Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Remarkable Stats on the State of the Internet Video

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

I thought this video shows a good view of what the state of communication in the world is like these days.  It is kind of overwhelming to think how things have grown to the state they are at now or I should say last year.  Just think where we are now in 2010.   

Here are a couple of thoughts to ponder. 
How do you set yourself apart from all the content that is created online?
What do you do to filter thought the information that is available to us now?
Is there anything that you can NOT learn from watching a video online?

How do you keep from being overwhelmed with the content that is online?

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Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

We hear the buzz words about the social networks from the News, Late Night TV, even the Whitehouse and your local politician how everyone is Tweeting and they have a Face book page and are hooking up with old contacts through Linked in. How can you use these tools with your business to help drive traffic to your site? (more…)

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Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

Once you’re running a company newsletter or business blog, you’ll have a face in front of customers you’ve never even met. Just like you dress for the business you’re in, you need to talk with a certain professionalism. The same is true for your written materials. It’s just one more impression you make on your customers.

I interviewed a vice president at Washington Mutual some years back, and I asked him about his fancy gold watch. It was a bevel-faced Concord, a $20,000 timepiece, according to him. I asked him why he would wear such a thing and he told me that 80% of his clients don’t notice a nice watch and couldn’t care less, but the other 20% do notice and do care, and it’s that last 20% he needed to impress. (more…)

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Sunday, February 24th, 2008

In the ever changing world of business marketing only one thing has remained the same, and that is change. Yellow Page ads are less effective than ever and newspaper classifieds are all but dead. The web has changed the way we do business, but it’s changing still and businesses that change with it are reaping the biggest benefits.If you had a business blog five years ago, no matter how minimally relevant or poorly constructed, you stood out from the crowd. If you had a pretty good one that was pretty well designed just two years ago, you would still have an edge over your competitors.

Today it is estimated that more than 5% of small businesses have a company blog. Simply having one will help you in many ways, but to really have an impact and stand apart from the crowd, you need to do it right, and that’s why more and more companies are switching over to professional writers for their blogs.

Benefits of Professional Writers:

- A professional writer will write with greater clarity and focus, with fewer typos and errors.

- Professional writers complete articles more quickly, thus costing less than having someone inside the company write on an hourly wage.

- Writers with web-focused experience understand headlines, visual layouts and keyword optimization.

- Hiring a professional to take over the task will free you up to focus on what you do best: running your business.

At first, the idea of paying someone to do something you could handle on your own for free may seem crazy. The principle is the same as painting your house; you know how to do it yourself, but professionals can do it quicker, better and in some cases even cheaper than you could. Once you put a price on your time, it’s much too expensive to do it yourself, especially since the finished look won’t even be as good.

Cautions for Hiring a Pro-Blogger:

- News experience. Make sure they have experience writing news articles, not just blogs. Many blogs are rambling opinion stories written by inexperienced people who just know how to type. The news article experience shows professionalism and training.

- Blog experience. Ask to see samples of other work already published. If there isn’t any, or they can only show a few blogs or articles, you may be the first serious client they have. There are thousands of would-be professional bloggers looking for work, but few with any real experience.

- Web experience. Ask about experience with search engine optimization (SEO) and web content. If they don’t know what you’re talking about, they can’t help you. Your writer needs to be good and professional, but just as important is the understanding of how the mechanics of the web work.

- Hourly vs. contract. Avoid hiring a writer who wants to charge by the hour. Some writers can create a brilliant, well-researched story in an hour, while others might take a day. In this scenario the $10/hour writer will cost you $80 per article, while the $50/hour writer only costs $50 per article. You know how much content you need, only pay for a finished product.

If your business considers hiring a professional writer to fulfill your blog content, don’t be afraid to ask hard questions. The reputation of your company is on the line and so is your money.

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Sunday, February 24th, 2008

Search engines can be a tricky group to cater to, but figuring out the likes and dislikes of Google and the gang can transform your web site from a virtual placeholder on the web to a top ranked destination recommended by everybody from Yahoo to AOL, even if that does end up being the same people.

So how do you get to the top of searches for your relevant keywords? It’s easy and I’ll show you exactly how, but by “easy” I mean very difficult, and by “I’ll show you exactly how” I mean I’ll give you the best information currently available.

SEO Friendly URLs

In other words, search engine friendly file names for your pages. If you have a page for your dental office with an article called “Advantages of Porcelain Crowns,” there are a few ways the address can look.

Bad: http://www.yourdentalcompany/cm/details.search/results?985743945bdj1.php

Good:

http://www.yourdentalcompany/advantages-of-porcelain-crowns.php

Better:

http://www.yourdentalcompany/10-05-2008-advantages-of-porcelain-crowns.php

The more accurate and relevant the file name for the page is, the better search engines will like it and the higher you will rank for that search term. Google does its best to figure out what your page is about, and putting it in the URL helps it figure that out.

Site Map

If you don’t already have a site map, now is the time to get one. A site map is pretty much what it sounds like; it’s a road map to every page of your site. A good example can be found on the Tek Jansen site. It lists all your relevant pages with accurate links.

Put a link to this on every page of your site to ensure search engines and people are always within two-clicks of any page you want them to find.

Then take it a step further and create a http://www.google.com/webmasters/>located in the Webmaster Tools section. This isn’t quite as easy, but it makes Google happy, and that’s always a good thing. Hopefully your web designer can automate the process, but if not, there are tools that will help you make one out of nothing. You will need to create an account with Google in order to upload and notify them of the sitemap (same link as above), but it’s a fairly straightforward process.

Implementing These Improvements

You may need to rebuild existing pages on your site, but this is something your in-house or contract designer can help you with, if you’re not managing it yourself. If this is beyond the scope of your designer, you may want to hire a different one. That would be like asking your printer to switch from black and white to color. You may need a new printer, but the value of getting your customers to actually find you is worth it.

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Thursday, February 21st, 2008

There are many benefits to having your business blog, even though it may take a few months to start really seeing it. Many entrepreneurs are so eager to adopt the latest trends that by the time it starts to work, they’re already on to the next big thing.

The key to avoiding the business blog blues is to look out for the seven deadly decisions:

1 – Keep updating. Even if you aren’t feeling like it, trudge ahead. If your industry doesn’t change on a daily basis, feel free to write articles in advance and post them on a publications schedule dating out a month or more. It gives you breathing room. If you’re still losing interest, consider asking staff members to contribute or hiring an outside professional with professional blogging experience.

2 – Moderate comments. Comment fields are a great way to stay in touch with your customers and potential customers, but it can also be a way for your competitors to post negative remarks about you, no matter how untrue they may be. Moderating your comments allows you to see what people are saying before anyone else gets to read the negativity, and it stops the spammers and scammers from hijacking your faithfully created business newsletter.

3 – Keep it civil. Don’t bad mouth your competitors, your enemies and especially not your readers. Too often I still see blogs on which a question comes in that may be taken as critical and before you know it, the webmaster has gone to war with his or her own reader, for everyone to see. There is no winner in a war of negativity, so keep your chin up and your words balanced, there’s no knowing when they’ll come back on you.

4 – Check for mistakes. At least every few days you should check the site to make sure it’s still in working order. Every few weeks you should make sure your links are working and all relevant contact information is up to date.

5 – Stay relevant. If you run out of ideas or relevant products to discuss, don’t write an article about something you don’t do for a living, and definitely don’t write about the fact that you’ve run out of ideas. Look to see what other people are writing about inside and outside of your field, and if you’re still stuck, start asking around. If push comes to shove, you can always hire out, but you shouldn’t need to do that unless you’re also out of time.

6 – Keywords, keywords, keywords! Only you know exactly what it is that you do, so make sure you’re using your keywords. If you’re writing about roofing materials, don’t just call it “comp,” call it “composition,” “three-tab,” use the manufacturer names and anything else you think applies. This isn’t defrauding the search engines; it’s putting the words in your story that people are likely to use.

7 – Promotion. Since you already have a business, and one can assume a number of customers, you need to tap in to them to get your blog off the ground and keep it growing. Put a link to it on patient appointment cards and even your business cards. If you send out client Christmas cards, mention the blog in there and watch your readership spike. If you don’t send out holiday cards, this is the year to start.

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