In a previous series, we covered how to Optimize Your Business for Local Search. Creating a strong Google Business listing (using Google Places) is an important part of that process. We created this quick presentation, to show how to make the most of your Google Places Business listing. It is a short video and the process is pretty easy. The whole thing should take you less than an hour—happy optimizing!

This week’s roundup is a strange mix of marketing advice and how-tos. I am not going to say more than that…read on and judge for yourself.

Mundane Marketing Magic
This article caught my attention because I have recently been asked to bid on a re-branding project and have the topic on my mind. It is a good reminder because I get so caught up in the day-to-day tasks of running a business that I forget that everything I do is a reflection of my brand. When I am on a deadline I am more worried about getting stuff done, than how I am doing it reflects on my company. This article is a good reminder that everything we do in our business is marketing and should reflect your brand.

Hiring a Designer? Eight Things to Look For
If you are thinking about re-branding your business or simply creating a new marketing piece, changes are you will need the help of a graphic designer. Use this article to help you pick a good one!

4 Proven Steps to Facebook Page Success
As a nod to our two very successful Facebook Page workshops last week, this article will help you get started if you find yourself struggling with what to put on the page. It presents a simple formula and makes it easy to make a great Facebook Business Page.

3 Simple Ways to Re-purpose Your Blog Posts for More Exposure
If you are already blogging, then pat yourself on the back. Simply put, it is the easiest, quickest way to make your website a traffic magnet. This article gives you ideas of how you take those posts and give them legs—submitting posts to article directories (linking opportunity anyone?), creating an audio version, or share it with the world.

We had a great turn out at our Facebook Business Page workshop this week. During the workshop a question came up that we could not answer right away. Here it is now:

Q: How do I change the name (title) of my custom landing page (Boxes) tab?

A: You can edit the name of the tab in the application settings.

1. Click on the Edit Page link underneath your page logo.
2. Scroll down to the FBML application in the applications list.
3. Click the edit link underneath the Static FBML application.
4. Enter the your chosen name for tab in the Box Title field.
5. If you are adding code for a customized page, paste it in the FBML box below.
6. Click the button to save changes and you are done!

We also talked a bit of the changes and issues related to Facebook’s privacy settings. If you want to know exactly how you can make your profile secure check out the article 4 Simple Steps to Control Your Facebook Privacy on the Social Media Examiner blog.

If you have any follow up questions, just post a comment to this post and we will answer it for you. Good luck building your Facebook Business Page!

I have been hearing a lot about email marketing lately. The discussion centers on its effectiveness and whether social media has made it obsolete. I even remember reading somewhere (though I can’t remember where) that some consider a Facebook page the next generation of the email newsletter. Though I am still a little unclear about the effectiveness of email marketing, I did read a couple of articles last week that make a very strong argument for them. And with that in mind, I am also providing a link to a consultant that focuses solely on creating effective email newsletter and writes an (you guessed it) email newsletter on the topic.

• 3 Reasons Email is the Coolest Vampire Today
  A fun take on email marketing especially for those us with vampires already on the mind.

• Social Media Makes Email Even Stronger
  In this interview, Gail Goodman, Chairman and President of Constant Contact, makes a strong case for the inherent relationship between email marketing and social media.

• Blue Penguin E-Newsletter
  If you are thinking about starting an e-newsletter or how to make yours even better, sign up for Michael Katz’ e-newsletter. He has a wonderfully engaging writing style and his tips are always right on. I never miss an episode.

Preview the slides for our Create a Killer Facebook Page workshop. It is a great visual to compliment our blog series Create a Killer Facebook Page.

I met Laird Brown over a year ago and have enjoyed getting to know him and his Phoenix, AZ photography business. As a savvy and cost conscious small business owner, Laird has created a lot of his marketing collateral himself. I will tell the truth here—I normally turn my nose up at self-made marketing materials especially websites. Most of the time they look very templated and have very poor content.

Laird’s website is absolutely the exception. It is not a super sophisticated design but it looks nice (and not at all templated) and more importantly the content is completely optimized to the needs of his consumer. You can tell from his website that he totally gets his client, knows what they want, and has made it easy to find.  Check out Laird’s website below or at smallbusinessphoto.com along with a few of my points on what makes this website so strong

1)    URL and Title: Tells visitors exactly what types of photos he does, not weddings or fine art, but small business. If you own a small business and need photos, then you know you are in the right place.

2)    Navigation: Laird has kept the site simple, addressing the main questions up front:

Why YOU should be in your marketing? Who he is? How to contact him?

3)    Portfolio: This is the best part of this website and probably the most important. Of course, prospects want to see his work to know how good he is. They do not (and will not) spend hours trolling through his site looking through hundred of photos. The mistake most photographers make is to include too many images on their website. They want to include everything in the hopes of appealing to everyone. All this does is bore and chase off potential clients by overwhelming them.

Instead of the typical scattershot approach, Laird has focused his portfolio into four main categories and given them meaningful titles. They tell a visitor how they might use photography in their business beyond the typical boring headshots: Showing the People Who Make Your Business a Success, Presenting your Facilities, and Product Pride. Each gallery features only five to ten of Laird’s best pieces—enough to give them an idea of his ability, but not so much that they get bored.

I am not advocating that you all run out and dump your web designer or marketing agency and build your website yourself. It is a lot of work and you do need to have a very thourough understanding of your client base. My point here is that it is not impossible to get a good handle on your client’s needs and how effective a marketing piece can be when it is built with the client in mind. Great work Laird!

(Disclaimer: Though Laird was not a client when I conceived of this post he has since hired me to update his logo and business ID.)

This week’s round up is a mixed bag with social media as a loose theme. Here are four articles that you might have missed last week:

Facebook Community Pages: What Your Business Needs to Know

Everything you need to know about Facebook’s new community pages and how they could affect your business presence. I recommend that anyone who uses Facebook for business should read this article. These community pages have some interesting quirks that could make life difficult for business marketers on Facebook.

4 Detective Tricks to Find Your Customers in Social Media

This article has perfect timing—I had just been asked about where “customers” hung out online. The short answer is “it depends.” This article will tell you all you need to know to find out where your customers are hanging out.

5 Ways to Get More From Local Search

Local search has been a topic that I have been talking a lot about lately. I promise it will be the “hot” SEO thing that everyone is talking about in six months. So why not get a head of the pack and start optimizing your business for local search now?

How to Create a Custom Twitter Background Design

I get asked about Twitter backgrounds a lot. Here is a simple tutorial on how to create your own.

I was at Barnes and Noble last week shopping for some juicy novels to read on my vacation this summer. While wandering around, I noticed and was drawn to the calendars display. As an office supply and organization junkie, I always to have to look to see what is new and cool. As I walked away, I was struck by a strange thought—were those 2010 calendars in June of 2010? Seems a bit untimely. Or 2011 calendars in June of 2010? What, already?!

I doubled back and found out that they were indeed 2011 calendars. Whew! I can hardly keep up with how fast this year is going by. There is no way I am ready to start thinking about next year.

As I thought about it a bit more, it started to make some sense. Sure it seems like it’s ages away now, but I guarantee it will not feel that way come December 1.  December is always a big month for the 910 West team because we are frantically assembling and mailing our almost untimely holiday promotion. Every year I say that I’m going to start early and every year, I wait until October to have our annual photography calendar made. It seems to me that if calendar retailers are already putting out their 2011 offerings, then I had better start planning my own calendar (or whatever) holiday promo now.

This is my friendly reminder to all of you to at least start planning your holiday promotions now. Starting early gives you plenty of time to decide who you want to send to, what you want to say to them, and how you want them to respond. A well thought out and perfectly executed holiday campaign is much more effective then something cheap and cheesy thrown together on November 30.

If you need some help getting started call us, 480.219.9069, to schedule a free 1/2 –hour consultation. It is not a sales pitch—you can ask as many questions as you like and we will give you as many ideas as we can.

And in case you are wondering, though I cannot actually start my calendar until after Labor Day this year, I do already know that it is going to feature photos from our Alaska trip at the end of August (which is the reason that I have to wait).

• AOT Case Study
  Learn how the Arizona Office of Tourism used Facebook ads to target potential tourists using their areas of interest. This approach made Facebook their single best source for online promotion.

• How to Create a Facebook Fan Page Editorial Guide
  If you are struggling to come up with creative ideas for your fan page content, then this is the perfect guide to get you going. It helps you figure out not only what to put on the page but why it is there and how it differs from other efforts (like your website).

• How to Better Engage Facebook Fan Page ‘Fans’
  If you already have a fan page but are not getting the participation that you want, this two part series will help you solve that problem.

Wow! You are nearly done and we are finally to the fun part. You may have noticed that some Facebook fan pages have short, easy to use URLs like facebook.com/myfanpage while others have long random looking addresses. You definitely want to get one of those personalized URLs to make it easy to tell people how to find you on Facebook. Getting a custom URL is not hard but it does take a bit of work.

The trick to the custom URL is hinted at in the first part of our post title “Publicize Your Page.” Facebook has set a requirement that a page must have 25 “Likes” before you can claim a custom URL. No problem! Now that you have built a cool page, you want to tell the world about it anyway, so do it. Email your friends and family and ask them to visit your page and “Like” it. Use the Suggest to Friends link below your custom sidebar to tell your Facebook friends about your page. Don’t forget to ask them to “Like” it too!

After you have 25 “Likes”, it is easy to set your custom URL. Check out the excerpt below from the Facebook help form for detailed instructions:

How can I secure a username for my Page?

If you are an administrator of a Facebook Page, you will be able to choose your username at facebook.com/username just like a user selecting a username for their profile. There will be an interface for you to choose usernames for the Pages you administer.

Choose wisely! You can’t change the URL after you set it so make sure it is something that works for a long time.

That wraps up the Creating a Killer Facebook Fan Page series. You should have an awesome page with tons of great content and “Likes”. Just like a baby, your fan page needs to be fed, so be sure that you update and add new stuff on a regular basis. As in all social media, the only thing worse than having no account is having a stale one.

To help you keep track of the Facebook Fan Page set up process, download our easy to follow Fan Page Checklist. It will jog your memory and keep you from missing any critical steps. If you feel overwhelmed with the process or simply need a little help, check out our Create a Killer Facebook Fan Page Workshop on July 14 or call us, 480.21.9069, to schedule a free ½-hour consultation.