Being “sociable” on the web can have huge payoffs. Provider-customer communications have never been more important. In the old face-to-face days, small business owners maintained a manageable number of extremely loyal clients, all of whom were accustomed to seeing the small business owner in person.

If customers had a concern, a question, a request or a problem — the business owner was there, in person, to work it out.

Social networking and web 2.0 (yeah, I know, I’m tired of those phrases too) are high tech tools offering new delivery platforms to achieve this classic caliber of old-time service.

• Loyal customers develop as a result of good relationships. (Give someone a bad experience when they are buying products or services, without remedy, and they will probably not come back.)
• If you have a relationship and there is a problem and you FIX the problem personally, they will not only come back, they will love you for going “above and beyond.” This scenario will build loyalty more than a flawless experience.
• They will talk about you. If you give excellent service or exceedingly poor service, your customers will tell others. That word-of-mouth advertising will make or break your business — especially online.

Social networking helps you to build strong, personal relationships with potential and existing clients, even though you may never meet them “face-to-face.” The new social tools permit personal interaction even before the first sale. It also offers an amazing built-in referral network.

If you aren’t currently participating, consider broadening your horizons. Select one or two platforms from the major players, fill out your profile page and join in the conversation.

Quit being a wall-flower at the Internet dance!

(NOTE: photo courtesy of Clarita at MorgueFile.com)

I blog. I’ve blogged since the turn of the century. (I just love saying that!)

I love saying it, even though it makes me sound like I’m sitting in a bentwood rocker, creaking slowly back and forth, reflecting on my long-ago wonder years.

During the course of the last decade, it occurs to me that, when it comes to blogging, there are four distinct groups of people.

Early adopters:

Some people understood the blogging concept from the get-go. They just “got” it. These were big-picture “Wow!” folks.

There are some forward-thinking folks that fall into this category, but even those bright-eyed optimists in the early days of blogging were usually shocked at the outpouring of benefits and followers of this new format for online communications and (a bit later) for relationship-building.

Gee-whiz folks:

Others, like me, took the plunge because I have a bad case of the “can’t help its.” This format, with the “coolage” factor of technology with an Internet platform from which I can climb on my soapbox proved irresistible. (It was called a “web log” back when I started.)


I’ll admit that I did my blogging anonymously in the early days, before I was quite comfortable with this “complete transparency” concept.

The folks in my group may or may not “get” how important blogging is to a small business, but they do it because… like any other opportunity to write… it must be done or because their inner geek cries out for it.

The opportunity to publish my stuff in a WORLD-WIDE forum was just too alluring to ignore. I started with small, personal vignettes, and moved up to articles on technology, marketing, real estate, politics and personal opinions. Those of us in this group quickly discovered the many layers of benefits. Many of us became blogging evangelists.

The “but” folks:

Some recognize that they NEED to blog, even if they aren’t exactly sure why. Maybe someone they trust told them they should. Maybe someone harassed them enough to get them started.

Some members of this group, know they need to blog, they understand the importance, but they never seem to find the time.

The members of this group usually don’t blog or at least they don’t blog for long. They are the reason that so many new blogs, like new businesses, fail in the first few months.

There is always something a bit more important to do, or they genuinely doubt the long-term advantages. These are the same folks that have business leads sitting on their desk that are days, or weeks, old. They really intend to get to them, but they never quite manage to do so in a timely fashion. It’s sad.

Case-study: I was meeting with a client this week. I’ve been preaching “blog” at this guy for over two years now. I even showed him a blogger in his own market a year ago and said, “This is your competition — he’s going to eat you alive because he blogs and you won’t.”

His response? “I never heard of him.”

(Note: a few months later, said competing blogger powned most of the best search terms in my client’s market.) The client ignored this and refused to discuss said blogger with me anymore. It became a not-so-silent point of contention.

Suddenly, this week, he calls all excited.

After agreeing to do regular blogging for 30 days — JUST this ONE month — he’s seeing a huge boost in his Google results on his key terms. Go figure. (I guess that 30-day challenge — which was my desperate final attempt to move him — was a better idea than I’d hoped!)

“This blogging thing,” he tells me, “it really works!”

“Oh?!?!” I reply, “this blogging thing? Really? Who’da thunk it?”

“No really!!” he insists, all jazzed up and trying to explain that he’s now a convert.

I roll my eyes silently, despite my quite audible huff, and am thankful that I’m not on webcam for this particular call.

All I can say is it’s a good thing that he’s a couple states away, or I may have been tempted to hop in my little car, drive to his office and shake him with my bare hands until his teeth rattled.

(Yes, I know that’s HORRIBLY unprofessional, but I don’t really care — that was my honest impulse.)

The best I can hope is that he will now blog on a regular basis. He’s already agreed to craft his titles with effective SEO in mind and with more thoughtful consideration on how to grab more attention from his visitors. We had a tutorial on that this week.

He has also endured “how to categorize” and “how to tag” tutorial sessions, so — who knows?!?! Maybe he finally has hopped the fence to become a believer. I guess stranger things have happened.

The nay-sayers:

Others don’t understand blogging, don’t trust bloggers and will purposefully never give any credence to blogs and their creators.

Case in point: My father. Just yesterday he and I had a conversation wherein he said, “I argued with him (a mutual friend) about this blog crap, and he’s like you… he thinks it’s great. I want MY news and information to come from a source that’s been vetted and checked and has at least had an editor look over it. I don’t care what someone without anything more than a computer and a website has to say about something.”

And my response, as a long-time blogger was rather snippy (it WAS my father, after all), “Yeah, I see how wonderfully well-researched and balanced the national news is these days as a result of following your prescription for perfection.” (This was a continuation of an earlier and ongoing debate about the way the election and every other important news item is being covered — or not covered — by today’s media.) We like this debate (we must) because we have it often.

He “humphed,” and I “humphed.”

I reminded him that I’d been a journalist, a newspaper editor, and had been making my living as a writer and researcher for nearly ten years now and that I blogged.

He summarily excused me from the “bloggers” category he was blasting. (There are some advantages to being an offspring — like being excused from a group of wayward souls by your parentals.)

I “humphed!” again.

His views however, are fairly common. Many people assume that online conversations are meaningless. They assume that bloggers don’t take the time to verify their sources. Sometimes that may be true. After all, it’s often true with journalists. (I know — I used to check the sources on some of my reporters’ stories before printing them.)

Because he thinks blogs are unimportant, it never ceases to amaze him when I pop up in a Google search on the front page. I try to explain how and why, but I might as well be describing the attributes of magic.

He now uses the “customer reviews” on his favorite websites, but flatly refuses to ever leave any feedback of his own. He won’t do it.

So I know he understands the value of “collective” experience and collective thought being shared about specific computer products on, say, NewEgg.com (his favorite online vendor). But he feels no responsibility to reciprocate or participate in the building of that knowledge base. (I’m still working on that one with him.)

To try to explain micro-blogging and twitter to my father makes him ready to fight. So, I give up.

The fact is, my father doesn’t really need blogging (he has me to listen to him on his soapbox) and he doesn’t need twitter (although he’d enjoy it and learn a lot if he’d permit himself to try). Pops doesn’t run a small business and he can just forget about the conversations on the web and the cutting edge thinking and continue digesting the pablum that the national media outlets dispense. (And, I told him as much.)

My clients… and YOU — if you are working on the web… can’t afford to ignore it. Blogs aren’t dead. They are stronger than ever, it’s just not as easy to own (pown) your niche now as it was a few years ago.

And despite what you may have heard, the new microblogs, relationship marketing, and other forms of social media haven’t replaced blogging. They have augmented blogging and have brought a whole new, shorter format to the online, immediate communications realm. Personally, I find it all quite alluring.

Want excellent local media coverage? Want to get your business name spread across the Internet? Want to do it all for free? It’s possible!

There is no such thing as a free lunch, but it is possible to secure free media coverage if you plan ahead. Maintain a strong interest in your niche industry and stay flexible enough to jump quickly at any opportunity, and you can bask in the glow of free publicity.

Serve the media and it will serve you

Media professionals rush for a living. They are constantly under impossible deadlines. They get assignments, have news that breaks, and sometimes they just need to fill space. They always have to do these things five minutes ago. So, if you become a dependable resource for them, they will call.

If you want to get the “breaks” with the media, if you want the inside track with the local, regional and national outlets you have to become a great media resource.

A Great Media Resource:

• is always available
• alerts media professionals to changes in the industry
• will jump through hoops to help THEM meet their deadlines

It’s difficult to be always available when you are juggling multiple projects. Don’t let a nervousness about being interviewed turn into a hesitation. Make sure your primary number forwards to your cell phone and always return calls promptly. Not all media folks will identify their industry when they call. Even if you are overwhelmed with work, call back every lead – potential customer, referral or media professional and do it immediately.

Often, media workers will gather a list of potential interviews and will begin by calling the list from top to bottom. They will stop when they reach someone they can interview. You need to be that someone.

If they call (or email) and can’t reach you — they move on to the next person. They don’t have time to wait.

Courting the media

Media professionals like having an “insider” in the industries they cover. If you send them updates, press releases and statistics regularly with the statement “I’m available for interviews” in each one, you may become one of those insiders. Become a “go to” resource for the media in the same way you are that resource for your clients.

How can you do that?

If a you read an article in a local paper and it’s missing an aspect or a bit of information that you can provide, take that opportunity to email the reporter. Let them know (in a non-threatening, helpful way) that you are willing to serve as a resource for future articles.

Dear Jane -

I really enjoyed your article on the impact of the housing crunch on the local market printed in today’s paper. I work with real estate agents across the nation and try to stay on top of the local, regional and national trends to better serve my own clients.

I noticed that you mentioned the increase in the inventory this year over this time last year. The increase is pretty dramatic and the local figures in the databases I use indicate a 47% increase over this time last year in the $200-400K homes. However, the inventory has actually dropped 7% in the $800K+ homes, so there is some light in that segment of the market.

If you plan to do similar articles in the future and need figures or another resource to quote, I would love the opportunity to help. You can call me at 800-123-4567 anytime.

Thanks again for the great articles, I love reading your work!

Jan B. Smith
TheOutsourcingPro.com

When news is happening, like a new company coming to the area, stay on top of the news as it develops. Use Google email alerts to flag topics related to your area of expertise, so you know the moment something happens. When the announcements roll in, email the reporters you are courting with the fact that it’s just been announced and tell them you are available if they have any questions.

Distributing press releases and writing articles

Press releases by themselves are not a marketing plan. They are, however, an important piece of a good plan. Press releases shouldn’t be self-serving, “look-at-me” pieces of fluff. They should provide actual information about what’s going on in your target industry and why it’s important to media readership and your clients. Make sure your information lends itself to use in an article, a feature, or another media format.

Three free PR venues I like:

• PRLog.org
• free-press-release.com
• powerhomebiz.com/BizNews/pressrelease.htm

When you send out your free online press releases, don’t forget to send those same releases into the business editor of your local paper and other papers in your region.

Look for magazines and other publications that serve the same industries you serve. Know the editorial schedules of publications that will help you (these are usually available on their website). Email the editors and offer to write an article in your area of expertise.

Get some confidence!

If you don’t feel confident in your ability to write an article, call in some help. Many industry experts have personal writers that help them to look good. Find someone you like who will work with you to provide you the presentation polish your knowledge needs.

I have one client that gets a call from the media and immediately calls me. He calls and says things like, “I need to write an article on the use of routers for wireless networks in real estate offices and have it to an editor in 48 hours, can we do it?” And, of course the answer is always “Sure!” So while he’s driving back to his office, we are talking on the cell phone and I’m “pulling” the information from him and typing it up as we chat. By the time he reaches his office, I’ve polished up a first draft for his review.

A good media “helper” can also help you prepare for upcoming live interviews and help you write up exceptional responses to email interviews.

If you manage to “click” with a good writer, you can get this type of help on the fly. It will give you the polish and the confidence you need to shine when you are in the spotlight. And if you are just getting started in your business, you may be able to trade off your services with a writer who needs help in other areas.

Media is your star client

Always treat members of the media with the same dedication and service you offer clients. After all, they ARE a client. Make arrangements to be able to offer them what they need to meet their deadline – even if you have to juggle to do so. Like your other clients, they will come back if you make their lives easier – and will recommend you to their peers.

Good media coverage is a self-propagating process. If you are featured in an article, a TV station may pick you up as a resource, industry magazines may ask you to write an article, local event coordinators may ask you to host a session or sit on a round-table.

The more you do in the public spotlight, and the more you work with the media, the more you will be asked to do.

I was asked (by colleague and nature writer JJ Murphy) this weekend if a blog chain was good for marketing. She asked me several questions:

1. What is the marketing value, if any in a blog chain?
2. Does it make sense to reply back to a comment on your site?
3. Is there a marketing advantage to guest blogging?
4. Does any of this help in search engine ranking?

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Simplicity is the key to effective communication. When you give someone your business card, you want them to remember your name, what you do and be able to contact you (or recommend you to someone else). You also hope that your meeting (in person or virtual) is a memorable one.

If you have a business website or a blog site, you don’t need to go into detail on your business card, you just need to give them a way to get more information. That’s enough.

I’ve dropped using a physical address on my own business cards. After all, in my business, does it really matter where I live and work? Nope. It only matters that people can call me, email me and visit me online to learn more — if they are so inclined.

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At the end of last year, I blogged about the buying power of women in the real estate arena over on ActiveRain. Now, having just made a move from the country (where I own a farm) to the city (where I’m begrudgingly renting for the next 18-24 months), I’m even more firm in my conviction that women do the lion’s share of decision making in families. *I’m exhaused!*

Today, I get a couple emails in from a client with an emphasis on the buying power and the decision-making role of single and married females alike. One is from Inman News and the other is from the New York Times (I apologize if a registration is required to read it):

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A recent pearl in the www — a website promoting an author’s book that is so low-tech, but so original and so cool that I don’t care that it breaks all the “rules” for websites.

Visit a book website that you won’t soon forget — using what’s available in the kitchen, a dry erase marker and flash to tell the whole story!

Writers are ALL creative people, even when out of their “customary” element!

The “new” media approach to self-publishing multimedia on the web is doing more in the political arena of late. This one, highly questionable presentation IMHO, has struck a cord on the web by using sex to sell the candidate. It’s produced by BarelyPolitical.com and is cute, albeit bothersome.

http://www.youtube.com/v/wKsoXHYICqU

And you thought Apple’s iPod had great fan-created multi-media stuff!

Recently, Forbes released an article about a company offering “reputation defense” on Google, the world’s most popular search engine.

By carefully promoting positive PR on Google via SEO techniques to minimize the impact of negative Internet blogs, reviews and articles, this company accentuates the positive (to quote a favorite Disney song.) Is this the latest business model? Protection from online publication (Google-Bombing-style) and negative pieces on the first page of Google? Hmmmm.

I’ll bet that Bush’s PR guy would have been happy to pay the $10K price tag for this service last year. (The company, Reputation Defender, also offers reputation monitoring services for a much more reasonable monthly rate.)

It continues to be a brave new world (tomorrow) for service businesses that we don’t even know that we need (today) resulting from the impact of online activity (yesterday).

The visual aspects of online marketing are growing as quickly as video streams and video podcasts. One of the coolest incarnations of this in a retail format is a visual “comparative” search engine. Surprisingly enough… I used it to search for that perfect bag.

I burned a good two hours of precious sleep time, but found that the set up was easy to use, enjoyable and quite comprehensive (I saw bags from several different angles, including the inside dividers, pockets and organizational highlights).

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I got an email today from a fellow writer who asked if she should offer project rates or standard hourly rates for her copywriting services. Some of her potential clients had been advised by a real estate coach to always get per-project rates. She asked for my advice.

For anyone who plans to hire a writer, you may want to consider the following, before signing on the dotted line: If you have a standard/recurring project (like writing a 250-word property description, if you are are a real estate agent) you can easily hire a writer and pay them “per listing.” But this is pretty “rote” writing and you aren’t pushing the creative envelope much. Some writers are willing to do other projects based on a per-word or a per-page calculation.

There are a few things you should consider on each of these “product-based” approaches to writing services:

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If you own an ecommerce website, you may be interested in some of the latest statistics on which search engines and websites are most effective traffic drivers for closing sales online.

According to a recent report released by Hitwise.com, Google retains the top position in online sales. Compared to rival search engines, the big “G” is leading the pack, as most small business owners would expect. According the press release dated August 31:

“Hitwise today announced that Google was the top U.S. search engine responsible for 14.93 percent of U.S. upstream visits to the Shopping and Classifieds category for the week ending August 26, 2006. Yahoo! Search was the second most popular search engine sending visits to Shopping & Classifieds websites, accounting for 4.69 percent of upstream visits for that week. MSN Search rounded out the top search engines accounting for 2.33 percent of visits to the category.”

(Note: Upstream sites are those sites visited immediately prior to visiting the subject site.)

In addition to the expected Google dominance, a newcomer to the commerce scene is the social networking site MySpace.com. Commonly considered a gathering place for teens and young adults, this online community now accounts for a serious market share of online purchases via upstream clicks. WebProNews reported last week that upstream visits from MySpace.com accounted for more upstream traffic to shopping and classifieds than old-timer MSN search.

Marketing and online communication with your target audience is becoming a more diverse equation. Today, you should consider multiple approaches to establishing your brand and vary your platforms. Consider new, less traveled roads when marketing online and always try to keep a pulse on where the people who comprise your target market congregate online.

It’s not a static problem, but keeping abreast of the changes and shifts of dynamic online populations will pay big dividends for your business, no matter what the size.

Hang onto your Page Rank and your search results as Big Daddy gives Google gazers big headaches. Google’s most recent update, dubbed “Big Daddy” has left the folks over at SearchEngineWatch.com complaining and comparing horror stories. And they are not alone…

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I’ve had so many hits lately on searches for “Superbowl Adds” that hit this site since my blog on the local MSN video search entitled “Wanna Watch the Superbowl XL from the Sky?? Local Live Adds Detroit to the City List” went live. Since it’s so easy to hit that “d” twice on a keyboard, I decided to help those visitors looking for Superbowl ads. Here’s where you can view them online or… on your iPod (of course!)…

Your iPod can display mini-versions of the Superbowl darlings by subscribing to the Superbowl Advertisements PodCast or by going to iTunes and doing a search for that term in the podcast menu.

If you don’t “do” the iPod thing yet, it’s ok, you can still see your Superbowl Ads here: www.iFilms.com (just search for Superbowl ads — and spell it with only one “d”) *grin* You can also spend hours on the iFilms site just enjoying yourself — so you stand warned.

You guys probably like the Jessica Simpson take-off on the “These Boots” for Pizza Hut. Personally, I prefer the Miss Piggie version. Love the Fabio ad too. LOL. And the ad for the mobile phone with a personal defense system that I saw while at iFilms left me cackling. My son says it’s just plain violent. I find it more than slightly amusing. :O)

There, now you know.

Now normally, around this time of year, I get the urge to update my look. But, it’s usually an update of my website’s appearance. Something new added, a new touch, something to make things work a bit better or look a little more attractive. (more…)

I’ve been watching with some interest lately as the podcasting phenomenon has entered into the mainstream.

During my research I’ve found some excellent examples of the use of podcasting and, more interesting to me personally, the use of video podcasting. (more…)

As a Foxfire convert, I only open IE when I must — and I usually begrudge any website that requires me to change from Firefox to IE.

With that said, I’ve also missed the opportunity to see the alt tags with a mouse “rollover” on websites using Firefox. To see the alt tags on most sites when using my FireFox browser, I have to right click on an image and select “properties” to see the alt tag text.

But, today, I tripped across a design approach that will fix this problem. Adding a title tag to the alt tag will create a mouseover text for FireFox. If you want to add this to your own website to invite in the FireFox crowd… add the following code (using your own jpg name, title and alt tags, of course!):

<IMG src=”InternetMarketingImage.jpg” ALT=”Internet Marketing Plan Flowchart” TITLE=”Flowchart Plan for Small Business Internet Marketing”>

Ok, picture the scene… I’m working with a client, helping her to develop her webpage and we are talking about her blog.

I’ve encouraged her to offer an RSS feed and we are discussing the way to advertise that fact on the web.

I think a casual approach might be best, given her business model. I think that something off-hand like “Get” or “Grab” may be the right term… until I type it in my notes…Then it hits me that:

“Grab My RSS”

is probably not the most professional sounding way to approach this problem. It doesn’t look casual and off-hand, it looks off-color. I also determine that “Get My RSS” isn’t any better.

Soooo… I decide it’s time to quit for the evening, before my tired brain implodes.

Today, I saw a tee-shirt on CafePress that is quite confident about the RSS issue. It invites people to:

“Kiss My RSS”

Maybe I was onto something afterall…

LOL

My son called me today to show me a demonstration of “Google bombing” that he knew I’d enjoy.

If you would like to have your own fun (and especially if you aren’t a fan of our current President) you should go to Google and… (more…)

I accepted a new client last week. He asked me for help with his marketing approach. He was disappointed in his return on a recent direct mail campaign and needed a bit of direction on this and and other marketing issues and projects.

He had done several things right:

1.) He had his assistant hand-address the envelopes.
2.) He had her attach REAL stamps to each envelope.
3.) He had included a small, unique give-away item in each envelope.
4.) He hand-signed each letter.

After sending out several hundred letters over the course of three weeks, not a single response was logged. So he called me…I reviewed his situation through a phone conference and I think the details are important enough to share with other small business folks attempting the same approach to marketing via snail mail.

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