The home page is typically where most site visitors will enter your website. It can determine whether a prospective customer is intrigued and eager to learn more, or is instead confused, frustrated and turned-off. Let’s face it – your home page is one of the “Money” pages on your website, so it better be effective.
Therefore, it would behoove you to spend time revisiting your home page and making sure that it answers these fifteen fundamental questions to drive your business results.
1. Who are you?
Does the home page make it explicitly clear who you are, including your company name, your logo and your tagline? Is it clear if you are a services firm, retailer, wholesaler, manufacturer, B2B firm, or B2C firm, etc.?
2. What are your products or services?
You would be shocked at how many websites do not make this clear on their home page, but instead assume that of course the site visitor knows exactly who they are and what they sell. Big mistake. Don’t assume anything.
3. What can I do here?
Assuming you make it clear what you sell, is it just as clear what the site visitor can do on your site, whether it be a purchase, a download of a free trial, or engagement in a community?
4. What’s your identity?
Are you professional and reliable? Are you cool and cutting-edge? Are you fun and silly? Make it clear on the home page, and then be consistent with your identity throughout the site.
5. Is your design helping you?
Too many small business owners think that just having a website is good enough regardless of what it looks like, and they sacrifice design. Remember, though, that site visitors are real people, and they get it when a site is amateurish.
6. What’s your differentiation?
Clarify how you are different, and the unique value you offer the site visitor. Do you offer the highest quality? Are your prices the cheapest? Do you have the broadest selection? Is your customer service absolutely amazing?
7. What does the website include?
The home page needs to ground the new site visitor. Does your home page provide a clear view as to what’s included in the site from a high level? Does it answer the visitor’s question of “What can I find here?”
8. Are you being a “tease”?
Like the cover of a magazine, your home page should entice new site visitors to want to check out additional pages. This can be anything from special promotions to free eBooks to announcements of upcoming events.
9. You don’t force me to scroll, do you?
Is your home page succinct and to the point? Or are you expecting your site visitors to scroll and scroll and scroll to read everything you have to tell them? Remember, many people do not scroll.
10. Is your home page scan-able?
Most website visitors do not read through an entire page, but instead scan the page. To that end, it’s important that you are providing them with visual cues, such as headers, subheads, images, movies, links, etc. And remember to leave sufficient white space on the page – clutter can be a major obstacle to website usability.
11. Do you provide timely content?
If you are a publisher, do you make the latest and freshest content clear and easy to find? If you are offering a special promotion, is it prominently displayed?
12. Do you weight your home page elements according to importance?
Is every element on your home page the same size and treatment? If so, are you sure you are not paralyzing your site visitors? Are you sure that your home page is scan-able (see above)? Allocate different weights to the different elements on your home page to ensure the page is guiding visitors in line with your business priorities.
13. Why should I trust you?
Many site visitors have no clue who you are, yet they always have options for going elsewhere on the web. Therefore, it’s critical to convey a sense of trust. This can include trustmarks such as from the Better Business Bureau, association membership logos, associated charity logos, a link to your privacy policy, etc.
14. Do you include clear Calls to Action?
Does your home page clarify what the site visitor is supposed to do next, whether learn more, download, view a comparison table, purchase or otherwise?
15. Where’s the pizazz?
Your site visitors are real people. Don’t bore them to tears. Add pizazz to your home page, but realize that this does not mean bells and whistles. Focus on delivering a deeply satisfying experience. This could mean an insightful solution to their biggest problem, an amazing client testimonial, a free widget, a free book, a community or a resource center.
Written by: Tom Now
_______________________________________________
We would love to help you get started with a purposeful website...or update your exciting site.
We offer beautiful low cost websites that are great for companies that are just starting their web presence but don't have a large budget - starting at just a few hundred dollars.
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Contact us for your free website consultation!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
First Steps
Build an account and immediately start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
Add a picture. ( Shel reminds us of this.) We want to see you.
Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.
Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
Share links to neat things in your community. ( @wholefoods does this well).
Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. ( @jetblue gives travel tips.)
Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories. ( @TheHomeDepot does it well.)
Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
Talk about non-business, too, like @astrout and @jstorerj from Mzinga.
Ideas About WHAT to Tweet
Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
Have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes us feel like you’re not “that guy.”
When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time. - Side note: I’ve gotta stop tooting my own horn). Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.
Some Sanity For You
You don’t have to read every tweet.
You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty).
Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if you feel there’s no value to Twitter at large to hear the conversation ( got this from @pistachio).
Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you. Try to participate where it makes sense.
3rd party clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
If you tweet all day while your coworkers are busy, you’re going to hear about it.
If you’re representing clients and billing hours, and tweeting all the time, you might hear about it.
Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
If someone says you’re using twitter wrong, forget it. It’s an opt out society. They can unfollow if they don’t like how you use it.
Commenting on others’ tweets, and retweeting what others have posted is a great way to build community.
The Negatives People Will Throw At You
Twitter takes up time.
Twitter takes you away from other productive work.
Without a strategy, it’s just typing.
There are other ways to do this.
As Frank hears often, Twitter doesn’t replace customer service (Frank is @comcastcares and is a superhero for what he’s started.)
Twitter is buggy and not enterprise-ready.
Twitter is just for technonerds.
Twitter’s only a few million people. (only)
Twitter doesn’t replace direct email marketing.
Twitter opens the company up to more criticism and griping.
Some Positives to Throw Back
Twitter helps one organize great, instant meetups (tweetups).
Twitter works swell as an opinion poll.
Twitter can help direct people’s attention to good things.
Twitter at events helps people build an instant “backchannel.”
Twitter breaks news faster than other sources, often (especially if the news impacts online denizens).
Twitter gives businesses a glimpse at what status messaging can do for an organization. Remember presence in the 1990s?
Twitter brings great minds together, and gives you daily opportunities to learn (if you look for it, and/or if you follow the right folks).
Twitter gives your critics a forum, but that means you can study them.
Twitter helps with business development, if your prospects are online (mine are).
Twitter can augment customer service. (but see above)
___________________________________________________
Let us know how you have used Twitter and what results you have seen! We have just been on it for about a month now, so we are still figuring everything out! Hope this post has helped you use Twitter effectively for your business.
Build an account and immediately start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
Add a picture. ( Shel reminds us of this.) We want to see you.
Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.
Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
Share links to neat things in your community. ( @wholefoods does this well).
Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. ( @jetblue gives travel tips.)
Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories. ( @TheHomeDepot does it well.)
Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
Talk about non-business, too, like @astrout and @jstorerj from Mzinga.
Ideas About WHAT to Tweet
Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
Have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes us feel like you’re not “that guy.”
When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time. - Side note: I’ve gotta stop tooting my own horn). Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.
Some Sanity For You
You don’t have to read every tweet.
You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty).
Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if you feel there’s no value to Twitter at large to hear the conversation ( got this from @pistachio).
Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you. Try to participate where it makes sense.
3rd party clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
If you tweet all day while your coworkers are busy, you’re going to hear about it.
If you’re representing clients and billing hours, and tweeting all the time, you might hear about it.
Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
If someone says you’re using twitter wrong, forget it. It’s an opt out society. They can unfollow if they don’t like how you use it.
Commenting on others’ tweets, and retweeting what others have posted is a great way to build community.
The Negatives People Will Throw At You
Twitter takes up time.
Twitter takes you away from other productive work.
Without a strategy, it’s just typing.
There are other ways to do this.
As Frank hears often, Twitter doesn’t replace customer service (Frank is @comcastcares and is a superhero for what he’s started.)
Twitter is buggy and not enterprise-ready.
Twitter is just for technonerds.
Twitter’s only a few million people. (only)
Twitter doesn’t replace direct email marketing.
Twitter opens the company up to more criticism and griping.
Some Positives to Throw Back
Twitter helps one organize great, instant meetups (tweetups).
Twitter works swell as an opinion poll.
Twitter can help direct people’s attention to good things.
Twitter at events helps people build an instant “backchannel.”
Twitter breaks news faster than other sources, often (especially if the news impacts online denizens).
Twitter gives businesses a glimpse at what status messaging can do for an organization. Remember presence in the 1990s?
Twitter brings great minds together, and gives you daily opportunities to learn (if you look for it, and/or if you follow the right folks).
Twitter gives your critics a forum, but that means you can study them.
Twitter helps with business development, if your prospects are online (mine are).
Twitter can augment customer service. (but see above)
___________________________________________________
Let us know how you have used Twitter and what results you have seen! We have just been on it for about a month now, so we are still figuring everything out! Hope this post has helped you use Twitter effectively for your business.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Marketing Materials Checklist for Small Business
Give each one of these items solid consideration for your initial array of marketing materials for your small business:
Logo
You’ll want to create a polished image from the beginning and some kind of unique visual hook for your company, and then splash it on your business cards, stationery and anything else you can think of.
Business cards
Many marketing gurus say that a great business card can be your most effective marketing tool. Pack it with as much information as it will hold, not just contact information. Maybe put the contact information on the front and list your products or services on the back. Mark Amtower, a Highland, Md.-based expert in marketing to the federal government, suggests considering a fold-over business card for twice the display space!
In any event, your business card “must be different, memorable, and prospects must want to keep it,” says Joachim de Posada, an internationally known expert on small business.
Website
You should get this up and running before you open for business. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on one, with all the site-building options now available. But it should be well-designed and helpful. You might even want to start putting a blog on your site right away to start up a “conversation” with your customers.
“Using the website as a primary ‘marketing material’ for a startup is good because you can’t tell the size of a company by their website,” notes Becky Boyd, a vice president of MediaFirst, a Roswell, Ga.-based marketing agency.
Brochure
This can be a virtual one, in PDF format on the internet, or a black-and-white, two-color or even four-color paper handout. In any case, it’s important to have one, because it can cover a variety of general needs that no other single marketing document can handle, ranging from distribution at a trade show to a handy mailer for people who want basic information about your company.
Company clothing
Be your own billboard! You might want to consider putting this really high on your checklist. Wearing clothing with your company brand can start tongues wagging everywhere you go. “People will ask you what you do,” says Ruth King, small business expert and author of the book, The Ugly Truth about Small Business. “Then you can recite your pitch and ask for the order.”
E-mail signature
Don’t let any e-mail escape your computer without tagging it as a marketing message. Come up with a catchy e-mail signature and include your name, business name, contact information, pithy tag line, a web address and even a one- or two-line announcement at the bottom of the signature about a new book, product, seminar or service offering you’ve announced.
Packets for specialized needs
Depending on the initial focus of your company, you’ll need to develop packages of materials that are formulated around particular needs. If sales are hugely important at the beginning, you may need to come up with a folder full of brochures and spec sheets.
Elevator pitch
Here at StartupNation, the elevator pitch – a strong, 30-second spoken spiel that could convince someone to invest in your business in the space of an elevator ride – is one of our favorite marketing tools.
“This will do more to market a new business than the flashiest collateral materials,” says J.W. Arnold, principal of PRDC, a Washington, D.C., marketing agency. “It’s amazing how many startups get caught up on the ‘things’ of their marketing effort and forget exactly ‘what’ they are marketing.”
Nevertheless, you also can commit your elevator speech to paper, or modify it into a “mission statement,” and hand it out readily along with your other marketing materials.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact us for your logo design, business cards, brochure, website design, company clothing & marketing packets, vehicle graphics, banners, etc.! From concept to final product, we do it all at a price any business can afford!
Business Cards Printing (includes design**, 2-sided, full color, full bleed)
Paper Options: glossy, uncoated, 100% recycled with soy inks (no extra $$ for recycled)
250 - $75
500 - $90
1000 - $105
2500 - $175
Brochure Printing (includes design**, 2-sided, full color, full bleed, fold included)
Paper Options: glossy or 100% recycled with soy inks
500 - $275
1000 - $325
2500 - $575
**does not include a logo design
Give us a call and we can help you with all of your marketing materials!
Logo
You’ll want to create a polished image from the beginning and some kind of unique visual hook for your company, and then splash it on your business cards, stationery and anything else you can think of.
Business cards
Many marketing gurus say that a great business card can be your most effective marketing tool. Pack it with as much information as it will hold, not just contact information. Maybe put the contact information on the front and list your products or services on the back. Mark Amtower, a Highland, Md.-based expert in marketing to the federal government, suggests considering a fold-over business card for twice the display space!
In any event, your business card “must be different, memorable, and prospects must want to keep it,” says Joachim de Posada, an internationally known expert on small business.
Website
You should get this up and running before you open for business. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on one, with all the site-building options now available. But it should be well-designed and helpful. You might even want to start putting a blog on your site right away to start up a “conversation” with your customers.
“Using the website as a primary ‘marketing material’ for a startup is good because you can’t tell the size of a company by their website,” notes Becky Boyd, a vice president of MediaFirst, a Roswell, Ga.-based marketing agency.
Brochure
This can be a virtual one, in PDF format on the internet, or a black-and-white, two-color or even four-color paper handout. In any case, it’s important to have one, because it can cover a variety of general needs that no other single marketing document can handle, ranging from distribution at a trade show to a handy mailer for people who want basic information about your company.
Company clothing
Be your own billboard! You might want to consider putting this really high on your checklist. Wearing clothing with your company brand can start tongues wagging everywhere you go. “People will ask you what you do,” says Ruth King, small business expert and author of the book, The Ugly Truth about Small Business. “Then you can recite your pitch and ask for the order.”
E-mail signature
Don’t let any e-mail escape your computer without tagging it as a marketing message. Come up with a catchy e-mail signature and include your name, business name, contact information, pithy tag line, a web address and even a one- or two-line announcement at the bottom of the signature about a new book, product, seminar or service offering you’ve announced.
Packets for specialized needs
Depending on the initial focus of your company, you’ll need to develop packages of materials that are formulated around particular needs. If sales are hugely important at the beginning, you may need to come up with a folder full of brochures and spec sheets.
Elevator pitch
Here at StartupNation, the elevator pitch – a strong, 30-second spoken spiel that could convince someone to invest in your business in the space of an elevator ride – is one of our favorite marketing tools.
“This will do more to market a new business than the flashiest collateral materials,” says J.W. Arnold, principal of PRDC, a Washington, D.C., marketing agency. “It’s amazing how many startups get caught up on the ‘things’ of their marketing effort and forget exactly ‘what’ they are marketing.”
Nevertheless, you also can commit your elevator speech to paper, or modify it into a “mission statement,” and hand it out readily along with your other marketing materials.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact us for your logo design, business cards, brochure, website design, company clothing & marketing packets, vehicle graphics, banners, etc.! From concept to final product, we do it all at a price any business can afford!
Business Cards Printing (includes design**, 2-sided, full color, full bleed)
Paper Options: glossy, uncoated, 100% recycled with soy inks (no extra $$ for recycled)
250 - $75
500 - $90
1000 - $105
2500 - $175
Brochure Printing (includes design**, 2-sided, full color, full bleed, fold included)
Paper Options: glossy or 100% recycled with soy inks
500 - $275
1000 - $325
2500 - $575
**does not include a logo design
Give us a call and we can help you with all of your marketing materials!
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
5 Mistakes to Avoid When Designing Your Website
Written by: Tom Now
For many of you, your business website will act as a central hub for your marketing, branding and communications. It will be a major touchpoint in your relationship with your prospects and customers.
If you plan on being successful, it behooves you to create a website that fuels your business growth.
Then why is it that so many entrepreneurs and small business owners sabotage their own marketing by taking shortcuts with their websites and by not thinking through the ideal website for their business?
Here are 5 common mistakes that you should avoid when creating your website:
No Objective
The very first thing you should do when planning your website is to define the objective of the website. What do you want visitors to do on your site? How will you measure success? Will it be online sales, lead-generation, downloads, subscriptions, Page Views? Know what you want to drive your visitors to do prior to designing your new website, and the design process should progress more smoothly and more in line with your business needs.
No Plan
Just as you start with blueprints when building a new house, you need a plan when creating your new website. Some people go into a site design process by looking at designs, colors, templates and imagery. Although the look and feel of your website is important and should align with your identity, it’s critical to start with your marketing strategy. Who is the target audience? What are their main problems? How will your website help them solve these problems? If you were your own customer, how would the ideal website be organized and what would it deliver?
No Differentiation Strategy
Online, it’s super easy to jump from one website to another. Therefore, expect that your prospective customers will check out the competition. With that in mind, it’s surprising how many people do not think through a well-defined differentiation strategy for their website. Will your site offer unique, amazing value? Will your site focus on building a unique community? Will your site be clearly unique from your competition?
Sacrificing Professionalism
Whether you use a designer, agency or template, look at your site with a critical eye and make absolutely sure that it’s professional in appearance. Just because your next door neighbor’s kid can program HTML and PHP doesn’t mean that he understands marketing and can create a website that will fuel your growth. Remember, trying to save a few dollars in the wrong way now may wind up costing you tens of thousands of dollars in revenue down the road. This is not to say that you necessarily need to spend lots of money on your site design — rather, you just need to ensure that whatever direction you go in results in a website that represents you effectively.
Infatuation with Technology
Some people go into a site design process thinking that they “need” a Flash website. Or they “need” the latest feature du jour. The reality is that technology comes and goes. Instead, focus on providing your visitors with real solutions to their real problems. Focus on making: 1) the navigation intuitive; 2) the site easy-to-use; 3) the content of great value, and 4) the user experience fulfilling. Then, apply the appropriate technology to support these aspects of your site.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out our website info sheet if you are thinking about starting a website or rethinking your website. It has a few questions to get you started and then we can help you the rest of the way with getting the website you want!
Visit http://www.conceptdesignstudios.com/webdesign.html to get more information about our website design.
We have custom options for every business! Some are just starting out and don't have a lot to invest in a website. Others are established businesses that want to focus on a strong web presence as part of their marketing strategy. Either way, we can help you reach your website goals!
For many of you, your business website will act as a central hub for your marketing, branding and communications. It will be a major touchpoint in your relationship with your prospects and customers.
If you plan on being successful, it behooves you to create a website that fuels your business growth.
Then why is it that so many entrepreneurs and small business owners sabotage their own marketing by taking shortcuts with their websites and by not thinking through the ideal website for their business?
Here are 5 common mistakes that you should avoid when creating your website:
No Objective
The very first thing you should do when planning your website is to define the objective of the website. What do you want visitors to do on your site? How will you measure success? Will it be online sales, lead-generation, downloads, subscriptions, Page Views? Know what you want to drive your visitors to do prior to designing your new website, and the design process should progress more smoothly and more in line with your business needs.
No Plan
Just as you start with blueprints when building a new house, you need a plan when creating your new website. Some people go into a site design process by looking at designs, colors, templates and imagery. Although the look and feel of your website is important and should align with your identity, it’s critical to start with your marketing strategy. Who is the target audience? What are their main problems? How will your website help them solve these problems? If you were your own customer, how would the ideal website be organized and what would it deliver?
No Differentiation Strategy
Online, it’s super easy to jump from one website to another. Therefore, expect that your prospective customers will check out the competition. With that in mind, it’s surprising how many people do not think through a well-defined differentiation strategy for their website. Will your site offer unique, amazing value? Will your site focus on building a unique community? Will your site be clearly unique from your competition?
Sacrificing Professionalism
Whether you use a designer, agency or template, look at your site with a critical eye and make absolutely sure that it’s professional in appearance. Just because your next door neighbor’s kid can program HTML and PHP doesn’t mean that he understands marketing and can create a website that will fuel your growth. Remember, trying to save a few dollars in the wrong way now may wind up costing you tens of thousands of dollars in revenue down the road. This is not to say that you necessarily need to spend lots of money on your site design — rather, you just need to ensure that whatever direction you go in results in a website that represents you effectively.
Infatuation with Technology
Some people go into a site design process thinking that they “need” a Flash website. Or they “need” the latest feature du jour. The reality is that technology comes and goes. Instead, focus on providing your visitors with real solutions to their real problems. Focus on making: 1) the navigation intuitive; 2) the site easy-to-use; 3) the content of great value, and 4) the user experience fulfilling. Then, apply the appropriate technology to support these aspects of your site.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out our website info sheet if you are thinking about starting a website or rethinking your website. It has a few questions to get you started and then we can help you the rest of the way with getting the website you want!
Visit http://www.conceptdesignstudios.com/webdesign.html to get more information about our website design.
We have custom options for every business! Some are just starting out and don't have a lot to invest in a website. Others are established businesses that want to focus on a strong web presence as part of their marketing strategy. Either way, we can help you reach your website goals!
Monday, May 04, 2009
The Best Internet Marketing Books Ever
Article by Zeke Camusio
There are hundreds of books on Internet Marketing. With so many options, how do you know what to read and what to bypass?
Today I’m going to share with you the same books I recommend to my clients, and I’m going to tell you why I like them so much. If you read these books, you will know more about Internet Marketing than 90% of your competitors. You’ll learn the rest by putting what you’ve read into practice. Read and enjoy!
Best Internet Marketing Books
Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords
A great guide to understanding Google AdWords.
Don’t Make Me Think
By far, the best web usability book ever written.
Building Findable Websites
This book will teach you to build web standards-compliant websites.
Search Engine Marketing, Inc.
A great Search Engine Optimization (SEO) book for beginner and intermediate users.
Web Analytics: An Hour a Day
This book will teach you almost all you need to know about web analytics.
A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing
Are you a merchant looking to benefit from affiliate marketing? Do yourself a favor and read this book.
The Adweek Copywriting Handbook
By far, the best copywriting book I’ve ever read. I absolutely love it.
Call to Action
I love this book. It will teach you a lot about web usability, copywriting and calls to action.
The New Rules of Marketing and PR
A great read that will help you understand how the Internet is changing the way people and companies do marketing and PR.
The Facebook Era
Thinking about getting into social media marketing? Read this book first!
Twitter Power
Go from Twitter-laggard to Twitter-expert in only two days with this great book.
ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
If you want to become a professional blogger, this one is a must.
The Truth About Profiting from Social Networking
My favorite social media marketing book ever.
The Social Network Business Plan
David Silver is one of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to online communities. Learn from the master; read his book.
Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
A very easy to understand guide for people that want to get started in the social media marketing world.
The 4-Hour Workweek
This book is not about online marketing per sé, but it will give you a few ideas about living your life at its fullest when you start growing your profits from your online efforts.
There are hundreds of books on Internet Marketing. With so many options, how do you know what to read and what to bypass?
Today I’m going to share with you the same books I recommend to my clients, and I’m going to tell you why I like them so much. If you read these books, you will know more about Internet Marketing than 90% of your competitors. You’ll learn the rest by putting what you’ve read into practice. Read and enjoy!
Best Internet Marketing Books
Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords
A great guide to understanding Google AdWords.
Don’t Make Me Think
By far, the best web usability book ever written.
Building Findable Websites
This book will teach you to build web standards-compliant websites.
Search Engine Marketing, Inc.
A great Search Engine Optimization (SEO) book for beginner and intermediate users.
Web Analytics: An Hour a Day
This book will teach you almost all you need to know about web analytics.
A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing
Are you a merchant looking to benefit from affiliate marketing? Do yourself a favor and read this book.
The Adweek Copywriting Handbook
By far, the best copywriting book I’ve ever read. I absolutely love it.
Call to Action
I love this book. It will teach you a lot about web usability, copywriting and calls to action.
The New Rules of Marketing and PR
A great read that will help you understand how the Internet is changing the way people and companies do marketing and PR.
The Facebook Era
Thinking about getting into social media marketing? Read this book first!
Twitter Power
Go from Twitter-laggard to Twitter-expert in only two days with this great book.
ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
If you want to become a professional blogger, this one is a must.
The Truth About Profiting from Social Networking
My favorite social media marketing book ever.
The Social Network Business Plan
David Silver is one of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to online communities. Learn from the master; read his book.
Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
A very easy to understand guide for people that want to get started in the social media marketing world.
The 4-Hour Workweek
This book is not about online marketing per sé, but it will give you a few ideas about living your life at its fullest when you start growing your profits from your online efforts.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Top 4 Sites for Social Media for the Small Business
By Lisa Barone, April 28, 2009
I know. You don’t care how important the so-called “experts” tell you social media is. You’re a small business owner and that means you’re busy. You don’t have time to be everywhere or to try the “next big thing”. Luckily for you, you don’t have to. If you’re a small business owner you can still use social media to find new customers without letting it take over your life. And below you’ll find what I think are the top social media sites to help you do that. The trick is navigate through the clutter and find the ones that will work best for you.
Yahoo Answers
There are a lot of Question/Answer sites out there, but Yahoo Answers stands out due to its impressively large user base and its ability to put you in contact with folks asking service-based questions broken down by location. For example, there’s a guy in Boston looking for a painter, someone in New York City looking for a wedding dress shop and a guy in San Jose looking for recommendations on a new car. Those are all opportunities for small business owners to reach out and respond to targeted service queries. You just have to know they exist and how to find them.
Yahoo Answers is also valuable for businesses where your expertise is what you’re selling. By going in and answering questions that benefit the community, you brand yourself as an expert in that category. If you’re looking for a guide to Yahoo Answers, look no further because Matt McGee has already written the book on it.
Twitter
It’s hard to talk about small business and social media these days without mentioning Twitter. Twitter is about conversation. It’s about finding the people talking about you and what you sell and forming relationships with them. One of the most underutilized aspects of Twitter for most businesses is the Advanced Search feature that allows small business owners to search for specific keywords located near a particular zip code. Companies have used it to ward off customer service complaints, to answer questions and to create an awareness that you’re not only an expert, but you’re an expert in their local area.
For example, say you run a day camp and are looking for summer labor. You can perform a search for [summer job near:02116 within:25] and find folks located 25 miles outside of Boston looking for a job for the summer. There’s even a sentiment feature that attempts to determine if they’re happy about not having a job or sad, so you know which users to go after. There are many, many ways to harness the power of Twitter for local businesses, you just have to know where and how to jump in.
Wordpress
A blog is a powerful sales tool for small businesses because it acts as a differentiator between you and your competition. Your small business blog will not only act as a customer service and educational tool, but it will encourage customers to interact with you, will be crucial in crisis management, and can even help you pick up rankings for keywords you’re not targeting with the rest of your site. A lot of businesses lose out on customers by failing to establish a point of difference or personal story. Your blog enables you to do that. It’s your space to show your customers who you are, to listen, and to connect with them on a more personal level. As far social media outlets go, creating a blog is often one of the best investments you can make to boost your business and retain and attract customers.
Flickr
Flickr provides an avenue for small business owners to find customers with product-based needs (different from Yahoo Answers, which targets service-based needs). By going into the Groups section and searching for your particular area, you can find a list of groups that deal with topics either related to what you do or parallel topics that may share a common customer base.
For example, a search for Boston may reveal a group of car lovers looking for classic car parts or a gem in perfect condition someone’s looking to sell. A local group for photography may be seeking recommendations on new camera types. You should try to join the groups related to your area to help monitor the conversations and find places where it makes sense for you to join in. To make this task easier, subscribe to the RSS feed so that you’re automatically updated once a new discussion topic is added. You can also use Flickr for new content strategies.
Other Notable Mentions for Small Businesses:
GetSatisfaction: A hub for small businesses to address customer service issues head on before they become larger problems.
YouTube: Create product demos, how-to videos and engage customers in a way that separates your company from the herd of “me toos“ out there.
LinkedIn: Create a profile for both yourself and your corporation and take advantage of the Question/Answer feature similar to Yahoo Answers.
Facebook: Offers strong demographic targeting options both in the advertising opportunities (very high conversions for local businesses!), as well as with corporate Fan pages.
Social media remains a cost effective way for many businesses to reach out to customers. Because of your small size, you can create more targeted, more manageable online communities that convert both online and off. The trick to tackling social media is not to be everywhere, but to instead be everywhere your customers are.
_____________________________________________________________
Let us know if we can help you set up your own social media campaign!
http://www.conceptdesignstudios.com/
I know. You don’t care how important the so-called “experts” tell you social media is. You’re a small business owner and that means you’re busy. You don’t have time to be everywhere or to try the “next big thing”. Luckily for you, you don’t have to. If you’re a small business owner you can still use social media to find new customers without letting it take over your life. And below you’ll find what I think are the top social media sites to help you do that. The trick is navigate through the clutter and find the ones that will work best for you.
Yahoo Answers
There are a lot of Question/Answer sites out there, but Yahoo Answers stands out due to its impressively large user base and its ability to put you in contact with folks asking service-based questions broken down by location. For example, there’s a guy in Boston looking for a painter, someone in New York City looking for a wedding dress shop and a guy in San Jose looking for recommendations on a new car. Those are all opportunities for small business owners to reach out and respond to targeted service queries. You just have to know they exist and how to find them.
Yahoo Answers is also valuable for businesses where your expertise is what you’re selling. By going in and answering questions that benefit the community, you brand yourself as an expert in that category. If you’re looking for a guide to Yahoo Answers, look no further because Matt McGee has already written the book on it.
It’s hard to talk about small business and social media these days without mentioning Twitter. Twitter is about conversation. It’s about finding the people talking about you and what you sell and forming relationships with them. One of the most underutilized aspects of Twitter for most businesses is the Advanced Search feature that allows small business owners to search for specific keywords located near a particular zip code. Companies have used it to ward off customer service complaints, to answer questions and to create an awareness that you’re not only an expert, but you’re an expert in their local area.
For example, say you run a day camp and are looking for summer labor. You can perform a search for [summer job near:02116 within:25] and find folks located 25 miles outside of Boston looking for a job for the summer. There’s even a sentiment feature that attempts to determine if they’re happy about not having a job or sad, so you know which users to go after. There are many, many ways to harness the power of Twitter for local businesses, you just have to know where and how to jump in.
Wordpress
A blog is a powerful sales tool for small businesses because it acts as a differentiator between you and your competition. Your small business blog will not only act as a customer service and educational tool, but it will encourage customers to interact with you, will be crucial in crisis management, and can even help you pick up rankings for keywords you’re not targeting with the rest of your site. A lot of businesses lose out on customers by failing to establish a point of difference or personal story. Your blog enables you to do that. It’s your space to show your customers who you are, to listen, and to connect with them on a more personal level. As far social media outlets go, creating a blog is often one of the best investments you can make to boost your business and retain and attract customers.
Flickr
Flickr provides an avenue for small business owners to find customers with product-based needs (different from Yahoo Answers, which targets service-based needs). By going into the Groups section and searching for your particular area, you can find a list of groups that deal with topics either related to what you do or parallel topics that may share a common customer base.
For example, a search for Boston may reveal a group of car lovers looking for classic car parts or a gem in perfect condition someone’s looking to sell. A local group for photography may be seeking recommendations on new camera types. You should try to join the groups related to your area to help monitor the conversations and find places where it makes sense for you to join in. To make this task easier, subscribe to the RSS feed so that you’re automatically updated once a new discussion topic is added. You can also use Flickr for new content strategies.
Other Notable Mentions for Small Businesses:
GetSatisfaction: A hub for small businesses to address customer service issues head on before they become larger problems.
YouTube: Create product demos, how-to videos and engage customers in a way that separates your company from the herd of “me toos“ out there.
LinkedIn: Create a profile for both yourself and your corporation and take advantage of the Question/Answer feature similar to Yahoo Answers.
Facebook: Offers strong demographic targeting options both in the advertising opportunities (very high conversions for local businesses!), as well as with corporate Fan pages.
Social media remains a cost effective way for many businesses to reach out to customers. Because of your small size, you can create more targeted, more manageable online communities that convert both online and off. The trick to tackling social media is not to be everywhere, but to instead be everywhere your customers are.
_____________________________________________________________
Let us know if we can help you set up your own social media campaign!
http://www.conceptdesignstudios.com/
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