If you are like Sunrise Packaging, you have put a lot of work into search engine optimization (SEO) in order to further generate traffic to your Website. You have chosen keywords that make sense for your business and implanted them into your site. When a prospective customer goes to Google (or Yahoo! or any other search engine) and types in one of your keywords, you want your Website to pop up above your competitors’ sites.

What if that prospective customer spells your keyword wrong? Will your site still show up number one? Will it even show up at all? If you’re clever, you will.

Take a look at your keyword and brainstorm the common ways they can be misspelled. As an example, “disc” could be typed in as “disk” or “business” could be misspelled as “busness”.

Find the best misspellings and create a doorway or portal page on your host with these misspelled words redirecting any searches to that page to your main Web site. By researching misspelled words and submitting a portal page to search engines, you can alleviate the problems caused by misspelled keyword searches and can generate more traffic to your site.

Related to search engine misspellings is “typo squatting:” a form of cyber squatting, which relies on misspellings of Web addresses when they are typed into a Web browser. If an internet user intended to visit Sunrise Packaging’s Web site (sunpack.com) and instead typed in sunpak.com, they could be led to an alternative Website operated by a cyber squatter.

If someone already has one of your misspelled domain names, is not an actual business competitor and is clearly exploiting your brand you can send a cease and desist letter to attempt to stop the activity or you can attempt to purchase the domain name from the offender, which may have been the offender’s aim all along.

This exploitation of domain names can be avoided by purchasing common misspellings of your Web address and then rerouting users who type the misspelled Web addresses back to your actual site. Purchasing common misspellings of your Web address can be beneficial to you on another level. If potential customers are searching for your company by typing in your supposed domain name, they will be easily transferred to your site, increasing quality traffic.

Don’t fret over the possibility that your Web site is receiving less hits due to common spelling mistakes. Take advantage of those mistakes in a way that your competitors may not have thought of yet, and give yourself an edge in your market!

Last month, we talked about companies using social media networks for cause marketing.  Now we are focusing on a company that actually redesigned their packaging for a cause.

Recently, Tide changed their packaging to go along with their Loads of Hope campaign.  That is a pretty big deal for a brand that has not significantly changed their packaging in their sixty years of history.  The Loads of Hope campaign raises funds for disaster relief support.  The new design features photos of disaster victims that Tide has provided aid for, such as Hurricane Katrina victims.  The newly designed bottle also says, “You can help” on the yellow cap to help draw attention to the charity and the company’s social responsibility efforts.

This change in Tide’s packaging design shows that they take social responsibility seriously.  It is a program that they are continuing to support, and it enhances their brand image.  Consumers are more likely to buy products from a socially responsible company, rather than the competition if the products are similar.  So not only are they giving back to the community by helping disaster victims, but they are also boosting their brand image, which could increase sales and the traffic flow to their web site.  The design and custom packaging that they are using helps inform and remind consumers what they are doing to help others.  And most importantly, they are doing their part to give back to the community and those in need.