Apokrisis, the leading provider of Internet marketing services in Alaska, announced today a merger with Interactive-N-Sites and L.G. Communications, officially operating as one under Apokrisis LLC.

Headquartered in Anchorage, Apokrisis is the first true interactive agency in Alaska offering a complete package of Internet-based services including web site design and development, web site hosting, search engine optimization, online advertising, social media program development, web copywriting, email marketing, e-commerce solutions, strategic planning, and in depth web reporting.

The partners of Apokrisis LLC are Kristen Lindsey, Monica Whitt, and Lisa Gill.

Monica Whitt, founder of Interactive-N-Sites and now senior creative designer for Apokrisis LLC, has more than ten years of experience designing user-friendly web sites that are visually pleasing and functional. She has worked both as an independent contractor and an art director for top ad agencies, technology companies, and web firms in Alaska.

“As individual business owners, we shared a common approach and the same dedication to customer satisfaction,” said Whitt. “After working together for so many years on mutual projects, it became obvious to us that becoming one team was a natural progression.”  

Lisa Gill, owner of L.G. Communications and now Internet marketing strategist for Apokrisis LLC, is experienced in the areas of website strategy and management, interactive marketing, email marketing, and writing for web. Her primary role will be to provide strategic direction to help clients market their business online successfully. Before joining Apokrisis, Lisa provided freelance Internet marketing and web services to non-profit agencies and travel industry clients in Alaska.

Gill said, “I'm really excited about working with Kristen and Monica, and confident this new partnership will strengthen our services for all of our clients.”

Since founding Apokrisis LLC in 2003, Kristen Lindsey has become established as a thought leader for online marketing across several industries in Alaska. She has spent years gathering talented, passionate individuals who are the best client advocates possible, and offers a results-driven approach to online business development.  Lindsey recently announced Apokrisis’ expansion into web site hosting and development.

 “It became clear to us that a full service approach will bring even more value and benefit to our clients,” she said. “We are really excited to continue to assist clients in maximizing their effectiveness in the online sphere, just over a broader spectrum of services and with access to a wider array of talent. I am thrilled that Monica and Lisa have joined me.”

Full details on services and approach can be found on the Apokrisis web site, apokrisis.com.

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We are excited to help with the launch of the website for the Jay Ramras for Lieutenant Governor website, j4ak.com. The campaign needed a nimble site where content could be added on the fly and also have ability to run a strong online communications program.

Announcements of fundraisers and other events can be entered once and display simultaneously on the events page and the home page. Email marketing is built right into the system so that all tasks can be conducted in one place.

Apokrisis is expanding its team of talented professionals by adding a high energy Internet Coordinator Freelancer to focus on web marketing and maintenance for its clients. The work will be as needed and on a freelance basis, and it is an excellent opportunity to gain experience in the Web industry. Check out the full job description here and apply online.

If you are a tourism business, then it is likely that you pay a lot of attention to what people write about you on TripAdvisor. Reviews can have a tremendous impact on a business, both good and bad.

I heard from TripAdvisor today a nifty tip -  they have a new tool for businesses to share with customers - basically, you can download a flyer that urges your customers to review you.

You can easily grab this on your owner's page,  print it out, and distribute to guests at whatever point you feel it is appropriate. Or, grab it here.

Have you used this flyer to help promote review for your business? Let us know!

Wow - the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that 19% of U.S. adults use Twitter or some other form of status update services.

Some other interesting findings of the research:

• Individuals with wireless devices were three times more likely to use the services.
• Likelihood increases with a higher number of Internet-enabled devices owned.

As internet-enabled devices continue to proliferate and take on a variety of forms, it is interesting to think about the ramification of increased Twitter use in the general population, not to mention the growth in mobile internet behavior.

Though Twitter was originally used more by older males with high-income, it is increasingly the domain of younger users, age 18 - 44 in particular:

I came across this great article this morning about SEO and Web Redesigns and it made me think about the redesign projects we have been involved with over the past few years. The article is about the importance of communicating with your online marketing team and making sure they are involved in any redesign process.

Why? It seems like you are including more people, which can slow down the project, you might think. But many companies we work with have invested time and resources into developing strong organic search traffic with SEO, and it is so very easy to lose this asset very quickly when a new site goes up without SEO considered.

Some tips for any company considering a site redesign who has good organic search rankings:

• Ask your design company about any impact on search. If they seem blase about this or else do not give you a list of specific things they are going to do to maintain organic search, then consider this a red flag.
• If you work with an SEO provider or online marketing firm, be sure to communicate with them early in the process and keep them involved. They will be an invaluable resource to make sure that all aspects of the redesign are search friendly.
• Consider a redesign an opportunity, not a threat. In most cases we find that, as long as SEO is made a priority, organic search traffic will grow from a redesign, not shrink.

We consider the following items the minimum required actions during a redesign to maintain organic search traffic:

• Will you have new pages names? Make sure search-friendly redirects are made from the old URLs to the new ones. Not only is it possible that people may have bookmarked those old URLs, but they will also be listed in search engines for a while. Without doing this, your listings in search engines will point to an error page.
• Have you invested time or money in solid meta tag writing? Make sure those meta tags are ported over into the new pages by the design team. if you have a database-driven site, this can be done in a bulk action very quickly by your design team instead of manually.
• In your new structure, are there areas of the site you do not want to have crawled? Be sure to update your robots.txt file.
• Are you completely rewriting your content or carrying a lot of it over? make sure you review and make any updates if your target keywords have changed.

Taking these simple steps will ensure success in maintaining your search traffic with your new site. This is not only a good thing from a traffic standpoint, but from a business standpoint - it ensures that the previous investments you have made for good search exposure are maintained.

Not doing so would be like throwing money away.

The Alaska Journal of Commerce recently contacted us to help out with an article on the use of Twitter in Alaska. It is an interesting take on a social media trend here. Check out the full article on the Alaska Journal of Commerce site.

Also, you can listen to the first five minutes of my interview with Gina.

I just came across a cool new application for Twitter - TwitCam provides a simple means to distribute a videocast on your Twitter feed.

TwitPic, another interactive tool for Twitter, allows you to post pictures into your feed, and many people can view it right within your Twitter feed.

These tools allow you to add significant interactivity to your Twitter conversation, and it is a nice distribution method if photo and video are already a part of your web content strategy.

Do you use Twitter? Have you found TwitPic to be a valuable tool? How do you see TwitCam applying to your web business? Please share!

The Anchorage Daily News published an article yesterday with interviews on the Alaska tourism season, but for anyone in Anchorage who has been downtown in the past few months, the report is no surprise: there are fewer tourists in Anchorage and Alaska this year. Some areticle highlights:

Anecdotal reports also speak to the tourism industry's initial fears becoming a reality:

• A local restaurant is contacting loyal local customers to tell them they don't have to avoid downtown this summer - it is not crowded.
• A recent visitor to Fairbanks described it as "very quiet."

What can businesses do to prevent the year from being a loss? Apokrisis has been counseling the following strategies since the economic downturn began:

 

1. Keep marketing. If you cut back on your marketing budget too dramatically, you lose any chance of reaching those visitors that do plan on coming.
2. But make sure that marketing is targeted and focused. Gather as much information as you can on what is working and what isn't.
3. Review your target audiences - which of your customer types are likely to continue to travel? Who may back off? Focus on those you think will come.
4. Your strategy needs to focus on gaining more share. A higher share of visitors could keep you close to previous levels of business. It is a reality when fewer people are visiting.

All indications are that the economic climate will continue at least into 2010. Start planning for next year now.

Do you have any stories about your observations on tourism in Alaska? Your own community? Please share!

Thanks to Todd Lucier and his "Internet Marketing for Tourism" Blog for these:

• 91% of Cell phone users keep their phones within arms reach 24/7 (Mary Meeker - Web2 Summit, November ‘08).
• iPhone is already pushing over 50% of data on cell phone networks.
• One benefits of being on the good side of the digital divide? Revenue doubles in communities with access to high speed Internet.

PhoCusWright always has some good info:

• 67% of travelers and 77% of frequent business travelers with Web-enabled mobile devices have used the mobile Web to find local services and attractions. (Mobile: The Next Platform for Travel, April 2009)
• Location-based services are also expanding in use and popularity, frequent business travelers expect to receive services such as mapping, navigation services and city guides upon arriving at a destination. (Mobile: The Next Platform for Travel, April 2009)
• In the US, 30% of iPhone users say it replaces their laptop usage (PhoCusWright ITB Mobile Travel panel)

eMarketer:

• 69% of Americans using e-mail on their mobile phone use it daily

Some uses of mobile devices while traveling you may want to capitalize on:

• Strong local search, Yelp, SugarSpoon and TripAdvisor listings - people can find you on an iPhone app-mapping function gives travelers walking, driving or bus directions built into the device.
• Users taking a photo on their phone and immediately sending it to family & friends
• Downloading apps that make their travel easier (See - TripIt.com, Google Maps, Yelp)
• Downloadable audio quides to attractions - mobile-based walking tours

I will leave you with my own mobile travel story. A friend of mine and I heard about a great fish taco shack in Honolulu. But it was off the Waikiki strip. We found it on my Yelp app, then hit the "directions" button in the application. The iPhone jumped to the pre-loaded Google mapping function, which provided a) where we were currently located, and b) our walking path. We walked way off the strip and arrived, somewhere we never would have found had we been using a guidebook, in about 5 minutes.

The bottom line is that we never would have given that taco shop money if we had not had the mobile device. (PS - it was GREAT! South Shore Grill)

OK - I know this is a little scattered, but it is a capture place for some stats I have been seeing. What about you? Do you have a story of how using a mobile device while traveling enhanced your travel experiene? Let us know!