In the midst of the celebrations surrounding our Spring 2012 Release and its sweeping improvements to the look, feel, and functionality of Infusionsoft, we failed to adequately address a very legitimate question that many of our long-standing users have raised: will I still be able to do everything I could do in Infusionsoft before the upgrade?

The answer to that question is an emphatic yes. All of the features you were able to access before the release are still fully supported and available to you.

We realize that our new systems–most notably our new drag and drop Campaign Builder–overlap with long-standing features like Follow-Up Sequences and Action Sets, and this overlap raises questions about if and when we’ll be retiring the older features (we call them legacy features). Regardless of what you’ve heard to date, let me set the record straight and make Infusionsoft’s current policy on this type of thing very clear: we don’t retire features until their replacements are fully mature and the majority of the user base has voluntarily opted to switch to the new system. Even then, we’ll provide the remaining users with ample notification and a clear statement of the date when the legacy features will be retired. That will never be less than six months from the time we decide to retire a feature, and in most cases, it will be a full year.

Our drag and drop Campaign Builder is already very popular with our users, but it still has a few more releases to go before it will be ready to fully replace all of the legacy features that overlap with it. So, don’t worry. No rush to switch. Take a deep breath.

And please email me personally if you have any remaining questions about this.

Richard Tripp
Chief Product Officer
richard.tripp@infusionsoft.com

Professional marketers and business consultants love to use the phrase “content is king” because content is such a fundamentally important component to internet marketing. When you consider that online marketing tools including websites, social media channels, blogs, e-books, and email marketing campaigns all require content, you can certainly understand why it should be a key focus for a business owner.

Yet, we’ve all seen websites with typos, online articles loaded with search engine-friendly keywords but little substance, and blogs with uninspired or outdated posts. Unoriginal, poor quality or non-existent content doesn’t only deliver a bad impression to prospects and customers; it can also have a tremendously negative effect on your company’s search engine rankings.

If you’re like most business owners, this raises two important questions. What exactly is quality online content? And, how can you find time in a busy schedule to create it?

Creating Customer-Focused Content

First and foremost, content should be written with your customer in mind! Search engine results are without a doubt important, but well-written content can be both search engine and customer friendly at the same time!

Be especially careful of content farms and other dubious sources that sell large batches of “SEO” articles at very affordable prices. Most often, this content is plagiarized and of very little value to actual readers. Those who publish this content also often see a significant drop in their Google ranking thanks to recent algorithm updates.

Instead, it’s more important to focus on writing content that is useful and informative to your audience. It’s not just about strategically placed keyword and links. If you’re writing about topics that are interesting to your customers, most likely, the keywords will organically flow into your content. And, the benefits of writing for your customers instead of just for search engines will naturally produce more website visitors, inbound links, credibility, and ultimately sales.

Publish Content on a Regular Basis

An online community of customers can be very valuable to a business. It’s easier to connect and sell to those who follow your Facebook page, Twitter feed, blog or email newsletter. All of these forms of marketing require content that is regularly produced to keep this community engaged and interested. Yes, it’s a commitment to write a daily Facebook post or a weekly blog article — this is precisely how to build and retain a loyal following of repeat customers and brand advocates.

To keep it organized, consistent, and flowing, consider developing an editorial plan for your content that includes:

• The objective of your content
• Your market niche and target market
• Your message and voice (e.g. informative, conversational, friendly, authoritative)
• Where your content will be placed (websites, blogs, social media channels)
• A publishing schedule

Identify Your Content Resources

Let’s face it. Writing content is often at the bottom of the “to do” list. Because it doesn’t always deliver immediate ROI, it’s often placed on the back-burner. However, since there is real, measurable value in producing content, it’s important to either fit it into your schedule or find another source for providing it for you.

Yes, there are alternatives to sitting in front of your computer writing it yourself! Consider employees who enjoy writing or want to learn more about marketing. Or, choose a quality content provider who has some knowledge of your business and industry. A good writer can literally become a seamless addition to your business and a key ally to jump-starting your online marketing efforts.

With a little dedication and a strategic plan of action, you can leverage the significant benefits of online content. From improved search engine rankings to better communication with your customers and prospects, content is truly king! So, listen to those marketing experts and start getting your words out there!

This is a guest post from Julie Trade Levitch. She is the founder and CEO of SayCurrent, a content development company that provides content for businesses online marketing channels.

Image credit: Micah Taylor

As expected, Facebook changed the way small businesses generate leads from their Facebook Pages –err, Timelines. Timeline introduces many benefits in addition to changing a few rules of the game for capturing leads from their business pages.

Let’s cut to the chase. Here are five things that are different about Page Tabs on the new Facebook Timeline.

• Page Tabs have moved from the left side to the top of the page.
• Page Tabs have larger, customizable images to entice click-through.
• Page Tabs can no longer be loaded by default, unless you drive traffic to them specifically.
• Page Tabs have a larger width to accommodate up to 810px.
• Page Tabs are only visible via Web browsers and not mobile apps.

Okay, so you want to collect some leads, right? Before we dive in, I want to remind you to pause for one moment and think about two cold stats about Facebook Pages:

• In a report from comScore, a majority of engagements with brands occurs within the News Feed and not necessarily on a Page.
• Stats have shown that well-maintained Facebook Pages with Page Tabs outperform non-customized pages, of course many factors could relate to this. I know when I visit a brand that has invested wisely into their Page Tabs, it shows me they care. Perhaps your audience believes the same.

That said, adding your Page Tab with an Infusionsoft Web Form will not result in a flood of leads. You still need to earn the trust and response from fans on Facebook driving demand to visit your Page Tab. There are two ways for you to implement a customized Page Tab. Read through the instructions first to decide which one you are most comfortable implementing. They both help you reach the goal you have to generate leads on a custom Tab on your Facebook Page, but go about it in different ways.

Use a Page Tab App

There are third-party apps that you have to authorize and add to your Page. They have their own set of instructions and require a little experimentation for success. This is the easiest for Page owners to setup, but owners don’t really control their own Facebook App – they are using someone else to deliver their content.

1. Go to the Static HTML Plus Facebook App.
2. Click the button, “Add Static HTML to a Page”
   
3. Select your Facebook Page from the drop-down menu.
   
4. Go to your Facebook Page and click on the “Welcome” Tab on the top.
   
5. Copy and paste your Infusionsoft Web Form Code. You can use a Javascript Snippet, so your Web Form is always up to date and can be customized from within Infusionsoft.
   
6. Click the “Save Changes” button. You can preview what it looks like with the Preview button.
   

You may also want to try Woobox’s Page Tab Facebook App – a very similar process to the above with even more options for customization.

Create your Own Page Tab ‘App’

I prefer this method because it’s actually fairly quick to setup once you do it a few times. For a novice, this will be intimidating. The benefit is that the Facebook App is truly yours and you can do practically anything you want with it.

1. Visit developers.facebook.com, click Apps and click on “Create a New App.”
   
2. Give your app a unique name. Pay close attention to the text when you’re typing to determine if the name is available.
3. Click on the Page Tab section at the bottom of your Basic Settings.
   
4. Give the Page Tab a custom name and point it to the URL of your choice. Using a Hosted Infusionsoft Web Form would be a perfect candidate and click Save.
   
5. In your browser, visit this URL and replace the text with the information from your new app. The App ID is located at the top of the page. The URL is the Page Tab URL.
         https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=YOUR_APP_ID&next=YOUR_URL
   Example: https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=385054671533386&next=https://appname.infusionsoft.com/app/form/testing
   
6. You will now be prompted to choose the Facebook Page to add your new Page Tab.
   
7. Navigate to your Facebook page and you will see your new Page Tab.
   
8. Customize the Tab image by selecting “Edit Page” from the Manage menu at the top of the Page.
   
9. Click “Edit Settings” next to your new App and click the Change hyperlink next to “Custom Tab Image.” You can also adjust the title of the Tab from here, too.
   
10. Click Change again and upload an image that is sized 111×74 pixels.
11. Go back to your Page and look at your Tab!

Okay, okay… maybe that was a bit more complex than using a simple Page Tab app. It’s an alternative method to create your own Tab for your Facebook Page in case Facebook changes how those applications work. I can’t stress this enough: Facebook’s platform is very prone to change. They’ve never officially endorsed the use of their Page Tabs for lead generation and Web Analytics and it is very likely they will change the game again in about 6-9 months.

For many small businesses, those who have plenty of great conversations and interactions with customers and prospects on their Facebook Page, it is a good idea to invest the time and the effort to drive business value via the investment they’ve made in their Facebook Page.

Recently, Facebook introduced major changes to the layout and functionality of Facebook Pages as they migrated to Timeline. One of the most common pains I hear from small business owners is the inability to set a default landing tab among other changes to the layout of Facebook Pages. I have an upcoming webinar that will show you how to generate leads with your Facebook Page with the new Facebook Page Tabs.

Missed the webinar? Watch the webinar recording here!

Many business owners have used the default landing tab like a “Home Page” for their Facebook Page and could also be used to restrict content to those who Liked the page as a means to generate leads. This is a practice known as “fan-gating” where owners would encourage people to like to Page to receive a discount or access to a valuable piece of content.

With the new Facebook Timeline, Facebook removed the option to set a default landing tab. Although you can’t use the default landing tabs anymore, you can still do everything else. Facebook has also added the ability to link directly to a tab and promote it with Facebook Ads or any other kind of referral traffic. An example of a customized Page Tab is pictured below from our Facebook Page.

We’ve also released several new features that, when combined with the new functionality in Facebook, can create a powerful lead generation engine. The Web Analytics function tracks page views and conversions from visitors, contacts and customers. In addition, Infusionsoft offers the ability to easily create awesome-looking Landing Pages without having to know HTML or have any Web design skills.

So, how do you make these two powerful tools work together?  It’s actually relatively simple. By using one of the many IFrame applications on Facebook, you can load the hosted version of the Landing Page (or Web Form) you create in Infusionsoft inside of Facebook. When you use the hosted version of the Landing Page, Infusionsoft will automatically include the Web Analytics code that feeds back into Infusionsoft.

Personally, I use the Static iFrame Tabs by Woobox . To be honest, I haven’t looked at any of the other Facebook Apps that do this, but Woobox’s solution does everything I need it to do:

• Set the width to fit the wider Timeline page
• Put in either your own HTML or link to another page
• Customize the Tab Icon
• Fan gating

I’ll share how to set this up and use Facebook and Infusionsoft together on this week’s Infusionsoft Mastermind Webinar.  I’ll be leading an in depth discussion on the changes for Facebook Pages, showing you how to setup a Page Tab using the Infusionsoft Landing Page, and how to find the audience to target with Facebook Ads. If you’ve already registered for the Mastermind Webinars, you don’t need to register again, make sure to watch your inbox for your link to login to the webinar. If you haven’t registered yet, sign up now. While you’re there, check out the Archive to view the previous webinar recordings.

We’re calling on all designers and web coders familiar with Infusionsoft to share their best E-Commerce Themes. Today, we have only three default themes but we’re looking to give our small business users more choices and access to top designs.

If you have a new E-Commerce theme for your business, handy with HTML and CSS or know of a great web designer, you should participate in this contest. We’re looking to expand our selection of E-Commerce Themes with your creativity. If you recall the highlights from our Spring 2012 Release, Infusionsoft has introduced a new way to customize themes for the Infusionsoft Shopping Cart.

Get started now! The deadline to submit is May 20, 2012!

What’s in it for you?
Up to $500 cash, a free month of Infusionsoft and exposure of your brand to over 32,000 small business users. Also, you’ll get a special plug on our blog for creating the theme when we announce the winners. In addition, you will get an official badge acknowledging your skills as an Infusionsoft E-Commerce Theme Designer.

What’s in it for users?
They will have access to some slick-looking themes that will help them maintain a professional online presence when they sell online.

What’s in it for us?
We want to feature top designs that make our users happy and expand our selection of three default E-Commerce Themes.

Our Product Management team will review all the submissions and select the top eight winners and announce them on June 5, 2012. You can’t pass up this opportunity to earn some cash and to gain some sweet exposure among our amazing small business users.

We are looking forward to everyone’s creative submissions! Click here to learn more information and to enter this contest!