A client and I were Skyping this week and the topic inevitably turned to Google Penguin and the impending doom of link building *tactics*.

This particular client has been having issues with rogue affiliates setting up fake link networks in order to boost their sales for my client’s products. Despite repeated warnings and/or promises to clean up their act, some of these affiliates have continued using dodgy practices for years, managing somehow to avoid Panda, Panda II and even Panda III. But their house of cards came tumbling down with the implementation of Penguin and with it went over 30 percent of my client’s traffic.

The problem is that, ultimately, my client has NO CONTROL over the tactics used by persons linking to their site. If they spot dodgy tactics being used, my client can alert or even ban the offending affiliate, but what of all the affiliates spamming under the radar? All the education in the world isn’t going to stop spammers using whatever tactics they can if they are rewarded for those tactics in cold hard cash. And who can blame them?

This is inherently the problem I have with Google at the moment. They still claim it isn’t possible for spammers to hurt innocent sites using SEO spam but guess what? There are many, many examples of exactly that happening. Heck, this guy is offering a $10,000 reward to find the persons responsible for link bombing his site. Do you think he’d offer cash if the issue wasn’t crippling his business? There are even public projects set up encouraging people to use SEO spam in order to influence the Google SERPs in a positive or negative way for political purposes. And what about super competitive industries like the PPCs – porn, pills and casinos? I can assure you that competitor sabotage is alive and well and flying business class.

Now I understand that Google are concerned enough about the issue to roll out updates like Penguin to try and punish persons using obvious SEO spam. Comment spam is evil! they warn. Artificial backlinks are evil! they say. Use of these tactics is a violation of our guidelines! But don’t be alarmed if others build backlinks to your site. Just concentrate on making your site the best that it can be.

Why or why do they keep insisting that competitors can’t harm your site using those same methods? Asked the question, Can competitors harm your ranking?, this was Google’s reply:

Google works hard to prevent other webmasters from being able to harm your ranking or have your site removed from our index. If you’re concerned about another site linking to yours, we suggest contacting the webmaster of the site in question. Google aggregates and organizes information published on the web; we don’t control the content of these pages.

I look at these posts and this is what I’m hearing:

“Don’t be evil. Don’t do this, this or this. Doesn’t matter if your competitor tries that, they can’t hurt you. Oh look at these naughty spammers ruining your SERPs. We’ve got an update to fix that. What? Your legitimate site was smacked down? Not our problem. Don’t be evil.”

Well Google may not want to admit it but here it is: Competitors CAN harm your Google ranking. Of course they can.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Can Competitors Harm Your Google Ranking? – A SPN Exclusive Article

Just about everyone and their mother (especially mothers) is on Pinterest these days, and we can’t blame them: it is a really cool resource for finding the very best ideas, inspiration, and all around neat stuff. So we are not at all surprised to find out that colleges and college students are joining in on the fun, too.

Many colleges and universities have jumped on Pinterest to create their own boards for prospective and current students, alumni, and other interested parties, and lots of them are doing a really great job. From game day fashion to alumni baby photos, college pinboards are full of some really fun and useful stuff. Read on, and we’ll share 20 of the college Pinterest boards that we’re most impressed with.

1. Adorable bulldogs

Drake University is doing great things with their Pinterest account, including Celebrate Drake, Study Abroad, Ultimate Fan, and Bulldogs Without Borders boards that are truly outstanding. Our personal favorite is one that highlights photos of bulldogs, Drake’s official mascot. This is a really fun and lighthearted way to bring school spirit to Pinterest.

2. Future Aggies

We’re big fans of the way that Texas A&M makes being an Aggie a family affair. In their Future Aggies Pinterest board, TAMU shares cute clothes, baby photos, and a celebration of everything that Texas A&M kids might like.

3. Famous Maryland Alumni

The University of Maryland makes their educational value stand out by highlighting alumni that have gone on to make it big. The school boasts graduates including Google’s Sergey Brin, Connie Chung, and Jim Henson, fun facts that we were oblivious to before Pinterest.

4. Eat for $5

Obviously catering to the poor college crowd, Multnomah University’s Eat for $5 Pinterest Board shares great eats that students can pick up for a fiver or less. Have a little more wiggle room? They’ve got a board for $10 meals and even $10 Portland activities.

5. Bikes & Bike Style

On the bike-friendly campus of Oberlin College, two-wheeled love doesn’t stop on the bike paths: it goes on Pinterest, too. Cool bikes, inspiring bike style photos, and even great ideas for never losing your bike key again are available through this college pinboard.

6. Flip Flops & Long Boards-Campus Style

California Baptist University embraces California style in this pinboard. Check out Flip Flops & Long Boards to find cool dorm ideas, shoe styles, and even rad skateboard designs.

7. Weekend Adventures

Stockton College has found a great way to motivate students, highlighting awesome adventures that they can look forward to each weekend. With a location that puts students close to the beach, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, and even New York City, Stockton’s collection of weekend adventures on Pinterest is impressive.

8. The Treasures of Yale

On Pinterest, Yale is able to highlight some of the most amazing artifacts in the university’s collection, posting videos in The Treasures of Yale. This video series and Pinterest board goes in depth to explore arts, humanities, and science treasures from Yale, including rare paintings and art pieces.

9. Nowhere Like Here

In this Pinboard, Bennington College does a great job of highlighting what makes their school unique. Photos of interesting spots on campus, unique activities, Bennington-only moments, and cool projects make this college look like a place you want to be.

10. William Woods, the man

Dedicated to the namesake of William Woods University, this Pinterest board has photos of Dr. William Stone Woods, as well as photos of his gravesite. We really enjoy the way that William Woods University celebrates its heritage here on Pinterest.

11. Global Like No Other

Although some colleges might say they offer a global education, Concordia College really backs it up with this Pinterest board. Through links, photos, and stories, the Global Like No Other board from Concordia offers extensive proof of why this school regularly ranks among the top 15 colleges in the country for global study.

12. Historic Boston

As a women-centered university located in Boston, Simmons College has a lot to offer when it comes to the history of the city. Old photos, maps, and historic architectural projects can be found in the college’s Historic Boston pinboard.

13. Jobs, Careers, & Internships

We’d like to see Folsom Lake College really explore all that Pinterest has to offer, but their Jobs, Careers, & Internships pinboard is off to a great start. Sharing relevant articles, news, and even the latest job openings, Folsom’s pinboard is a great resource for students to check out.

14. True love

Sometimes, true love happens on a college campus. This is evident at Illinois College, and they’ve dedicated an entire pinboard to highlighting Illinois College sweethearts, married couples who met and developed their relationships at the college. Newlyweds, families, and old married couples contribute to this pinboard’s warm and fuzzy feeling.

15. People of Elizabethtown College

Just who makes up Elizabethtown College? This pinboard offers an answer, sharing links to stories about students, alumni, faculty, staff, and others in the Elizabethtown community. We love how Elizabethtown offers this pinboard to help outsiders get an idea of what the college is all about.

16. Things to do at Carleton

We’re sure there’s no shortage of things to do at Carleton University, and this pinboard does a great job of pointing out several of the fun activities that the school has to offer. Through Things to do at Carleton, students and other interested parties can learn about art galleries, talent events, a butterfly exhibit, and even a magic show.

17. Maymester Destinations

Students at Piedmont College enjoy the opportunity to participate in a “Maymester” travel abroad experience, and the college highlights some of the possibilities in their Maymester Destinations pinboard. We’re impressed with how the college has found breathtaking photos of several different European, South American, and Asian locations, enticing students to take advantage of this great program.

18. Creative Thought Matters

As a college with a reputation for creativity, Skidmore College is staying true to its roots with a pinboard dedicated to creative thought. This collection of pins shares interesting exhibits, projects, and social proof that Skidmore is a hub of young creativity.

19. Major Profiles

Before actually heading off to college and choosing a major, it can be difficult for some students to imagine what their life might be like. With the Major Profiles pinboard, Hanover College allows prospective students to understand more about where various major paths can take them, relying on the experiences and firsthand accounts of actual Hanover students.

20. FC Traditions

Every campus loves to celebrate its historic traditions, and Franklin College is no exception. On the FC Traditions pinboard, visitors can check out fun activities like Grizzly Grandparents, fall tailgating, and the homecoming privy burn.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

20 Interesting Ways Colleges are Using Pinterest

Earlier this year, we profiled five brands that have each built themselves a solid marketing presence on Instagram, the popular photo editing and sharing social network so often linked to Twitter and Facebook updates. We’ve also stressed the why and how of using Instagram for marketing, citing the increasing importance of mobile marketing, and how that should be playing into the strategies and tactics of your social media marketing.

Now, I’m sure most of you know that social media is important. I’m also confident that many of you know some basic strategies. But let’s talk about the Earlybird-filtered big picture: when it comes to presenting your brand on social media, your reputation and brand image is only as strong and complete as your most recent update. If your content is off-brand, your image will come across as confused, incomplete, or just plain wrong. That’s not to say you should be dropping nothing but explicitly on-product tweets, but to say that your content, be it original or shared, should always carry within it some sort of a representation or affirmation of your brand’s identity in some way. In fact, a Facebook study just recently confirmed this very philosophy!

An interesting way to explore this constant depiction of brand values and traits is through—you guessed it!—Instagram photos posted by brands. Check out the following images and learn how these ten companies completely nailed the representation of their respective brands.

Annie’s Homegrown

Annie’s Homegrown has done an excellent job of asserting its brand identity as an all-natural, organic, and healthy provider of foods Americans love, from macaroni and cheese to frozen pizza to fruit-flavored gummy snacks. The brand understands how important these qualities have become to its target demographic, so its Twitter strategy is based upon sharing product news, tasty-sounding recipes, and Instagram photos. This shot of a wooden version of Annie’s logo keeping guard over a small vegetable garden incorporates several important parts of Annie’s brand identity. It takes the brand’s logo, already cute and loveable, and places him directly amidst the action of the brand’s foundation. Additionally, the garden is small, and looks to be on a residential street instead of a factory, implying that Annie’s ingredients are not only natural and organic but also as homegrown as the brand name implies.

Billboard

Billboard is, like many other publications that originated in print, evolving its strategy to mesh with the era of real-time social content. On Twitter, Billboard uses Instagram to capture photos of the stars gracing its pages and share their presence within its brand in real time. The Billboard brand is based on its knowledge of who’s on top in the music industry, and its revelations of music previews, exclusive photographs, and breaking news in the music industry. Twitter is an excellent platform for Billboard to explore these real-time aspects of its brand identity, and Instagram allows for this exploration to turn into proof – Billboard can reveal its latest associations in more casual, semi-candid photographs, which make the stars—and thus, Billboard—appear more real and genuine.

Brisk

Brisk has gone through quite the evolution as a brand. Named after an archaic definition of the word ‘brisk’ that means ‘tangy,’ the drink has become Lipton Tea’s attempt to compete with various other popular canned tea drinks in today’s beverage-to-go market. This Instagram photo of a hand just about to pop the tab on a can of Brisk, coupled with a caption referring to the can as an alarm clock, serves two brand-representation purposes: it cues the viewer to imagine the scene playing out, watching the hand open the can and hearing the satisfying popping sound as the task is completed. The filter of the photo is one of Instagram’s many filters meant to call-back to older photos, just as Brisk’s name recalls an earlier definition of a flavor. This makes the brand seem both long-lasting and nostalgic, yet entirely modern due to the update’s home in social media.

The Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are quite the social basketball team. Their Twitter presence is huge, from the individual players’ accounts to the strong social media strategy utilized to market the Celtics as more than just a basketball team, but also a brand built on the history of Boston, the luck of the Irish, and the joy of the game. They’re a team that builds its reputation on hard work and fast-paced play. This Instagram photo, sent out in a tweet just before the start of a game, captures a real-time moment that likely passed without notice, but displays the team’s togetherness, dedication to the game, uniformity, and excitement to go play, all in one shot. It also assists with the Celtics’ down-to-earth reputation in delivering a photo that is close-up, placing the fans’ viewpoints on par with the players, and low to the ground, literally implying that the team is down-to-earth and willing to put their noses to the grindstone to get to work.

Coach

Coach can sum up its brand identity in three words: classy, trendy, and luxurious. Seeing a Coach logo on a bag instantly raises the bag’s (and carrier’s) social capital, and the price tags attached to Coach bags are more than enough evidence to point toward their earned status as a luxury brand. In Coach’s Twitter feed, ample evidence of these three points are pronounced, but none are as pronounced as in its Instagram account. In this image, Coach divides a purse into three smaller photographs, all muted by a filter to suggest the classiness of the bag, despite its loud, unmuted color. The logo is present in two of the photographs, with the third zeroing in on the handcrafted detail of the bag, reinforcing Coach’s high-quality reputation by showing consumers the details in a setting more causal than a photography shoot, and more personal than a busy store.

Forever21

Forever21 is a clothing brand dedicated to affordable, trendy fashion. Despite its smaller price tags and distinctly non-couture reputation, from its name, Forever21 indicates that with its brand, it’s attempting to emulate a timeless feeling, through which clothing buyers can remain rooted in a particular time or age. In this Instagram shot, sent out over Forever21’s official Twitter account to announce some new arrivals to its stores, the recently-declared-back-in leopard print trend is paired with timeless fashion staples, and then sent through a nostalgia-inducing filter that ages the photograph back to the last time leopard print was in.

PepsiMAX

PepsiMAX is one of the newest product launches of megabrand Pepsi, and can be classified as Pepsi’s attempt to bridge the energy drink and “healthy” soda categories for sales. The brand identity pushed for PepsiMAX is that of something fresh, modern, and exciting, while also familiar to the trusted Pepsi brand consumers know and love. The Twitter feed for PepsiMAX, separate from its parent brand, serves to illustrate these seemingly paradoxical qualities, especially through its liberal use of Instagram. In this photo, we see an over-saturated image of a PepsiMAX can and a billboard of its ad campaign, indicating the real-time freshness of the drink and the update alike, paired with a foosball table, an activity that has been around for years that requires focus and one-on-one competition. PepsiMAX asks us to recall the in-the-moment feeling of playing a fresh round of a game we’ve all known for years, pairing that memory with its brand offering.

Puma

Puma is a footwear brand with attitude. Originally choosing to instill the quickness, agility, and hunting prowess of a puma cat with its footwear, this Instagram photograph suggests a far more laid back image. With the old photograph-toned filter, the presence of a pair of shoes on a person and a pair of shoes shed from a person, as well as the leisurely pace of the activity portrayed, it shows consumers that Puma shoes don’t only allow you to speed past every opportunity, but they also get you to places you can enjoy with others, and remember for a long time. While Twitter is fast-paced, filled with customer service interactions, product announcements, and other news, Puma’s Instagram account is a refreshing change, reminding users that Puma knows its product isn’t just about the journey; it’s also about the destination.

Sharpie

Sharpie is an odd presence on Twitter. Its flagship product, permanent markers, is hardly something that seems easy to market on Twitter at first glance; however, the acute focus on artistic freedom and expression that Sharpie integrates into its brand makes it one of the most successful social branding companies on Instagram. Many of its Instagram snapshots, each posted to Twitter and enjoyed by many followers, does not feature the markers themselves, but rather their ink as applied to some sort of canvas by unique individuals. In this particular composition, for example, Sharpie has brought alive an artist’s passion for music, through the quick, black-and-white illustration of old-school headphones. Choosing headphones over earbuds indicates a preference for the classic, timeless instruments that have a permanent place upon the scene, which are exactly what Sharpie markers and their permanent inks are intended to be.

Starbucks

Starbucks got a mention in our last Instagram post, too, and it’s no wonder why. The coffee retailer is almost definitely the brand making the absolute most out of its Instagram-centric social media strategy. Starbucks strives to be seen as a local-friendly, socially conscious coffee shop that happens to have, oh, a few locations, rather than just another large corporate chain. In this particular image, we see bags of beans, for sale in the shops, that subtly boast the Starbucks logo, and a tray of samples of this coffee, conceivably headed for the counter of the tweeter’s local Starbucks location to be handed out to individuals. The coffee is unaltered, and the background is dimmed to black, allowing Starbucks to assert that when it comes to its brand, two things matter: the coffee and the customers’ opinions.

How could you depict your brand in an Instagram photo? What filter would you use?

Customer analytics is a great way to get rid of useless clutter in your life by eliminating the need for monthly traffic reports, and replacing them with useful customer analytics reports.

“But wait!?! – Aren’t traffic reports important? I need to be able to tell my boss how much traffic we’re getting. Those are important metrics!”

Not really. Wouldn’t your boss be happier knowing metrics like:

• Subscription Rates?
• Revenues?
• Lifetime Value???

Metrics that actually matter to the business? And more importantly – help you and your boss make actionable decisions on where to take the business next?

Well… we would love to show you and your boss an inside look into the world of customer analytics. Please join us for our next webinar! (Details Below)

When is it?

Presenter: Lars Lofgren.
Format: Overview of Customer Analytics with Q&A at the end.
Day: Friday, May 25th 2012
Time: 10 AM PDT

How do I sign up?

Sneak Peek

We’ll be going over some of the better analytics insights you and your company can use to improve customer retention, subscriptions and user experience. For example:

How and why it’s important to track revenue….

How you can examine customer behavior to improve user experience, time to sign-up, and increase cash flow…

And how conversion funnel analysis should be the first report you look at every day (and not pageviews!)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/KISSmetrics

“Facebook ads suck.” For many companies, advertising on Facebook and expecting a return is a “fantasy.” If you clicked those hyperlinks, you found just two examples in the flurry of negative press surrounding Facebook advertising of late — all stemming from the recent GM announcement to cut $10 million in paid ad spend on the social network.

It makes you wonder what prompted this announcement from GM. Is this a media tactic to help searches for GM? Or were the results of Facebook advertising really so miserable that it warranted this media attention? Who knows — the onslaught of coverage wasn’t accompanied by a leak of GM’s analytics. One thing that is evident is that GM hasn’t had much visible success from digital advertising in general; just take a look at what Google’s Insights for Search tool had to show.

But is GM truly the digital marketing icon that we should be referencing to determine whether or not Facebook ads work? What about a brand like Southwest? They run Facebook ads quite frequently … how are they faring? Actually, they’ve been able to generate a ton of positive mentions in the same time period as compared to GM:

From this perspective, maybe it’s the Southwests of the world we should look to for guidance when it comes to digital ad success, not GM. What is clear is that we must have data points and ask the right questions — not just have opinions when it comes to determining the value in something like Facebook ad spend. Because the only answer to the question of whether Facebook ads work or not is “it depends.” While this response is typically an advertiser’s way of sidestepping a direct question, I mean it sincerely, and here’s why.

Just as with any marketing initiative, to run a successful Facebook marketing campaign, companies (especially those with a $10 million budget) need to consider many factors before even logging into their Facebook account.

11 Planning Considerations Before Starting a Facebook Campaign

1) Set your goals. Do you want fans? Conversions on Facebook? Conversions off of Facebook onto a landing page? What about leads, qualified leads, sales, revenue and ROI?

2) Determine your market size. How large is your audience, and what can you realistically expect from advertising on Facebook? Are there 2 million people that you can target, or only 1,000? Don’t be surprised to find out that the market for niche groups is often larger than you think. For instance, there are 127,000 people in the United States alone that list Agatha Christie as an interest — not bad for a British crime novelist that passed away in 1976.

3) Set a budget. Have you budgeted enough for your campaign, or too much? If you’ve set aside too much, you’ll likely be disappointed with your results as you’re pushing budget to the point of inefficiency. If you haven’t set aside enough, you’ll spread yourself too thin and your reach/frequency won’t be strong enough to target your core audience.

4) Take seasonality into account. Mindsets change during summer months. Ecommerce budgets, for example, are typically much heavier in Q4. Market costs can increase during certain months of the year, or during years with major elections. Are you thinking about all of the external factors that could be impacting your campaign?

5) Consider the day of the week. Ad performance varies by day, especially from weekday to weekend. Understanding which days perform best for your company is vital so your budget doesn’t go to waste. For example, if you’re looking to drive users to your website to convert on a “Talk to Sales” call-to-action, you need to make sure that you have the proper staff working during the days these campaigns are live.

6) Use day parting. What hours of the day are the most effective to run your ad? When does your specific audience show the highest engagement rates? If you understand this, you’ll be able to get the most of out your ads and push them harder during your most efficient times.

7) Consider the decision process. What are you asking users to do? What are they thinking about when they see your ad? An example of a decision process might be:

Recognizes Need >> Performs Informational Search >> Evaluates Options >> Makes Purchase

If you know this, you can get in front of users with those needs, have a conversation trigger, educate them, and nurture them through the sales process.

Determine your target demographic. You could consider age, social class, gender, family size, income, occupation, lifestyle, education, religion, and race and nationality.

9) Determine your audience’s psychographics. Ask yourself these questions about your target market (TM):

• What does the TM like/dislike about your product or service?
• What does the TM like/dislike about your competitor’s product or service?
• What is the trigger that sparks conversion?
• Is there brand awareness?
• Were there influencing factors from other marketing campaigns prior to converting?
• Is disposable income a factor in the sales cycle?
• Are there emotional factors at play during the conversion cycle?
• What social class does the TM fall into?
• Who is the decision maker, as opposed to just helping evaluate options?
• Are there specific values that your TM identifies with?
• Are there hobbies or interests that would help define your TM?

10) Do your geo-targeting. When targeting ads, you should consider country, region, state, designated marketing area, city, town, and zip code.

11) Don’t forget about the customer service experience. Like we mentioned before, if you’re directing people to speak to someone at your company, experience matters. Will they talk to a live person who is knowledgeable about their questions? How long did the phone ring before the call was answered? Was the experience the same at 7AM as it was at 4PM? What about on Monday, versus Saturday? If the follow-up was via email, was it timely, friendly, and helpful? You should provide a consistent experience from initial ad impression to customer service interaction.

Once all of those details have been accounted for, then you’re ready to start spending money on Facebook ads. Why? Because it’s easy to generate clicks from a Facebook campaign, but the post-click experience is where the true expertise — and ROI — comes into play. From the ad, to the landing page, to the customer service experience, it takes a team effort from Marketing and Sales to convert leads and customers.

7 Ways to be Efficient With Your Facebook Ads

Now that you know your goals, target market, and understand the bigger picture of running a Facebook ad campaign, you want to ensure your campaigns run efficiently. Here’s how.

1) Build your audience. Using Facebook to generate fans (known as “connections” in Facebook ad lingo) is an opportunity to build the exact audience that you want to expose your ad messaging to. You should always be working to do this by pushing out thought leadership content, running contests, and promoting offers and lead generation campaigns. The more targeted you are with building this audience, the more impactful your broadcasts will be when you message your followers. For instance, start by targeting a select group like we’ve done in the screenshot below:

2) Attract more of those same types of users. The easiest way to do this is using Sponsored Stories. At HubSpot, we’ve been able to use Sponsored Stories to help attract additional connections that behave similarly to others in our target market.

Driving the right kinds of fans to your business page will help ensure higher response rates as you push your message out through Facebook ads.

3) Take advantage of the fans you’ve generated. Talk to your fan base regularly via your business page by posting content that drives engagement. And by engagement, I mean lead generation. Here at HubSpot, we take the thought leadership approach, meaning that we think people will want to use HubSpot software if we are able to prove that we truly understand the digital landscape and have the best online marketing software. Take a look at some of the ways we do that.

First, we like to share relevant blog posts that help educate our readers. You might think blog content doesn’t generate leads, but that’s only true if you’ve forgotten to include calls-to-action within your blog content. And we’d never do such a thing … would you?

But we also post lead generation content directly to our Facebook page. This post directs fans to a landing page on which they can redeem an ebook about creating effective calls-to-action.

4) Converse with your fans. What does talking with fans have to do with paid ads on Facebook? Well, it’s an important factor in the success of your overall Facebook strategy. You can’t just think about paid ads in a silo — you have to think about the entire strategy. Conversing with fans will give you a better idea of who your target audience is, what they think about, and what they need. And that makes for better ad targeting.

5) Run paid ads to target segments. Don’t be afraid to engage in direct response lead generation on Facebook. HubSpot uses ads like the one you see below to send users to landing pages that offer free inbound marketing assessments, free software trials, and inbound marketing software demos. Do they work? We wouldn’t be running them if they didn’t.

6) Segment as much as possible with your campaigns. Messaging and landing pages should be tailored to specific demographics. For instance, if GM were running a campaign for the Chevy Volt, you can imagine how messaging would change among those aged 25-34, as opposed to those aged 55-64.

The younger audience may be more concerned with the fact that the Volt is helping our planet become more green, while an older audience near retirement age may be more interested in buying a car with better fuel economy. Think of every possible way you can segment, and use your Facebook ads, messaging, and landing pages to connect with that segment accordingly. 

7) Put senior members of your marketing team in charge of your Facebook ad campaign. If the team member heading up Facebook advertising doesn’t know who Ogilvy is, then get someone else. The marketing game hasn’t changed, just the venues. Using the core concepts of traditional marketing, targeting, and messaging is the way to win with Facebook ads. Having that leadership backbone to coincide with the nuances of social and digital media will ensure a fully optimized campaign.

Who’s to Blame for GM’s Facebook Ad Failure?

So … was GM doing all of those things? Well, you can see that campaign setup and targeting isn’t really that hard — it’s the post-click experience that matters most. If GM was focused on all of these elements and still failed, then perhaps Facebook wasn’t the best fit for their particular brand. This doesn’t mean that Facebook isn’t the right avenue for the auto industry in general — or any other industry — since GM has a very specific target audience that differs from, say, KIA or VW. For digital advertisers, the answer to whether or not Facebook advertising is the right choice certainly depends on the market and brand, but most of all, it hinges on proper execution.

Facebook doesn’t want to fail. They have no interest in going broke. They’ll likely continue to hire top notch developers and engineers, and keep bringing on the best product management and marketing professionals to work on continuously improving their advertising options. Rand Fishkin wrote an article back in 2010 about all the things he wished he’d known before starting his company. A piece of the article illuminated exactly what we’re seeing in the general public right now regarding Facebook’s IPO and their advertising solution — haters gonna hate.

I don’t dispute that Facebook has not worked for a considerable amount of advertisers, but it’s also worked quite well in many instances. So before you jump on the lambasting train of Facebook ads, approach the situation using data and an evaluation of your own strategy on Facebook, not just opinions. Ask yourself, did I truly understand how to advertise on Facebook, and did I do all of the things that I should have in order to fully execute on my strategy? Or was I just looking for a quick and easy way to generate conversions? The barriers to entry are practically non-existent when it comes to Facebook ads, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy in terms of generating ROI. That’s what all advertisers must keep in mind when deciding whether or not Facebook ads are appropriate for their business.

What do you think of Facebook advertising? To what do you attribute GM’s Facebook ad failure?

Image credit: Zeevveez

Earlier this year, a HubSpot study found that when it comes to generating leads, LinkedIn is 277% more effective than Twitter and Facebook. What people are having trouble grasping, though, is how. 

The tricky thing with LinkedIn is that there isn’t just one single place to attract leads. There’s LinkedIn Company Pages, LinkedIn Answers, LinkedIn Today, and so on. But the leader of the pack — if done right, of course — is LinkedIn Groups. In fact, HubSpot currently has three LinkedIn Groups for our different communities: Inbound Marketing University Alumni, Inbound Marketing Certified Professionals, and Inbound Marketing Professionals, which is open to the public to join and learn!

There are many benefits to building your own LinkedIn Group, but today we’re focusing on the lead generation opportunity they offer — and that stems from an awesome feature called LinkedIn Announcements. If you’ve never heard of LinkedIn Announcements, think of it kind of like a social media and email marketing mashup. Or, just read this post to learn more about it, and how to use it for lead generation!

What are LinkedIn Announcements?

LinkedIn Announcements are messages sent directly to the email inbox of the members of your LinkedIn Group — in other words, it’s email marketing through LinkedIn! Whichever email a LinkedIn user includes on their profile will receive the LinkedIn Announcement. Here’s how to send one:

1) Go to “Manage” in the Group.

2) Click on “Send an Announcement.” 

Easy! Right? But how does that translate to lead generation?

Why are LinkedIn Announcements Great for Lead Gen?

Let me illustrate this point with an image. The following graph shows the number of daily leads generated from LinkedIn for HubSpot in the past 30 days. The yellow bars, however, are the days that the social media lead gen team sent a LinkedIn Announcement to our Inbound Marketers Group.

See what I mean? Clearly, LinkedIn Announcements helped boost the number of leads generated — not only for the day of the send, but also the days following. While the success of the LinkedIn Group is certainly a major portion of this, wouldn’t any marketer want to amplify their already great results when possible?

How to Write a LinkedIn Announcement That Generates Leads

The rules for writing great email copy in your other campaigns also apply when writing LinkedIn Announcements. The Announcements feature will automatically create a subject line for you that reads “Announcement from XXX Group.” Do not use this subject line. Instead, create a descriptive and eye-catching subject that shows members of the group that reading the message will benefit them. Here are some examples from recent HubSpot sends:

• Become a Data-Driven Marketer and Take Action with Metrics
• Build Inbound Links Through Social Media With These 10 Free Tips!
• Special News for Our Community: HubSpot’s New Email Tool + Free Ebook!

Once the subject line is nailed down, you need to write some compelling copy. Let’s dissect our most recent LinkedIn Announcement to highlight how.

1) Give them reason to keep reading. Open your email with something compelling enough to grab the reader’s attention, and convince them it’s worth their time to continue reading. It helps to include a mind blowing statistic here, if you have one. Use a clear but interesting transition to connect that first sentence to your main offer. The connection needs to be relevant and continue to keep the readers attention.

2) Have a call-to-action! Whether it’s an ebook, a blog post, a coupon, or an event page, send your readers somewhere they can get more information that will benefit them. And to track the success of that offer, be sure to use a link shortening and tracking service like bitly. This will help you gauge the type of offers that work best for your LinkedIn Group. 

3) Make your call-to-action compelling. It’s not enough to have a CTA — you need to convince your reader to click through! Clearly tell recipients why they should download your content, attend your event, or use your product. Don’t make them fill in the blanks — be explicit with the value they will derive from redeeming your offer. Using bulleted lists or other formatting devices to call out these points will help you make your case.

4) Pose a question about the offer. The email you send will be linked in a featured discussion on the LinkedIn Group (more on this in a minute). That means you need to give them a reason to engage with the post that appears.

5) Monitor the announcement. People may start commenting on your announcement, so be sure you’re looking out for notifications of new comments. That way you don’t have to keep manually checking in with your LinkedIn Group, and can quickly respond to commenters.

6) Make your discussion a featured discussion. By making the discussion featured, it’ll appear permanently whenever someone comes to your group, in the upper right corner. Users will automatically know the message came from a manager of the group, and therefore the content is likely important and helpful. 

7) Automatically tweet the announcement. You can do this by clicking the little blue Twitter bird. It tweets both the headline, and a link to the post.

Send yourself a test email! Sometimes reading the content in a different location — like your inbox — highlights small spelling or grammatical mistakes. If you have a friend or coworker who can review your email, it’s a good idea to get another set of eyes on it, as well.

9) Send it!

Pretty easy, right? If you or your business owns a LinkedIn Group, start sending carefully crafted LinkedIn Announcements to supplement your lead generation efforts. And if you don’t already have a LinkedIn Group, well, why not start one? Creating a LinkedIn Group has many benefits that will be proven not just in the short-term, but in the long-term. You can also try asking someone who owns a LinkedIn Group with an audience you want exposure to if you can send a LinkedIn Announcement to his/her group. Just be sure you have something valuable to give that person in return!

Have you used LinkedIn Announcements? Have you seen positive results? If not, do you plan on using them now?

Earlier this year, a HubSpot study found that when it comes to generating leads, LinkedIn is 277% more effective than Twitter and Facebook. What people are having trouble grasping, though, is how. 

The tricky thing with LinkedIn is that there isn’t just one single place to attract leads. There’s LinkedIn Company Pages, LinkedIn Answers, LinkedIn Today, and so on. But the leader of the pack — if done right, of course — is LinkedIn Groups. In fact, HubSpot currently has three LinkedIn Groups for our different communities: Inbound Marketing University Alumni, Inbound Marketing Certified Professionals, and Inbound Marketing Professionals, which is open to the public to join and learn!

There are many benefits to building your own LinkedIn Group, but today we’re focusing on the lead generation opportunity they offer — and that stems from an awesome feature called LinkedIn Announcements. If you’ve never heard of LinkedIn Announcements, think of it kind of like a social media and email marketing mashup. Or, just read this post to learn more about it, and how to use it for lead generation!

What are LinkedIn Announcements?

LinkedIn Announcements are messages sent directly to the email inbox of the members of your LinkedIn Group — in other words, it’s email marketing through LinkedIn! Whichever email a LinkedIn user includes on their profile will receive the LinkedIn Announcement. Here’s how to send one:

1) Go to “Manage” in the Group.

2) Click on “Send an Announcement.” 

Easy! Right? But how does that translate to lead generation?

Why are LinkedIn Announcements Great for Lead Gen?

Let me illustrate this point with an image. The following graph shows the number of daily leads generated from LinkedIn for HubSpot in the past 30 days. The yellow bars, however, are the days that the social media lead gen team sent a LinkedIn Announcement to our Inbound Marketers Group.

See what I mean? Clearly, LinkedIn Announcements helped boost the number of leads generated — not only for the day of the send, but also the days following. While the success of the LinkedIn Group is certainly a major portion of this, wouldn’t any marketer want to amplify their already great results when possible?

How to Write a LinkedIn Announcement That Generates Leads

The rules for writing great email copy in your other campaigns also apply when writing LinkedIn Announcements. The Announcements feature will automatically create a subject line for you that reads “Announcement from XXX Group.” Do not use this subject line. Instead, create a descriptive and eye-catching subject that shows members of the group that reading the message will benefit them. Here are some examples from recent HubSpot sends:

• Become a Data-Driven Marketer and Take Action with Metrics
• Build Inbound Links Through Social Media With These 10 Free Tips!
• Special News for Our Community: HubSpot’s New Email Tool + Free Ebook!

Once the subject line is nailed down, you need to write some compelling copy. Let’s dissect our most recent LinkedIn Announcement to highlight how.

1) Give them reason to keep reading. Open your email with something compelling enough to grab the reader’s attention, and convince them it’s worth their time to continue reading. It helps to include a mind blowing statistic here, if you have one. Use a clear but interesting transition to connect that first sentence to your main offer. The connection needs to be relevant and continue to keep the readers attention.

2) Have a call-to-action! Whether it’s an ebook, a blog post, a coupon, or an event page, send your readers somewhere they can get more information that will benefit them. And to track the success of that offer, be sure to use a link shortening and tracking service like bitly. This will help you gauge the type of offers that work best for your LinkedIn Group. 

3) Make your call-to-action compelling. It’s not enough to have a CTA — you need to convince your reader to click through! Clearly tell recipients why they should download your content, attend your event, or use your product. Don’t make them fill in the blanks — be explicit with the value they will derive from redeeming your offer. Using bulleted lists or other formatting devices to call out these points will help you make your case.

4) Pose a question about the offer. The email you send will be linked in a featured discussion on the LinkedIn Group (more on this in a minute). That means you need to give them a reason to engage with the post that appears.

5) Monitor the announcement. People may start commenting on your announcement, so be sure you’re looking out for notifications of new comments. That way you don’t have to keep manually checking in with your LinkedIn Group, and can quickly respond to commenters.

6) Make your discussion a featured discussion. By making the discussion featured, it’ll appear permanently whenever someone comes to your group, in the upper right corner. Users will automatically know the message came from a manager of the group, and therefore the content is likely important and helpful. 

7) Automatically tweet the announcement. You can do this by clicking the little blue Twitter bird. It tweets both the headline, and a link to the post.

Send yourself a test email! Sometimes reading the content in a different location — like your inbox — highlights small spelling or grammatical mistakes. If you have a friend or coworker who can review your email, it’s a good idea to get another set of eyes on it, as well.

9) Send it!

Pretty easy, right? If you or your business owns a LinkedIn Group, start sending carefully crafted LinkedIn Announcements to supplement your lead generation efforts. And if you don’t already have a LinkedIn Group, well, why not start one? Creating a LinkedIn Group has many benefits that will be proven not just in the short-term, but in the long-term. You can also try asking someone who owns a LinkedIn Group with an audience you want exposure to if you can send a LinkedIn Announcement to his/her group. Just be sure you have something valuable to give that person in return!

Have you used LinkedIn Announcements? Have you seen positive results? If not, do you plan on using them now?

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Dribbble is definitely a great source of inspiration, and is also a good source of high quality free material. From PSD Files to icons and many other things, you can find a lot of nice free stuff over there. It’s really nice to check out how many good designers share their creations for free at Dribbble. It’s definitely a network to keep an eye on. Today we gathered a few free textures from Dribble to show you, so make sure to check out each designer’s page to download some goodies.

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Some free textures!

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Thanks

We are already seeing new trends and developments in social media this year with the significant growth in popularity of interest-based sites like Twitter and Pinterest. Consumer purchasing is moving towards, and becoming increasingly influenced by, websites and social sites that share people’s passions and interests as well as customer reviews of products and services.

These are the new frontiers for customer-engagement which are already affecting your business and which your PR and marketing strategy needs to prepare for and embrace.

1. More User Reviews and Ratings on Websites:

Reviews are becoming extremely influential in consumer purchasing decisions. Groups like TripAdvisor on which no hotelier wants to get on the wrong side, already have the capacity to make or break a business. The adage, ‘you’re only as good as your last job’ reflects how companies and service providers are increasingly being seen by the public. A bad review has significant commercial implications for the organization involved. The trend now is to gather as many ‘good reviews’, ratings and product endorsements as possible and post them where they can be seen on your website.

2. Information / Social Media Relevance:

With access to over 98,000 tweets, 695,000 Facebook status updates, 79,364 Facebook wall posts and 600 new YouTube videos uploaded every minute of the day (not to mention the average 147 daily emails we receive in a working day), consumers are clearly suffering from ‘white noise’ and information overload. What they want now is to be given the information they are interested in immediately or they’ll look elsewhere. The ability to match your business/product information with the right people is becoming
the major driver of success.

3. Social Reputation Management:

It’s staggering how many UK organizations don’t have a tried and tested crisis communications plan ready to deal with social media relations when disaster strikes. However, the recent example of the Costa Concordia cruise disaster has woken many up to doing something about it this year. The ship’s sinking and the incompetence of the captain has been widely broadcast, embarrassing and costing the Costa and Carnival brands dearly in terms of public confidence and also, the reputation of the cruise ship industry as a whole, forcing it to re-evaluate itself.

4. Social Media:

Social Media is having an increasing influence on search results. It’s already happening with search engines like Google crawling social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. This includes user generated reviews and ratings from social media consumer conversations.

5. Social Customer Relations Management (SCRM):

Truly customer-centric companies are recognizing that social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, and social interest sites like Pinterest, are cost-effective and quick ways to ensure their customers always keep them ‘in sight’ and ‘in mind’. Social customer relations have become an integral part of their customer relationship management activities. This year, however, we’re going to see more social media ‘newbies’ catching-on and reaping the rewards.

6. Social and Website Competitions:

These have become a great way to make your company stand out from the crowd and drive people to your website and product offerings. The US and Canada do this very well and UK/European organizations are starting to pay attention and enjoy the benefits as well.

7. Do-It-Yourself TV:

Smartphones, tablets, YouTube and Skype which allow people to visually communicate and share information and experiences are starting to take-off in a big way and will need to become an integrated part of the ‘customer experience’.

8. Real-Time, Geo-Marketing Promotions:

More retailers and high street service providers will be starting to use geo-marketing techniques to connect to consumers shopping or visiting their neighborhood and offering deals and incentives directly to their mobile phones.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Internet Trends That Will Affect Your Business This Year

Starting up your own consulting agency can be quite a difficult process and often times the most challenging step to your endeavour will be finding new customers or clients.

In this week's Whiteboard Friday we will be covering some tips and tactics that you can use to get referrals and win customers. Don't forget to leave your own advice in the comments below.

Happy Friday Everyone! Enjoy!

Video Transcription

Howdy, SEOmoz fans. Welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. Last week I got an email from a Moz fan who said, "Hey, Rand, I am trying to start up my SEO consulting business. My network is not that great yet. How am I going to find clients? Can you point me to a blog post?"

We've done several over the years, but I thought it was a great time to refresh and offer some practical tips and tactics for finding new business. I know there are a lot of folks out there who are seeking clients, who are considering going out on their own and starting their own consulting business, who've had success in-house, who've had success at other agencies. Let me give you some of the things that worked for us when we were in consulting and that work for a lot of the folks that we connect with in the field. Obviously, nearly 40% of SEOmoz's membership are folks who do consulting and agency work, the other 60% being in-house. Of course, we get to interact with a lot of these people and hear their stories of what works well for them. I thought I'd start with a few of those.

So number one, if you're just starting out and you have nothing else going on, I strongly recommend building a handful of case studies. What I mean by this is having a few sites and pages and projects that you can point to, even if you're very early stage. Even if you're saying, "You're my first professional customer," that's fine, that's okay. But have a few things that you've done in the past to show off your work.

So your brother has a hobby site, great. Maybe you've helped him to rank for a few keywords. Maybe you've helped him to build up a powerful Facebook fan page. Maybe you've helped him with some web marketing efforts on his Etsy store, whatever it is. Your friend's got a LinkedIn profile. Maybe she needs some help outranking some other people who are ranking for her name. She knows that she's going to be on the job market. You want to help her get position for that. You're going to help her create other profiles and write some guest pieces and all this kind of stuff that's going to help her show up highly in Google for her particular name. Maybe there's a personal blog, either one that you're running, one that someone else is running, a family member, a friend, and you can help optimize that site, get the right things installed in WordPress, get it moved over from Blogspot, get the post titles, doing some keyword research, having a few of the posts go hot. Great.

Now you can point to all of these case studies when clients talk to you and say, "Well, let me tell you about some of the things that worked well for this. Go to Google and search for this, you can see this page ranking, the reason that it's ranking so well are these different things that I did. I can help you with that kind of stuff." Having those case studies in your back pocket makes you very credible and believable, even if you are a very first-time consultant.

Of course, if you have a history of working with clients, one of the biggest problems that the SEO field has always had is that a lot of clients say, "Hey, I don't want you discussing my particular project. I'd prefer you didn't share and disclose which types of things you've worked on for me or what you've done." That's okay, and that's another great reason to have this handful of case studies that you can show off so you can say, "Hey, here's a few clients we've worked with" or "I can't tell you who they are, but if we sign an NDA, I'll be happy to disclose the names, and then they can serve as references, and then you can see the projects publicly that we've worked on, and those include some of these other ones."

A great follow-up to this is to actually offer some pro bono work, and there are two types of organizations that I strongly recommend this for. The first one is local charities or non-profits. It could be national non- profits and charities if you have a high profile and you want to do that. So here's Adorable Adoptions. It's an animal shelter. It's not actually an animal shelter. It's an animal shelter I just created in my mind. Lives here in Seattle on this whiteboard only. Fantastic, right? So you can do some SEO work to help them rank well for adopt a pet, or thinking about what to do with my pets, or those kind of things.

The other one that I think is a really good option is when you see small local startups kicking things off, so maybe it's somebody's personal project, something they're putting on Kickstarter, or something that they're launching for the first time and some friend of yours through a network or through Twitter or through Facebook, you've seen that they're launching this product through the TechPress. Great. Especially if they don't have a lot of venture backing and they're kind of on a tight bootstrap budget, maybe the founders still have day-to-day jobs, offer to kick in and help out. "Hey, do you need some help with your web marketing? I've done some things. I'm trying to build a portfolio, and I would love to show you guys how I can kick ass and then maybe build up some referrals in your network." They're going to be very, very grateful for that, especially those early stage folks who don't have time and energy to focus on the marketing components. So I really like those.

But I have a pro tip here. Make the offer very specific, and make your pens work too. Make the offer very specific. The reason being here is that if you offer to do some work, you can find yourself in these pro bono types of situations where there's just a lot of demands on your time, and as your business gets going or you have other projects you need to work on, those demands can become problematic. It can feel like a big conflict. So make sure that when you commit to something, you're committing to a very specific project that has a clear end date or that has a very clear end point. So once that project or that date has been reached, you can reach back out and say, "Hey, really loved working with you guys. I hope you'll recommend me in the future. I'd love to be able to use you as a reference for some future clients that I might get." Fantastic, but you've made that closure happen and sealed that deal. Of course, if they need more of your time, they can ask for it and those kinds of things, but you want to have that built in from the start. If you don't, you can get into a messy territory.

Number three, be a connector of people. Maybe you're an introvert or you have introverted tendencies and you don't love to go networking, that's okay. That's fine. But help people to find each other. Be on top of your local ecosystem in whatever world or niche you're in and whatever geographic region you're in. By being on top of what's happening in the field, you can say, "Hey, I noticed that you said you're looking for some software to help you with recruiting. I heard about The Resumator last week via TechCrunch or HackerNews or whatever. I'd be happy to make an introduction because I reached out to the founder there when I heard about it." Don Charlton, the guy from The Resumator probably doesn't need SEO help, but just as an example. And then help put those people together. If you have friends, if you have colleagues from former jobs, if you have people that you know through friends or family that have needs, putting them together and making those introductions can be fantastic. That becomes a referral source all on its own, and you will quickly see that other people who you've connected in the future will say, "Hey, you should meet so and so. She helped me connect with this person in the past, and she knows SEO stuff. So you should talk to her." Great way to get business.

Number four, choose a specialty. For goodness sake, especially right now it's critical because the field of web marketing is so crowded. There are so many people doing so many things that if you can choose a specialty and focus on it and then write about it and become known for it, this can really help your career.

I'll give you a great example. So this guy over here who I'm going to label AJ Kohn. So AJ, right, San Francisco-based SEO guy wrote what I consider the definitive guide to Google+ for marketing and SEO, and does a fantastic job of posting on there regularly. He's the only person I see in my stream who's really posting six, seven, eight, nine times a day, posting a bunch of interesting stuff, a bunch of fun stuff, personal stuff, whatever it is, great photography stuff that he always posts. He's made his topic area very unique. He started on Google+ in the very early days, was an early adopter of that. He wrote the definitive resource for it. By the way, he also wrote the definitive resource for Rel=Author and setting that up for sites, which I think is a great offshoot of that specialty. He contributes continuous updates to that and to other sites, like SearchEngineLand. He offers, obviously, to guest write for others, and he's showing off his skills by actually winning in that arena. When I do a lot of searches inside my Gmail account, which is the one that's connected to Google+, there's AJ, the stuff that he's Plus 1'd and shared and all these things, always ranking on page one for me because he shares so much content around the things that I consume. So he's done a great job of this.

There are tons of areas of specialty that still need or could use people in them. I would still say even old school kinds of things, like we need a new update to the old masters of curated research, guys like Dan Thies and Richard Baxter. We need someone who's getting into that world. We could definitely use someone to talk about the great advantages of Pinterest or LinkedIn. Chris from 97th Floor, Chris Bennett, does a phenomenal job with link-based still, infographics, interactive graphics. Once you get that association and are known for those specialties, people remember you, you have that branding, and then you're going to get recommended for these things. So find something you love and find the unique angle on it and the specialty. Phenomenal way to get content out there on the Web and get your name known.

Number five. This seems counter-intuitive, but when you're most desperate for business is when you make a lot of mistakes as an SEO consultant. I did this myself all the time, and I've talked to so many other people from the consulting and agency world who do this as well. They go, "Well, we have some people time free. I have some hours free. We really need the revenue coming in." So you expand to take on projects and customers that you normally wouldn't. The problem is that a lot of times, remember with accounts receivable, you're not getting paid with a credit card up front here. So you need to count on that trust factor and the likeability factor and the familiarity to make sure. It's actually a great idea when you're desperate to be able to say to someone, "Hey, I'm sorry. This is not in my wheelhouse. You're not the right kind of customer for me. I hope that you'll refer business my way, but let me point you over to this other person who does this work and who I think would be a fit." That interaction is oftentimes going to be much more positive than, "Yeah, let's start some client work. Well, I can't pay you that much, and besides I know you're desperate for business. So I'm going to offer you pennies on the dollar or 50% your normal rate. Then you're going to be locked into a contract with me, and by the way I'm unpleasant to work with." This makes for very frustrating stuff. So be cautious not to be accepting everything, to be cutting your rates, all that kind of stuff early on or when your business is struggling on the consulting side. A lot of the times, particularly in our field, you can take on some personal projects that are likely to either win you business over the long term or can actually be a channel for direct revenue, so anything from an affiliate project to a blog that sells advertising, this kind of thing.

Number six, my last recommendation and probably the best one I've got, this is via Wil Reynolds over at SEER Interactive. Help people. Help everyone you can and not just in the ways that are around marketing and SEO and social media and inbound. Help everyone you possibly can with anything that you can possibly do for them. So you see somebody who has a problem on Twitter, someone needs help moving something and you go, "Man, that guy's pretty cool. I'd really like to know him. You know what? I've got a van. I'm going to offer to pick up that chair that he needs at whatever furniture store. I'll reach out over Twitter or maybe I'll reach out over email." Fantastic, right? You have a friend who's out of work. I know you're struggling as well, right? You're trying to find clients. You obviously don't have a position for them, but it doesn't matter. As you're looking across clients, you're meeting with someone, maybe they don't take you up on it and you say, "Hey, I know that we didn't end up being your SEO agency. I didn't end up being your consultant, but I have a friend who's really good at project management and you said you were looking for a project manager position. I'd love to make the introduction." Fantastic, just by helping people in any way you can. There's a new local news site out there. There's a new neighborhood blog. Fantastic. Offer to contribute. Get to know all the people in the space. As you build up a network of people who know you and like you and who you've done nice things for in the past, you will have no problem winning clients and influencing referrals in the future.

All right everyone, I hope you've enjoyed this edition of Whiteboard Friday. I look forward to maybe seeing some tips from you down there in the comments, and we'll see you again next week. Take care.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

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