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Interview: David Siteman Garland from The Rise to the Top

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Today’s interview is with David Siteman Garland, CEO of The Rise to the Top. David bills TRTTT as The #1 Non-Boring Resource for Marketing Like an Entreprenuer: Smarter, Faster, Cheaper. His website is an awesome resource for anyone who is getting started or already in business. He also hosts a weekly TV show on ABC.

I’ve spoken with David a few times via Twitter (@TheRiseToTheTop) and also met him at the November ‘edition’ of the St Louis Social Media Group. He’s quite energetic and I enjoyed his presentation.

David, I know your business has been around for several years, what first spurred you to get involved with social media for your business?

Social media for me was a little bit of being in the right place at the right time. I was one of the first 5,000 members on Facebook because I happened to be in college at the time (back when it was called THE Facebook and only for college students) and my school, Washington University in St. Louis, was one of the first schools to be added to Facebook.

For me, it started as a way to communicate with my friends in school and quickly evolved to be encompass forming relationships with other, promoting my businesses and other people’s businesses.
Click to continue »

Posted in interviews, Marketing, Saint Louis, St Louis | 2 Responses »
Tags: David Siteman Garland, interview, therisetothetop

Interview with Russ Henneberry from Tiny & Mighty

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

As part of a new series, I’m going to be doing interviews with local (Saint Louis area) industry leaders that are using social media and other forms of SEM to increase their overall business revenue and objectives. This week I’m interviewing Russ Henneberry, owner of Tiny Business, Mighty Profits.

Russ Henneberry writes and speaks about Content Marketing Strategy and how tiny businesses can make mighty profits using a personal computer, a little imagination and a few well-placed dollars.

What first spurred you to get involved with social media for your business?
I started a business in 2004 that was a massive failure. The most critical take-away from that failure was that I needed to be more connected to colleagues, customers, and prospects. I realized that going it alone was not a good strategy and that social media was a great way for me to grow my support network.
Tell us about T&M’s online strategy. What online tools are you using now to grow your customer base?
I use a WordPress blog as a hub from which to consistently broadcast valuable and timely content that would be beneficial to my market. I use video sharing sites (YouTube, etc), Email Marketing through aWeber, and social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Click to continue »

Posted in interviews, local marketing, Marketing, Saint Louis | 4 Responses »
Tags: henneberry, interview, russ, social media, St Louis, tiny & mighty

Upcoming Business Series Announcement

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

More and more businesses are getting online every day. Most of these businesses are doing so only because ‘everyone else is’. This sense of urgency is good, but needs a foundation. There’s nothing worse than a business that has a website simply because their competition does. Online strategy should be learned, discussed and acted upon in order to succeed.

As many of you know, I’m the moving force behind Market Saint Louis, a twice-a-year business conference that focuses on teaching local St Louis businesses the ways of online optimization, advertising and more. Speakers from around the country fly in to share their expertise on various subjects, from SEO to Pay per Click and Analytics. 2010 is going to be even bigger, with the conferences featuring two separate tracks – one for beginners and one for businesses that are already in the game to some level.

The event isn’t cheap (although the pre-agenda tickets aren’t very expensive) and some small businesses may have a hard time shelling out several hundred dollars in this economy just to learn how to spend more time and money on the Internet. But it’s crucial for every business to be online now.

To help quell the fears of those business owners, I’ve partnered up with the Jefferson County Library to teach a series of free classes (yes, I said free) on Online Marketing, Social Media and more. This series of classes will run January through March, and will be very limited both in amount as well as seating.

If you’re wondering just how your competition gets their website to the top of Google searches for items you sell, you’ll learn. If you know your business needs to be on Twitter or Facebook, but you don’t know how to use these tools, you’ll learn. And if you want to grow your online sales, you’ll learn.

Scheduled Dates

Twitter Basics and Tips

Jan 14 – 9:30AM to Noon or March 4 – 6:00PM to 8:30PM
Learn how to set up a Twitter account and how to ‘tweet’. You’ll learn about some great tools that will help you get more followers, find great information about your interests, and how to utilize some ‘behind the scenes’ tricks to get the most out of your new account.

Marketing Your Business Website

Feb 4 – 9:30 AM to Noon or Mar 25 – 6:00PM to 8:30PM
Do you wonder why your website isn’t listed on Yahoo! or other search engines? Are you clueless about search marketing techniques that can draw customers to your site? We will cover topics such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), online advertising tips and avenues, along with ways to increase your website traffic along with other offline marketing ideas.

Social Media for Business – Leverage Community to Build Your Brand

Feb 11 – 6:00PM to 8:30PM
Learn how to leverage blogging, video and social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to grow your business.

Download the flyer / schedule

Sign Up Now

All classes have very limited seating and will be at the Arnold branch of the Jefferson County Library. To sign up, call 636-296-5171.

These will be the only classes offered this Spring. For more information on the upcoming Market Saint Louis conference (and to get the cheap ticket price) visit MarketSTL.com

Posted in conferences, free stuff, local marketing, Marketing, Saint Louis, small business, social media | 5 Responses »
Tags: business, classes, free, learning, library, SEO, social media, twitter

How NOT to Use Social Media for Your Pizza Business

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

About two months ago I read an incredible book by Chris Brogan titled “Trust Agents“. I loved the book so much that I purchased additional copies and mailed them to all of my clients.

In short, the book goes over how businesses (or individuals that want to brand themselves) can use social media in ways that work to their advantage. Things such as gaining trust with your followers, providing them with value, etc. It’s an awesome read and one of the very few books I’m passionate about recommending to others.

There’s an etiquette (and strategy) in promoting your business on sites like Twitter, Facebook, etc. You don’t want to come across as a spammer, pushing out sale after self-serving sale and think that your followers will hang around. Everyone loves to buy, but no one likes to be sold to.

Today’s perfect example of this is a conversation I had with Ferraro’s Pizza, a Saint Louis joint that uses Twitter to promote themselves. Before this week, their Twitter account was abandoned, unused and dormant since mid-October. Then today, the account suddenly pipes back into action – promoting their great lunch sales over and over again. In a matter of 9 minutes, Feraro’s sent out 5 tweets about their specials. That’s. Excessive. Click to continue »

Posted in books, competition, Marketing, social media | 19 Responses »
Tags: caitos, feraro's pizza, jon feraro, pizza, Saint Louis

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 blogging, Marketing, niches, social media, traffic | No Responses »
Tags: blogging, business, John Quincy Adams, JQA, lessons, presidents, twitter

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?