Is your website working for you? If not this might be why...

So everyone and their uncle has a website now and or is trying to get one up and running. But why? Here a few REAL good reasons why, some you may not have thought of...

All agencies listen up (& graphic designers beware), if you are selling web services and not letting your clients in on the true role of a website, you are stealing their money.

Websites - why offer them?

Your client’s website is potentially the most powerful sales and marketing tool in their arsenal. 90% of their new business contacts will review their website, and 50% of them allow that website to influence their decision to continue the relationship. To all agencies - make sure your client's know this.

Business websites start a discussion with the market, and convey the brand and personality of a company. They’re also used as distribution channels, store fronts, lead generators, customer support and sales tools. They play a key role in search marketing, email marketing, and other integrated marketing campaigns.

Website Value - It's NOT about being pretty

A website is often the first impression you make with the market. It can reinforce and strengthen their competitive positioning and brand strategy, but it can also do the opposite: fail to differentiate you, or worse yet, lose the interest of a prospect.

Though most companies have a website, many still aren’t taking advantage of the changing role the web is playing in business selling processes. Website roles can be different for each business, but in most industries, a good website can:

* Reinforce a brand
* Deliver compelling information about products, services and a company mission
* Generate leads
* Nurture existing leads and move them closer to purchase
* Provide support for customers and distribution channels

Smart companies have their websites play larger roles in their marketing. That means moving the strategic website decisions from the graphic designers and programmers to key business leaders. it is also imperative to make an investment in Search engine optimization, what's the point in having a site if your market can't find you? NONE! (well there are reasons, but if you want ROI you need SEO)

A website redesign can be a substantial investment. But the true value of the site isn’t how pretty it looks, it’s how effectively it performs in the marketing and sales mix.

Is your site performing?

Is blogging for you?

About 4 years ago a remarkable woman named Toby Bloomberg (www.bloombergmarketing.com) gave me my first exposure to blogging and social media over all. She explained then that those who did not embrace this new form of advertising would soon get left in the dust.

At the time I was working in a corporate setting and a client, the CEO of a major health and fitness conglomerate was deciding whether he should start a CEO blog on his corporate website.
She had some very heavy cautions for starting such an endeavor.
See her advice below:

"A blog is a cost efficient, effective easy-to use, internet-base, communication tool.

Blogs, short for weblogs, are a variation of a traditional web site complete with URLs and linking ability. However, there is the option to include comments from visitors. Posts (content entry) are in reverse chronological order giving the blog the look a journal format. The most current content is always at the top of the page.

There is no need for a webmaster. Even non-technical people can quickly learn to blog. Authors can edit, update and maintain content without ever knowing an HTML code. If you can use Microsoft Word you can blog.

The major difference between a website and a blog is that a website is usually a static communication vehicle, while a blog is dynamic in nature, constantly changing and evolving. The ease in adding content lends itself to more frequent posts than a traditional website. Blog posts range from a few sentences to a couple of short paragraphs to a series of bulleted lists.

Although blogs can have multiple authors, most blogs are written by one person. The best bloggers are authentic and candid. Their writing reflects their personality through voice, tone and style. Since most postings are written in a conversational tone, blogs convey a familiarity that does not exist in static websites.

Why Marketers Are Jumping on The Blog Bandwagon

Savvy marketers are integrating blogs into their marketing plans to support strategies such as: extending brand awareness, building credibility through thought leadership, developing relationships with customers, prospects, stakeholders, generating sales leads, and conducting product research.

• Blogs humanize and "emotionalize" brands and companies.
  • Example: Microsoft Channel Nine
• Blogs offer accessibility that can not be found anywhere else.
CEO Business Blog Examples:
• Richard Eldelman, President & CEO Eldeman (largest privately held PR firm in the world)
• Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of General Motors
• Alan Meckler, CEO JupiterMedia
• A typical blog format includes a comment section associated with each post allowing for feedback.
• Each blog post includes a unique URL, which helps to virally extend reach and awareness of your brand.
• Blogs are being used as a component to search engine marketing strategies because of often high rankings on Google, MSN, Yahoo and others.

RSS - The Power Behind Blogs

To read a blog, you can, of course click on the link to a blog to or save a blog in your favorites.

A better way is to subscribe to a "reader" / "scraper" / "aggregator" which is a web-based interface that you access from a secure website or a software program that you can download to your computer. New "feeds" are automatically downloaded to your "reader" when posted on the blog. Huge benefit - never any spam.

Bloglines is a free asp service: http://www.bloglines.com/
Here's a link to many more. Some are free and some are not.

Blog Publishing Websites

• http://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g - free and fee-based
• http://www.blog-city.com/bc/ - free
• http://www.squarespace.com - fee-based
• http://www.typepad.com - fee-based"

Though blogs are now a very common and powerful tool. As always, I recommend doing plenty of research, research, research to weigh the pros and cons. Most importantly, if you are going to do the research will help make sure you do it right.

The blogging community can be nasty if you break their "rules".

Happy blogging!

I want to hear from you

So, the time is now to pull up your boot straps and promote your business. In this economy you MUST stand out to get new business and have impeccable customer service to maintain the clients/customers you have.

If you are a aspiring business owner - tell me what has been your biggest challenge getting started.

If you already have a business - post what challenges you are facing and how this crappy economy has effected your business.

I am here to help and will answer questions and help you find solutions to get where you want to be.

BUT YOU HAVE TO WANT THE HELP...what do you have to loose it is free after all.

Could you do without that dinner out?

Non-profits need our support now more than ever.

Journey Girls is a wonderful organization I have had the pleasure of working with over the last year. Dr. Rachel Elahee, Psy. D. created the group years ago with the hopes of having a positive impact on the female youth of Metro Atlanta. She has managed to use her expertise to devise a program that has taught high school girls, everything from table manners, to hygiene, to how to have a safe dating relationship. All essentials for a teen in this day and age.

It is a rough market for such organizations. With the economy struggling as it is...fewer and fewer people are willing to part with even the small amounts of money required to fund an empowering program such as this.

Despite these odds, Dr. Elahee is committed to her girls and getting the program exposure she needs to continue helping the young ladies of Metro Atlanta.

Weekly Journey Girl meetings have now evolved to include a full one day conference.

SUPPORT WHAT MATTERS PEOPLE!

Organizations like this MATTER. Go visit www.journeygirls.org for more info on the conference.

One so-so dinner out would allow one high school girl to learn how to make better decisions now for a bright future later. Can you do without that dinner to help put a teen on the right path?

I'll be eating at home :)

So what the heck is "Social Media" anyway?

Well the short answer is that "Social Media" is the fastest growing way to reach your target audience. It is the use of various internet based marketing tools geared toward saving your conventional advertising dollars while introducing a new level of of exposure and convenience to your consumers.

Wikipedia says:

Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives.Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video. These sites typically use technologies such as blogs, message boards, podcasts, wikis, and vlogs to allow users to interact. A few prominent examples of social media applications are Wikipedia (reference), MySpace (social networking), Gather.com (social networking),YouTube (video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), Digg (news sharing), Flickr (photo sharing) and Miniclip (game sharing).

Brian Solis of WEbProNews gives 2 definitions:

"I took the current description and offered some suggestions based on my beliefs as well as points from other thought leaders. I tried to keep it simple as not to overwhelm, but embrace those read it.

1 - social media describes the online tools that people use to share content, profiles, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media itself, thus facilitating conversations and interaction online between groups of people. These tools include blogs, message boards, podcasts, micro blogs, lifestreams, bookmarks, networks, communities, wikis, and vlogs.

A few prominent examples of social media applications are Wikipedia (reference), MySpace and Facebook (social networking), Twitter and Jaikue (presence apps), YouTube (video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), Upcoming (Events), Digg and Reddit (news aggregation), Flickr and Zooomr (photo sharing), Blogtv, Justin.tv, and Ustream (livecasting), Stickham, YourTrumanShow (episodic online video), Izimi and Pownce (media sharing), del.icio.us (bookmarking) and World of Warcraft (online gaming).

2 - Social Media is the democratization of content and the understanding of the role people play in the process of not only reading and disseminating information, but also how they share and create content for others to participate. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism to a many-to-many model, rooted in a conversational format between authors and people"

StrategicGal Says:

Get with the Social Media Program or be left behind!