The words 'I don't like social media' have been whispered to me in dark alleys by strangers wearing mysterious hats and dark glasses. After the confession they scurry away in shame. I am left wondering what on earth has happened to our society.

It's okay not to like social media.

There, I've said it.

Claims such as: 'If you don't like social media then you don't understand how to use it' are bandied about by loudmouthed online marketeers who want to make sure you feel like life isn't worth living if you're not spending at least 80% of your day on facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, youtube, google+ and/or pinterest (and preferably buying their products that teach you their 'secrets' to online success). My confession: I often find these highly popular people as boring as bat shit.

Irony note: I do recognise that blogs are a form of social media and that if you are reading this and enjoying it so far, then you are enjoying social media. But unless you comment on this article, it's really just an online article. Social media is about being social – i.e. interacting.

It's okay if you do like it

Of course, many find social media enjoyable for social purposes – regardless of whether any income is generated from it. If you are one of these souls, then good for you. Soak it up and revel in it. But if you're not…

It's okay not to want to understand social media.

I know. Talk about going out on a limb. But this is for those who are so repulsed by the notion of social media. That even the idea of trying to work out all the ins and outs for their business sends them into a depressive spiral. If this is you, I want you to know it's okay.

Do you really need social media?

It depends on your business. If you are a massage therapist, for example, and really just need ten to twenty good ongoing local clients to achieve your business goals then blitzing on social media everyday may not be imperative. There are other ways of marketing to your local community. But if you have an online store and want to attract thousands of customers, then investing some energy in social media makes sense.

Confession: I haven't pushed social media hard for myself as I always seem have enough clients to keep me busy. But when I create product to sell on this site and my other 'things' (My Burnout Thing and My Cartoon Thing), I will be ramping that side of my strategy right up.

So what's the answer?

If your business begs for decent social media presence, I have a few suggestions. All of them require identifying and focusing on exactly who you want to reach. In other words, decide who your ideal client/customer is and keep focused on connecting with them. Social media has a habit of luring our attention down all kinds of rabbit holes.

Remember: Quality counts. And I don't just mean the content you are posting. It's more useful to have 100 loyal followers that actively talk about you to potential customers than thousands that don't really care.

1. Start with one platform and go steady
   But which one? This depends on your target market. Women are the user demographic for pinterest by far and still pip the post on facebook. Men are more enthusiastic about Google+ and Reddit. Find out more through Mashable's latest spacey social media demographic diagram. Hubspot have a social media report on demographics by industry. Once chosen, try 10 minutes a day on it – this might be all you need to do. Remember not to promote yourself too hard – give useful information away and talk about others that are possibly useful and/or interesting to your target market. Tip: subscribe to Google Alerts for content online that you can post about.

2. Hire someone to do it for you
   Some believe (passionately) this is a bad idea. Social media is about personal connections – therefore you are the only one who can post comments. But I know people who have hired social media virtual assistants and the secret is in the guidelines you set and the regular briefing sessions you have with them. I also helps if they already have some experience with your industry.
    
3. Affiliate with others who are active on social media
   If you are not ready to have a social media profile then consider joining forces with someone who is – another business you genuinely want to support who is also relevant to your target market. Example: a photographer could team up with a florist to promote wedding services. The photographer could promote the florist in a snail mail campaign or during a presentation at an event. The florist could promote photographer on social media.

Any other ideas?

Are you having trouble getting your head around social media? Share with us your feelings about it. What are your experiences…or non-experiences.

This post was written by Megan Hills. Megan is a writer, cartoonist and marketing consultant who – at the moment – prefers working on her novel than disappearing into the facebook vortex. Find out more about Megan.

A picture can say a thousand words. Poor snap photography in your promotional material can say even more. And it usually ain't good. So it's worth considering hiring a professional photographer.

How does one go about hiring a photographer?

1. Look at their portfolio
2. Find out about their photo-situ approach (in studio, on-site, both? Exterior, interior?)
3. Find out about their specialty (people, product, building/landscape?)
4. Find out about their post-production services (Photoshop tweaking of photograph for professional finish?)
5. Find out their rates and payment terms (hourly? by job? pay upfront, 50%/50%, at end of job?)
6. If possible, lever feedback from someone who has already used them
7. Get a quote based on your brief

A brief?

Yes, you need to brief the photographer on what the job actually is. This means getting a clear picture (excuse the pun) on exactly what images you want – even before searching for someone to take them.

First think about who the photos are for:

• Who is your target market?
  (females/in thirties/low-mid income, boys/16 years old/urban, men/wealthy/aged20-40, etc?)
   
• What feeling will be appealing to them?
  (exciting, soft, conservative, etc?)

What images do you want and need?

Often, photographers are hired for the 'portrait' shot. The head and shoulders images to pop onto the website and perhaps on facebook. But it's worth making sure you get all the images you need for your business. So consider your promotional material and what images could be useful for it.

For example:

• Website
• Flyers/brochures
• Social media
• Business card
• PowerPoint presentations
• Video presentations
• Presentation folders
• Merchandise – e.g. magnets

Think about what each photo says.

An image is a message. So what’s the message? Using the same imagery throughout your print and digital material can be advantageous for branding reinforcement.

• Portrait shot
  What clothes are you wearing? Why?
  Can you wear corporate colours for branding continuity?
  Is your make-up reflective of what would be appealing to your target market?
  Do you have an isolated (white/plain) background?
  If you do have a background, what is in it and why?
  What different poses can you hold (different furniture) to give yourself variety?

• Photo for social media
  Tip: Can you have a headshot that combines well with your logo (to fit a small square)?
   
• Non-product shots for promo material
  Website could include: slideshow banner, on core pages, product shots.
  - what are your core messages?
  - what is on each website page that could use an image?
   
• Product shots
  Someone interacting with the product can give valuable information about size and use.
  Is the background isolated (white) to allow easy application to various formats?
  if you have a background, what background should you have? Why?
   
• Interior site shots:
  What time of day looks best?
  Rather than having empty rooms, consider including people to inspire an emotional connection.
   
• Customer service shots
  Show you/your staff demonstrating your service to clients/customers.
  Who is going to ‘play’ your client? Do they reflect your target market?
  Again, what is in the background? Why?

Important hint: Crop space

Be mindful of having space around the image to allow:

• text to appear next to it
  with the background still behind the text
   
• cropping to portrait, landscape or square formats
  depending on where the image will appear
  e.g. website banner: crop wide and short

This post was written by Megan Hills. Megan is a writer, cartoonist and marketing consultant who is conscious that photo libraries can only take us so far. Find out more about Megan.

A client recently wanted my opinion on some text for a new workshop she was developing. I began reading and, within the first two paragraphs detected a problem. It's a problem I see on a regular basis.

A small aside: Get the text right for one thing, like a workshop, and it could also be turned into a webinar, a book, podcast, whittled down to a giveaway e-book, etc. Might feel a bit like cheating, but different people soak up info in different ways…so what the hey.

Okay, back to the story….

There was no doubt that my client has a magic writing style, relaxed and friendly – you can hear her talking to you through her words. Wonderful. But, as mentioned…

…there was a problem.

After two paragraphs I wasn't clear on what the course was really about. And, by now, I should know the purpose, the nugget of the thing. Apparently, the workshop will help me feel better about my work, my relationships and, by golly, my whole life.

I'd worked out that the course was something to do with things running smoother – and enjoying having things running smoother.

The ol' 'problem – solution'

Marketing people tend to bang on about 'problem – solution'. That is:

• Problem: What's the problem the potential customer has? (or think they have)
• Solution: How are you solving that problem?

They bang on about it because 'nailing' this message works (boom boom). But wait, there's more…

It's important to start from the potential customer's perspective. Even if you don't agree with their perception of the problem. Get in their shoes, look through their eyes and start talking from their perspective.

Back to my story…

It turns out that my client's workshop is about time management.

• The problem could be: I'm not getting everything done! Wah!
• The solution could be: Focusing on what's important.

Problem #2

We've heard this all before, haven't we? Time management is all about identifying priorities and focusing on them. Yadda yadda yadda.

We need to drill down further. So my client gave me more information about the course. She's got a special approach to how you prioritise and focus, one I'd never heard before. It involves automated reminders using sounds and visuals on both computers and smart phones – reminders created to suit your personality and situation.

Rule # 2: Your solution to the problem has to sound original, believable and manageable.

Your solution to the problem can be unveiled in steps. But you do need to give the reader some 'meat' upfront. And it has to be specific.

So my client's solution could be something like:

Your work deadlines ARE doable.
Easy reminders – with a powerful difference.

'But what I offer is so much more!'

My client felt that the reminder system could be used for so much more than just meeting work deadlines. It could be used for anything in life. But the trick is getting the reader through the first small, tangible stage in order to unveil the bigger picture.

The Door Knob Theory

• You promote the door knob so they open up the door
  (i.e. "You're solving my problem – great, sign me up")
• Then you promote the entry area (e.g. other work situations)
• Then the first room (e.g. more personal situations, like health goals)
• Then you can sell the whole house (e.g. your whole life)

But start with the door knob. If you sell the whole house at the beginning, the potential customer can be overwhelmed by your message. Solving a specific problem helps them get a 'handle' (boom boom) on what you do.

Which feeds into your marketing. If you start with a work problem then you can market to business networks. If you start with a health problem, then you can market to health networks. Get the picture?

Speaking of pictures…

A note on using stories and images

The visual scenario of The Door Knob Theory helps to clarify how 'niche communication' works. The problem is, the term 'niche communication' sounds a little boring. You can imagine a door and a knob and then the entry area, the next room, then the whole house. Metaphors can be a great way to convey an abstract idea powerfully. So are stories, like the one I just told you about my client and her time management workshop.

This post was written by Megan Hills. Megan is a writer, cartoonist and marketing consultant who would like to clarify that a 'nob' is a member of the upper classes. Find out more about Megan.

There's no point talking about the marketing madness of Christmas. If you are in the Western world you see it, you feel it and – chances are – something in you says 'I don't like it'.
 

I have a confession

This feeling crops up for me throughout the rest of the year as well. I am personally at war with myself over the powerful effect marketing has in our community. When I drive around the city, soaking up billboards and shop signage, I begin to feel a little ill (admittedly, I'm a sensitive sausage). If I spend too much time looking at websites, I end up staggering out of the office gasping for air. 

Which makes me think of Pattern Recognition.

Sci-fi novelist, William Gibson wrote Pattern Recognition, a story about a marketing consultant, Cayce Pollard, who reacts to logos and advertising as if to an allergen.

I relate to Cayce Pollard. If too exposed, I often react to marketing as I'm allergic to it. Strangely, I also choose to be in marketing. As does Cayce.

To console myself…

I try to see my marketing efforts as stepping stones to better education. And the reality is, good people trying to run worthwhile businesses can fail due to poor marketing. So by helping these businesses with their marketing, I take a part in creating better education about how people can help others – and maybe even help to create livelihoods.

Is it a matter of degree?

We are exposed to – and consume – so much these days. It is up to us to take control of our lives, in whatever capacity.

Chocolate, for instance is not good or bad per se. But eating too much of it isn't much chop. The same might be said for promotional material. Marketing is not good or bad, per se. It is how we choose to expose ourselves to it, and how we choose to consume it.

Like with eating, it all boils down to us as individuals making conscious choices for ourselves.

How do you feel about marketing?

Are you adversely affected by the holiday onslaught? Or are blissfully filtered from it? Let us know by making a comment.

This post was written by Megan Hills. Megan is a writer, cartoonist and marketing consultant who has just completed a really intense Photoshop course – and is relieved that a holiday break is in store. Find out more about Megan.

"I really, really love it" said a budding entrpreneur when talking about a particular Vistaprint template design she had recently discovered. "I'm going to use it for all my promotional material." I grimaced, knowing I was about to burst her design-happiness bubble.

In case you haven't come across Vistaprint…

Vistaprint is a popular worldwide online printing service that is incredibly cheap for small runs of anything from business cards, to rubberstamps, lawn signs and mugs. They even have reasonably-priced website and email marketing services.

I've used them on behalf of many clients and give them a big thumbs up.

Vistaprint have pre-designed templates for business cards, flyers, etc. for people to pop their details in and hey-presto! You are looking pretty darn spiffy. So what's the problem?

Back to the budding entrepreneur…

According to this budding entrepreneur, there was only one problem. She wanted to change one element of the design and was wondering whether she'd be in breach of copyright.

The problem she thought she had:

According to the Vistaprint customer service officer I spoke to, there is no copyright issue regarding altering a Vistaprint template while you are in their site, printing and purchasing from them. Not all templates can be altered, but some can.

However…

If you take the design and have someone else to print the material then you are in breach of copyright – tweaked or non-tweaked.

So if you want to print with anyone else down the track and you have a Vistaprint template as the basis of your branding, you are in trouble. You need to re-brand.

The real problem

Sites like Vistaprint are very popular. This means that many people out there are likely to be using the same template you choose. This defies the whole point of branding – i.e. presenting yourself as something special.

If someone sees your design and recognises it as a generic design template – which is becoming more and more the case – you look like you haven't had enough money, or care enough, to have your own brand developed. In short, it reduces your image of professionalism.

I know enthusiastic business owners who have completely by-passed their own branding and embraced a generic design template. Why? Because it's cheap and easy while making them look good. Or so they think. These people love showing me all the new marketing materials they have just bought…without their logo – the logo that's established their image over the years. I could cry.

Please, hire a graphic designer…

…preferably a graphic designer who understands branding. Feel free to show them the design template you love. They might be able to do something similar – but not the same. Showing your graphic designer layouts that you like fast-tracks the job nicely (which may even make the job cheaper).

Even better, sites like Vistaprint usually have clear specifications for graphic designers to work with so you can upload the designs yourself and enjoy all the perks.

IF that design is what's best

You loving the template design is all well and good. Your potential clients or customers loving it could be another matter entirely. So how do you know that's best? Find below two articles about logos. You logo should inform your brand – that is, your whole 'look and feel'.

• Briefing your logo designer.
• Logo basics even some graphic designers forget

By all means, use Vistaprint and other services like them. I do. Just go in with your eyes open about branding and about copyright.

This post was written by Megan Hills. Megan is a writer, cartoonist and marketing consultant who believes everyone is special – and wishes they would market themselves as such! Find out more about Megan.

If you're starting a new business DO NOT start thinking about your business name or website writing until you've done a basic business plan for yourself.

Why? So you really know:

• what you are offering
• why you are offering it
• who you are offering it to
• why they should choose you over someone else

This is fundamental stuff, people!

Yes, your plan is your foundation. It's dealing with the basics. Get the foundation right and everything will flow soooooo much better.

__________________________________________________

Here are the key questions you need to answer:

The basics

1. What is the business?
2. How does it help people? 


About the marketplace

1. What other businesses are out there are doing something along the lines of what you want to do?
   
Write a paragraph or two about what you think is going on out there for your industry at the moment (industry/marketplace description).
   

2. Who would you consider your most likely competitors? 

   (note: competition exists and it’s not a bad thing – this is about building awareness of your place in the marketplace)
   

3. What makes your proposed business different from theirs?
   

4. What do you think you can learn from them?
   

5. Where are the obvious opportunities for you? 
(i.e. servicing in ways that aren’t currently being attended to?)

About your ideal client

1. Who will be the folks you want buying your stuff? 

2. Why them?

3. What are your ideal clients like? Describe them…
Where are they? (geographic radius) 
How much money do they have? 
What are their values?, etc.

4. What are their biggest/deepest concerns regarding using your industry's offerings?
 (cost, quality of service, after-sales service, etc.?)

5. What feelings and emotions will your clients associate with your business? (this is called identifying your ‘brand values’)

6. How would they normally find someone like you?
   e.g. do they rely on friend recommendations, do google searches, be inspired by magazine articles/advertising, tv/radio programs, etc.

About the big picture


1. Can you see distinct development phases for your business?
 (describe them, set some ballpark timeframes if you can)

2. What are your key weaknesses and strengths
   
e.g. weakness – lack of finance

   e.g. strength – knowledge of the industry 

3. Thinking about what’s going on ‘out there’ (society’s trends), what threats and opportunities are there? (can be cultural, social, technological, environmental, etc.)

   e.g. opportunities – surge of interest in your area of expertise

   e.g. threats – e.g. the economy is currently under-confident

4. What’s the biggest job you’re prepared to do?

5. What’s the smallest job you’re prepared to do?
6. What's the most complex job you're prepared to do?


Your quick pitch

How would you describe your business in a nutshell? 

Three short sentences maximum, addressing:


1. what you do that’s special

2. who your business is for 
3. what the greatest benefit(s) is (are) for your client

About your goals

1. What are your main goals?
   (next 12 months, next 2-3 years), 
include desired timeframes

2. How will you measure how you’re going with achieving these goals?

                                            


Drilling down to specifics
…

1. Service strategy


• what's your fee structure? (i.e. what are you going to charge?)

• how do your fees compare with your competition?

• what's your quotation process? (incl. terms & conditions)

• what's your client service process?

• what's payment process? (incl. terms & conditions)


2. Marketing strategy


Consider what might be required to get the word out there:

• branding
 development
• biz card and other corporate material

• signage
 (premises, vehicle, etc.)
• website

• online directories submissions
• Google Places

• digital flyer

• social media strategy

• article marketing online

• advertising (online/printed)
• PR (e.g. media releases)
• networking strategies
• affiliate opportunities
• anything else?


Consider setting some SMART goals for your marketing – related to these vehicles.

SMART = specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound


How will you inspire the potential client/customer to take the first step?

• testimonials?
• free trials?
• time-limited discount?
• loyalty packages?
• up-front payment discounts?


• affiliate promotion?

3. Product development/sales strategy

Describe the following:


• Product range
• Pricing: wholesale and RRP prices (factor in tax)
• Suppliers required

• Manufacturing process

• Branding development

• Packaging

• Promotion/sales strategy (online, retail outlets?)

• Distribution (process and costs
)
• Sales terms and conditions


Create an expenses budget, projected turnover 
and identify your profit margin.


4. Organisation and management strategy


Describe the following:

• your ‘HQ ‘premises (e.g. your home office)
• What’s required for it to operate efficiently for you and staff (storage, admin, vehicles, etc.),
• How does the geographic location affect your business (e.g. 
central to target market?)

• Supplier relationships 
• Recruitment process for staff (incl. contracts/award info)
• How many staff members do you need?
• Any other contractors? (bookkeeper, accountant,, etc.)

• Training process(es)

• Software system requirements (e.g. MYOB)
• Sales and admin systems


What is basic overview of organizational structure as your business grows


5. Financial strategy

Write a budget. What are the likely expenses of your business? 
(both upfront and ongoing).

• business name registration

• domain name/hosting

• vehicle expenses (fuel, servicing)

• insurance

• marketing material (branding, biz card, website, vehicle signage)

• phone/broadband

• association membership
• equipment

• superannuation

• taxes
- etc.


What you think you might make? (i.e. what's your projected turnover?)

Compare that income to your expenses to identify your projected profit margin (gross/net).

Provide a monthly forecast of your cash-flows for the next 12 months.

Do you need a loan? Then describe the following:

• How much money you need
• What the money will be used for
• How you intend to repay the loan

                                            

6. About protecting yourself



• Outline the major risks to your business.

• What strategies will you employ to mitigate these risks?


  (e.g. what if you get really sick and can’t work? Income insurance? Train someone you trust in your quoting/booking/payments processes?)
• What legal protection do you need? (Protect your home by making your business a company? Insurance? Contracts?)

That's a lot of questions, I know.

But, believe me, it's worth taking the time to flesh that baby out.

This post was written by Megan Hills. Megan is a writer, cartoonist and marketing consultant who is prepared to get her hands dirty while building business foundations. Find out more about Megan.

The reality is this: no one likes receiving sales letters.

The sales hustle ‘out there’ is now bigger than Ben-Hur and everyone smells a snake oil salesman…or snake oil saleswoman (or snake oil sales-teenager who knows a lot about technology and has a holiday house in Barbados and a bank account in Switzerland).

So you have to be genuine
.

Even though sales letters sent in the post aren’t spam, they can sure feel like it. Our challenge is to by-pass this assumption and make the reader feel like this letter is worthwhile – that it’s enjoyable to read while also solving their problems.

Note: Sending your sales letter to existing clients/subscribers by snail mail, rather than email, is worth considering – purely for the element of surprise. Environmentally conscious? Consider using recycled paper and plant some extra trees.

To come across as genuine your words need to sound human.This means embracing, to a point, a conversational tone and talking from their perspective. But what should you say?

The two big questions:

Like with any promotional material, your sales letter will need to answer these two pivotal questions (asked from the reader's point of view):  


1.    How can you solve my problem?
2.    Why should I choose you? 
(i.e. what makes you different to the next guy?)

Brevity

Your letter needs to do answer the questions above quickly – people are busy, so get to the point (without losing that human touch). The letter should be limited to one page. Which is fine. Don’t give everything away here. There just needs to be enough information to inspire the reader to call you – or at least visit your website (if you have one) for more information.
 

Make it personal

Consider personalising the mail-out – i.e Dear (insert first name)’, so the letter appears less ‘unsolicited’.  ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ can immediately turn the reader off. They feel anonymous. Professional printers are increasingly set up for the personalisation process if you are considering a bulk mail-out.

Time-limited special offers & competitions

Sounds tacky, but – my oh my – they sure work. Consider a discount on services or a free product. These are preferable to free movie tickets or a discount on weekend accommodation somewhere. Why? Because a discount on services or a free product involves the client more actively in what YOU offer. Not what someone else offers.

The great alternative is launching a competition. The prize? Something big and fabulous. If your competition has a question where the answer is hidden in the sales letter, then you are more likely to inspire your client/potential client to actually read the letter and absorb its message.

What do they see first?


This is something that many forget to tend to. The envelope the sales letter is sent in. it's your red carpet to the letter itself. Is the envelope interesting enough for me to want to open it? What colour is the envelope? Is there a message on the envelope that would make me want to open it?
                                               

1. The ‘We're moving, come with us' letter

Scenario: You are moving premises. A letter is needed to persuade current clients to move over from one location to another in order to continue doing business with you.

Think about who is reading this letter. Yes, it is an existing client, but who is the decision-maker? What are they like? Key questions to consider from the reader's perspective:


• What's important to me? What problem of mine do you solve?

• How far are you now from the previous location?
• Is the new location offering more products/services?
• Are you giving me a special offer to lure me over there to try it out?

• How do your competitors irritate/disappoint me?
• Why shouldn’t I shift my patronage to others that are closer to your old location?

• Any recent testimonials from clients who have made the shift and appreciate it?
• Do you have a map to show exactly where you were and where you are now?
• Who's signing the letter? Will I see them when I come to visit?

2. The ‘Please keep using us’ letter

Scenario: 
This letter to written to re-connect with existing clients.

Again, think about who is reading this letter. What words will resonate with the decision-maker? Key questions to consider from the reader's perspective:


• What's important to me? What problem of mine do you solve?
• Is this letter included with an invoice/statement, or on it’s own?

• What’s new with you that will affect/interest me? (in my busy life)

• How do your competitors irritate/disappoint me?
• What deal are you offering for me to spend more money with you? 
(or at least to stay with you)
• Are you offering me a loyalty reward?

• Any recent testimonials from other clients to boost my enthusiasm about you? 



• Who's signing the letter? Will I see them when I come to visit?

3.    The ‘Please let us help you’ letter


Scenario: This letter is written to prospective clients introducing your products/services. It's the cold call letter…brrrr….

The reader may never have heard of you. They certainly haven't used your services. And chances are, the reader is busy so, basically, you have to be like their fairy godmother – appearing out of nowhere to make life a whole lot easier. Here are some key questions to consider:
   

• What's important to me? What problem of mine do you solve?
• Is this letter included with a brochure or on it’s own?
   
• What’s new with what you offer that will affect/interest me (in my busy life)
   
• What are your competitors failing dismally at that you don't?
     
• What special deal are you offering to get me on board?

• Any recent testimonials from big gun clients to boost trust in you?
• What if I want to take advantage of your products/services? What’s the process?

• Who's signing the letter? Will I see them when I come to visit?

Last thoughts…

If you have visuals (e.g. map,  photo of the sender) and incentives (e.g. special offer, competition) consider placing them on the right hand side of the page. Like on websites, the right hand side is the 'power area' for interaction.

End your letter with a call to action – e.g. 'Call us for a free, no obligation quote' followed by the phone number in bold or red or something obvious.

This post was written by Megan Hills. Megan is a writer, cartoonist and marketing consultant who would rather call sales letters 'letters of affection'. Find out more about Megan.

Google is like God. It works in mysterious ways.

But there are people who think they have the inside story. I gather some serious testing has been done to validate the claim that Google Places (http://www.google.com/places/) helps one’s ranking significantly. 

5 reasons to partake in Google Places:

1. It's free
   And the listing fast to create. I'll explain how in this post.
    
2. You don't even need a website
   Just pop your details in and – voila! – online presence. 
    
3. Local biz?
   Google Places promotes your physical location through Google Maps. So if your customers are local, and you want more of them, and what you do for a living is legal, then you really should appear on Google Places, no question. 
    
4. Local or not local
   Either way the keywords in your profile will help your Google ranking. More about this in a jiffy.

5. Protect yourself from identity theft
   Some soul-barren businesses actually search to see which of their competition hasn't gotten around to listing themselves on Google Places – and then take advantage. Basically, they pretend to be you and direct the visitor to their site and phone number. So best get onto it, I say.

What is Google Places exactly?

Google allows you to create a basic profile (business listing) and a ‘pin’ to pop on Google Maps as to where you are located. Here's an example showing My Marketing Thing (you can see a red pin that says 'A' indicating where My Marketing Thing resides):

Don’t want people visiting you at home?

If you work from home/online like I do, invest in a PO Box. There’s no problem listing a postal box on your Google Places profile. That’s what is happening here for My Marketing Thing's pin.

Click on the name of the business…

….and you see this:

As I don't have a shop but a post box, Google has taken the liberty of putting a photo up of a café next to where the post boxes are. I guess, while they’re trying to find me they can pit stop for a cuppa…

Note: Put a fake street address in your listing and Google will smack you. Put multiple listings for the phone number and it will smack you again (which is a real bummer if you have genuinely different businesses using the same phone number…but life isn't fair). Actually, Google won't smack you. It will just remove the extra listings.

On a happier note…The wonderful thing you might notice here is that my website link and phone number are both there in all their glory. Beautiful. But wait – there’s more!

Click the ‘more info’ link…and you see something like this:

Quelle joyeux, oui?

What goodies do you get?

• A description about you – written by you
• Contact details – again, bless them
• Photos and reviews - Google assesses these prior to letting them through the gate (best not write your own review…they won't let it through)
• Related places - okay…that’s often your competition but, hey, it’s a community thing, and then they make it all better by letting you promote yourself EVEN FURTHER under:
• More about this place - your additional description plus some mysterious streaming stuff happens here (your activities on other sites)  beyond your control…be prepared to be amazed.

So how do you set up your Google Places listing?

1. Sign up for a free Google account (if you haven't one already)
   (make the email address relevant to your business as the public will see it)
2. Go to: http://www.google.com/places/
3. Click on this bit: (insert pic of Google Places page)
4. Sign into your Google account on the right hand side (if you're not signed in already)
5. Enter your business phone number and select the correct country, as requested 
6. Follow the rest of the prompts, it's pretty straight-forward
   …but there is one thing we need to talk about:

 
About 'Breaking into the Top 7'

When you hear people talking about 'Breaking into the Top 7' of Google Places they are talking about when someone searches in Google (i.e. 'Google proper') there's often seven flagged listings that appear first on the page – with a Google Map beside the section indicating where these businesses are found. 

Pretty nice real estate, oui?

Here's an example of an accountants search (with my scribble indicating the Adwards pins and the free Google Places pins):

Keywords for higher Google ranking

You can have keywords in the areas of: your business name, description and additional details of your Google Places listing. Here's the low-down:

Your business name
You would this this one's pretty straight-forward. But some business names don't really say what area they are in. This can put you on the backfoot, Google-wise. Some add a word or two after the business name to explain it.
Accountancy example:
Your business name could officially be XYZ Pty Ltd.
But some people might choose to type something like: XYZ Accountancy Services for better search engine optimisation.

Warning on 'keyword stuffing'
Be careful with keywords in the business name, however. Some people have been caught (usually by their competitors dobbing them in) putting a heap of keywords in the business name field. It can get to the point when it's obvious this isn't the proper business name. And you're sunk. If the name looks strangely keyword crammed (called 'keyword stuffing') Google will have you for breakfast.

Your description
Your 200-character description needs to focus on your key products and services. Don't waste characters on your history, your geographic location or try to impress with jargon. Just say what you specialise in and what your services/products include – keywords should appear naturally in this description.

Hint 1: If you are an accountant, use both 'accountant' and 'accountancy' in the description. If you're a trainer, use 'trainer' and 'training'. Get the picture?
Hint 2: Apparently using 'the word free' is a good idea – so end with: 'Free quotes'.

Your category
You have to have at least one standard category, but for better Google ranking use all five opportunities available. Look at your top keywords and choose the most relevant five.
Example: Accountant, Business Accounting, Tax accounting, Chartered accountant, Financial Adviser.

Additional details:
Like with description, focus on products and services.
Accountancy example:
Chartered accountants and financial planners specialising in: Assurance and advisory, business solutions, corporate finance, financial services, outsourced accounting, risk management, tax services, insolvency.
Each detail consists of two fields with a maximum space of 200 characters each. The colon after 'specialising in' separates the two fields.
 

After submitting your information

You have to verify your listing by phone (you trigger a phone call from Google's computers – quite nifty) or mail (snail mail of up to 5 weeks).

Don't stop there!

Once your Google Places listing is there for all the world to see, you can really ramp up the action:

• Reviews
  Strong-arm clients to write gushingly positive reviews about you (email them the link to your Google Place page for easy access).
   
• Offers
  Have a special offer to lure new clients? Promote it here. Or you can create one especially for those who have found you on Google Places Upload it (with a coupon?) to your Google Place page. Note: if there's a time limit on the offer, make it crystal clear.
   
• Photos & Video
  You can upload 10 photos and 5 videos (from YouTube.com). Add relevant, meaningful photos (your 'outlet', your products, a photo of you and a happy client who likes having their photo paraded online). Consider a special video message from you for those who have found you on Google Places (mentioning that special offer we talked about in the previous point perhaps?). 'What we do' videos aren't particularly enticing – lead in with how you solve a common problem.
  SEO hint: have keywords in the titles of your photo and video files.

That's enough. It's probably taken you longer to read this article than to actually create your Google Places listing. But there's no excuses now. Off you go. Et bon chance!

This post was written by Megan Hills. Megan is a writer, cartoonist and marketing consultant who finds having a fixed address challenging – just as well it's a post box. Find out more about Megan.

If you haven't yet heard of Gideon Shalwick (it's only a matter of time), he is well-known for explaining in beautifully simple terms how to turn video views into cash. 

In this interview Gideon reveals…

1. Why video is a vital marketing tool for promoting your business right now

2. The magic ingredients to a creating powerful video (without needing Harry Potter)

3. What basic tools are needed to create your own online video (without needing Quentin Tarantino)

4. Once you've uploaded your video to YouTube…then what? 

Without further ado, here's my chat with Gideon
(quiz question: guess who has the better microphone…)

I urge you to visit and sign up on Gideon's sites, as he has some pretty amazing tips and tricks up his sleeve about both video making and online marketing.

Gideon's guff:

www.gideonshalwick.com

www.rapidvideoblogging.com

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/GideonShalwick

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/gideonshalwick

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GideonShalwickUpdates

This post was written by Megan Hills. Megan is a writer, cartoonist and marketing consultant who usually isn't so gushy when talking to internet marketing specialists. Really. Find out more about Megan.

Up until recently, article marketing used to mean writing a 'how to' article (preferably a keyword laden one) and pasting it into as many article directories as you can (like Articles Base, Article Directory and Article Dashboard).

Having your article duplicated on a multitude of top ranking sites meant that people had a better chance of finding out about you – not just through your articles but also through Google ranking.

The keywords in your articles would be rewarded by Google. And having your website address in your author profile of these directories was enough to significantly help your search engine optimisation (SEO).

So what's changed?

Google has been a bit of a mystery from the start. No one knows exactly what's going on in Googleland. So it's fitting that the latest dramatic change might be called 'Panda' or it might be called 'Farmer'. We're not really sure.

What we do know is that on 24 February 2011, Google did a major ranking algorithm update. For many, this has halved their sites’ visitor numbers. It started causing havoc in the US (because they don't have enough problems at the moment), but it's soon to work its magic in other countries, too. 

The main problem seems to be around unoriginal and duplicated material. Article directories have had a particularly rough time with this new change.

Some spectacular examples

According to Search Engine Journal:

"Ezine Articles and Suite 101 lost over half of their visibility, with Wisegeek getting devastated at a 93% drop. The percentage of loss as calculated by Sistrix placed some prominent sites such as Associated Content, Business.com, and Articles Base at over 90% of traffic which simply evaporated overnight….While major sites such as YouTube, eBay, and Facebook were considered net winners in the Google algorithm modification, some prominent publishing sites such as Ezine Articles, Buzzle, and HubPages were seen to lose considerable traffic."

Why is Google being so cruel?

The aim of this change is to remove poor quality sites from the top of Google’s results pages. Matt Cutts, Google’s head of spam, explains their intention in his update announcement post on the 24th of February:

"This update is designed to reduce rankings for low quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on."

Sounds fair enough.

But accidents happen.

So Google have asked those with “a high quality site that has been negatively affected by this change” to let them know about it. That is, if you can work out that your site has been unfairly affected by Panda. Or Farmer. Good luck with that.

And then there was April Fools…

April 1st didn't help things. This year, Google continued its proud tradition of April Fools’ Day pranks with a 'new' Gmail application and the unveiling of CADIE, a Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity. 

Billed as the world’s first artificial intelligence tasked-array system, CADIE had already scanned the Web and created her own homepage, which demonstrated the entity’s love of all things panda-related (see it here). We already feel foolish enough around Google. Did they really have to make us feel stupider?

Jokes aside – what now?

• Quality content is still king – best have your original, niche-driven content appearing on your own website. If you are too broad in your topic range, Google won't like you as much. 
• If you have lots of articles on your site, have a list of 'categories' on your home page which leads to those articles on a particular theme.
• Don't have too many advertisements on your site. Google won't like that either.
• Try reducing the number of article directories you use to the top ranking ones.
• Find other ways to get your website link onto other sites – ways that have a more natural relationship-building approach.
• Embrace social media – if you can bear it (excuse the Panda pun).

Being an authority in your area of expertise is still what everyone is banging on about. Most importantly, I feel, is being committed to it for the long-term. Apparently Google rewards those who 'keep calm and carry on'.

This post was written by Megan Hills. Megan is a writer, cartoonist and marketing consultant who is waiting for Google to blackmark anyone who uses Facebook or Twitter. Now that would be interesting. Find out more about Megan