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What You Can Learn from Presidential Tweets

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Today I stumbled across a great article from the NY Times about one of our great past presidents using Twitter.  Go ahead, read it, I’ll wait.

Pretty cool, huh?

Several things are going on here, which I think you can use for your business.

Niche it, Baby

I’ve never heard of the JQA diaries until today, and most likely neither have you.  Thanks to some graduate student for mentioning that it looked like a Twitter feed, another person for acting on that observation, a Historical Society with a look-forward approach  (and a NY Times writer), now you have.  As of today, this account now has over 6000 followers. This little niche of history buffs is just the audience that the Massachesetts Historical Society wants, and they’ve found a way to “promote their wares” via Twitter.

Lesson: Find a topic that interests people.  Provide updates on a consistent basis, and you’ve got an immediate audience.  People will tell others, and in no time you’ll have a nice following of warm leads.

The Old is New

While reading a 200 year old diary isn’t exactly exciting to everyone, it is to some.  And that “some” is very interested in what is said by the account holder.  Old news is in demand, and over 6000 people are eagerly awaiting the next tweet, whether it’s about rough seas or card playing.

Lesson: Take information in your industry that you think everyone knows, and post about it.  Or blog about it.  You’ll increase your followers, RSS subscriptions, and website traffic because no one else is doing it.

Be Afraid Aware, Very Aware

Every day we are exposed to mundane and boring things in our industry.  We see them all the time, and pay no attention or give no second thought to them.  But smart business owners are taking those simple things and writing about them.  They are showing the behind-the-scenes to their business, or posting updates to their ‘boring’ day and people are interested.

For instance, I have a customer that sells memory foam mattresses.  One day I was at Target returning an item.  In front of me was a lady who was returning one of those mattress-topper memory foam things.  You roll them out on your mattress and they supposedly make it more comfortable to sleep on.  Well, I listened to her go on about how lumpy it made her bed, how it didn’t help her sleep, etc. so I mentioned it to my client.  He wrote up a blog post about these toppers (and their problems), and today it is one of his most popular posts ever.

Lesson: Watch what’s going on around you daily.  What things do you take for granted that your audience might find really useful?  Do you do something to each of your products to make it unique? Do you meet interesting people in your industry that others may find interesting as well?

Integration

The JQA diary posts also integrate with maps, making it even more interesting.  Even though the voyage took place  200 years ago, you can follow along today as if it were happening in real time.  You can see where in the ocean JQA is, and experience just what he was.

Lance Armstrong is a great user of integration, often posting his ‘view from the office’ pictures on TwitPic.  Bicyclers, cancer survivors and just fans love these updates.  They are interesting to his readers, and it helps him increase and identify his brand.

Lesson: Use technology to show what you do and who you are.  Become a real face to an otherwise faceless business identity.

You can learn a lot from a president that sailed the seas 200 years ago.  And you can take those things, along with the actions of some smart people, and apply them to your business.  How are you using similar tactics and posts to increase your business?

Posted in Marketing, blogging, niches, social media, traffic | No Responses »
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St Louis Marketing Seminar Lowers Price

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

The Look at Me workshop/seminar, of which I’m running and speaking at, now has a lower price – $149.

If you have a business in St. Louis that is suffering due to the economy, or you just need to get your website up to snuff, this is the perfect workshop for you.  There won’t be any high pressure selling, just lots of sessions on various Internet marketing topics.

Posted in Marketing | No Responses »

Tips on Vinyl Decals

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

You never know where you’ll get your next client.  I’ve had them find me online, call my toll-free number from business cards, and even stop me thanks to a window decal.

Just yesterday I took the kids to Six Flags, and as soon as we pulled up in the parking slot, someone approached me asking for a business card.  The guy said he currently had “two IT grads fighting over the best approach for his website”.  Of course I gave him a business card and asked him to contact me.  It’ll be interesting to see what his site is doing or not doing for his business.

If you decide to get a decal for your car, here are a few quick pointers that I’ve learned.

  • Get a light color
    I prefer white, because it shows up the best.  When you’re driving, particularly if you have tinted/shaded windows, the vehicle looks very dark from the outside.  So light colored are the easiest to read
  • Get BIG
    Don’t go cheap and think fitting more on your window is better.  Get something BIG and make sure everyone can read it.
  • Be quick and concise
    People driving aren’t looking for your service, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need it.  Have something on your car/truck that tells just what you do, and a way to get in contact with you.  You don’t have a long time to sell.
  • Contact info
    Phone numbers, unless they’re vanity numbers, will probably not get written down.  I’ve never written down a number from a passing car.
  • Track your decal calls
    If you really want to see just how your new decal can do, get a vanity number and then use call tracking to see just how awesome your new advertising campaign is doing.

Here’s the one one the back of my GMC Denali

wimb-window-350

Posted in Marketing | 1 Response »

What is Wrong with a Splash Page?

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

I must admit I’m pretty surprised nowadays when I come across a website that has a splash page.  Then again, I’m not totally surprised, as every day there are more and more people deciding that they are web designers, and adding their crappy coding to the mix.

Not to say mine is great, but hey.  If you’re going to hire someone to paint a big billboard for you, wouldn’t you want them to put it near a highway with lots of traffic?

What is a splash page?

A splash page is a pre-home page if you will.  It’s a page that is usually graphic-intensive and contains little or no real text.  Here are a few examples. Ugh.

What’s the problem?

Well, for one, they’re pointless.  Just makes your visitor have to click to get into your site.  Why not present them with your info immediately?  How many visitors do you lose because they don’t see the info they are seeking on your home page?

Second, they aren’t search engine friendly.  Since your home page is probably the most visited page (from SE referrals), a page of wasted real estate is just what the search engines don’t want.  They want content. Text. Data. Keywords.  Stuff they can chew up and digest and learn more about your business.  If all they find is an empty field and some weird Flash animation, you’ll never climb the rankings.  And if people can’t find you, you’ve wasted your time, efforts, and probably some cash too.

Third, they’re pointless.  Yeah, I know I already said that.  Catch my drift?

Posted in Marketing | 1 Response »

SEO Seminar ‘Failure’ – Lessons Learned

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

For four years I’ve taught HTML, Blogging, Internet marketing classes and more at the local branch of the public library here in my town.  Over the years, I’ve fine-tuned my classes into two hours of jam-packed information.  I’ve received “rave” reviews since I started, and have been told many times that I need to get these presentations to bigger audiences.  Many that took my classes have said that they would have paid for the info they got in them.

Well, either it’s all gone to my head or there really is a market out there for business owners willing to pay for a solid, quality conference to learn how to get their websites rolling.  Or maybe a bit of both.

So after the spring session ended and my teaching classes was off until the fall, I thought I’d make a go of hosting a real seminar/conference, get some real industry professionals to speak, and host an awesome info-packed event for STL businesses.

But I failed.  Kinda.
Click to continue »

Posted in Marketing, conferences, small business | 5 Responses »
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The First Steps to Getting Your Business Online

Friday, May 8th, 2009

When a business owner decides that they need to get online, often times they ask their friends, clients and customers what it is that they “do” online.  Since the popular thing right now is Twitter, I’d venture to guess that a good amount of tech-savvy customers would suggest that the biz owner jump onto the Twitter bandwagon.

While getting on Twitter, Facebook or any other social media site is a great idea, I think it’s definitely not the right way to get started.  Twitter is simply the flavor of the month right now.  A year ago MySpace was all the rage.  A year from now it’ll probably be something else.

Get Started Offline

I think the best way to get started online is to start offline, just like you are.  Ask customers how they found your business.  Did they search online? Did they look in the phone book?  Did they just drive by and see your sign?

For the ones that saw you online, this means that you have some sort of presence online, even if you don’t have a website yet.  Websites like Yelp, Yahoo Local and Google Maps (along with hundreds of others) probably already list your business, services, products and maybe even some customer reviews.

Do Some Online Investigating

Ask those customers where they saw you.  Did they read about you on one of the sites above, did they find you in an Internet search, or did they get a referral from an online friend?

Then jump online and start looking around.  See what’s mentioned about your business.  Find your business in Google Maps and others and claim those listings.  Add pertinent business information and you’re on your way.  Search for your business name with quotes around it (for example: “Bobs Sink Repair”).

Next, start thinking about what your customers would type into Google to find you.  Would they type some words and a geolocator (like ‘st louis’), or would they just type in your best product (aka ‘bathroom faucets’) or service (aka ‘sink repair’)?

Think like a customer, not like an entrepreneur.  Try your best to avoid acronyms and buzzwords that people in your industry would know, but Joe Average (aka your customer) wouldn’t.

Do a Bit of Keyword Research

Sure, you’re not an SEO, and keyword research doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. But just taking an hour or three to understand some of the variants in keywords that people use to find you will be worth it before you start building a website in your mind.

If you need help, or just really don’t have time, you could find someone to do it for you for a couple bucks.  Problem is, you still won’t get the experience of sitting in front of a PC and typing in various things to see what comes up.  That experience can help you get to your ‘ah-ha’ moment for search.  It can also inspire other ideas, other keyword ideas you didn’t think of originally, and it can also show you what your competition is doing (or not doing if you’re observant).

Find a SEO-Savvy Web Designer

Clueless web designers are everywhere. Your cousin’s dog groomer’s sister does it, so why not hire her? Or better yet, why not do it yourself?

It is my guess that business owners like to save money. I know I do. But I also know when spending money is smart.  Spending money on marketing materials (flyers, signage, website) is a smart move. It’s not smart to go cheap on these things.  If your cousin’s friend’s friend can crank it out, but you can’t find any of her past works in Google, chances are that’s not a good investment.

Take some time and interview a few web designers. Make sure they understand SEO, how to make search-friendly websites, and that they understand the importance of keyword placement, proper HTML coding and title tags.  When looking for an SEO, make sure they can prove their rankings, and that they offer things like call tracking and ranking reports.

Summary

While I think Twitter is probably one of the most awesome business tools out there at the moment, it’s not the core of my business strategy, and it shouldn’t be for you either.  Your strategy needs to be wide and yet focused.  Build a quality website and provide educational information to your clients. Find a good SEO-savvy designer and you’ll be well on the way to better profits.

Related Posts

We Had a Website, It Was a Waste of Money

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You’re Doing it Wrong

Friday, April 24th, 2009

lolcats funny cat pictures

“Know your enemy” – Sun Tzu in The Art of War

If you use Twitter to promote your business (and you should), you are already ahead of most businesses in your industry.  Twitter is a great tool, if you can leverage it correctly.  Unfortunately, I see a lot of businesses using Twitter in ways that, while they think helps them, it’s actually hurting them.

Screwup#1: Missing Traffic Opportunities

If you’ve attended any of my seminars, you know that I’ve said blogging is by far one of the best ways to build your brand, promote your business, and increase your landing page count.  Providing quality information that people are ready to consume will automatically put you in an authoritative position in their mind.  You become the subject matter expert.

So when I see a business post a tweet that is informational about your industry, without a link back to your article, I hang my head in disgust.  Here you have a great piece of information, like a celebrity that uses your product, but you don’t link it anywhere.  You missed the target!

The real enemy here is simply missed traffic.  Twitter gets insane amounts of traffic. Ultimately, traffic back to your website means branding, which leads to sales; and that’s what we’re after.  Even if someone doesn’t need your product today, when they do need it, you want to have your logo/biz name pre-planted in their head.

It’s not enough to put posts on Twitter about interesting things.  Take all those interesting things that you find out and write a blog post about them.  Expand on them, add some great information about why this info is great, and provide it all in a way that is purely educational and not sales-y.

People aren’t stupid. If you’re talking about how blue widgets can kill mosquitos, and they happen to have a mosquito problem, they’re smart enough to click over to your blue widget page and buy.

As I hear all the time when my kids are playing Call of Duty 5, The Enemy has Taken Your Flag!  Don’t let twitter take your flag (traffic) and keep it.  You’re posting the information to help people, right? So make sure the traffic that your Twitter feed is seeing gets to your website.  Don’t drop the ball.

Screwup #2 – Posting Half of a Good Deal

Many business people understand that there’s an advantage to Twitter.  They’ve got the understanding that most people are following you because they’re interested in what you have to say/sell.  You’ve got your target audience in your hands, and they patiently await to be persuaded to buy.

So when you want to offer a deal to people because you’re nice, or because they are raving about your product, don’t post a message telling them that “for a good deal”, they need to contact you.

Why? Well, let’s go back to your audience. Many of these people are interested in what you have to say/sell, right? But they are probably passively interested.  Meaning, they aren’t interested in putting a lot of time into you (along with the thousands of other businesses clammoring for their attention).  So posting a message saying that in order to save they have to contact you, you may have just lost a sale.

Why not just post the coupon online for all to see?  The more your of your audience that sees it, the more sales you’ll get, right?

Screwup #3 – Dumping Your Followers to Competitors

While this one isn’t as big of a no-no as the others, it’s still one that makes me scratch my head when I see it.

You find a great article on something in your industry.  It’s written by a well known competitor, and (unfortunatly) you agree with what they’ve posted.  Or maybe you don’t. Either way, don’t go twitter-crazy and immediately post a link to the guy’s article, especially if you disagree.

If you agree with what was said, consider rewriting the article as your own content (careful here… you don’t want to be accused of plagiarizing or called a Johnny-come-lately) or post something on your site about how your business agrees with what was said on such and such’s site.

If you disagree, you’ve got all kinds of firepower to write up a great blog post.  Inform your readers by (politely) showing how your competitor is wrong, and how your company would do the project right.

In Saint Louis MO? Learn more about Internet Marketing at the Look at Me Seminar in June.

Posted in Marketing, traffic, twitter | 1 Response »
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SEO Band Aid 1: Paying for Leads

Friday, March 6th, 2009

This is part one of a series on “Bandaids for Your Website”.  These are things that you could do to your website, but really they are nothing more than a temporary short term bandaid.  I’ll try to use some of my real-life situations, questions and offers that I’ve experienced over the years.

The Question

Yesterday I got a phone call from a nice man who had taken my SEO seminar in Saint Louis a week or two back.  He works in a very specialized sector of the service industry, serving mostly residential customers I’d suspect.  His question was this:

“I talked to a guy yesterday who could set me up with a web page and then it could collect leads.  I would pay him $12 for each lead.  What are your thoughts?”

Pay Per Lead – The Way to Go?

In the past I’ve done some work for contractors in various industries.  One guy I remember did HVAC repair.  He was paying up to $75 each to Service Magic for air conditioning repair leads.

That’s not bad if you can convert them, and $12 is even better.  But there’s a problem:

Websites like Service Magic are great for customers looking for someone to come fix their air conditioning system.  There are many contractors on there, and their rating system, etc is a great way to pick out who’s the best one to hire for your problem.  You can get plenty of bids in a short amount of time.

But, the same thing that makes sites like this so great for consumers is also the thing that makes it so bad for contractors looking for leads: there are many contractors on the site already.

So what happens when John Doe needs AC repair and ends up on Service Magic?  Well, he fills out a form, hits submit, and that lead goes to all 20, 30, or 50 contractors that are signed up for that particular niche.

Some of these contractors (such as my caller - aka Mr. Contractor) are one or two-man shops. Mr Contractor goes out and works, then comes back to the office, checks email, phones, etc and follows up on them.  By time he follows up on the lead that Mr. Doe submitted, Mr. Doe has already had ten calls from qualified contractors, and he probably already hired someone.  Meantime Mr. Contractor is spinning his wheels chasing dead leads. As a business owner, that sucks.

Now, it should be said here that Service Magic is making $12 off of each contractor that is signed up.  They are making a killing off those leads.  So even though that lead was only $12, it still virtually has a value of $0 to most small shops.

Keeping Up

If you wanted to sign up for something like Service Magic offers, you’d need a few things:

  • A full time staff member that can follow up on any submitted leads immediately.
  • A guarantee that you are in a niche with just a few competitors.
  • An automated system that receives leads and forwards them to a cell phone or other handheld device so you can follow up quickly.

Looking at a Long Term Plan

Sites like Service Magic also have nice Search Engine rankings.  These rankings, in my opinion, are by default, because no contractors (or very few) in Mr. Contractor’s industry are building websites to collect leads themselves.  Reasons for this could include initial startup costs, ignorance, or even laziness.

If you have a decent staff that can follow up on these leads, then you may not see the need to have your own website.  The leads are coming in, you’re making nice money and everything is good.  Well, except that a good portion of your business depends on one source.  But as long as that source doesn’t dry up, you’re good, right?

For contractors who don’t have the luxury of a phone staff, or ability to respond quickly, a good search engine-friendly website is definitely a must-have.

If Mr. Contractor were to put a few thousand dollars into building a quality-written, search engine friendly website of his own, he could easily outrank Service Magic and cull all of those leads for himself.  This long term approach could be supplemented by the short-term leads from SM or others, but there would be obvious cash issues involved.

What Do You Think?

I’m curious to hear what other contractors have experienced in issues such as this.  Are you happy paying for leads? Do you make enough profit to justify a service like this? Or do you think the long term SEO+website is the way to go?

Posted in Marketing, leads, small business | 4 Responses »

SEO Isn’t an Expense, It’s an Investment

Friday, February 20th, 2009

Many business owners see SEO and related services as an expense instead of an investment.  This line of short term thinking has long plagued many a SEO business.

So what can the average SEO do about it?  Well, we can educate them (assuming they are willing to listen).  We can show them case studies.  We can simply say ‘trust me’ (which rarely works).

Today, while thinking about this exact thing, I had a great thought.

Let’s say you are a business owner, and you have a building where you sell things.  Everyone knows that the first three rules of business are ‘Location, Location, Location’, right?

So let’s say that I came to you and told you that every day I’d come by and move your building an inch closer to a major intersection in your town.  I’d spruce up your building, make it attractive and at the same time I’d pick it up and move it closer and closer.

Now, being closer to an intersection means more people will see your signs, right?  And once you get to the intersection (an inch at a time might take you a while), you’ll have more traffic, more people will be aware of your business, and your revenues will go up.

So after (whatever amount of time), I say let’s take this to a new level. Let’s move your building toward the local highway. It may cost more, but you’ll see more and more traffic.  Your brand awareness will go up. People will see your building from many streets.

Soon you’ve moved past the highway toward the Interstate.  Thousands (or more) of people are seeing your building, your sign, your brand every day.  Revenues are going up, and you are enjoying success you never thought possible.

Now, let’s take this one step further. What if, the highway that I moved you towards just happened to contain only people that were interested in your products? Nearly every car that drove by was a targeted customer.  Your target market, delivered to your door.

To be fair, let’s define an expense.  dictionary.com says a cause or occasion of spending. Perfect.

If I were Joe Average Business Owner, you’re probably right, SEO is an expense in the short term scheme of things.  There’s going to be a definite amount of time when I’m out spending my return.  There will be months of payments gone to the wayside before I will ever see any return on that money, and it may seem like it’s not working.

And SEOs see this a lot.  It takes time for the search engines to crawl your site, and it takes even longer for your website (which is competing with thousands, if not millions of others) to creep up the SERPS.  That’s why we ask for 6 or 12 month minimum contracts.  Our ‘salary’ is performance based.  You climb the ranks or we lose our job. Simple as that.

Back to expenses – sure, an SEO campaign is a serious cost for your business.  In the short term, it will look like you’re losing money out the wazoo, but long term you’ll see that the money you invested is returning at a rate that has turned it into a nice business asset.

Investment: a devoting, using, or giving of time, talent, emotional energy, etc., as for a purpose or to achieve something

Posted in Marketing, SEO, money, small business | No Responses »
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Arnold MO Chamber of Commerce Meeting – What I Maybe Would Have Said

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

Earlier this week I attended the Arnold Chamber of Commerce meeting for February.  Arnold is a small town of about 20,000 residents, south of Saint Louis in Missouri.

I was surprised to find so many businesses taking part in the Chamber meeting. Several people who had taken my classes were there, so it was nice to see some familiar faces from the get-go.

The meeting included a lunch served by the people at Ponderosa Restaurant and a drink (water for me).  There were a few announcements along with the opportunity to introduce the guests (me and many others).  I met some nice people and had a good time.

Apparently normally the Chamber has a guest speaker at most of their meetings, however this one backed out, so they decided to do a ‘topic’ instead, and this months topic was Marketing Your Business.  Right up my alley, or so I thought.

The first speaker was from DDI Media, a local billboard company.  She promoted her billboards and told of her pricing schedule.  No mention of  ‘marketing’ tips.

Second and third were salesmen from local newspapers.  They talked about their great subscription base and blurted out their inflated circulation numbers, all in an attempt to get more advertisers.  No mention of marketing tips.

Can you see where this is going?

Next up was supposed to be the ‘Welcome Wagon’, a company that puts (imagine this) ads in a little packet that they give out to all the people who apply for residency permits.  No mention of marketing tips.

Last was the good ‘ole Yellow Book.  This lady was even worse than the others.  She simply read from a flyer that she had handed out and told the business owners about all the great things that YB does.  She mentioned (incorrectly) Pay to Click, and Search Ads, although I guarantee I could talk circles around her about her own product.  It was funny to watch her read what she was selling when it was obvious that she didn’t know jack squat about it.

So, since there was no mention of actual marketing tips (the “topic” of the day), I’m going to simply pretend like I was asked to also speak.

“Thank you for this opportunity.  I’d like to share with you seven tips that you can go back to the office and do today that will help increase your business revenue.

  1. Add your business to Google Maps.  Take the time to put in as much information as you can, including your products, services, hours and what kind of payments you take.  Add information on what you do, how well you do it, and verify your address through Google’s verification system.
  2. Start asking customers to write reviews about your business on Yelp!, Mixx, and other local-based websites.  Don’t fake the reviews yourself, or ask your relatives to do it – those are too obvious.
  3. Set up a blog on your website, and publish something each week (at a minimum).  Listen to your customers, and use their questions as fodder for your upcoming posts.  Blogging for business can lead to very nice ROI.
  4. Get a Twitter account, and start posting daily messages about your business.  Don’t be boring, post things that people will find interesting. Link your account to your website, and set up an account through twitterfeed that automatically posts your new blogs.
  5. Start tracking your website visitors.  Add Google’s analytics program to your site and learn where people are finding you.  Do you know how many people call you because of your website? …which brings me to number six…
  6. Consider getting a call tracking service.  Call tracking lets you get separate phone numbers for each of your marketing campaigns.  You can then track that campaign and literally tell how well or poor it did.  Doing a direct-mail campaign? Get a phone number that only shows up on your mailer. When people call, you’ll know just how that campaign did.  And it’s not expensive.
  7. And lastly, consider attending a seminar on Search Engine Marketing (SEM).  You’ll be blown away by the amount of things you can do online that can increase your bottom line beyond what you ever thought possible.  There are competitors of yours out there who haven’t heard about SEM yet, but when they do, you’ll be sorry you didn’t get to it first.

Ok sure, some of this may be self-serving in a roundabout way, but hey at least I’m giving real marketing tips.

I look forward to future Chamber meetings, and the topics they’ll cover in the future.  I could definitely use some education on things like accounting and such, so I’m sure it will benefit me in the long run.

Posted in Marketing, Saint Louis, content, local marketing, networking, site ranking, small business, twitter | 2 Responses »
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