However, there is a supplemental way that your customers can find you. It’s via a valuable tool provided by Google. It is easy to implement…and it’s free. Yet, it’s underutilized. Google Local Business Center will allow you to list your company when it is combined with a CITY name.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now, don’t depend on Google Local for search traffic. I want to stress that there is no replacement for a search-engine friendly website with well-written content, meta description tags, keywords, h1 tags, etc. But if you are marketing your business to a local audience, Google Local is an easy-to-set-up potential source of website traffic that complements your other SEO and SEM efforts.

Here’s an example of how this works: We helped our client, Siskiyou Eye Center, set up their Google Local account. If you look at the picture below, you’ll see that their company and website comes up first under the search phrase “Ashland Oregon Eye Center.” It appears BEFORE the number one listed site in the Google organic search results. Pretty powerful, eh?

Here are the steps to get set up in the Local Business Center:

1. Go to Google Local Business Center

2. Sign in to Google (or Create a Google Account if you don’t have one).

4. Click “Add New Business”

5. Enter your business information including name, address, website URL, company description, and the categories that best describe your business (I walk you through this in my video).

6. Click “Next”

7. If it shows your business is already on there, click “claim listing”

8. If it’s not there, click “add listing.”

9. Then you can enter additional details such as hours or operation, photos, payment options, and videos.

10. Click submit

11. At this point, you will need to verify you business by phone (don’t bother with the postcard option since it takes weeks to receive it!). Make sure you use a phone number that you can answer because as soon as you click “Finish,” a Google computer will call you to give you a PIN number.

12.Enter the Google PIN number in your account to verify.

After you are verified, your info will appear on Google Maps. You can go back to the Local Business Center to edit your information or see how many people went to your listing (there are fantastic tracking graphs). You can even ask customers to go to your Local listing to add reviews.

So, click over to the Google Local Business Center and list your business. It’s not much work for a lot of exposure…and it will put you in front of 95% of your competitors.

Kinesis is a Portland Web Design and Branding Firm. We help our clients reach their marketing and growth goals. Call us at 503.922.2289.

Related posts:

1. Twitter Tweets Now Being Indexed by Bing and Google If your business isn’t using Twitter yet, here’s two more...
2. Making the Sale: Design a Web Site that Adds Incredible Value When people are searching the Internet, they often get into...
3. Online Marketing: Employers Using Social Media to Screen and Recruit I want to highlight a very important issue for the...

If your business isn’t using Twitter yet, here’s two more reasons you should:

1) Google will be integrating Tweets into its search engine results. From the Google Blog:

“…we are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results. We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months.”

According to Google Watch, Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience, announced at the Web 2.0 Summit that  Twitter content will be integrated into Google’s search results page, so that fast-rising queries like Michael Jackson, Google Wave, will be surfaced in a Google One Box. The results will be ranked according to relevance.

2) Microsoft’s Bing has already begun to index Twitter posts. You can see Bing’s Beta effort at http://www.bing.com/Twitter.

Although Bing represents only 9% of the search engine market, this new weapon in its Internet search war with Google (65%) will give it an advantage in its ongoing attempts to lure traffic away from Google. And, until Google launches its Twitter platform, Bing is the best way outside of Twitter’s own website to find out what people are saying in real time through their Tweets.

Twitter allows users to post short, 140 character updates, on what they are doing. Users – or Tweeps – distribute quick thoughts, news, ideas, and links. Think of Twitter as “micro” blogging since each individual Tweet is like a very small blog post.

With the rapid growth of Twitter, more companies are exploring how they can best use it. Gartner Research has identified four primary ways that business organizations are leveraging Twitter:

• Direct: The company uses Twitter as a marketing or public relations channel. Much like an extension of their corporate blogs, companies Tweet about corporate accomplishments and distribute links to press releases and promotional Web sites.This method is probably the easiest way to get started, but typically won’t go over well in the Twitter culture. A series of self-serving, promotional Tweets will damage a company’s brand. Twitterers like a person touch, so work to build community. To see some examples of brands that “get” how to tweet and respond, check out how Ford, Sharpies, Starbucks, or Dell are using Twitter.

• Inbound Signaling: Twitter streams provide a rich source of information about what customers, competitors and others are saying about a company. Search tools like search.twitter.com or the twhirl application can scan for references to particular company or product names.

• Indirect: The company’s employees use Twitter to enhance and extend their personal reputations, thereby enhancing the company’s reputation. Good Twitterers enhance their personal reputation by saying clever, interesting things, attracting many followers who go on to read their blogs. As people enhance their personal brands, some of this inevitably rubs off on their employers. Twitter provides a way of raising the profile of both individuals and the organizations they work for, which elevates these companies that want to be seen to employ influential leaders. (Be warned: this can backfire since negative Tweets by employees can hurt your brand).
  

• Internal: Employees use the platform to communicate about what they are doing, projects they are working on and ideas that occur to them. It is crucial that employees understand the limitations of the platform and never discuss confidential matters, because as a seemingly innocuous Tweet about going to see a particular client can tip off a competitor. Other providers, such as Yammer and Present.ly, provide Twitter-like functions targeted at enterprise microblogging with more security and corporate control.

Here are a couple of resources to help your company get familiar with how other businesses do this:

• 16 Examples of Huge Brands Using Twitter for Business
• 40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them

So, jump on Twitter. Test it. See what new connections it brings to your business. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. And now that both Bing and Google will be indexing Tweets, every time you use Twitter it creates another opportunity for people to discover your company brand.

Kinesis is a Portland Web Design and Branding Firm. We help our clients reach their marketing and growth goals. Call us at 503.922.2289.

Related posts:

1. Making the Sale: Design a Web Site that Adds Incredible Value When people are searching the Internet, they often get into...
2. Online Marketing: Social Media Use Continuing to Rise as Ad Spending Declines Many businesses are still wondering about why they should care...
3. Setting a Marketing Budget: Lifetime Customer Value At Kinesis, the #1 question I get is, “How much...

You used to have to futz with the date or add WP-Sticky plug-in. As of WordPress 2.7, the Sticky Post feature is built right in – how lovely!

And it is very easy to use. On the right sidebar (just to the right of the post you are creating), there is a block called Publish. The second section of Publish is Visibility. Click on the Edit link:

Once you click on the Edit link, you’ll want to check the box “Stick this post to the front page.”

Then click the Publish (or Update Post) button.

Voila! Your post is now Sticky! When you are tired of your sticky post, simply uncheck the box and hit Save. Your post will go back to live in its chronological order.

Fantasticky!!!

Kinesis is a Portland Web Design and Branding Firm. We help our clients reach their marketing and growth goals. Call us at 503.922.2289.

Related posts:

1. How to Write Blog Posts and Ezine Articles: 8 Creative Tips Do you ever sit down to write your next ezine...
2. Using SEO to Get High Rankings for Your Website: Let’s Talk About Meta Tags I’m the lady in this place who optimizes the websites...
3. Making the Sale: Design a Web Site that Adds Incredible Value When people are searching the Internet, they often get into...

Because the rules have changed – a LOT.

Let’s go back…oh, let’s say about 5 years or so.

And in this not-so-distant past, a company could simply call the newspaper or the radio and just run a few ads to get more business. Basically, you used to be able to spend your dollars to buy more audience. The more you spent, the more customers you would get. That’s why the big businesses stayed big.

But NOW, this throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach doesn’t work.

Because NOW, there’s Facebook and ezines and SEO and mobile and viral videos and applications and Twitter…and …and…and…

The way that our customers are looking for information is changing rapidly.

Therefore, marketing via social media is essential if you want your company to stay up with the trends.

Because today, people want to get excited. They want to engage in dialogues with the companies that they support. So, to thrive and grow you must use social media to create exciting ideas and to stimulate conversations and to build online brands with which people have passionate love affairs.

This is a really exciting shift for most companies and organizations. Because new marketing and social media has so many opportunities for small- to mid-sized business to get themselves KNOWN.

Social media allows every business to leverage huge numbers of people by creating online community and generating excitement around its brand.

If you are not using social media, then begin now. Because people are flocking to these online venues in huge numbers. And your business should be marketing itself where your prospects are spending time.

Below is a presentation that I gave recently to a group of marketing professionals explaining more about the power of social media (you can also click here to go to the presentation on SlideShare). I hope it gives you some ideas about ways you can take your brand to the next level:

Related posts:

1. Online Marketing: Employers Using Social Media to Screen and Recruit I want to highlight a very important issue for the...
2. Online Marketing: Social Media Use Continuing to Rise as Ad Spending Declines Many businesses are still wondering about why they should care...
3. 10 Surprising Ways that Twitter Has Helped My Business…and Ideas On How it Can Help Yours Too More and more companies are using social media. And...

Aside from the fact that it gives you a whole new perspective on “beauty,” it’s a fantastic representation of effective, viral media. Ask yourself,  “how can I think in a new way to create interest?”

While few of us have the marketing budget of a large corporation like Dove, ALL of us have the capacity for innovation, creativity, and BIG THINKING. Go for it!

Kinesis is a Portland Web Design and Branding Firm. We help our clients reach their marketing and growth goals. Call us at 503.922.2289.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Marketing for Business It’s time to rethink your marketing strategy to include social...
2. Online Marketing: Employers Using Social Media to Screen and Recruit I want to highlight a very important issue for the...
3. Marketing for Accountants – Websites are Crucial for Recruiting Top Talent Kinesis has many clients who are in the financial industry....

Online Marketing: Employers Using Social Media to Screen and Report

10 Surprising Ways that Twitter Has Helped My Business…and Ideas On How it Can Help Yours Too

Small and Medium Businesses Are Not Using Web 2.0 for Marketing (Here’s Why They Should!)

Recent reports from the Nielson Company give more compelling reasons. According to Nielson, social networks and blogs are grabbing a bigger share of the Net. Stats show that Americans have nearly tripled the amount of time they spend at social networking and blog sites such as Facebook and MySpace from a year ago.

In August 2009, 17 percent of all time spent on the Internet was at social networking sites, up from 6 percent in August 2008. Advertising spending on social networking sites and blogs more than doubled despite the recession, going from about $49 million in August 2008 to about $108 million in August 2009.

Nielsen VP John Gibs says that “advertisers that want to connect with core fan bases, such as movie studios, are allocating more and more dollars to online communities like Facebook and MySpace, where they can engage in an ongoing dialog with their target market.”

And a LOT of people are spending at least a bit of time on social networking sites. Consumers are deeply engaged with them. Nielsen’s data shows that about half of the U.S. population visited a social networking website in the last year and that number grows every quarter.

Here are some interesting trends in how the big social media sites break out demographically (and which will affect your choices in how you leverage these sites for your marketing efforts):

• Facebook users have a largely upscale profile. The top third of lifestyle segments relative to affluence were 25% more likely to use Facebook than those in the those in the lower third.
• The bottom third segments related to affluence are 37% more likely to use MySpace than those in the top third.
• Users of Facebook were also much more likely to use LinkedIn, a network geared towards business and professional networking, than those who use MySpace.
• The blogging and tweeting community at large isn’t necessarily more affluent, but bloggers and tweeters do live in more urban areas such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.

Let’s look at one more report from Nielsen. This one relates to traditional advertising. U.S. ad spending fell 15.4% in the first half of 2009, according to data released today by The Nielsen Company. A total of $56.9 billion was spent on advertising in the first six months of the year, more than $10.3 billion less than the same time period in 2008.

So, traditional ad dollars fell while social media ad dollars more than doubled. The big players are shifting the ad dollars because they are following the trends that consumers are setting. Mashable has a  great article listing some fantastic case studies citing examples of the Smartest Big Brands in Social Media.

If you aren’t on the social media bandwagon yet, it’s time to hop aboard.

If you need help planning and implementing your social media campaign, call Kinesis for a free initial consultation at 503-922-2289.

Kinesis is a Portland Web Design and Branding Firm. We help our clients reach their marketing and growth goals. Call us at 503.922.2289.

Related posts:

1. Online Marketing: Employers Using Social Media to Screen and Recruit I want to highlight a very important issue for the...
2. Social Media Marketing for Business It’s time to rethink your marketing strategy to include social...
3. Twitter Tweets Now Being Indexed by Bing and Google If your business isn’t using Twitter yet, here’s two more...

This is important to remember in web design and also in website copywriting. If you don’t capture their attention and tell them exactly what you want them to do, then – CLICK – and they are on to the next website.

Your website’s job is to 1) compel people to stick around and 2) to motivate them to take an action. If your website is REALLY doing a great job, then 3) it also works to capture your visitors name and e-mail.

The key is to have useful information that’s easy to find, link redundancy, compelling calls to action, and a name capture mechanism. Let’s pull each of these apart to see why they will help your marketing:

• Useful information: In addition to an overview of your company, make sure that your copy tells people exactly how you can help them. Let them know about your core offerings and key differentiators. Tell them exactly why they should pick your company and ignore your competitors.You can also create content that makes your site “sticky.” This simply means that your Web site visitors want to stick around and return to look at your content. Create helpful content for your prospects and existing customers. Make it a resource that they can return to again and again.Position your company as a trusted adviser on your Web site. Blogs, articles, podcasts, and videos are all great ways to achieve this goal. Depending on your industry, you can also add design galleries and tools, calculators, product selector guides, and/or glossaries. Think about what your target audience could really use to help them, and then add this information to your Web site.

• Link Redundancy: When designing a website, it’s always a good idea to include link redundancy. This means that you have multiple links on your site for people to find information. You can include links in your navigation, in your body copy, in your footer, on your home page, and you can also have special boxes that call attention to areas of interest on your Web site.That may sound like overkill, but from a usability perspective it makes a lot of sense as long as the web designer isn’t cluttering up the page. Let me explain. Your various site visitors process information in different ways. You want to be able to impact as many people as possible and you want each type of user to quickly find the information they want so that you don’t lose them.The other reason is that people do NOT read a Web site like they read a book or magazine. Imagine instead someone driving down a street at about 35 miles an hour and reading a billboard. They don’t have time for much. Studies have shown that people tend to “scan and scroll” on a Web site. So, you want to catch their attention as they scan your Web site page.

• Calls to Action: According to a recent Neilsen Company study, the average user spends 56 seconds on a web page. This means that you do NOT want to make your visitor spend much time thinking about what to do next. Tell them exactly what they should do by using a call to action. A call to action starts with a verb and can include commands such as Click here, Purchase, Read this, Order now, Sign up, Call today, and so on. Calls to action increase your conversion rates.

• Name Capture Mechanism: People are in a hurry. They scan Web sites quickly. They don’t always make a decision right away. And, studies show it takes multiple touches with a prospect to convert them into a customer. So, armed with all of this information, it’s essential to create a name capture mechanism on your Web site.Make it simple and easy for a person to give you their contact info – A name and e-mail is all you need. Treat their contact info like currency. Your visitor is giving you something of great value. Offer them something of value in return such as a white paper, report, special video, audio recording, private blog, article bundle, etc. Provide your visitors with content that will help them solve a problem and showcase your company’s expertise.As a bonus, you can tell them that you will also sign them up for your free electronic newsletter. Send out this communication out on a regular basis. Make sure you are giving them valuable tips and information – not an ongoing sales pitch. This will not only keep your company on your prospect’s radar screen, but it will also position you as the trusted adviser. So, when they are ready to buy, your company is their number one choice.

If you overhaul your Web site to incorporate the tips I’ve listed in this post, you will create Web site stickiness, increase your sales conversions, and capture the names of prospects who have raised their hand to tell you they are interested in your company. You are building your online brand by developing an information hub that your prospects and customers can return to again and again. Your company becomes differentiated from your competitors and develops into an invaluable, trusted resource.

If you need help implementing any of these strategies, please call Kinesis at 503-922-2289.

Kinesis is a Portland Web Design and Branding Firm. We help our clients reach their marketing and growth goals. Call us at 503.922.2289.

Related posts:

1. Using SEO to Get High Rankings for Your Website: Let’s Talk About Meta Tags I’m the lady in this place who optimizes the websites...
2. Setting a Marketing Budget: Lifetime Customer Value At Kinesis, the #1 question I get is, “How much...
3. Twitter Tweets Now Being Indexed by Bing and Google If your business isn’t using Twitter yet, here’s two more...

Many of our clients are becoming more and more aware of the power of the Internet for this purpose. Accounting Firm Delap, and IT Specialists Marquam Group, both have excellent careers section in their Web sites that Kinesis created for them.

Now let’s take a look at social media. This is the next piece to online marketing for recruits. It is increasingly becoming an important way to search for new applicants. Companies are running ads on Facebook and MySpace, and they are on Twitter. It’s also a way to keep track of your applicants and employees who may not be up to par.

In fact, screening employees and applicants on a regular basis has become so commonplace, that there is a even a term known as “Facebook Fired,” which describes getting canned because of something you posted on your Facebook page.

My favorite story is of Kevin Colvin, who lied to his boss about a family emergency, and then an incriminating picture of himself on his Facebook page wearing his costume at a Halloween party that he apparently ditched work to attend (see e-mail and response and photo below).

You can see the incriminating photo of Kevin here.

Twitter brings this phenom to a whole other level of excitement when you can get fired (or not hired) in 140 characters or less.

A recent story on MSNBC.com describes the story of a Cisco applicant who tweeted:

“Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”

To which, Tim Levad, a channel partner advocate for Cisco Alert Tweeted back:

“Who is the hiring manager. I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web.”

Ooops. You can read the entire story here.

In todays’ Portland Business Journal, there is an article called Job Hunting, Watch What You Tweet! You’ll notice that more and more HR departments are screening applicants online.

From the article:

“The number of companies using social networking Web sites to screen potential employees has doubled in the last year, and what they have found has killed the hire for more than a third of candidates, according to a CareerBuilder report.

Its survey of more than 2,600 hiring managers found that 45 percent are searching for information on job candidates, up from 22 percent a year ago. Another 11 percent say they plan to start using social networking sites for screening.

Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace are the top sites being screened, but 11 percent of hirers are searching blogs and 7 percent are following job applicants Twitter postings.

Thirty-five percent of employers decided not to hire someone because of what they found out about them on these sites.

Top reasons for choosing not to hire a candidate based on their social networking content include posting inappropriate photographs, content about them drinking or using drugs, bad-mouthing previous employers or clients and showing poor communications skills.

Resume Bear ran a simple online search and easily found hundreds of examples of things that people have said that could keep them from getting fired or prevent them from getting a job in the future. The blogger writes, “Many people don’t realize that even if you go back and later protect your updates or even go as far as deleting your Twitter account that your prior comments can still be seen.”

Some examples that Resume Bear found include:

Goofing off at work.

Ugh! I hate my job and very strongly dislike my bosses! Thank goodness im quitting in may!

bored…So bored. I hate my job.

I tricked my boss into agreeing to pay me more money! hee hee He is no match for this sales person :) I am a pro.

On the flip side of this, more top talent are using Facebook, Twitter, and blogs to promote themselves. Here is a description of one man who used Twitter to obtain a new job, as well as the response to him from his current boss:

Kyle really took an out of the box approach using Twitter. He had already informed his employer that he wanted to make a career move and made a list of the exact opportunity he was looking for, so he posted an announcement to his 700+ Twitter followers and described that role. So, between the agency referral, Kyle’s use of Twitter and the insights he’d posted on his blog, I knew he would be a great addition to the team. I emailed him immediately.

Once Kyle and I connected, we communicated throughout the interview process via Twitter. I followed his Twitter updates and sent him regular updates on what was going on at BreakingPoint and in the industry. I could also tell the other companies he was talking to in Austin so I knew my competition. It was also a good way to get to know each others’ interests and philosophy about the role prior to closing the deal.

I believe that Social Media will become essential to recruiting in the next few years. What does this mean for your business? It means that you should:

1) Make sure that your Web site has a section that promotes your company to new hires.

2) Have a presence on LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Twitter that drives people to your Web site. Some new talent may think your company is old and stodgy if you don’t have a presence on these sites (remember, people in their 20s have grown up with the Internet and social media).

3) Begin to develop a social media strategy to entice quality talent and to screen applicants.

Be patient and stick with it. Online marketing and recruiting can take some time to see results. But, by doing these things, your company will be positioned miles ahead of your competition in finding the highest-quality talent. It will ensure that your business will thrive well into the future.

Related posts:

1. Online Marketing: Social Media Use Continuing to Rise as Ad Spending Declines Many businesses are still wondering about why they should care...
2. Social Media Marketing for Business It’s time to rethink your marketing strategy to include social...
3. Marketing for Accountants – Websites are Crucial for Recruiting Top Talent Kinesis has many clients who are in the financial industry....

More and more companies are using social media. And there is only one reason – because it works.

According to a recent article in Portland’s Business Journal,

Increasingly, businesses are using Twitter, Facebook and other online tools to build brand awareness, cultivate customer loyalty and sell products.

Eighty-five percent of all U.S. consumers will read or view social content by the end of 2009, according to Forrester Research. Jupiter Research found that 46 percent of small-business decision makers use social media each month to make a purchasing decision.

Take a minute to click on the link and read the article – there are some great case studies of the ways in which companies are using social media to connect, survey, observe, interact, and promote.

I have to admit – I was on Facebook and LinkedIn, but I started out as a Twitter doubter. Twits and Tweets and Tweeps just all sounded so…well…stupid.

But, like a good little online marketer, I jumped in and set up an account (@WendyMaynard) since I figured I had better know how the heck to Tweet so I could explain it to my clients. This was probably back in January.

And Twitter is very weird when you first begin to use it. It really is. You just jump into this ongoing river of thoughts that have no seeming rhyme or reason. And then you try to figure out what to say…and when to say it…and who to say it to…

But I quickly learned how to join the Twitter party (that’s what it reminds of most – a cocktail party with lots of smart people). And now I have over 3,600 followers and many new connections. Are you on Twitter already? Tweet me: @WendyMaynard

As you can see, I have become a Twitter believer…perhaps even a Twitter evangelist. Once you learn how to use it strategically, it is an amazing tool. And I think that every business can benefit from using social media for a variety of different purposes.

Many people begin with Twitter expecting to use it specifically as a tool to get new business. And, while that is one of the things that Twitter can do for you, I’ve discovered many other benefits of the tool. In fact, there have been a lot of things that have happened to me as a result of being on Twitter that I didn’t expect.

So, I created a list of Surprising Ways that Twitter Has Helped My Business:

1) New Friendships: I’ve made some wonderful new friends on Twitter who are inspiring entrepreneurs and amazing bloggers. They have given me ideas and valuable support.

2) Relationships with Peers: I’ve been able to make connections with other owners of design firms and they have been very helpful with my insider questions.

3) Software Reviews: When working on a marketing campaign for a client, I often need a specific software or analysis tool. In response to my Tweets about this, I’ve gotten almost instantaneous feedback to questions about what works best online for specific purposes.

4) WordPress Plugin Recommendations: WordPress blogs have thousands of plugins that allow bloggers to perform almost any task imaginable. Both in adding functionality to the Kinesis Blog and setting up blogs for clients, I have been able to get recommendations from “Tweeps” on the perfect plugin for the job.

5) Help for Writer’s Block: I’ve shot out a Tweet when struggling with a synonym for a word or phrase while writing marketing copy. Within minutes, I have a dozen different ways to say it better.

6) Unsolicited Testimonials: I’ve had a number of incredibly generous people give testimonials about me as a marketing strategist. I’ve cached these in my Twitter Favorites in case I want to refer a prospect to them.

7) Connections With People in The Same Industry as My Clients: I’ve made a number of Twitter connections with people who are in the same industry but a different geographical location as my clients. This has proved to be invaluable to learn more about their marketing tricks and techniques (Have I mentioned how generous people on Twitter tend to be?)

8) Connections With People Who Represent My Clients’ Target Audience: I’ve also made some connections with people who are in the industries that my clients target. This has been downright amazing. It’s like a Twitter focus group that I can run in seconds. I can ask these individuals questions about their preferences and bring this info back to my clients to help sharpen their marketing efforts.

9) Connections with People Looking for Speakers: I speak on social media and online marketing both live and via teleseminars. I have received several invitations as a direct result of being on Twitter – great exposure! I’ve also learned of several opportunities that I have submitted ideas to as a potential speaker (I don’t know the results of these yet since they are in 2010), but I wouldn’t have known about them other than folks on Twitter.

10) Increased Traffic to My Blog: I have developed a loyal group of Twitter followers who are interested in what I have to say (thank you, Tweeps, for your support). I send out several Tweets when I have completed a blog post and I always see a spike in blog traffic from Twitter as a result. I also get insightful comments from these folks.

I could go on, but I thought it would be fun to quote some other Twitterers on how it’s helped them:

Quotes about Twitter:

From ProBlogger Darren Rowse:

If you own a business of any size and you’re still not Twittering, you’re missing out on what amounts to a worldwide virtual chamber of commerce networking event that’s at your fingertips 24/7. Only on Twitter, you don’t press flesh or swap business cards—you exchange links to your Web site, blog, e-books, and online résumé. And you build relationships 140 characters at a time.

From Duct Tape Marketing founder John Jantsch

(1) I get great insight when I ask questions, (2) let’s face it, I get traffic and (3) people on Twitter spread my thoughts to new places.

From Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh

We’ve found that Twitter has been a great way for us to connect on a more personal level with our employees and customers. We use it to help build our brand, not drive direct sales. It’d be like asking how does providing a telephone number for customer service translate into new business when they are mostly non-sales-related calls. In the long term, Twitter helps drive repeat customers and word of mouth, but we’re not looking to it as a way of driving immediate sales.

From BreakingPoint VP of Marketing Pam O’Neil

Twitter has all but replaced our PR agency as a large percentage of our followers are press and analysts. A writer for ZDNet wrote about us and linked to us based on something we tweeted and that resulted in a huge spike in web traffic and at least one deal with a major service provider.

From Dosh Dosh blogger, Maki (taken from his list of ways Twitter Can Grow Your Business)

1. Personal Branding. Twitter is a social media platform you can use to build your personal brand. It has the primary benefit of developing a casual persona and establishes you as a social personality that is connected and approachable. As Twitter adoption increases, new users will be drawn towards well established Twitter personas.

2. Get Feedback. Need an alternative perspective on how a website looks or the right course of action to take? Blast out a message asking for advice and you’ll receive replies from other users. This collective intelligence can be used as fodder for articles or projects.

3. Hire People. Need a good logo designer, marketer or programmer? Send out a message asking for recommendations. This is a very quick and easy way to hire freelancers or even companies based on familiar recommendations.

4. Notify Your Customers. Set up a Twitter feed for the specific purpose of notifying customers when new products come in. Customers can subscribe via mobile or RSS for instant notification. Twitter can also be used to provide mini-updates for one-on-one clients.

5. Find Prospects. Twitter can be used as a means to find potential customers or clients online. Do a search for keywords related to your product on Twitter Search and then follow users. Tweet about topics parallel to your product and close prospects away from public channels by using direct messages or offline communications. Discretion and skill is needed in this area.

So now you have many new ways to use Twitter. If you found this article useful, feel free to share it with your Twitter friends.

I’d love to hear your comments and feedback. I would also love to know the ways you are using Twitter to help your business (were any surprising to you)?

Related posts:

1. Social Media Marketing for Business It’s time to rethink your marketing strategy to include social...
2. Online Marketing: Employers Using Social Media to Screen and Recruit I want to highlight a very important issue for the...
3. Twitter Tweets Now Being Indexed by Bing and Google If your business isn’t using Twitter yet, here’s two more...

And a website design and new logo are very powerful tools to drive business to your company. But, on their own, will not create long-term, sustainable growth for their company.

For this, it takes the comprehensive power of branding.

Click here to view the embedded video.

To meet their business growth goals and increase their revenue, Kinesis takes our clients through a process to create a comprehensive marketing and branding strategy. It starts with an assessment and industry/competitor research. From there, we create our branding recommendations. These are action steps that our clients take to communicate their brand to their target audience.

A strong branding and marketing strategy is an investment that will pay dividends for years to come.

And so that we’re all on the same page, when I say brand, I mean the emotional connection that your customers have with you. It’s their immediate recognition of your logo, website, and other marketing materials. It’s their fierce loyalty to your company. It’s the ease with which your customers can spread the word.

Let me give you the perfect example of brilliant branding. Apple. Think about the Mac users you know. Now go to a couple of them and casually suggest that they switch to a PC. Then stand back a little.

Listen to them rant. Watch them turn all red in the face. Smell the angry sweat. And feel the waves of indignation.

Now that’s the power of effective branding.

As information continues to bombard us and consumers face infinite choices, services and products quickly become indistinguishable commodities. A strong brand is what will make your company stand out in a very, very crowded marketplace.

Strengthen your brand to powerfully communicate your company’s value. People ultimately make their buying decisions based on emotions, not logic. So you want your brand to powerfully connect with them on an emotional level.

The best brands are memorable, authentic, meaningful, differentiated, sustainable, and recognizable. So make sure your company carefully orchestrates its marketing to impact your customers and prospects across many different touchpoints from your logo to your website to your brochure. Over time, they will develop powerful loyalty to your brand, which will enhance sales, customer retention, and word-of-mouth referrals.

Take Away Point: Good brands build powerful companies. Ineffective brands undermine success.

Related posts:

1. Branding Improvements? A colleague sent me a link to a great site:...