Social media design: is your business brand missing out? Part 1

You’ve probably thought carefully about the design for your business website. You may have commissioned a logo, or at least spent time choosing the look and feel of your company’s stationery and other products.

But have you thought about your business branding and design on social media platforms?

Your customers are spending more and more time on social media sites. The appearance of your Facebook fan page, Twitter account and even your YouTube page will have an impact on whether they choose to do business with you.

Good design is just as important social media platforms as it is on your main website.

Social media pages are a spotlight towards the best and most important content of your website.  They show the personality of your company. Your presence on social media  shows your clients more about you than a standalone website ever could do. The increasing demands for social media design show that a consistent approach across all channels is becoming increasingly important.

The design of a site can influence the “like-decision” of a user in a positive or negative way. Designers and marketers know that the appearance of a website is as much important as the content and the headlines.

Users know whether a Facebook Fanpage is an official page or just a group of interest created outside the company. And as much as you want  clients to dig into your website, you also have to make sure that they will stay on your page as long as possible, either through great content, a magnetic call to action, or some other attractive content like games, polls or contests.

As you can see, there’s a lot of scope to improve your business with social media. If you have any questions, just get in touch!

Why You Need a Facebook Fan Page...

Small businesses, entrepreneurs, freelancers and other professionals have a lot to gain from creating a fan page on Facebook.

A Facebook fan page is a public profile that lets you share your products, services and related information with other Facebook users. It’s separate from your personal page, and offers a range of tools and functionality that can really help your business.

Of course this is just one of your marketing tools and in order for it to work best it should be part of your overall strategy. Plan ahead before creating the page and then introduce a few ideas at each time. Test and change your content until it’s perfect. And of course, if you need some personalised help and strategy, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Here are just some of the most important reasons your business needs a fan page.

14 Reasons You Need a Facebook Fan Page

1. It’s a free tool, which means it’s low risk to create and experiment with your page.
2. There isn’t a limit to the number of fans you can have. This makes fan pages especially valuable for Facebook users who reach, or are approaching, the 5,000 friend limit.
3. It gives you a way to talk to and get feedback from your target audience, because like a user profile, you can update your fans with statuses that will appear in the news feed.
4. You can promote events.
5. It’s a great boost for your SEO. Facebook is currently the second most popular site on the Web according to Alexa.
6. You can customize the design using different applications or even Facebook’s version of HTML. Have a look at Red Idea’s Facebook Fan page as an example.
7. You can use the page to create brand advocates - people who talk up your brand on your behalf.
8. You can easily promote your fan page with tools provided by Facebook, and reach new audiences.
9. The Facebook Pages Insights analytics tool gives you very useful information about your fans and their interactions, which you can use for future strategies.
10. You can build a community for your clients and also use their feedback to create better products and services.
11. It’s another funnel to your website, where you can interact with potential clients.
12. You can add unlimited photos and videos.
13. You can synchronise your fan page with your twitter account, making it even easier to manage your social media presence.
14. You can sell products and services directly from your Facebook fan page. Have a look at our client Lena Santana's Facebook Fan page. 

As you can see, there’s a lot of scope to improve your business with a Facebook Fan page. If you have any questions, just get in touch!

What is a QR Code? Why they must be part of your Marketing Strategy?

Tania Jacksons' QR code

QR codes: what  are they, why they must be part of your marketing plan and how you can adapt them for your business?

QR stands for Quick Response and it is able to connect your phone to contact details, websites, maps etc. A QR code is a matrix barcode that the current crop of smartphones can read very simply: install a QR code reader (many Blackberry, Iphone and Android operative systems have one pre-installed), take a photo of the QR and consequently receive the information.

Initially used for the identification of parts in vehicle manufacturing, it has seen widespread use in Japan since 1994.  The code is free and is published as an ISO standard. Despite Denso Wave owning the patent rights, it has chosen not to exercise them.

Recently in the US and European markets QR codes have been employed in the integrated marketing communication of small and medium sized enterprises and big corporations. For example,  Heineken, SKY Network and Pizza Express.

A QR code on a café in Seattle, WA links to Google Places and reviews on Yelp and around the web.

Latest research on the global growth in Mobile Barcode Usage by 3Gvision highlights that worldwide usage has increased by 61.9% . In terms of geographic coverage, this can be broken down as follows:

Top 10 users of mobile barcodes during Q1/2011 

(1)  1.  United States
(2)  2.  Italy
(3)  3.  Germany
(7)  4.  United Kingdom
(8)  5.  Netherlands
(6)  6.  Canada
(5)  7.  France
(4)  8.  Hong Kong
(17)  9.  Spain
(15)  10.  Switzerland 

Top 5 growing countries for Q1/2011 

1.  United States  (181.1% growth over Q4/2011)
2.  United Kingdom  (166.5%)
3.  Netherlands  (146.3%)
4.  Spain  (94.4%)
5.  Canada  (94.0%) 

The QR codes offer marketers an effective  and precise measurement tool for understanding response rates, which allow for easier ROI calculation. In practice this means that a traffic analytic tool can be set up to evaluate the QR campaign in the same way as the traffic on a website is evaluated. What's more, they help to boost traffic to websites and can be installed inevery kind of physical product.

They are used everywhere – in  magazines, on billboards, flyers, business cards, shop windows,  streets even (as a QR code guerrilla marketing strategy). As soon as a business relies on an optimized website or blog to market its products it is time to start a QR code campaign in order to increase sales and enrich the customer experience.

QR Code at the Naperville, IL Public Library assists visitors with helpful advice.

The strategies for QR codes  vary: from local restaurants that uses them for couponing and special offers; to big corporations that use them to offer exclusive digital content.

How you can you maximize your effectiveness with QR codes:

• Provide explanations about their use and benefits
• Encourage actions that support your marketing plan
• Assuage the fears of the technically challenged
• Give reasons to come back
• Experiment with the size, location, and color of your QR codes
• Study your analytics
• Make the process fun, such as a QR code scavenger hunt
• Experiment

When developing  a QR code strategy it is extremely important to ensure that a business clearly defines its goals and objectives from the outset. This type of marketing campaign must consider customer requests and expectations and be tailored to complement any wider marketing strategy in place. In addition, the monitoring of results and developing a flexible approach to  tactics must be considered in order to gain a better ROI.

So ..which is your QR code strategy?

Blogging for Business at Social Media Week London 2011

Last week was the third annual Social Media Week, presenting a wealth of
presentations and conferences. Being my first week at SMW was daunting yet
exciting and super busy. Firstly I would like to say a big thank you to all of the
guests who took the time out to attend, and to Lee Smallwood from ‘Digital
Flares’, who presented a talk about ‘Video SEO’. Lastly, a massive thank you to
Talk Talk and Bernie Mitchell from TagTribe.

Explaining the benefits and strategies of Blogging for a Business, is a vital skill
to understanding your target audience, and engaging with the public informally.
Blogging should no be boring, it should be considered as an extension of your
business, it also has search engine benefits, which is an amazing plus.

There is no science to blogging; however, some prior knowledge would help to
maximise the potential of blogging. Utilising a strong design ethos will help to set
the tone for your blog, also considering your SEO will progress your blog to the
next stage, and create a wider audience base for your blog. Taking into account
these five points will help to create a blog that suits your business needs.

1. Blog strategies> Marketing Strategy + Client Needs + Design Possibilities:

Identify your KPIs

2. Create a regular blogging pattern, cohesive and consistent.

3. Use a directory/submission such as; Technorati, Shareaholic and Digg

4. Use social buttons, to connect your blog to other social networking platforms.

5. Also blogging is all about networking, it is simple, and should also be used for

B2B.

Bear in mind that every strategy must be tailored to the needs of your clientele
and marketing strategy. When establishing a blog do not expect too much
too soon, as the development of a blog is an ongoing process that requires
continuous reanalysis. Talking to an audience about the power of blogging for
businesses was great, the atmosphere was relaxed, and I hope that I was able to
answer all your questions.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need further
assistance to draft a strategy for your business.

Thank You

Join me for Social Media Week – 7-11 February

People use social networks more than search engines in the UK, according to Hitwise’s latest research, so it’s no surprise that pretty much every business is working out how best to harness it.

With Social Media Week just around the corner (7-11 February), I’ve been working with TagTribe, TalkTalk and my colleague Kat to pull together a series of workshops for entrepreneurs and marketeers at TalkTalk’s Customer Experience Centre.

The events are free to attend and aimed at entrepreneurs, business managers and marketeers who are looking to use social media in their business. I’ll be talking at one of the events myself and MCing a couple of others, so if you come along there’s a good chance you’ll see me there. If you’d like to book a session, then click on the link below.

http://www.amiando.com/YYVSKLH.html?page=477987

From Media to Mediums? Human insights and lead scoring.

 

Yesterday Marketo, the global leader in Revenue Performance Management published 'the definitive guide to lead scoring'(link) a free comprehensive 50 pages guide to lead scoring techniques.

Lead scoring is a method in which you assign points to each client prospect. The higher is a client score, the more they mirror the target market segment prospect that is actively subscribing to your services and buying your products. Reason what they should be the centre of your customer care strategy.

Lead scoring entails the collection and analysis of both explicit and implicit information. The explicit details includes: statistical data, such as company size, industry, and job title; while implicit scores derives from monitoring the customer behaviours: for example clicks, keywords, web-site visits, downloads or e-mail services subscriptions.

Once determined the scoring criteria and assigned the points to each client, you can determine your ideal target market and control their 'scoring variations' across time and goals. The scores allow you not only to pro actively respond to clients needs but also to prioritize the customers with higher ranking!

At RedIdea  we reckon that using the client 'hit parade' in combination with social media activity and customer survey 'impressions' lead to a valuable dialogue with the empowered-interactive audience book (Thanks Henry Jenkins!). 

A cross- over strategy that mixes 'lead scoring' and 'human interpretation' empower you to anticipate the audience feelings and responses. So the number of your 'high- ranking' customer will be more likely to grow rapidly.

Do you want to fly high or score high? Red Idea is always here.

Faster than Influencers: Extricating an inspiring plan for digital marketers.

With 'Influencers', directors Paul Rojanathara and Davis Johnson -and their agency- reached the hype, at a glance, after 2 weeks form the online pubblication, they count 216.000 views on Vimeo, 9962 likes on Facebook and 1009 Twitter followers.

In a time in which creativity is both over- estimated and re- evaluated, the video exhibits opinions and attitudes of 'contagious tastemakers'. The chosen documentary form makes the public feeling closer- almost participating- to their influential aura: very involving.

Their strategy is crystalline as the quality of the HD format, tasteful as the video editing techniques and effects, glamorous as the vintage funky- vinyl music selection, hi-tech as their sponsor and as cool as the subject.

Speakers explore topics such as branding and interactivity, huge within the environment created by recent technological and sociological breakthroughs, and specifically significant for digital marketers.

In fact, their creativity entails additive layers of mastery and consciousness.

They are faster than trends, precise as radars when identify influencers and catch their attention with valuable contents and innovative products and solutions.

Harnessing the tools and networking power of New Media, digital marketers orchestrate creative patterns of activity in which shaping the architecture of the users' -influencers and mainstream- experience.

It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it!

GQ Magazine - Follow The Leaders

I'm featured in an article at GQ Magazine as a Social Media Expert, giving my views on the Political Leaders Twitter accounts, below you can read the full analyse.

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1 Barack Obama (3.4m followers) @barackobama

Twitter

Despite having a massive following, Obama’s tweets are bland snippets  about his work life and  agenda. From 741 tweets received, he only  re-tweeted on a couple of occasions. However, given the profile and status, and the carefully choreographed language it is perhaps unsurprising that the tweets are not really freely engaging with his followers. A missed opportunity I think!! There are also several links on net saying that never used twitter, therefore that people that manages his account, not doing effectively.

Facebook

Every post on his facebook fan page attracts an average of 1700 comments, an astonishingly high figure. It is truly astounding how   much people care and want to communicate with him, but  as with his tweets, he never really answers these and you just get the sense that someone far removed from Obama is sitting at their desk diligently monitoring and responding to traffic with standardised and cleared lines.  Very uninspiring

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2 Benjamin Netanyahu (2,800 followers) @netanyahu

Twitter

Not being conversant in Hebrew doesn’t help here, as perhaps unsurprisingly the vast majority of correspondence is in that language, with just a couple of references in English.  His twitter account is quiet, but he does offer links to facebook. However, as with other politician accounts, don’t expect a personalised, straightforward and helpful answer. In fact, as with others, there are lots of comments on his facebook account which are seemingly ignored. Another poor social media strategy.

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3 Hugo Chavez (560,000 followers) @chavezcandanga

Twitter

This is the most organic twitter account I have seen so far, seemingly every person who tweets gets a response. Cleverly, ‘he’ also uses his Blackberry to respond, giving that personalised nature to his responses rather than using for example other media such as twitterdeck , twitterfeed or even hootsuite. This makes him sound approachable, someone who listens and is willing to engage. Of course, this may be far from the truth but an illusion is created. 

The management of his social media profile is impressive, concentrating on a few fora (Twitter, Blog, Flicker, RSS and youtube), he is able to constantly update and consequently leave an impression of engaging far more proactively with his followers, and others. Overall, well managed, maintained and personalised. A pretty good effort.

The best social media strategy!

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4 UK Prime Minister (1.7m followers) @ number10gov

Twitter

I cannot say much about this, as  the profile states - The official twitter channel for the Prime Minister's Office based at 10 Downing Street. – Therefore this is not intended to try and personalise a relationship between the PM and his followers, its all about access to formal information.  Therefore they could change slightly to make it less formal and more open and  approachable.

Facebook 

They have created a bespoke layout but you are unable to comment on the anything…essentially what’s the point? The Facebook integrates the  official website so that you can read and see video but you cannot put your opinion. The only way  you can give an opinion or comment is by writing an e-petition.

Basically this gives the impression of not  caring what people’s views are, another Politian that does not listen to the public or even has any pretence to do so.  Social Media is an open resource that everyone can plug into, creating debate and establishing relationships between the owner and the fan. 

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5 Jordan Queen Rania Al Abdullah (1.2m followers) @QueenRania

Twitter

From the looks of things the Queen and/or her team really understand Twitter, her messages are informative and  personalised, a good mix of the formal and informal. Engaging and useful. She has also focused in other a few social media fora and manipulates them in a consistent and effective manner..

It is clear that they have cleverly worked in conjunction with online PR, sending links with interviews and articles she has done to magnify her profile. . This improves her ‘ranking’ on Google, and is a fairly useful method to do this. 

Unfortunately, this success does not extend to her Facebook account, with lots of comments and engagement from her followers but no reciprocation from her.

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6 Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (918,000 followers) @KevinRuddPM

Twitter

Twitter account is ok, nothing special or inspiring. No real thrust to utilise fully but nonetheless he is trying to communicate directly by replying to some of his followers..

Use of Facebook poor, with no replies to comments and a distinct impression of a lack of engagement or focus..

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7 Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama (403,000 followers) @hatoyamayukio

Twitter

A complete mess in terms of engaging with the ‘twitter’ generation. Complex and difficult, he has loaded up full policy statements. Not accessible, key thing in utilising social media is short and sweet sentences, engage and re-engage to retain momentum and build constructive relationships. There is a clear discrepancy between his bio and his tweets.

Bio not just talking about politics, I have many topics to write about Ikere happened to check. Feedback on the @ hatoyamayukio thank you.

In addition, there isn’t any  links if you want to check his website or other social media plataform.

The worst social media strategy so far.

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8 UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum (330,000 followers) @HHSHKMOHD

Twitter 

 No evidence of retweets or replay but positively there are loads of personalised comments.  This is also the case on his Facebook account. However, overall I think there is a very poor understanding of  new technology, which I am sure could be easily addressed .

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9 Chile President Sebastian Piñera (74,000 followers) @sebastianpinera

Twitter

Good use of twitter, keeping his entries short and sweet personal and approachable but still provides information about his agenda and his views on domestic and world politics. On the other hand there isn’t any RT or tweets replys, therefore not much engagement between him and his followers. Also, once again comments on his facebook page underline that politicians do not seemingly answer questions, and therefore scope for improvement if he wishes to fully utilise the opportunity.

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 10 Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper (48,000 followers) @PMHarper

Twitter

Nothing special on his Twitter, another public figure providing information about his agenda. Facebook account shows a  bit more engagement with people really discussing the posts, but if you look deeper you will find - This is a page for all Conservative Party supporters. The views expressed herein are those of the individual writers and not of the Conservative Party of Canada, or this fan page. Again they miss the opportunity to engage and capture those comments to use on website, or even synchronize with the twitter. They could create a much better digital marketing strategy. The buzz is already there, they just need to know how to use it.

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11 New Zealand Prime Minister John Key (8,000 followers) @JohnKeypm 

Twitter

 From his twitter, you would guess  that he is not used to engaging or communicating with his followers! The only thing he does is provide information about his own agenda. The same thing on Facebook. I think he’s missing the point of having a twitter account, if you are not going to use for building up a relationship don’t open one, focus on  your website. 

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 12 43rd President of the United States Of America. 2001-2009. (George Bush) @George_WBush

 Twitter

 There are several ‘clones’ of George Bush on Twitter, ultimately giving very bad PR. His team should address that, and use his twitter or other social platforms to communicate with his public to deliver the message he wants conveyed and not those of imposters. Basically the real Bush twitter profile has not been used that much – in fact he or somebody working for him has only tweeted only 3 times. It appears he only began to use on 2^nd June so that may explain a lack of engagement but in that time he already has accumulated 8.646 followers, making it extremely popular on that evidence. But given that his ‘popularity’ isn’t reflected in his use I would rate zero on that basis.

 Facebook

 The difference between other Facebook accounts and Bush is unbelievable, his team has created a data system incorporated into the Facebook platform. In order to join the fan page you have to give him access to your profile and friends. I would say clever move but some people might be dissuaded from engaging on this basis There isn’t any engagement/conversation between him and his fans. However, given the basis on which he has set up his Facebook account, he should quite easily be able to capture useful data to inform a new strategy, which personally I think he needs. Other major issues are that there is no way you can comment, and  if you want to be a member you must pay $25.00 … absolutely  ridiculous…

Given these issues, there seems to be a real misunderstanding of social media. It is fundamentally about engaging and communicating with your target audience, create a relationship with your ‘fan’. Bush’s motivation seems primarily about ripping people off.. Quite disheartening frankly. 

10 ways to beef up your LinkedIn profile

Spending time on crafting your entry on LinkedIn will help boost your profile and will make it easier for others to find you when they are searching for freelancers. Here are a few tips that you might find useful:

1. Your photograph: make sure your photo looks businesslike and professional. This isn’t Facebook where you are hanging out with your mates. And if you haven’t quite got round to uploading a photo of yourself – make sure you do so TODAY!

2. Job title: does your current description say something like ‘Freelance writer’? Turn this into a client benefit rather than a straight description of what you do. For example: ‘Freelance copywriter who helps businesses raise the profile of their marketing communications‘. Think what people might be typing in to find freelancers like you. What kinds of key words might they use?

3. Website links: Use these as a marketing opportunity by including benefit statements, or key words, or descriptors. So, instead of ‘My website’, I have ‘My Company or Marketing Services‘. Instead of ‘My blog’, I have ‘My blog about Marketing‘. And make sure you use your third link, even if you don’t have a third site to point people to. I now have my portfolio page as my third link but, before I launched that, I pointed people to the testimonial page of my linked in. The link said: ‘Read what others say about me‘. Also you can point people to your Facebook Fan Page, Tumbler or any other social media platform. 

4. Testimonials: make sure you have some! And ask for several.

5. Your summary: don’t simply cut and paste factual stuff from your CV into your summary – make sure you really sell yourself. You have 2,000 characters to tell a compelling story about yourself. And don’t forget to include key words to increase the chances of people finding you when they do a search.

6. Status box: update this on a regular basis. I keep my contacts updated with the latest project I’m working on. This means I always show up in the digest of activity. You can also automatically tweet your status to your Twitter followers.

7. Applications: make use of the free applications to boost your profile. LinkedIn has lots, from Slide Share to Google Presentation to Portfolio Display. For instance, I upload pdfs using Box.net Files to show examples of my cases, so people can see my work without having to go to my website.

8. Link your blog to your profile. This is another useful application I use.  The title and first few lines of your blog post show up – and the title is a link that takes you straight to your blog. Try out some of the other applications and see how they might be able to enhance your profile.

9. Join lots of groups. You can belong to 50 groups on Linkedin. The more groups you join, the more people you can link to (without having to upgrade to the paid-for service).  And the more active your are on your group discussions, the more you’ll raise your profile among your target audience. Or why not start your own group?

10. Promote your profile. Cut and paste the code for a LinkedIn button and use it on your blog, website, Facebook page etc etc. The information LinkedIn provides on how to do this is as follows:Click on “Edit Profile” from the “Profile” dropdown menu found in the top navigation bar of the home page. Click “Edit Public Profile Settings” in the upper right-hand corner of the Profile page. Click on the “customized buttons” link found in the Public Profile box. Choose a logo button and copy the HTML code provided next to it. This code will include a link to your Public Profile. Paste the code on to your blog, message board or website. You can also create an email signature that contains a link to your LinkedIn profile. Here’s the link to find out how to do a LinkedIn email signature.

What tips have you found work well in boosting your profile on LinkedIn?
If you want to find out more Red Idea is always here.  

Source: Carole Seawert, FreelanceFactFile.com

Why the Retweet is such a powerful engagement tool?

                           

In a very short time “retweeting” has become one of the most powerful ways of connecting online effectively. Technically “retweeting” means taking someone else’s twitter messages and sharing them  with your followers, but why is it such a powerful engagement tool?

The most important aspect of a twitter account is the value it adds to followers. The more interesting and relevant the content the more helpful a resource your twitter account will be. You will have people coming back to check out your content, and also increase your followers too.  By retweeting great content, you are giving over quality material and building your own brand, but this reason misses a fundamental point....retweeting shows you ‘care’. 

In the online world everyone is seeking attention and wanting to get their brand as much attention as possible.  By retweeting you are paradoxically sending people away from your site to someone else’s site! But in fact the dynamic builds a deep, trusting relationship with your followers. You are showing them that it is not only about ‘you’ and ‘your’ content, but that you want them to get value from their experience of being involved with you. Retweeting sends out a message of confidence to your followers, and it highlights you are not only ‘agenda-driven’ but actually care about your sector and your followers.

 Another not so obvious benefit of retweeting is that you also build relationships with people in your sector or industry. When you retweet someone’s article or blog and give them credit, you are complimenting their work and immediately a relationship is born. They will perhaps return the compliment by retweeting your links and so on. You are also directly promoting them through their work so this isn’t simply about saying a ‘hi’ in a networking session!

With retweeting, you are building relationships with your followers who are your clients and customers who in turn will naturally spend more time and money with you. You also build relationships with fellow professionals, experts and other people who are interested in the content your followers are interested in.  And by building your powerful network your Twitter account is transformed! No longer is it simply about self promotion and trying to stand out, but moving an entire sector forward and working together in unity towards a better, wiser and more connected world. By adding this kind of value to your twitter account, greater sales will naturally follow and people will want to continue coming back.

If you want to find out more Red Idea is always here. 

Social media tips for small businesses

Small businesses looking to take advantage of social media have been given some valuable advice by an online marketing expert.

Research by payment provider Sage Pay has found that customers visiting an online store through a social media site are ten times more likely to buy something than other users, once again highlighting the importance of services such as Facebook and Twitter.

According to Tania Jackson, managing director at Red Idea, small businesses are at an advantage when turning to social media and she had some advice for them.

She said: "You have to come across as informative, knowledgeable and full of expertise but also show a little bit of your personality, by talking about an office party for example, otherwise it’s just like another website full of information and no one wants that.

"You really have to look at the brand strategy as a whole, but if you get it right it will bring customers through the door."

A survey by Econsultancy and digital agency Guava recently demonstrated that 81 per cent of businesses now market themselves on Twitter, while 78 per cent use Facebook.

Social media tone 'crucial for marketers'

The tone of voice adopted by companies using social media helps determine how successful their marketing is through this channel, one expert has claimed.

Tania Jackson, managing director at Red Idea, said that small businesses must portray themselves as being specialists in their field if they wish to attract new custom online.

She commented: "You have to come across as informative, knowledgeable and full of expertise but also show a little bit of your personality.

"Otherwise it's just like another website full of information, and no one wants that."

Ms Jackson said the control exercised by small business marketers in particular should enable them to keep the tone of social media consistent, something larger organisations may struggle with.

"You really have to look at the brand strategy as a whole, but if you get it right it will bring customers through the door," she said.

Earlier this year, marketing industry expert Jon Maddison claimed that social media and email marketing benefit each other, and help create integrated advertising campaigns.

Written by Mark Hainsby
Link: http://ow.ly/27NCH

Search Engine Marketing and Optimisation

One of the best ways to attract potential customers to your website is to feature high in the free listings of search engines like Google. Because these 'organic' listings are not paid for and - to an extent - reflect your popularity, potential customers tend to trust them more.

You can improve your chances of appearing above your competitors in the free results through 'search engine optimisation' (SEO). If you combine this with pay per click advertising (PPC) on search engines, you will greatly boost the traffic to your site
- and increase your chances of making sales.


Your search engine marketing strategy

Search engines are one important source of website traffic for many businesses.
Alternatives can include promoting your website directly to existing customers (including using traditional offline marketing methods), or buying PPC advertising on websites your target customers are likely to visit.

If you expect your target customers to use search engines, consider the competition. You should be able to anticipate the keywords and phrases your potential customers will enter into a search engine and feature these on your site and in your pay per click campaign. If your competitors are using the same keywords, however, it might be difficult to get a high ranking.

You'll also need to decide how much you are prepared to spend on search engine marketing and what website traffic is worth to you.


Basic search engine marketing

For search engine marketing to work, search engines need to know of your site's existence. Search engine submission is a simple way of doing this, and is usually free for the major search engines.

But you will need to make sure that your website contains the right keywords and phrases. If it doesn't, your site will not appear on the results of a search using that keyword.

You should also make sure that online business directories, such as Yell.com and the Open Directory (http://www.dmoz.org/), are aware of your site. If you take out PPC adverts on a search engine, your site will appear on the first page of results even if many other websites are higher in the free search engine rankings.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

SEO involves using keywords and phrases intelligently on your website while generating good content that other sites are happy to link to. It will improve your ranking in the free listings on search engines.

Using the right keywords and phrases in prominent places (such as page titles and section headings) can boost your ranking for any search using those words. Links from relevant websites will increase your profile further - particularly if they are highly-ranked themselves. Encourage other sites to link to you; simply offering interesting content is generally seen as the best way to achieve this.

You'll probably have to keep testing and developing your approach to search engine marketing to keep yourself high up in the listings. Quick fixes like 'stuffing' your pages with keywords generally do not work: the search engine software will not be fooled.

Mistake-Proofing Your Start-Up Business

With so many people out of work during this recession, it should come as no surprise that many are thinking about starting their own businesses. And with so many jobs moving offshore, even people who are still employed might consider starting a business as a back-up plan. Even if you’re the owner of a successful start-up, the recession might have you worried. So how can long-standing business owners and first-time entrepreneurs survive these tough times? There’s an easy way to mistake-proof any business – all it takes is a little time using free online tools and search engine research with Google.

Mistake 1: Not Listening to the Voice of the Customer
Most entrepreneurs become enchanted with an idea and pursue it without thinking it through. They end up with a garage filled with unsalable merchandise and wonder what went wrong. Others open a store and name it something cute, like a hair salon named Curl Up And Dye. Or they start an Internet business but don’t bother to understand what customers really want. Why do they fail? The answer is simple; they didn’t understand the “voice of the customer.” Businesses large and small can collect and analyze the voice of the customer to understand what customers want and how to deliver it. Toyota uses this to design better cars, and you can use it to design a better product or service.

First, figure out where the crowds of customers are going and then get in front of the crowd. In the old days, this would involve lots of market research, focus groups and money. Today, these answers can be easily found on the Internet for free with Google’s key word tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

Let’s say you want to start a pet food bakery that makes healthy treats for dogs and cats. Just search Google’s keyword tool for “pet bakery” and “pet food.” You’ll quickly discover that there are over 500,000 searches a month for “pet food” but only 8,000 a month for “pet bakery.”

There are also 33,000 searches a month for “wellness pet food.” From this one might conclude that “pet food” is too broad and would have to compete with the big chains; “pet bakery” is too narrow; but “wellness pet food” might be just the niche to explore because these customers are probably willing to pay a premium.

Mistake 2: Not Speaking Your Customer's Language
As learned from Mistake 1, customer language can differ from our own. Based on the search terms above, it might be smarter to name your store “Wellness Pet Food” (customer language) instead of “Bow Wow Biscuits” (your language) because that’s what the crowd wants. Don't paraphrase (using healthy instead of wellness); use the customer's exact words. Then check domain name availability for “wellness-pet-food.com” or “wellness_pet_food.com.” If it's available, register it (try a site such as www.GoDaddy.com); if not, try adding other key words likely to attract customers such as your location.

Be aware that Google cannot identify compound words, so registering a site like “WellnessPetFood.com” won’t be as effective as “Wellness_Pet_Food.com.” Separate the words with a dash or underscore to improve the site’s search engine ranking.

This "get in front of the crowd" strategy also works for service businesses. Let’s say you are a hypnotherapist in Denver with “HypnoDenver.com” as your site. Many other hypnotherapists in town also have hypnosomething.com as their site name. What are prospects searching for? They don't want “hypnosis;” they want to “stop smoking” or “lose weight.” Domain names like “Stop-Smoking-Denver.com” and “Lose-Weight-Denver.com” would be a great start.

With more than 100 million Internet users in the U.S. and billions of Internet-capable cell phones, no business can afford to ignore the power of the web. Even if you don’t plan on having a Web site, you will want to own the domain name to prevent others from using it. And if the business succeeds locally, having the domain name will make it easy to expand into a regional, national or global Internet business.

Mistake 3: Not Making Your Product or Service Better, Faster and Cheaper
Too many entrepreneurs try to enter an already crowded market. Search the Internet for your product or service to find out how many competitors are out there. When searching for the key words, "pet food Denver," Google finds 726,000 results. "Wellness pet food Denver" yields 149,000 results. If Google reveals too many competitors, consider another line of business. If Google reveals no competitors, that can be just as bad. Someone, somewhere should be offering a similar product or service. If not, there are no customers.

“Pet food” for example, is crowded with low cost super chains. From the voice of the customer perspective, customers want you to be better, faster and cheaper than the competition. Are you more innovative? Do you provide better customer service? Are you more effective and efficient? When customers can't distinguish one business from another, they default to the familiar or low cost one. If you’re not sure what customers want in a particular product or service, start by asking your friends, family, neighbors, and even people on the street. Capture their responses. In general, are they saying:

• “I want better ________ (e.g., pet food).”
• “I want cheaper ________ (e.g., cell phone service).”
• “I want faster ___________ (e.g., healthcare, service, delivery, repair, etc.)

Then ask: “What is the competition offering (better, faster or cheaper)? What can we do differently?” If you can’t answer these questions, neither can your customers.


Mistake 4: Not Testing the Business Concept
Once Google has revealed what customers want (in their language, not yours) and you’ve identified a unique value proposition from the voice of the customer (better, faster or cheaper), it’s time to test the concept. For this, Google offers another powerful tool: Adwords (adwords.google.com). Google makes its money by putting ads around its search results. Many entrepreneurs use Adwords to test business and marketing concepts before they throw a lot of money at it.

Tim Ferriss, bestselling author of “The 4-Hour Workweek,” used Adwords to test various titles for his new book. He bought pay-per-click ads using various titles (Adwords will alternate them for you) and each ad took the Internet user to a different Web page about the book. Ferriss let the “wisdom of crowds” choose the best title for him.

All of this research might take a few weeks and a few hundred dollars, but it’s a lot cheaper than wasting your hard-earned money on a doomed startup.

Mistake 5: Not Bootstrapping the Business
Most people start looking for a "business loan" (3,350,000 Google searches) before they think about a "business plan" (1,500,000 searches). Entrepreneurs don’t always need a lot of money to get started. If Mrs. Robin Andrew's third grade class at Pelham Elementary School in Pelham NH can start The Bow Wow Biscuit Company (www.bowwowbiscuits.org), you can too.

If the business is a product, don't make 10,000 of them. Put up a Web site; bake a few in your kitchen and sell them online or give away free samples to test the response. Or make a prototype and get people to try it and provide feedback. Post-it™ notes are a classic example of this and look at how successful they are. When customers start clamoring to buy your products, then get money to do a production run.

If the business idea is a service, print some business cards (carefully crafted with the crowd's keywords and phrases) and pass them out at local business meetings.

This is how entrepreneurs bootstrap businesses that grow. It's also how they avoid sinking huge sums of money into bad ideas. This “crawl-walk-run” strategy works as well for new businesses as it does for new babies.

If the first business idea doesn't click, try another one. Walt Disney went bankrupt several times before succeeding … but then again, he didn't have Google. Good luck with your start-up!

Text by Jay Arthur, the KnowWare Man. Jay is author of "Double Your Profits: Plug the Leaks in Your Cash Flow." To plug the leaks in your cash flow, sign up for free Lean Six Sigma lessons online at: http://www.qimacros.com/freestuff.html