Interning at Uponline

It's hard to believe that summer went by so quickly! It has been a great few months for us in the office since we also had the pleasure of having interns on board. Aside from getting them to fetch our coffee and take care of all our dry cleaning, (just kidding), they did a great job of helping out around the office while learning the ins and outs of what happens on a day to day basis in an agency environment.

We sat down with one of our interns, Kuruparan, to get his take on his experience interning at Uponline.

Q: What was your experience like working at UpOnline? Be honest.

A: I really enjoyed my experience at UpOnline! I definitely felt like I've developed a good understanding of digital marketing, especially as it related to the healthcare sector. I also learned about the difference between good and bad website design when it comes to creating a site that engages with visitors, how SEO works, to learning about the fundamentals of email marketing so it worked on every browser and email client under the sun. And the importance of testing emails!

Q: That's great! We definitely threw a lot of projects your way. What was your favourite thing to work on this summer?

A: Probably working on developing mobile and responsive sites. I really enjoyed doing that. There were a lot of tips I've learned, coding wise, in understanding how sites would render on different screen sizes which was really interesting.

Q: You've also had the chance to contribute a couple of articles for the blog as well. What topic did you enjoy researching the most about?

How Airbnb Became Successful?

    By: Mahnoor Awan

AirBnb is an online platform that allows you to rent, or rent out, unique accommodations from around the world. Whether you’re looking for a spare room or an entire home, cottage, mansion, villa, castle, island (I know right?) to get away, you can find truly extraordinary accommodations.

The concept of such a service originated in 2007, when founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia couldn’t afford to meet rent for their San Francisco loft, and decided to rent the extra space. Their first three guests were attendees of a sold out design trade show, and their first attempt at turning their extra space into a bed and breakfast involved air mattresses and Pop Tarts for breakfast.

Joe Gebbia, Co-Founder

Brian Chesky, Co-Founder

Nathan Blecharczyk, Co-Founder

In 2008, their friend Nathan Blecharczyk, a Harvard graduate, joined the team and they launched their initial website as airbedandbreakfast.com and since then, a simple idea they had in their apartment one day, began to take root and grow into the business it is today.

So, in an industry dominated by big hotel chains, how did three guys from San Francisco made it to the top?

5 eNewsletter Mistakes And How to Fix Them

E-Newsletters are a great way to keep in touch with your client base. They can be used to provide updates about your company, promote services, offer discounts, and run contests, and of course to send out invitations to events and seminars. Your contact list is invaluable when it comes to online marketing and you want to make sure those contacts are engaged with your content and that you are able to track when leads are being converted. As a primer or a review, we wanted to list some common mistakes and how to fix them.
Mistake #1: Using a generic subject line

The subject line is the first thing someone sees when they spot your email in their inbox so you want to make a good first impression in order to maximize your open rate. In the age of spam and information overload, you need to differentiate yourself and show that opening your email is worth it. And you want to do it in 50 characters or less (you don’t want your call-to-action to be cut off.)
The most obvious mistake people make with subject lines is they keep them obvious and staid. Tailor your subject line to the content and make it interesting.
Fix: Write short, attention grabbing subject lines that are tailored to the biggest draw in your newsletter that will get your viewer to open it. If someone has subscribed to your newsletter and hasn't opened last month's newsletter with a subject like: "Your Store - July Newsletter", what are the chances that a similarly worded August newsletter is going to convince them otherwise? Use your subject to highlight a specific event or deal that's happening, example "20% off select phones all July @ Walmart". Scarcity tactics that reference end dates can increase click rates, as in “Last four days to take advantage of....”, as well as subject lines with lists and numbers.
Mistake #2: Lack of images/images only
Don't send a giant block of text and expect it to be read. Reading on screen is different from print. Screen readers tend to skim, look at the page in an F shape (source), flick past large blocks of text and focus on headers and images. With a few effectively used images, you can give your viewer a much more enjoyable experience. Think of them as similar to paragraph or section breaks.
However, don't go overboard and simply use a large image with a few links embedded in them, or image maps/hotspots, because you don't want to design and test your layout. Image only emails are difficult to read on phones and don't have any text to be searched through. Email Clients like Gmail give enormous storage space, expecting users to save their emails and search through them. You want your newsletter to be in those search results. Other mail services may filter out image-only eblasts.
Fix: Use images to space out and section your texts to create an enjoyable flow, where the viewer isn’t overwhelmed, and tempted to skip past, too much text. Try pairing headers tags with images and including illustrations or diagrams/charts.

Friday Five Roundup: Marketing for Startups to The Importance of Your Company Logo

1

Hubspot

12 of the Best Facebook Post Ideas for Lead Generation

You can use your Facebook page to do more than promote your business - Generate Leads. Here are 12 ways that might help you.
Read the article on hubspot.com >

2

Adobe

Transform Your Business Into a High Performance Machine with Data-Driven Marketing!

Here are five tips to use data-driven marketing to transform your company.
Read the article on blogs.adobe.com >

5 Ways Pokémon Go Can Help Your Dental Practice

By: Mahnoor Awan

When a new product makes waves in the market, it’s really hard to miss its impact. Pokémon Go, an augmented reality or ‘Real World Gaming’ app released in July 2016, is definitely one of them. Offered in more than 30 countries within the first month, the game is definitely making its mark.
If you don’t already know, the main focus of the game involves players having to get out and roam the streets, landmarks, and specialized locales, to find and capture Pokémon.
With players in multiple age ranges, many reliving nostalgia from playing Pokémon when they themselves were kids, alongside a new, younger crowd, a lot of businesses are looking to tap into this market to grow their business.

What you need to know about Pokémon Go

Pokémon was first launched on Game Boy in the 1990’s, followed by a cartoon TV show and trading card game, along with numerous other tie-ins. Capitalizing on the nostalgic essence of this popular franchise of the 90’s, Niantic Inc. took it a step further and turned into an augmented reality game, which can now be downloaded as an app on most smartphones. To play this game, players have to walk around their neighborhood, or the entire city, especially to popular areas like malls, parks, and monuments, to search and catch Pokémon, train them, and battle with other teams.
If you want to know what all these terms mean, you can check Niantic’s Pokémon Glossary. And if you still have no idea what I’m talking about and have more questions about the game, you can find answers here.

Here’s how you can use Pokémon Go to your advantage:

Share on social media

PokéStops are landmarks where players can gather items such as Poké Balls, potions, and Eggs, among other things.
Gyms are landmarks where players can battle their Pokémons with rival teams or even train their own Pokémons.
If your office is a PokéStop or gym, or there’s one near your dental practice, this is the perfect opportunity to take a picture through your Pokémon Go app and post on your social media. It will attract patients to visit your location more often, and help in generating potential interactions with your practice.





Venonat next to a landmark

If you or your staff plays Pokémon Go, there are chances of Pokémon appearing in your office. You can use this opportunity to take screenshots of your Pokémon and advertise on your social media about your Poké-friendly dental office. Uponline can help you with regularly updating your social media platforms, to make the best of the latest trends that could help promote your dental practice.

Friday Five Roundup: Busting Google AdWords Myths to Brands That Came Back From the Dead

1

Inc.

16 Basic Marketing Tools every Single Company Should Know

Sift through the noise and get valuable insights on your marketing data with these simple, easy to use tools. Read the article on inc.com >



2

Hubspot

Busting The Top 3 Google AdWords Myths

Do you see flaws in Google AdWords? Maybe these debunked myths will change your opinion on the leading CPC platform. Read the article on hubspot.com >

5 Ways to Improve Patient Communication

Oren Baum, Founder: I recently attended a core course with one of our great continuing education association partners, covering the topics of patient engagement, social media, and interaction. I spoke with some clients who were also attendees and realized that they were taking different things from the seminar than each other and different than what the speakers may have intended.

We thought to put together some top-down information on what forms of interaction could most benefit a dental office, and how they work together to increase referrals, decrease recall times, and increase business.

As a dental practitioner, it's important that your patients feel that they are in a comfortable and safe environment, free to discuss whatever is on their mind. Not only does that provide richer details about their medical (and relevant patient) history but it also allows you and your staff to foster close relationships. By keeping the lines of communication open, you build trust and earn lifelong patients. When you think about the current workflow of your office, from scheduling patients to after care follow up, is there any part of the patient experience that is missing or can be improved?

If you haven't had the time to sit down and think about how to connect better with patients, here are five methods to get you started:

Develop strong rapport

No matter how busy your day is don’t forgo pleasantries. Calling your patient’s by name and demonstrating that you remember their likes/dislikes, and past conversations is key to developing a strong rapport. Instead of asking yes or no questions, ask open ended questions that will encourage patients to provide you with more detailed information. Make sure to listen and to not interrupt.