Access means Big Change Fast

In today’s episode of Local Knowledge I talk with viewers about how access to technology for small to medium sized businesses is creating big change fast in local online marketing. I cover easy-to-update websites and low cost online video to how Smartphones like the iPhone 3GS should be in the pockets of businesses like yours right NOW. Access to high quality low cost tools to make websites and online video offer companies with small budgets the chance to participate in marketing that used to just be for those with deep pockets. This is truly the age of The David’s triumphing over the Goliath’s. Here’s the link I mention in my video about the local CBS Television affiliate in Miami who used an iPhone 3GS to shoot, edit and upload his story to his station that broadcast it over the air.

Click to play

a

Access means Big Change Fast

Video Summary: If you’re like most small to medium sized businesses you either don’t update your website at all or you don’t update it frequently enough. This hampers your online marketing results in key areas like search engine optimization and building better customer relationships. In this six-minute video I talk about the two primary benefits of updating your website more frequently and then share a golden tip on how to create content for your website more efficiently and consistently.

If you don’t already have an easy-to-update website for your business check out this video.

Click to play

a

Update your website for more leads

I promised in my post to update you on resources you can use to write your press release. Those details will follow my commentary below but first I’ve got some useful updates and news to add.

I want to make you aware of a service that LOCALNa8ion reader @trdeeter of problogservice.com called to my attention in the comments section of my last PR post.

The service is called PitchEngine.com and I’m excited to share with you that

1. It works
2. It’s free

That’s a pretty good combo.

The heart of pitchengine is their focus on social media. The paid service I mentioned in my earlier post PRWEB has similar social media leanings. This is a good thing. I got to experience pitchengine first hand in using their service for a client of mine just yesterday.  Here’s what pitchengine has to say about how they use social media to change press releases:

“PitchEngine is more than new tools for PR, it’s an entirely new approach to the craft. It’s taking what we’ve learned from decades of traditional methods and stepping up our game to participate and succeed in a new media ’sphere - where the conversation is as important as the message.”

The blog comment about pitchengine that @trdeeter left here on our recent post about illustrates that the conversation IS INDEED AS IMPORTANT AS THE MESSAGE. Without that comment from @trdeeter I might not have heard about pitchengine or used it.

I noticed something else important. In posting my traditional press release last week using the free websites my first article mentions I found that their results were greatly diminished from earlier experiences I’ve had. Out of five sites that I used only one managed to get my client’s press release published (i-Newswire) and even then their free product doesn’t allow you to link to your website, negating any search engine optimization value.

Further, the i-Newswire post didn’t show up in any search engine results for almost 5 days after I posted my client’s press release. Not much good I can say about that other than it makes a clear case for paying a small fee to firms like PRWEB who get your release out on the wire (with seo links) on the same day. I’ll note that in all likelihood the free services I used like i-Newswire would provide similar prompt service if I was using their paid service. I’m simply calling PRWEB to your attention because they have a good reputation and I’ve been happy with my results with them in the past.

The last thing I’ll mention about pitchengine is how quickly their results were indexed by Google. I posted my client’s free press release earlier today and it’s already live on search results. In a word, that’s awesome. My free pitchengine press release also ranked higher than the press release from i-Newsire that was released much earlier. Pitchengine also let me put all the links I wanted in my press release - for free. ‘Nuff said - you need to try pitchengine’s free service.

Here’s the completed press release I made for my client.

Now, let’s take a look at how to format your press release for use in a traditional press release format. Note, this is a free template from PRWEB’s website - I’ve used it to good effect before. Just copy and paste the text below into your favorite word processor and replace each section with your own press release details.

Headline Announces News in Title Case, Ideally Under 80 Characters

The summary paragraph is a little longer synopsis of the news, elaborating on the news in the headline in one to four sentences. The summary uses title case, with standard capitalization and punctuation.

City, State (PRWEB) Day, Month, 2008 — The lead sentence contains the most important information in 25 words or less. Grab your reader’s attention here by simply stating the news you have to announce. Do not assume that your reader has read your headline or summary paragraph; the lead should stand on its own. Be sure to include your important keywords in the headline, summary and lead paragraph. Add your Web address here for a quick link and to reinforce your site name and location.

A news release, like a news story, keeps sentences and paragraphs short, about three or four lines per paragraph. The first couple of paragraphs should answer the who, what, when, where, why and how questions. The news media may take information from a news release to craft a news or feature article or may use information in the release word-for-word.

The standard press release is 300 to 800 words and written in a word processing program that checks spelling and grammar before submission to PRWeb.

The ideal headline is 80 characters long. PRWeb will accept headlines with a maximum of 170 characters. PRWeb recommends writing your headline and summary last to be sure you include the most important news elements in the body of the release. Use title case in the headline only, capitalizing every word except for prepositions and articles of three characters or less.

The rest of the news release expounds on the information provided in the lead paragraph. It includes quotes from key staff, customers or subject matter experts. It contains more details about the news you have to tell, which can be about something unique or controversial or about a prominent person, place or thing.  It also includes links to your website in this form: http://www.prweb.com.

Typical topics for a news release include announcements of new products or of a strategic partnership, the receipt of an award, the publishing of a book, the release of new software or the launch of a new website. The tone is neutral and objective, not full of hype or text that is typically found in an advertisement. Avoid directly addressing the consumer or your target audience. The use of “I,” “we” and “you” outside of a direct quotation is a flag that your copy is an advertisement rather than a news release.

Do not include an e-mail address in the body of the release. If you do, it will be protected from spam bots with a notice to that effect, which will overwrite your e-mail address.

“The final paragraph of a traditional news release contains the least newsworthy material,” said Mario Bonilla, member services director for PRWeb. “But for an online release, it’s typical to restate and summarize the key points with a paragraph like the next one.”

For additional information on the news that is the subject of this release (or for a sample, copy or demo), contact Mary Smith or visit www.prweb.com. You can also include details on product availability, trademark acknowledgment, etc. here.

About XYZ Company:
Include a short corporate backgrounder, or “boilerplate,” about the company or the person who is newsworthy before you list the contact person’s name and phone number.

Contact:
Mary Smith, director of public relations
XYZ Company
555-555-5555
http://www.prweb.com

###

a

Free Press Release Websites for Small Business | Part II

Web marketers and website developers are increasingly using WordPress to power very large websites as well. Here are a few examples.

Customers around the world trust Network Solutions to manage more than 7 million domains, over 1.5 million e-mailboxes, and more than 350,000 Web sites.

Network Solutions Uses WordPress

Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978, Timberline Lodge is one of Oregon’s most popular tourist attractions, drawing more than two million visitors every year. Considered an architectural wonder, it’s still being used for its original intent—a magnificent ski lodge and mountain retreat for all to enjoy.

Timberline Lodge in Oregon uses WordPress for their website

Camacho Cigars have been described as “The Best Habano outside of Cuba” by many cigar experts. Our brands are made with the original Cuban Criollo and Authentic Corojo seed tobaccos grown by the Eiroa family in Honduras.

Camacho Cigars uses WordPress

Just from looking at these three examples of business websites built on WordPress you can see why we love to use it here at LOCALNa8ion.

Central in our strategy in using WordPress for small business websites is the flexibility inherent in WordPress itself. Think for a minute about the diversity of small businesses. There are almost as many types of companies, products and services as there are people - each one with their own unique needs.

The diverse requirements of small business requires your website publishing platform to meet three main criteria:

1. fully featured
2. easy to customize design and add content
3. easy to extend or add functionality (extensibility)

WordPress is part of the newer class of website platforms called Content Management Systems (CMS for short) and it scores near perfect marks in these categories, making it ideal to adapt for any use.

Did we mention that WordPress is free?

That’s because WordPress is Open Source software, which simply means anyone is free to use and alter the software for any purpose. Due to its open source nature WordPress has amassed a legion of users worldwide and that in turn has created a massive development community (over 10,000 worldwide) that write software (called plug-ins) that add functionality to WordPress.

An example of this flexibility would be a plug-in to make your WordPress website an e-commerce store. With the addition of just one WordPress plug-in (also free) your small business website can be completely transformed to sell your products over the web.

This saves tons of money on web development costs. A site that could have cost $5,000 to $10,000 U.S. only a few years ago can be made for as little as $1,000 $3,000 today.

The amount of WordPress users and developers insures an almost limitless supply of online tutorials, how-to guides, video lessons, books (like WordPress for Dummies) and other resources you can tap into to help build your website (like us here LOCALNa8ion). You never have to worry about buying some obsolete dinosaur that no one will be able to fix or change a few years down to road.

So what are some other examples of WordPress flexibility?

DESIGNM.AG, is an online community for web developers that recently posted 11 non-traditional uses of WordPress. If you read the post you’ll see people using WordPress to do everything from running an online membership directory to an email newsletter or online job board.

That’s part of the backstory on why you should sign up wth us to get your own WordPress installation today.

Julian Seery Gude, ed
Small Business Internet Marketing, Website Design, SEO | LOCALNa8ion
Where you are is where it’s at

a

12 examples of WordPress flexibility for small business

Press releases can generate  free buzz about your small business, products or services and create sales leads. Further, press releases have a positive impact on your local search engine optimization efforts. When a website news organization or blogger links to your website it indicates to Google, Yahoo! and other search engines that your site has some useful or relevant content. Press releases are a great way to make this happen.  This is especially true if you use keywords that accurately describe your business such as Miami Florist and then write an interesting release.

One thing you need to know is where to send your press release once it’s written. All your local newspapers (don’t miss the small ones) are a great first start. But don’t stop there.

Below are some good FREE websites that will broadcast your press release at no charge. If a reporter or blogger notices your story on these sites and finds it relevant you could be on your way to free buzz and backlinks to your website.

Here’s the list of  websites where you can submit your press release free of charge.

• Business Portal 24 http://www.businessportal24.com
• I-Newswire          http://www.i-newswire.com/
• Click Press         http://clickpress.com
• 1888 Press Release http://www.1888pressrelease.com
• 24-7 Press Release http://www.24-7pressrelease.com
• Exact Release     http://exactrelease.com
• PR-USA         http://pr-usa.net
• Newswire Today     http://www.newswiretoday.com/index.php

Although not in the free category, PR Web can be well worth the investment. I’ve used PR Web with my clients. PR Web’s prices range from $80 to $360 depending on where you want your press release to be found. They also have nice free guides on the exact format your press release needs to be written in.

Stay tuned, I’ll post a follow up here on LOCALNa8ion that will provide additional background on how to structure your press release for maximum search engine optimization goodness.

a

Free Press Release Websites for Small Business

The economy is forcing many of us in small business to re-focus our efforts in marketing. Having returned perhaps for the first time in years after successfully growing our business by word-of-mouth and the occasional advertisement here and there, we find the landscape vastly changed. We’re not in the shape we once were.

I’d like to suggest that getting your marketing into ‘game shape’ for your small business is all about renewing your information, focus, and action.

Please permit me to use a parallel example for just a moment.

Whether you Golf or not you know who Tiger Woods is. He recently returned to Golf from a much ballyhooed eight month layoff due to a knee injury. He opted to return in a match play event, a format of golf that he’s particularly celebrated in. Tiger was ousted by a much weaker player in the second round of the event despite the fact that he’s won many events after injuries and long layoffs. I was interested to learn about Tiger’s mental state before the match from Wall Street Journal reporter John Paul Newport.

“One can only speculate, of course, but I’m drawn to a comment he made on his Web site the week before the Accenture. He said he was “full-bore” with his practice sessions and faced no restrictions, but didn’t yet have his “golf stamina” back” - John Paul Newport of Wall Street Journal ‘Tiger’s Search for Golf Stamina‘

As small business owners we have much we can take away from this parallel to apply to our own marketing efforts. If we’ve been out of the game we need to study, practice, and most importantly do. For Tiger, that’s a Golf tournament. For small business owners like us it means we need to get marketing.

We can start but cutting out old ineffective advertising, re-evaluate our current marketing message for efficacy, and find the best crop of current tools and methods to reach our customers.

The final stage of doing is typically the most difficult for all of us. It’s when we must face our fear of the unknown and fear of failure. In the past, marketing and advertising has done much to validate this fear because of the high cost of experimenting with different advertising methods. Ads cost a lot of money. Figuring out which ads work and which ones don’t isn’t exactly an easy thing to do when cash and credit is as tight as it is right now.

Today we have many reasons for hope.

No More Gatekeepers

The Internet has removed the gatekeepers to your customers. The gatekeepers of old included media like Newspapers, Yellow Pages, Direct Mail, Radio, TV and others that you had to pay ridiculous amounts of money to in order to reach (or communicate) with your customer. All without any guaranty of performance.

Contrast that with today when you can employ a free online self-publishing tool like WordPress for your small business website, optimize it for local searches (local search engine optimization), and install free services from Google like their analytics package to monitor your visitor’s behavior. These tools are accessible to any small business with a little study and practice.

Even if you pay an expert like us to re-design your website and optimize it for Local SEO that’s only a one-time investment. Even compared to one month’s worth of traditional advertising like Yellow Pages it’s a bargain.

Using free Google tools like Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer you can even mimic a large ad agency and do sophisticated a/b testing on offers to see which offer performs better. Three years ago A/B testing could have cost you five to ten thousand dollars.

Other ways to directly connect with your customer for free

Today, individuals, businesses of all sizes, and even stars like Lance Armstrong and Britney Spears are using social media like Twitter to directly connect with friends, audiences and yes, even buyers. Consumers have realized through blogs that we are no longer reliant on mainstream media for our information or our business. Businesses have cottoned on to blog marketing for its positive impact on both search engine optimization and branding.  Once you have a direct connection with your customer you can build a real relationship in any manner of ways.

If you spend time studying, practicing and doing Internet marketing you’ll soon realize new customers can be found on a shoestring budget. You’ll have to roll up your sleeves if you want to tap into the biggest savings, but that’s better than the past when you had no choice at all.

Once you’ve dialed in your best marketing message you’ll continue to find new efficiencies, insights, and nuances not apparent to you before. The field will open up. You’ll be in game shape. And you won’t be dropping two grand every time you sneeze while you’re trying to figure it out.

Welcome back, it’s good to have you back in the game.

a

Get your small business marketing in game shape

I searched for myself on Google and Found Nothing.

Small to medium sized business owners focus on the flash of a new design instead of the effect they’re looking for (higher sales). At LOCALNa8ion we recommend you transform your website into your next star sales person.

A website with the right Local search engine optimization (Local SEO) applied to it will drive offline sales to your store for pennies on the dollar compared to traditional advertising costs like Yellow Pages or Direct Mail.

Local Searches Drive Offline Sales

Florists Miami
House Cleaning Wellington
Savannah Italian Food

These are the local searches happening on Google, Yahoo! and other search engines and online directories that are leading to offline sales for local small businesses everywhere. In fact, for every $1 spent online the Internet drives $3.45  in offline store sales. Each lead that you get from your organic search engine results is 100% free. That’s why we offer you advice on our blog and how-to videos on how to utilize free and low cost Internet Marketing tools and methods!

We can build it for you

If you want us to build you a website that’s a true web marketing platform we’re in the final days of a great sale for our Percolator Package. For $558.88 we build out your small business Website on WordPress, fine tune it for Local SEO, and turn you loose with hosting, training and other support so you can start getting free sales leads from Yahoo!, Google and other online sources.

Percolator Package Sale Ends next Friday 13th

Until next week you can grab one for $558.88 before it returns to its regular price of $999.99.

a

A website that generates sales leads

People are already talking about your small business online - learn how to monitor and respond to this opportunity and threat.

Show Summary | 11:57 Run Time

• Primer about Online Reputation Management
• Demo of setting up Google Alerts and BackType
• How to combat bad reviews on sites like Google Local (Google Maps)

In our how-to video today I will give introduce you to online reputation management for small business owners. After we cover some quick basics I show you how to use Google Alerts and BackType.com to scour the Internet for news, comments, reviews, raves and rants about your company, products or services.

I’ll demonstrate how it only takes 5 minutes to set up a Google Alert or BackType account and start monitoring your reputation. Both Google Alerts and BackType.com are free and easy-to-use. When used in concert together, Google Alerts and Backtype catch and report on what people are saying about you and sends that info to you in a daily email.

I’ll conclude today’s session by reviewing a real world example of how to combat negative reviews on Google Local (Google Maps) that might otherwise scare new customers away from buying from you.

Online reputation management gives your small business the opportunity to spot sales leads and market niches you may have been unaware of. Perhaps even more importantly, you’ll learn when something’s gone wrong with a customer who may not have told you directly that they’re dissatisfied with your business but don’t shy away from telling the world about their complaint.

A major benefit of managing your reputation online is the ability to interject your own voice in these online conversations that can transform bad situations into customer service wins. Best of all, your good work will be rewarded when all your responses are cataloged on the Internet for new and future customers to see. Or, not. You can just stick your head in the sand and hope for the best.

Click to play

Show Links
Google Alerts
BackType.com | Find, Follow and Share Comments
Mashable Article: Top 10 Free Internet Tools for Monitoring your Brand’s Reputation

Julian, ed
Local Internet Marketing for Small Business | LocalNa8ion.com
Where you are is where it’s at

a

Online Reputation Management for Small Business

I often dive deep into specific topics as I did this past Friday when I blogged about how to Re-write your website title for better local search results. That’s just one important part of Local SEO. There are many others. But what are they?

Below you’ll find a short video which provides a great overview of search engine optimization by Senior Vice President Stephanie Leffler of Network Solutions featured on MSNBC’s Consultant Corner.

Stephanie discusses SEO practices like your website ‘title tag’, incoming links to your website, and many other useful SEO topics like the importance of creating text based content for your website in order to attract search engines.

Enjoy the video

Julian, ed LOCALNa8ion
Where you are is where it’s at

a

Search Engine Optimization Basics Video

Unlimited bandwidth and storage for only $72.50 a year (see end of post for updated code & pricing as of June 16, 2009)

It’s no secret here at LOCALNa8ion that we recommend WordPress for Small Business. In fact, here’s our video on our Top Ten reasons Wordpress for Small Business beats the pants off the rest.

In a nutshell, WordPress is free and it allows non-technical small business owners to update your website content easily.  Updates are crtical to achieving better local search engine rankings so that’s not a trivial thing.

WordPress also makes it easily to perform Local Search Engine Optimization on your website. For example, in my post yesterday I gave readers tips on how to Re-write your website title for better local search results. Writing your new website title may take you 10 or 20 minutes but changing it in WordPress will take you less than a minute.

Now let’s talk about hosting your WordPress site

In the past I’ve published a video on Hosting your Wordpress Small Business Web Site on Midphase and using Auto-Install. I now have an update and better pricing for you.

One of the beauties of using MidPhase is that they have a WordPress auto-install option for non-technical users (see the video I just linked to above for instructions).

I’ve continued to use MidPhase for all my WordPress client installations like Il Pasticcio Restaurant and Wine Bar in Savannah Georgia. I’ve had nothing but good luck with them so I can recommend MidPhase from experience.

I’ve got two offers for you that will depend on your needs.

$72.50 a Year | One Website, unlimited bandwidth & storage

First, if you have one website and want unlimited bandwidth and storage (this avoids nasty hosting overage charges) you can now host your site for one year plus register a domain name for only $72.50 a year. Go to MidPhase’s website and use my code GOTAPEX-ROX-01 during the order process in the Optional Coupon Code area. Select the Starter plan for $4.95 a month and then a term of 12 months. You can save even more if you buy 24 months.

$90.50 a Year | Unlimited Websites & databases, plus unlimited bandwidth & storage

If you think you’re going to end up with more than one website then this is the plan for you and it’s just $18.00 more per year. Why would a small business need more than one website? Multiple business lines and separate businesses are two common examples.

To order go to MidPhase’s website and use my code GOTAPEX-ROX-01 during the order process in the Optional Coupon Code area. Select the Unlimited plan for $6.95 a month and then a term of 12 months. You can save even more if you buy 24 months.

Per my blog policy on LOCALNa8ion I fully disclose that I receive a small fee if you signup for MidPhase hosting using my special code GOTAPEX-ROX-01 (see update below) that gets you 3 months free and a free domain for life. You save extra money over just going to MidPhase on your own and I use my commissions to defray the cost of bringing LOCALNa8ion to you for free.  Let me be clear, I’m not recommending MidPhase for profit. I recommend MidPhase because I use them for all my client websites and I’ve had continual good experiences with them. I represent that these offers represent a very good value when compared competitively.

Enjoy!

Julian, ed
Local Internet Marketing for Small Business | LOCALNa8ion.com

Update: The current coupon code as of June 16, 2009 is HOT. Type in HOT in the Coupon code area when you order (prices may have changed)- click on this link.

a

WordPress Hosting Update and Special