etc.

Starting with a quick assessment of your current online position, competitor analysis and your target audience as well as their social media interaction.

We will do all the technical stuff that you do not want to do and do not have time to do but so desperately need to be competitive in today’s internet driven world.

We will analyse your search engine ranking, your website key words, links to your site also known as backlinks (UK back-links), current traffic to your website, google, bing and yahoo rankings. We will analyse your user interface to ensure your clients have it easy finding what they want when they want, we will analyse this and a lot more.

We will analyse your competitors for you and find out what they are doing well in regards to online marketing strategy and where they are failing, we will then assist you in maximising on their weaknesses.

Where does your competitor rank on Facebook? Twitter? Youtube?  What are you doing on these social media sites and how are you benefiting from them?

How can you reduce work load whilst keeping your social media presence strong and up to date?

Feel free to contact us to see a few case studies.

The next stage of online marketing consultancy is the most important thing as far as we are concerned! STRATEGY.

How are you going to improve your situation? What are the fastest ways of changing your situation? What are the long term ways to benefit? How much resources can you dedicate to online marketing and what will your return on investment be? We cover this and much more in assisting you on reaching your businesses full online potential.

We keep the “geeky” stuff out unless you are interested in it, in which case we will gladly walk you through all of it.

The most important phase of any idea is implementation and this is where we help you turn your goals into reality, this is where we help you turn your business presence online into financial rewards. Some things you may need us or other  companies to do for you but there are a lot of things that your team needs to do to ensure success; we will project manage and ensure that the plan is executed to ensure you get the results.

We will train your staff, we will monitor your results and we will continue to come up with new ideas and strategies for your business to do better and better.

Ultimately if you really want to know more about what we can do for you and how we do it why don’t you just get in touch with us for a free no strings attached consultancy meeting and let us come up with a free online marketing proposal to get you started. CONTACT US NOW!

Social Media in relation to Search engines

As you may already be aware Facebook and Twitter are two of the most popular social media sites both locally and internationally, Ice Phoenix Solutions is currently researching to bring you the best information, feel free to visit our Website Rankings Page to better understand the websites that are doing well in Malta, the UK and the US.

Due to recent agreements between search engines and social media such as Facebook and Twitter your presence in social media now also effects your search engine rankings. In short your presence on online media can help you get to or remain in the top results for your keywords.

The system that the search engines are employing is quite simple, as has happened in the past search engines ranked websites through a myriad of factors with two of the most prominent being keywords and backlinks.

Keywords

Single terms or short phrases that best define the main points of your topic. Keywords are used for searching catalogs and databases.
www.lib.unc.edu/instruct/manuscripts/glossary/

Backlinks

Backlinks (or back-links [UK]) are incoming links to a website or web page. Inbound links were originally important (prior to the emergence of search engines) as a primary means of web navigation; today their significance lies in search engine optimization (SEO). …

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backlinks

So based on the above how does social media play a role in all this, well simply speaking everytime you or any of your fans post a link to your website google and other search engines count this as a backlink to your site, using a correct assumption that if you are highly talked about and quoted as well as referred to then you must be a reliable resource for information. Another element is that if you have many fans on your page then this page must be noteworthy and the website which it links to should also be given higher consideration then another.

Ultimately links on social media are now taken into ranking consideration as BACKLINKS!

Does this mean that all of a sudden every facebook post or twitter tweet is going to improve your search engine drastically? The answer is NO! For example if you are a sports clothing store and your website is back-linked to all the major sporting websites such as Fifa, Eurosport, Football Team Websites etc a single link to one of these websites will hold a lot more weight then a Facebook post however if one Facebook your link is posted by thousands of users especially through viral marketing, then you will see a boost in your search engine rankings.

Search engine and social media relationships.

Above you can see a simple diagram highlighting which social media platforms have links to which major search engines. Thus allowing you to better focus your efforts.

Also interesting to note that Yahoo is focusing on integrating a lot more with social media currently having close ties with Facebook. This could change the tides for Yahoo making it a more powerful search engine.

Ultimately we hope that you have enjoyed the information brought to you by Ice Phoenix Solutions.

Quick Tips

Some simple ways to ensure maximum exposure on more than one social network is linking your Facebook & Twitter accounts to gain double exposure.

Ensuring you post content relative to what you offer and use keywords relevant to search terms you want to rank high for.

Come up with ideas that will get your link promoted through viral marketing.

Build up your fan base and twitter followers for more exposure

Post interesting content on Youtube and publish it on Facebook and Twitter

Also make sure that all your social media web address information points to the same domain!

CJ Deguara

Twitter

Facebook

Website

Personal Website

Image Courtesy of:

http://www.toprankblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/social-search-relationships.png

One of the keys to determining the dress code is the position that the person holds within the company – is it a client facing role and if so what level of clients will the person be engaging, what industries will they be interacting with?

A person stocking shelves is not going to go to work in heels and a dress and a person meeting with C level executives is not going to be able to go to work in jeans and tennis shoes.

The business attire required should be condusive to representing the company brand with the level of professional image dictated by the position.

I think any employee that wants to be successful in the role will realize and appreciate that much of their success will be determined in how they are perceived by both internal and external clients and part of this perception is tied to dress, personal hygiene and appearance.

Some companies have tied their dress code to their brand identity. Target is a good example of uniformity of dress tied to brand at all levels of the organization. All their employees from the cahiers to the corporate executive dress in red shirts and tan slacks, tying in with the Target store colors ( red Bulls Eye, red colums and red balls in front of the store) This provides a uniform image and I would imagine contributes to more of a team mentality among staff.

If you have ever shopped at Brightons, you will notice that the sales staff is dressed entirely in black. They are also required to wear a certain number of pieces of Brighton jewelry. The reason that the sales staff is required to dress in black it that it is the perfect backdrop to highlight Brightons silver jewley. They want the shoppers to notice and be focused on the jewelry not the attire of the sales staff.

Over the years dress codes have relaxed somewhat for many companies, however there are still those companies and positions which dictate more formal dress such as suit and tie or dress, jacket and heels.

Maybe I am old fashioned, but I believe that a company has the right to protect their brand image, and if dress codes requirements are part of maintaining that brand image so be it.

I don’t think applicants should be put off by employers dress code requierments as many of these requirements are in place to enable the candidate to work effectively within the framework of the role that they will fill.

Rob Harbin
Vice President at Micro Visions, Inc..

Corporate culture and dress is a huge piece of attracting and keeping good talent as well as maintaining company moral. This all directly affects company reputation and ultimately reflects in the value delivered to clients.

The industry that the company serves is what dictates how much importance this plays. Web Developers and Graphic Designers are typically going to want to work in a more modern and casual atmosphere conducive to team work and collaboration. This may result in a dress code that allows for jeans and t-shirts where a high-end IT consultancy regularly meeting with C-Level executives are going to wear a full suit and tie.

The job position and corporate image needs to cater to the expectations of the talent you are seeking and you will have success.

Thomas Dolce
Inventory Control Clerk at Insight Beverages

Dress code and appearance constraints should not affect a company from getting the best talent or delivering the best value to their clients. It is like old saying dress for success. If you want your company to succeed you are going to want to have your people be successful any way they can and a great way to start that is by having them dress for success. I know when I get dressed up I feel more successful and that I can do anything and have more respect then if I would be dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. If you dress right and have your people dress right then you are going to get the best talent because they are going to want to come to work for you and your clients are going to see how successful you can be and are going to want to do business with you.

Paul Greiner
Unprecedented Performance. Exceptional Quality of Life. Right NOW.

Only where the dress code or image is inconsistent with or irrelevant to the expected outcomes and responsibilities of the individual or group. For instance, in areas or industries where part of what’s expected is to maintain a certain level of formality in presentation and conduct (legal, financial, executive), what works is to have a code that fulfills that expectation.
In situations where that is not the expectation, to have and enforce such a code is to risk occurring as restrictive and possibly oppressive, therefore likely resulting in lower performance and diminished ability to attract and keep talent and satisfy customer expectations.
As integrity is critical for performance, distinguishing and being responsible for the expectations of those around us give us an immediate access to elevating performance and creating an environment organized for fulfilling common commitments.
For an organization to work and thrive, its policies (dress code or otherwise) need to be an expression of, and consistent with, the core commitments that constitute It.

Brian C.
Independent Writing and Editing Professional

A person who is unwilling to comply with dress and image requirements cannot project the image the company has so carefully crafted, regardless of raw talent, and the operative word is “raw”. And teamwork counts.

I would be most leery of working with a person who chooses behavioral patterns (including dress and grooming) outside social norms.

And, yes, you may, just may, lose a brilliant person by using behavioral norms as one measure of a suitable hire. Not worth the risk.

Sahar Andrade
Diversity&Inclusion|Leadership& Cultural Competence trainer| Social Media Strategist| Public Speaker| Business Etiquette

It really depends on the corporate culture of the company for example P&G is very well known about its easy going attitude, casual dressing they get the best talents ourt of college and promote them and they deliver best values to the clients, versus JP Morgan the wealth portfolio managers are always dressed sharply signe suits and ties they attract the best talents and are great to their clients so both obtain best results it is really dependable on the branding, vison and mission of the company and how they deliver it and communicate it clearly

Wallace Jackson
Multimedia Producer & i3D Programmer for Acrobat3D PDF, Android Mobile Apps, Virtual Worlds, iTV Design, JavaFX & JavaTV

It depends on the company culture. The original Apple culture allowed any dress!

Warren Rutherford
The Executive Coach, HR Consulting Firm, Job Placement, Buy a Franchise at The Executive Suite

Wallace is on. Culture helps determine image, etc. These are initial factors but not the only compelling factors. Consider what the company does to hire for a person future fit, develop professional standards, and a family like environment to enable its knowledge based workforce to be continually motivated and excited to create and maintain a positive alignment that contributes to productivity and profit.Engaging employees to become an integral part of the company planning process helps as well.

Stephan Gaudreault
Compositor, SFX animator, Animation Aficionado

It does to me. I’m allergic to ties, either around my neck or somebody else’s. My trust can’t be earned nor bought with a dress code.

Judy B. Margolis, MA
Business WRITER | Editor | Blogger/News Junkie | Strategic MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS | B2B | Web Content Creator | BusDev

A company that dismisses top candidates because they don’t ‘fit’ the corporate image is definitely making a huge mistake. Worse, this crucial decision is often left to the ‘gatekeepers,’ preventing talent from ever getting in front of the hiring managers who might think differently.

Adhrua Minocha
HR Generalist with expertise in Service industry

Well corporate image , dress codes do create an impact however a lot is dependent on which work area one is engaged in e.g. if you are employed with a consulting organization or a bank or investment bank and the like then what staff is wearing and how they look when interacting with clients could create a positive or negative impression. In these organizations especially in client facing roles the staff members not only represent themselves but the image of the organization and thus usually the staff is required to follow the corporate guide note on image and dress code that is rather stiff so that a uniform image of the organization is presented to clients with whom the Company interacts. Dressing appropriately is an important part of this process.