GroshBlog

Twitter, Put On Your Big Boy Underwear

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:22:00 +0000

Apparently, a previous agreement boosting Twitter results with real-time search has left a bad taste in Twitter's mouth after they failed to renew the agreement. And they are letting everyone know just how unhappy they are by pissing and moaning about Google's recent search result changes.

The latest comes from Alex Macgillivray, General Counsel for Twitter, whose wildly misguided example uses search results for "@WWE." The example was used to show that Google places it's own products, in this case Google+, before search results for other websites including Twitter. Twitter openly criticized Google on Tuesday stating, "As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter...We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone."

Some great questions have come out of this recent attack on Google and it's new 'Search plus Your World.' The most common is, 'Shouldn’t people find what they are searching for at the top of their results?' The answer is simply no. The issue here is not what they are searching for but how they are searching for it.

First and foremost, Google may be a search engine providing relevant information on the terms a user is searching for, but they are a business. It doesn't get any more complicated than that. How can Twitter expect Google to place Twitter results before the results of it's own products unless they are willing to cough up the bucks for premium placement. Second, Google has made wonderful changes over the years which help to guide people to the results they are looking for, however, human error and ignorance tend to be the main reason some people never find relevant results.

To break this down simply, and explain why his example is misguided, searching for @WWE would mean that the user knows the Twitter handle for the WWE. So, what exactly are they searching for on Google? Are they searching for newsworthy content from the WWE or what people are saying about them? If that's the case, then the issue is not Google. Twitter is not pushing it's own search function located on its website which would provide that very information. In most cases, or at least in my personal experience, people turn to Google when they don't know the Twitter handle of a specific user. Searching for @EllenDegeneres would lead you to a suspended account. However, searching for "Ellen Degeneres Twitter" would put Twitter in the number one spot, followed by fan profiles and Ellen's website - all above anything from Google+.

It's not what is being searched, it's how people are searching for it. We all have different ways for searching for information relevant to our needs, so is that something Google should anticipate or should the responsibility lay on Twitter? The issue is that Twitter is not happy with their SEO and rather than finding and fixing issues within their own company they find it easier to point the finger at someone else. It's ok, this is standard management protocol and human nature.

Instead of releasing statements attacking Google's business practices, Twitter should turn their sights on their own mismanagement. Over the past few years the infamous fail whale has become a meme mocked in ever corner of the Internet. Twitter may consider boasting its own search features and even enhance user friendliness. And, if they are truly interested in landing in the first spot of search results they should pony up the dough.

Is Google really to blame or should Twitter be pushing their own search functions to locate user profiles? After all, if you know the @ name for a user, you aren't searching for them on Google.

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

How The World Used Google in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:57:00 +0000

It was a year filed with some wild news. From the death of Osama Bin Laden to the death of Steve Jobs, the rise of Google+ to the fall of Borders. Death and destruction, natural disaster, the companies we know and love - everything around us is changing faster than the speed of light. But, does it come as a shock that we, as a people, are more interested in disastrous Youtube videos about days of the week (Friday) than the death of a legend, an icon who shaped and designed the tech world as we know it.

Even with the millions upon millions of PC fanboys and girls, it's astonishing to me that the death of Steve Jobs, named The Most Fascinating Person of the Year (2011) by Barbara Walters - incidentally, the only time a non-living person has appeared on her list of fascinating people of the year - just barely made the Top 10 list of most searched terms on Google in 2001. Apparently, through the views of culture around the globe, royal weddings, celebrity divorces and affairs and teenage Pop singers are among the most searched "newsworthy" terms across Google, Yahoo and Bing over 'biblical' Australian floods, Japanese nuclear meltdowns and devastating tornadoes across the US. So, really mattered in 2011?

According to Zeitgeist 2011, Google's annual summary of most frequent search queries, the Top 10 fastest-rising search terms this year were:

No. 1 : Rebecca Black, a 14 year old pop singer who reached instant "fame" when her song Friday became an instant viral flop. The song, produced by ARK Music Factory for a small $4,000 fee paid for by Black's parents, quickly gained media attention and racked up views on Youtube for it's entertainment value; quickly achieving the title of 'Worst Song Ever.' If you haven't listened to this gem, you are seriously missing out on something special.

No. 2 : Google+, has been dubbed a game changer in the social media world, a world previously dominated by Facebook and Twitter after the fall of Tom's baby, MySpace (one of the fastest-falling terms searched on Google this year). Google hasn't had much luck entering social networking with previous attempts like Buzz, Friend Connect and orkut, but Plus' quick rise to over 40 million users in 4 months proves that it's circles and hangouts may be the key to rivaling Facebook. Although, Plus has a long way to go if it plans to topple Facebook and its 800 million users.

No. 3 : Ryan Dunn was someone I had to search myself. The reality TV star and daredevil popularized by the TV series Jackass, died tragically in a car crash on June 20, 2011, shortly after posting a picture of himself drinking with friends on Twitter. Within the week after his death, search volume for "Ryan Dunn" grew over 10,000%.

No. 4 : Casey Anothony will forever be known as the mother who got away with murder. A media field day surrounded the 6-week trial of Anthony, tried for the murder of her 2-year old daughter, Caylee; who wasn't reported missing until 31 days after her supposed disappearance. On July 5, 2011, Anthony was found not guilty of first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and aggravated manslaughter sparking public outrage.

No. 5 : Battlefield 3, Electronic Arts' first-person shooter video game, peaked in popularity in October when the highly anticipated game was released, sending PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 lovers into a tizzy. Within the first week of its launch, over 5 million copies sold and received critical acclaim from game reviewers. (Personal Note : Beating out Steve Jobs on this Top 10 List. Yeah, I don't get it either.)

No. 6 : The iPhone 5 was a rumored product from Apple anticipated by consumers and analysts. After much speculation from tech experts, the building excitement was somewhat squashed when Apple instead release the iPhone 4S in October. In true media fashion, however, never let a good rumor die. Even though the experts were wrong in this case, earlier this month the experts were at it again with iPhone 5 rumors, this time for a 2012 appearance.

No. 7 : Adele, a 22-year-old singer/songwriter, achieved record-breaking success this year with the release of her second album, 21, in the UK, selling over 208,000 copies within the first week and making it the biggest-selling January release in five years. Her first single, "Rolling in the Deep," reached number 1 in 8 countries with the album reaching number 1 in 18 countries. Unfortunately, a vocal cord hemorrhage requiring surgery cut her immediate rise to fame short; although industry pros expect her to return to her vibrant career.

No. 8 : 東京電力 (TEPCO)'s Fukushima nuclear power plant was seriously damaged during the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami forcing the plant shut down. The 9.0 earthquake sparked the meltdown which released significant amounts of radioactive material into the air, ground and water, and has been marked as the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Current estimates state the entire decommission of the facility with take 40 years.

No. 9 : Steve Jobs, tech-visionary, inventor and co-founder of Apple and Pixar, described as being aggressive and demanding perfection, inspired millions around the world with his charismatic personality. His creativity and passion lead to revolutionary changes to personal computers through Mac computers, iPods, iPhones, and iPads. Jobs died on October 5, 2011, after an 8 year battle with pancreatic cancer. His health seriously declined after a 2009 liver transplant, eventually triggering his thrid medical leave from the company, forcing him to resign as CEO of Apple where he earned only $1 per year.

No. 10 : The iPad2 debuted in March but not before a generous spike in search traffic and chatter across the Internet in the two weeks leading up to its release. As with all anticipated Apple products, the 2nd gen tablet soared to 500,000 units sold on the first weekend it was publicly available, selling out within the first week.

Apparently, from Google's list of most searched queries this year, teenage singers made infamous by horrible lyrics and a bad tune took the cake this year. Even though Steve Jobs was lower on the list that some of might have expected, Apple should get a prize for taking 3 of the Top 10 spots.

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim - www.mgrosheim.com

More on: Zeitgeist 2011 : A Year in Review [Video]

The Companies That Were in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:15:00 +0000

Even the existence of a big business can come to a sudden end. The economy certainly lend its hand in bringing businesses to their knees, but poor business decisions and greedy CEOs are equally to blame. In 2011, some businesses came and went without much notice while others made Internet news headlines, from floundering DVD by mail ideas to the fall of the tablet, retail chains to daily deals gone bust.

The year hasn't been kind. Whether you wept in mourning, shook your head and laughed or just went about your business, 10 businesses closed their doors, losing their battle to stay alive.

No. 1, Qwickster : Possibly the biggest screw up of the year leads me off with Qwikster, a Netflix spin-off that ended as quickly as it started. After much confusion, apologies and a Youtube video about transparency from Reed Hastings, CEO, and a hike in subscription prices, Reed closed down the poorly thought out DVD by mail program. Of course, in true corporate CEO criminal fashion, the increased pricing stayed.

No. 2, HP : The only company that can rival Netflix when failing to follow through is Hewlett-Packard. HP announced this year that it is giving up on tablets shortly after its launch of the TouchPad and will be abandoning future webOS development. In some respects, this is wonderful news to those of us (yes, myself included) who have come to realize that HP produces a substandard product and doesn't honor their warranty without a fight.

No. 3, No. 4 & No. 5, Google Crap : Google has had its fair share of ideas gone wrong. Google Buzz and Google Video are just two of those bad ideas which came to a sudden end this year. Buzz was Google's first attempt to enter social networking and was quickly overshadowed by Google+ and subsequently terminated. At the same time, Google Video abruptly closed its doors giving users just enough time to transition over to Youtube (another Google product). And finally, we say goodbye to Google Labs, an experimental application or "playground" where users could test prototypes and provide feedback to engineers. Although Labs brought us Google Reader, it proved a little too out-of-the-box and started its shutdown procedure earlier this year.

No. 6, Napster : Its been an ongoing headache for Napster including lawsuits, a shutdown, bankruptcy and a buyout. Best Buy bought Napster in 2008 and then merged it with Rhapsody this year, bidding fair well to the long-lived music sharing service.

No. 7, Flip : The Flip Video camera created by Pure Digital Technologies was a must have gadget in 2009 and 2010 when it was bought over by Cisco. What started as a reusable direct converstion to DVD video camera eventually lead to the Flip Video, Mino and FlipShare TV. This year, Cisco announced it would cease all Flip related products claiming it was pulling away from consumer products; more likely, the competition with smartphones was a little too much.

No. 8, Borders : The once successful, go-to spot for quiet reading time and competitively priced books flop-flopped with bankruptcy for a while, begging for but never receiving funding and finally closing its doors. This is proof that even the largest of businesses, loved by millions, is no competition for Amazon who, along with Barnes & Noble, had the tech edge over Borders to meet consumer demand for ebooks and content for their Nooks.

No. 9, O.co : Why Overstock.com wanted to rebrand an already successful brand is beyond me, but the company rebranded to O.co and within 4 short months reconsidered and rebranded again. Their rebranding efforts took a 360 which makes me shake my head. Fortunately for Overstock, the Kardashian 72-day marriage crashed and burned quicker and with more press.

No. 10, Facebook : Everybody wanted in on wildly popular daily deals, including Facebook. We have come to expect one thing from Facebook, endless updates and redesigns and products that come and go in starts and fits. They didn't let us down with Facebook Deals which up and disappeared like a fart in the wind. That's OK, users have found much more to complain about throughout the year.

Even with these 10 well covered endings in 2011, there are a few honorable mentions. MobileMe, ZunePlayer and Diggnation also ceased to exist this year, proving that both great and bad products and businesses close up shop when the going gets tough. What will 2012 bring for failing businesses?

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

3 Musts for Social Success

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 06:02:00 +0000

It has been worded many different ways. 'What do I need for my business to be successful on Twitter, Facebook and/or Google+?' Unfortunately, there really isn't a secret formula for winning at social media. It's all about trial and error in most cases, and what works for one brand may not work for yours. However, there are three key factors to keep in mind when starting your social media campaign. First and foremost, without a well-planned strategy, you are doomed before you even begin.

Have a plan, not a procedure. There is a very big difference between having a plan of action for your social media campaign and a procedure for social media use. The former is much more important than the latter. According to Starr Hall, author of 'The Social Wave', your social marketing efforts should have guidelines for your employees; but as a firm believer in transparency, I say there couldn't be anything more wrong that putting limitations on being social.

Of course, there may be some concerns about giving your employees carte blanche over your social media presence. The obvious concern is that a disgruntled employee will hit the social media airwaves and blast your business. If Jane posts an update telling the world that you're a cheapskate because you won't splurge for more than one roll of toilet paper in the ladies restroom, there is one question you need to ask yourself - how many employees do you have? If the answer is 100, well then, I'm sorry to tell you, you're a fucking cheapskate. But if you have 3 employees, Jane needs to talk to her doctor about her frequent urination issue and you need to take the time out of your schedule to sit down with her and ask how the company can make her job better. There is obviously an issue much greater than toilet paper at play here, and it is your job as an employer to foster your employees to get the job done. Bottom line, if you don't want your employees tweeting and posting negative comments about your businesses, instead of making them sign a formal agreement, don't give them a reason to talk negatively about you.

And one last thing on this note, making your employees sign a legally binding document won't prevent them from spreading the negativity and we both know that you're not going to take action against them with a lengthy and expensive court process, where you will never see a penny if you win. What I guarantee will happen is your employees will feel that you don't trust them, and that spells disaster.

It's a Numbers Game. But not in the way most social media users would think. It's not about the number of followers you have on Twitter, "Likes" on Facebook or circles on Google+, it's the quality of those connections. Realistically, unless you're a famous actor, NY Times Best Seller, Pop Star or Gary Vaynerchuk, you're not going to have a million followers. You may not even have 10,000. Instead of worrying about the number of people who have added you to their exclusive Twitter list or A-Listers circle, find the few users who are willing to retweet your blog posts and spread the word about your products and services; start focusing on the people who actually buy your 'thing' or 'gadget' and engage with them. Take the time to put a user name with a face, follow their tweets and learn about them on a personal level. You shouldn't always be talking shop. Take a minute to ask how their feeling when they tweet about not feeling well, randomly mention them and tell them to 'Have a great day', send them a quick Happy Birthday. The numbers game in this case is building a community of friends - customers - that you know you can reach out to. 10,000 followers on Twitter means nothing if not a single person clicks a link in your tweet or shares it with friends.

Be Human. Even if you're tweeting from your brand's Twitter account or updating your brand's Facebook page, remember that people are looking at you as a person, not a business. You are the face of your brand and people want to interact with you. Being human requires you to be three dimensional, not just a cardboard cut out saying 'Buy me, buy me.' The "gurus" call it social proof. I call it being fucking real. Treat your social media accounts like you would your average day. If the time spent between waking up in the morning and going to bed at night is filled with nothing more than a constant sales pitch, you aren't going to have many friends. The same goes for social media. It's ok to pitch your products and services online, but balance that with some caring and sharing. Share information that you read, interact with your followers and fans on topics that have nothing to do with your brand. It's really simple; be social. Social media is about building relationships, not about making sales.

Remember that social media is about giving people outside of your business the opportunity to engage with you. The rules of traditional marketing don't apply, and in many cases, the rules of social media haven't been written in stone. It's a two-sided conversation. Treat it that way.

- Michael Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Repost : Hiring a Social Media Pro

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:42:00 +0000

Social media has become an ever growing, constantly morphing, marketing platform that is beneficial to any business or personal brand. However, the effectiveness of a social media campaign is only as profitable as the person running the campaign. I know I can sometimes be long winded, but I try to give as much information as possible so you can make a responsible and profitable choice for your brand. That said, social media marketing is the new medium used by hundreds, if not thousands, or businesses across the globe.

In order to maximize their ROI, businesses are turning away from mediums of yesteryear - television, radio and press - and focusing on thier social media campaigns. Unfortunately, there are many less than reputable companies that are willing to make a profit off of your social media marketing failure.

With a growing number of social media "experts" pitching their products and services, there are a few critical factors you must consider before handing over your money. There are four areas you should seriously consider when starting, or enhancing, your social media reach and marketing campaign.

Experience. Social Media experts with marketing experience are prepared to work in any situation. If you are a new business, expanding from brick-and-mortar to an online business or trying to recover from recent bad press, for example, a true expert will have several options to help boost brand awareness and manage your brand's reputation. The experience does not need to include hundreds of companies, but must focus on the ability to change gears as new obstacles arise.

Expertise. True professionals in any field will have a portfolio they are proud of. This is certainly true in marketing. Browsing a social media marketers website for recent and past campaigns will give you and understanding of their expertise. If you have a speciality product or service, you may want to consider the types of campaigns a marketer has worked on in the past. And, someone who has worked with several different businesses types is probably more equipped to handle different obstacles. Check out their accounts in Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, their following and search engine rankings to analyze their popularity before selecting them. And keep in mind, the number of followers, fans, friends they have is not as important as their connections; look to see who they have connected with, who they influence and who influences them.

Effectiveness. Your campaign will only be as successful as the person you hire for the job. Your goal is to find someone with a great track record, prompt delivery and professional clientele. To judge that person success, visit their Twitter, Facebook and other social media accounts and check out thier following. There is no need to have 100,000 friends and followers if they have an engaging audience. It is very important to consider a marketers reach; and, their positioning on search engines. Do a quick Google search for the person or company you are considering and see where they place.

While there are several areas that you may research before hiring a social media professional to create a profitable marketing campaign, these are the basic "must." One other suggestion I have is to hire an individual rather than a company. Freelancers may be taboo in some industries, however, with social media they are quick to change as obstacles arise and are not held back by a company's rules.

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

7 Tips on Launching a Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:42:00 +0000

Business blogging has become a mainstream tool used by companies large and small. Unfortunately, writing great content does not come natural for most people. Blogging is also very time consuming, especially if you want it to have any impact. In order of your blog to be successful, to attract new readers andrepeat visitors who are eager to hear what you have to say, you must have an action plan that includes updating your blog with fresh, original and insightful material on a regular basis.

While this is a very time consuming process, don't let it scare you away from starting a blog. Instead, the entire process should inspire you to learn something new or polish your abilities. Following a few steps before your launch and while writing your blog will help to reduce any stress and ensure your success.

Identify Your Audience. Before you post your first blog article, make sure you understand who your target market is. In basic terms, you want to write articles that will engage your readers and bring them back day after day. You can identify your readers by answering 3 questions: Where do your readers come from; what type of content will they find useful; and, where do your readers spend most of their time online?

Establish A Social Media Presence. Social networking sites are the best marketing option when just starting out. If you haven't done so already, create an account on Facebook and Twitter. You may also want to consider LinkedIn and YouTube, depending on your audience. Utilize these accounts to post links to your blog posts, to engage with your readers and to establish relationships. Establishing each account is as simple as following/friending people with similar interests and talking to them. Listen to what people are saying and reply with insightful comments that will help them find what they are looking for; and, draw them to your blog.

Use The Tight Keywords. Search Engine Optimization seems to scare the heck out of some people. But, it isn't as daunting as you may think. If you have a website, a blog can help your website to rank higher by placing your business blog within the website. In this case, you will most likely be using the same keywords in your blog that you use for that site. Luckily, a blog can place well in search engine without a website. Take a few minutes to use a keyword research tool to find keywords that will help you stand out. If you choose to have a blog that is separate from your website, invest in a custom domain name that is brandable and easy for your readers to recognize.

Plan your posts. Once you have decided the direction you want to take your blog in, the type of articles and content you want to bring to your readers, pick a topic and write a few articles about it. The articles don't need to be spectacular at first – they will get better over time – but you need to stay ahead of yourself. Strange things happen in life at unexpected times. If you have a few articles waiting to be posted, you won't be running around like a chicken without a head when something tears you away from writing. From personal experience, I suggest having at least one weeks worth of posts ready to go in case the unexpecte strikes. And, if you are stuck on what to write about, there are several article websites that can give you ideas. Just do a Google search.

Network With Influencers. Once you have launched your blog, take a look at some of the influential bloggers in your industry. Take a few minutes each day to read their latest blog post and leave comments. This will help you to establish a relationship, help to spread the word about your blog that other readers may be interested in, and these influencers will be compelled to visit your blog and leave comments as well. This type of networking creates credibility and respect.

Promote, Promote, Promote. While social media is an amazing tool to spread the word about your blog, not all of your potential readers use social networking sites. Include bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon and Digg to link to your articles. Another easy tool to help manage all of your accounts is Ping.fm which will update all of your social media and bookmarking accounts in one step.

Measure Your Results. The end result for any blog is to market a brand, product or service. Even if you don't have a website, you will monetize the site with relavent affiliate links at some point. Using analytic tools, for instance Google Analytics and Google Alerts, you can gather useful information on your audience, influence and readability. This information can help you to make small changes that make your blog bigger and better.

Like any project in the business world, creating a successful blog is all about preparation. Using these suggestions will help you to lay a foundation that will produce results. The process can be slow sarting, so try to remember that nothing is an overnight success. Engage with your readers, build relationships and you will watch you blog grow!

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Why KFC Is On My Badass Radar

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:20:00 +0000

Most people who know me also know that I'm never shy when it comes to calling out douchebags through social media. When a company screws up, I give them just enough rope - so to speak - and the opportunity to fix the problem. When they don't, I'm the first to blow the whistle. But I'm equally vocal about the brands I love, sharing my experiences with the brand themselves, my friends, followers and fans, and mynewsletter subscribers. So, what is keeping KFC on my badass radar?

When it comes to Customer Service and Social Media, KFC put the right person in charge. Rick Maynard, Public Relations Manager, knows that it takes more than the Colonels 11 herbs and spices for a dynamite recipe, so he added two more secret ingredients; phenomenal customer service and a badass social presence.

Interacting with brands on daily basis, through social media, email, phone calls and face-to-face, I have found that small businesses are the true success stories when being social with social media. But every once in a while, a globally known brand is so bold, so brash that they come along and take the cake.

Rick Maynard gets it. He understands people, consumer demand and what it means to be "social." He takes a hands-on, proactive approach to customer complains and takes a genuine interest in engaging with KFC's followers on Twitter. But Rick takes it one step further with the wow factor by not only engaging with the people talking about the Colonel, he also gets to know them on a personal level. In my opinion, having a company worth nearly half a billion dollars following me on Twitter is not nearly as monumental as the fact that the company (or at least the face behind the company) didn't just click the follow button; they took the time to get to know me as a person - like who my wife is, what I do for a living and commenting on my foursquare check-ins. If you think about it, with over 70,000 followers, learning about your frequent, loyal customers is pretty damn impressive. Take a minute to read some of his tweets and you will quickly see that he is selling the brand without the hard sell. There is no pitch, he is simply responding to compliments with 'thank yous' and addressing complaints with genuine interest and reasonable solutions.

An example of his finding balance between the company's financial goals and meeting customer expectations (right), instead of shrugging off a customer complaint as 'another asshole with a problem,' he solved a problem by owning a mistake made by another employee on behalf of the company. Thanking me was a nice touch too, honestly solidifying me as a customer for life. If I can be so rude to make a suggestion to Roger Eaton, CEO of KFC U.S. and Yum! Operational Excellence for Yum! Brands, Inc., it's time to make Rick an example for your company - from the cashiers in your franchises to the Board of Directors, and everyone in between.

Instead of reading through the bullshit spewed by "Gurus" on the do's and don'ts of social media, sit back and really watch, study, they global brands that are champions of engagement. The tactics they use aren't tactics at all; instead, they are putting human emotion and social interaction into 140-characters or less. If you want to succeed in social media, stop selling and get social.

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

6 Must-Haves When Marketing Online

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:02:00 +0000

The goal of any company's search engine focus should be obtaining the top ranks for their targeted keywords on Google. Ideally, your website and brand information should show within the first 5 results, but it is better to be on the first page of Google than to be buried by your competitors. Keeping that in mind, SEO is not some elusive, secretive or magic formula heavily protected by marketing firms. It includes some very simple steps everyone can do to get those top rankings, most of which you should be doing every day.

Some people will tell you that content is king, others say traffic is king. In many ways, both sides are correct, but what if there was a way you could conquer both content and traffic. There most certainly is, by engaging with your audience. While there are many automated programs and great social marketing platforms available, the engagement process is time consuming; it is important to remember that you will need to devote some time each day and put your fingers to the keyboard – if you follow a simple routine and incorporate some of the ideas below, that time will pay off.

Patience. If you are just starting a business, or run a small business from your basement or small storefront, expecting to become the next Zappos overnight is unrealistic. Building a steady following, growing your website's traffic and increasing income each month takes time and dedication. If you are not in it for the long haul, you are defeating yourself before you even start. Building your business can take months, even years, so don't expect an overnight miracle.

Blogging. Every company should have a blog. If you believe that content is king, then you will need fresh, quality content on your website. Since most businesses don't update their website daily – in most cases you are selling a product or service and it is not possible to update your website every day – a blog allows you to share information with your visitors and target audience, and creates content that will be indexed by search engines. To improve your search engine rankings, include key word strings in each article (more on keywords below).

Article Marketing. Share your blog articles everywhere. There are thousands of free article directories - like EzineArticles, ArticleBase and GoAticles – which provide steady traffic looking for articles in your niche. Share your blog articles in these directories with links directly to your website. Even if only 1 or 2 people read the article then click-through to your website and make a purchase, you have generated a sale or sales without any marketing cost.

Email Marketing. With every piece of content you put out on the web, either located in an article itself, in the 'About the Author' footer or in the 'Bio' section on websites and social networks – for example, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn – include a link to your newsletter or email sign-up. Allow your subscribes to opt-in to either weekly or monthly emails (or both) and create a separate list of recipients for each. Use these emails as an opportunity to soft pitch your product, but more importantly, use them to share information from your blog, information about your niche that maybe of interest to them and as a way to inform your subscribers of new products/services, general information about your company and exciting promotions or special offers. The most important thing to remember about email marketing is that this is NOT an opportunity to cram your product down their throats – it's an opportunity to connect and remind them that you still exist.

Social Media. Of all the players in the social networking arena, Twitter and Facebook excel in terms of search engine rankings. If you haven't noticed, Tweets appear on page one of Google and Facebook pages also appear in many of the results. This is an amazing opportunity to keep your brand ranking high, especially if you are selling a product or service sold by many other companies or if you are a small business offering a product sold by a multi-billion dollar company. By using a social media account, you have the opportunity to engage with your customers, actually talk to them and have the results of that engagement included in search results.

Keywords. In all of your efforts – blogging, article marketing, social media – use keywords specific to your niche and product. Your best bet, in terms of SEO, is to use keyword strings. Instead of using 't-shirt' for your t-shirt business, describe your product in a string of keywords (ideally 3-5 item specific words); like, 'funny dilbert t-shirt.' Search engines will index the entire string as well as individual word combinations. And, stop including the same exact keyword or keyword strings on every webpage. Use different keywords that describe the content, product or service on that page. The more pages, the more individual and unique keywords you use, the better your chances are on ranking higher in the search engine results.

By incorporating a few of these ideas into your daily routine, you will be creating that fresh content everyone is talking about. Will you start seeing sales tomorrow? It is possible, but probably not enough to retire on next month. Your focus in online marketing should be the long haul, creating content and increasing visitors over time. Keep in mind, however, that in many niche markets major companies are now hiring writers, SEO services and webmasters to get those top spots. If you are not willing to invest a few hours each day into your online marketing efforts, your competitors will crush you. By incorporating these ideas into your marketing plan, and working on them every day, you are solidifying your long term success.

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Repost: Facebook Pages, Whimpy to Wow!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:28:00 +0000

As a business owner, or if you are developing your personal brand, a Facebook fan page is a must. Fan pages are similar to personal pages, however, they allow you to connect with customers and prospects on a much larger scale. But once you have your page set up, how do you maximize the reach of your page, increaseyour fan base and get the most out of your page?

Fan pages allow you to grow without a restriction on the number of fans you can have, grow as big as you want, send an unlimited numnber of messages and updates to fans and provide a number of tools to help keep your visitor's focus on your brand. As social media continues to engulf our daily lives, "old-school" marketing techniques are quickly becoming a way of the past - switching from the business books to the history books. People are looking to connect on a more personal level. You must turn away from the hard pitch sell and focus on connecting with your visitors and fans by creating an engaging relationship.

Before you can begin creating those personal relationships with your visitors and fans - turning them into friends and customers - you must create a marketing plan that gives you an edge. So, what are the most successful business on Facebook doing to get ahead? Their proven marketing techniques are simple.

Advertise Your Page. Just because you build a fan page does not mean people will flock to it. They must first know about it. For starters, include a link directly to your fan page on your website, blog, twitter account etc. Show people the way. To maximize the effectiveness of a link form your website or blog, use a Facebook icon or place the link near the top of the page. If you have a budget for advertising, a Facebook Ad will also boost visibility.

Send Out Direct Invitations. If you have a personal page then you have a great starting point to build your fan base. Send a page suggestion to your friends and ask them to become a fan of your new fan page. This can be done by selecting the "Suggest" link on the left side column of your fan page. Don't be afraid or think you're being pushy. Be proud of your fan page.

Build Your Facebook Brand. Most people put a link to their website or blog on their business cards, receipts, brochures, direct mail and e-mail signatures. This is a great place to add a link to your fan page also. Put your fan page address on everything - and consider a memorable address.

Company Information. On every fan page, there is a tab which allows you to include information about your business or brand. At a minimum you should include a link your website or blog. Enhance your visitor's experience by including information about your company mission, information on products and services, and any other information your customers may be interested in. If you use Twitter, include a link here as well.

Create A FBML Landing Page. This may be for the advanced user. In the application directory, there is an option to add a FBML page to your fan page. You can also set your fan page to load on this new page instead of your wall. FBML is very similar to HTML, and with a little work, you can create a landing page that draws in more fans. You can also use this page for advertising purposes.

Add Fresh Content. Nobody wants to visit a page that is never updated. Post new material to your wall every day. The more information you provide, the more people you will attract. The information can be about your business, special offers and promotions; but, consider educating your visitors with information about your industry, another website you like or just some random information they might enjoy.

Research Your Fans. The Insights tool allows you to see the who, what when and where about your fans. It also provides information on the quality of your content, comments and interactions with fans, and a variety of tools to chart your progress. Monitoring your actions, showing what works and what doesn't, can help you make adjustments to draw in new fans.

Take Full Advanatage. Facebook has hundreds of tools for sharring video, importing blogs, creating events, conduction polls, building converstions and just about anything else you can think of. If you are stuck on how to expand your fan base further, consider a new application that you can add directly to your fan page.

You don't need to be a marketing genius to be successful in social media. Every business, product, service and brand is different, so you will need to test the waters. Try new things, be bold and have fun. And, when you find something that works for you, stick with it - regardless of what the Gurus tell you!

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Stop Selling, Start Engaging

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:59:00 +0000

Poor communication is worse than no communication. If you are providing information to your audience through your website, blog and social media that is misleading, unimportant or unwanted, you run the risk of losing your audience's trust and your brand's credibility. Creating quality content goes far beyond your website and blog articles. It includes the information you share through ezines, social media outlets (like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) and in the emails your send to your subscribers. So, what is the correct way to engage your audience?

In order to create a profit by engaging with your website visitors, blog readers, Twitter followers and Facebook fans, you need to provide content that influences their thoughts and actions. I'm not saying that you need to blast out 140-character tweets geared at brainwashing your followers. What I am talking about is creating content which provides a call-to-action, a simple message which creates a response from your audience and creates a conversation.

The Internet has become a vital part of every business model. From selling homemade crafts to electronics, marketing your local landscaping business to selling shoes online, and everything in between, your business is on the Web because that's where the customers are. These customers use the Internet for three reasons; access, content, and communication. And, you should be using the Internet for the same reason; to provide meaningful, memorable content that influences market behavior, create brand awareness, deliver service support, promote positive public relations, generate leads, and increases sales.

There are two types of business models on the Internet. One type focuses on creating profits through advertising by providing niche content and using third-party advertisements as a revenue source - this generally includes a combination of article marketing and affiliate marketing. The other focuses on a website which sells a product or service. Many businesses are combining the two models by having a website to sell their product/service and a blog to provide rich content - and this is something I strongly suggest to any business. As different as these business models are, they do have one thing in common. In order to create a profit, they need a steady stream of eyeballs.

So, how do you engage your audience and drive visitors to your website or blog? Believe it or not, it is very simple. There is no magical catch phrase or secret formula to increase your profits. Your customers and prospects aren't only looking for the product you, and your competitors, sell; they also want you to communicate. People are naturally social and want to be involved, they want the feeling that they matter, that you care. Your website should provide information on your product/service and content that pulls visitors in to make a purchase. Your blog should provide content that readers actually want to read and influences them to comment and share the content with others. And, your social media accounts should be used to create conversations.

Will social media make or break your company? Probably not. But if you are using social media as a tool to engage, actually talk to your customers (not at them), you are placing yourself above your competition. Use this tool to share information about your market, share information about other markets or blog posts that may interest your followers and fans, get to know them and understand what interests them as a whole (you don't necessarily need to focus on each individual customer, but you should know what causes the majority of them to buy your product) and talk to them about them.

Many businesses fail on that last one - talk to them about them. It shouldn't be all about you; drop the look-at-me buy-this-now attitude, stop hard pitching your product and start focusing on them. Do you need to comment on every post or tweet form your followers? Absolutely not. And if you are engage with them the right way, you should have so many followers that it would be impossible to comment on all of their psots/tweets. But, you can browse through their comments, posts and tweets and write back to answer their complaints, provide your feedback, ask questions and create a relationship.

The next time one of your followers tweets out something about their personal life, for example, "Little Johnny isn't feeling well, shoot them a message back and wish Johnny well. Engaging your audience means creating a personal relationship, not giving them the hard sales pitch.

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Article Marketing for Success

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:55:00 +0000

Realistically, not everyone is a good writer, nor can they afford to hire someone to write articles for them. If that sounds like you, let's focus on a few areas of concern when writing articles that will help to draw customers to your website or blog. The goal of article marketing is not necessarily to generate more sales; but, if your "hell bent" on creating a profit from every piece of content you write, you may be monetizing your articles with affiliate links to programs or services your are discussing.

In some cases, it can be used as a tool to increase brand awareness and enhance your search engine optimization efforts. Regardless of why you are writing your specific article, there are a few key areas of importance that you must focus on in order to draw in readers. You don't need to be a master story-teller to become a great marketer. You simply need to create an article that grabs the readers attention, tells them why they should listen to you, and provides a call-to-action that drives them to your website or another product landing page. Your focus should be on:

The Article Title. Many people will argue me on this, but it is not necessary to include key words in your title. There is plenty of room for those keywords in your article. Your title needs to be a brief sentence that captures a reader and compels them to read your article. Remember that your article will be read by a human and not just a search engine.

The Opening Paragraph. This is your one shot to engage the reader. Unfortunately, most readers will stop at this point and move on to the next article. Take this time to tell your reader why this is a "Must Read" article. Do it in a few sentences that build excitement and hits them with something great; especially if it will save them time and money.

The Article Itself. It may seem like dumb advice, but your article needs to be just as engaging as your title and opening paragraph. Some people just don't understand that and drift off and fail to continue engaging the reader. Keep your article short, sweet and to the point. Excite the reader with bells and whistles and draw them to your website or a product landing page. Try to keep in mind that your article is not a tool to sell your product; instead it is an opportunity to educate people and create conversation or "buzz" about a brand, product or service.

Beyond using your article to capture a readers attention, there are two additional areas that you should be focusing on. Every blog or article submission website offers an Author's Box - this may be worded differently depending on the site - where you can provide information about you. Just like your article itself, this areas should not be used to sell a product or service. This area should be used to tell people why they should trust you, tell a little information about your experience, and most importantly, what you can do for them. This area should also create a call-to-action which drives them to your website, blog or another landing page.

The landing page itself is where you should be selling your product or service, or should be the website for the brand you are discussing in your article. All of the work you have done this far, attracting readers through your title, engaging them with the bells and whistles in your article, and creating a call-to-action will pay off if your landing page is as strong as your article. Your article will only be as successful as your landing page, so focus on your design and plan for success.

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Overcoming CRO Roadblocks

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:50:00 +0000

Earlier this week I discussed how CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) effect one another. While most people understand SEO, there are a few roadblocks that can keep you from succeeding in your CRO design. Optimizing your conversation rate requires one thing; changes to your website.

Most companies will outsource the majority of the steps necessary to create a capturing website that converts visitors into customers. If you are working on a budget, break out your many hats. To optimize your conversion rate, you will need content that engages the visitor, the time to test and tweak changes and the ability to constantly adjust the way people interact with your site.

Although CRO is not an easy task, it is certainly not impossible to do by yourself. What keeps small business owners from a success CRO campaign and how do you overcome the obstacles?

Most Small Business Owners Don't Have The Necessary Skills. Optimization requires a diverse set of skills that run the gamut from marketing, eCommerce, copy writing, visual design and web development. Without a decent understanding of, or experience in, any of these areas, the result will consistently be the same. Failure.

Unfortunately, there aren't any quick tricks, secrets or tidbits to teach you every aspect of CRO. However, if you can dedicate some time to tracking down industry professionals who are willing to guide you with free information, they are out there (hint, hint: Melissa Galt and I share information about our individual expertise quite frequently), you can quickly learn the basics and have an excellent starting point.

They Don't Have A Flexible Design. I understand the financial constraints on many small business owners. If you are using a free website template, community hosting, an off-the-shelf shopping cart or limited-use content management system, you will definitely cut the upfront costs of starting and running a business online. But, if - and when - you are ready to take your business to the next level you will constantly run into brick walls and be forced to upgrade or start from scratch.

The quickest solution, if you are in a position where you are forced to upgrade or if you are just starting your online venture, is to start from scratch. There are several low-cost options that will provide you with the flexibility to design, test, tweak and perfect your website. Intuit is one such company that provides everything from soup-to-nuts that you will need, from very easy to use drag-and-drop design software to advanced HTML, XML and Java tools and options, hosting to tracking, and everything in between.

They're Not Willing To Accept The Risk. There are two things I want you to understand. First, business is a risk. Everything you do and say will directly effect how people react to your business, product or service and if your business will succeed or fail. And, changes to the way you, our your website, engage with people will not provide overnight results. If you are unwilling to take the necessary risks and allow changes enough time to take effect then your business is dead in the water.

Once you have implemented a change to your website design, your content or any other part of your CRO or SEO plan, sit back and wait. If you panic after day one or two because you are not seeing results and quickly change back, you are not providing enough time for any real results to take place. If you decide you are not happy with the results after a few days, try something new. Don't be afraid to change something, add or take away. It can always be fixed. Once you have tested different plans pick the one that works best, stick with it for a while and test it again in the future - maybe a month down the road. Then, make little tweaks as needed. Even if you are seeing results, remember to change your CRO plan frequently to meet the changing needs of your visitors.

Focusing On The Future. Once your CRO plan is in place, has been tested and is providing results that are turning visitors into customers, you must continue to look towards to future. As the economy, technology and the needs of consumers change, your plan must have the flexibility to change also. The team you develop to help with future changes is just as important as the plan itself.

Having a team of knowledgeable people doesn't require you to hire or pay for freelance consultants. What you will need is a powerful leader; if you are a small business owner, that person will be you. As the leader, you must have the ability to prioritize the needs of your business, SEO and CRO plans. Start by finding people who are willing to share their information for free. Look for and attend free seminars - online and off - that will help you to constantly change your plans and strive to maximize your profitability. Without a clear list of priorities and a group of people to reach out to for assistance and training, your are committing business suicide.

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

SEO & CRO Go Hand-In-Hand

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:30:00 +0000

Let me start off by saying I am not an SEO Guru. However, SEO and CRO deeply effect the way I promote brand development and awareness; and, I have learned the hard way that one effects the other. Regardless of the debate on which is more important, any business on the Internet needs, among other things, a great SEO plan and an equally incredible CRO plan. The best place to start out is knowing exactly what each of these terms mean, since each has a different approach searching for the same result - new customers and profits.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): The science and art of creating an experience for a website visitor with the goal of converting the visitor into a customer.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” or un-paid (”organic”) search results.

Both CRO and SEO deal directly with your website visitors. SEO is the tool that you will use to draw them from any point on the web directly to your website, while CRO is the tool that you will use to keep them there and keep them coming back for more. Where these two tools overlap is in creating quality traffic to improve your online business results and maximize profit.

Opinions on any topic are always different. Some argue that these tools are a science and data-driven while others believe it is an art that requires talent, experience and creativity. Personally, I couldn't care less about the numbers. I am a prove it person; don't show me a computer print out with hundreds of numbers on why your chicken wing business attracts the most customers in your neighborhood, instead show me the people piling into your store because the guy jumping up and down on the side of the street in a chicken costume told them to.

Turning to the Internet, that chicken costume and your delicious recipe are replaced by SEO and CRO. And, just like a great product and beautiful advertising need to compliment each other, these two tools must intersect through search engine results, your website landing page and keywords, in order to successful. They really do go hand-in-hand.

So, how do you merge these tools as a part of your marketing plan? Instead of focusing only on increasing your search engine rankings to drive more traffic to your website, create a persuasive meta description of your site to drive in high-quality traffic. Then create a website that is fun, engaging and capturing. Your website, the content that speaks directly to your visitor, should contain a balance of keywords selected to describe your business and the needs of your visitors.

Quality traffic and keywords equally effect SEO and CRO. How you design your website, include keywords in your content and reach out to your potential customers is the foundation that will allow your SEO plan to explode with success. From there, CRO can further optimize your visitor's experience - as well as add to your organic SEO needs. And this is where one effects the other.

With an overwhelming amount of information on both tools floating around the Internet, where do you start? That depends on the amount of traffic you currently have; there are four options. If you have a high number of visitors and few sales, it is time to focus on your website itself (CRO). On the other hand, if you have very little traffic but every visitor creates a sale, it is time to take a serious look at your meta description and keywords (SEO). If you have a high number of visitors and a high number of sales, don't do a darn thing. And finally, if you have very few visitors and don't remember the last time you had a sale, contact me immediately and let's figure this out together!

Once you have an SEO plan that is driving customers to your website and a CRO plan that keeps those visitors engaged and turns them into customers, you will have the perfect blend needed for your business to succeed.

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Social, Network and Article Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:49:00 +0000

I constantly talk about the benefits of social media, how it effects your SEO campaign and how it can be used to enhance your brand. But, how can you use social media to create a profit? If you follow a few simple rules it is not a difficult as you may think. Social media is the "in" thing right now. But, it is not a passing fad; it will only get bigger and better adding power to your marketing campaigns.

If you are a business using social media your goal is to draw in new customers to your website. But, what about people who are using social media for affiliate makreting? Can it be done? Of course it can! As long as you keep a few simple rules in mind, there is a limitless amount of money that can be made through platforms like Twitter and Facebook. I use these two networks because they are the most popular and have the greatest return on your efforts.

Create Your Social Media Presence. Creating your presence online through social media takes a little more effort than signing up for an account. You want your presence to mesh nicely across several social media platforms. To do this, it is very important to register each account with the same user name. So take a minute to use www.usernamecheck.com to find a username that is available on multiple networks. Once you have selected a username that is available virtually everywhere, stick with it!

Connect, Connect, Connect. Before you go out and start bombarding people with offers they may not be interested in, connect with people by following them on Twitter or becoming a friend or fan on Facebook. Talk to them, engage in their conversations and get to know them. Profiles on both networks will tell you a little more about them. Once you learn their likes and dislikes, and connect with them personally, you will have a better platform to share your affiliate links with them. Remember to complete your profile on every network so people can learn more about you and connect!

Get Ready To Ping It. Using several social media platforms to reach out and connect with people can be a little hard to manage. Ping.fm is an amazing tool that allows you to sync all of your social media accounts allowing you the ability to type a single update, blog post url, site page url, personal update, comment and/or link and update several accounts at the same time. Ping.fm is not the only service available - although I highly recommend it - and if you are looking for another service, simply Google Micro-Blogging.

Social Media Must Haves. If you want to keep things simple, there is nothing that says you must join every social media network to succeed. However, it is a very good strategy to join the minimum of highly popular sites. After all, your goal is to connect with the most people. For starters, you should definitely have an account on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo. You have the option to sign up for other accounts elsewhere, and it may be a very good idea to research other niche social networking sites, but these four networks will provide you with plenty of connections to start.

Etiquette Is Just As Important In Social Media. Social media is certainly a relaxed atmosphere. People are connecting with other people that have the same interests, with friends and family and with people that genuinely interesting - all to have fun. That doesn't mean that you can downgrade business etiquette. There are a few red flag actions that you should steer clear of.

1. Don't randomly send affiliate links to people without connecting with them first. Sending a link to a random person could not be any more spammy. Not only is it very annoying but it also takes away from your professionalism and may get you blocked. Connect first, solicit later.

2. Respond to people who are asking questions by making a suggestion about a product your promote as an affiliate. In this case it is acceptable to include an affiliate link, but this does not mean you can bombard the person with links to other products and services. Keep it simple by offering a solution, discuss their needs and see if your product fits. Now that you have broken the ice, engage this person and create a personal relationship before sending other offers.

Share information on special offers, product promotions and limited time coupons by posting an update to your social media account. Don't randomly send offers by Tweet, Facebook message or e-mail. Once you connect with people, they will get the message in your update and many of them will click your link and check out the product without being asked.

Sharing information is the best way to enhance your social media experience as an affiliate marketer. Social media will allow you to reach the most people while growing your brand and high quality connections. By connecting with people on a personal level, you are taking away the hard sell and providing them with information that may be useful. When you remove spammy actions, people will see you as a professional and not a shady snake oil salesman.

By posting information in your updates that include your affiliate link, you will be "killing two birds with one stone." Sharing this information will allow people to connect with you, in turn creating a profit, and it will also boost your SEO efforts making it easier for you to find on the web. The more networks you use, the better SEO results you will receive and the more places people will have to connect with you.

Remember that any business takes time and effort. If you are serious about your affiliate marketing profits, you must be willing to take the time to do it correctly. This may seem like no-brainer advice, but you would be surprised by the number of people who don't follow these simple rules. This is your chance to create profits where they lose out.

If you are serious about your affiliate marketing campaign and would like to learn more about how you can boost your profitability through social media, feel free to contact me so we can chat, brainstorm and get you on the right path!

- Michael Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

DIY Public Relations

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:34:00 +0000

Most small business owners can't afford to pay for a publicist. At least not for one who can actually provide results that you would expect from a very expensive PR expert. Nettie Hartsock has just the answer to help you succeed in your own PR campaign. In "Kiss Your Publicist Goodbye," Netti Hartsock gives a very detailed description on her 7 suggestions for successfully acting as your own PR rep.

Her suggestions on taking the necessary steps include: making your site a mini-magazine, linking outside your blog to other news sources and stories by journalists, building a set of Google alerts, not constraining the news, and having a Web2.0 press page.

Hartsock is a former journalist with some great insights. "Look at your site as though it's a real publication for both your peers and the media to source for news," she says. "Build an editorial calendar for all your online tools including Twitter, Linkedin.com (status updates), Facebook and make sure you're congruent in your content and your expertise."

A major key in creating a successful PR campaign is to link to news sources that relate to your product or service. By using flattery, as Hartsock explains in her article, you can put yourself on the radar as a potential expert in your field. "I can tell you that all journalists love to have their names or links to stories, surface in Google alerts and they really love to show those to their editor as well."

This is not only a great way to create a blog for your website, or to add fresh content to your blog for other sources, but it will also help your SEO. What most small business owners fail to understand is that every "campaign" - marketing, advertising, public relations, search engine optimization - effects one another. Think of it as a house of cards. If one card falls the entire business falls.

It is certainly a lot of work to run your own PR campaign. But, following Nettie's suggestions and strategy can help you (in the words of Gary Vaynerchuk) "Crush It" when it comes to being your own PR Rep. Take a minute to follow through and Nettie can help you "Kiss Your Publicist Goodbye."

- Michael Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

5 Things You Should Be Doing Now

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:20:00 +0000

It seems technology and the way it affects how we do business is changing on an almost daily basis. Every Internet search, eNewsletter or blog post seems to turn up new ways to connect with customers, market your products, and develop your business. There's a lot of change taking place. Some of the revelations are truly the "next big thing" and others will turn out to be the latest passing fad that came and went (remember the rush to get product and store space in the virtual world of Second Life?).

So, how do you know what to do, what can wait and what is going to turn out to be completely irrelevant? In some ways, you can't. But we put together this list of 5 things we think you should do right now to make sure your company is relevant today and will continue to be so tomorrow.

1. Register Your Company Name Everywhere. Make sure you stake your claim to your brand before someone else does. Much like grabbing your name in a URL for your website (we're assuming your company has a website, if not, your company's name in a URL is absolutely the first thing you need to register for), you need to start staking you claim everywhere else. Even if you're not ready to start a blog or dive into social media, register your name in all the main areas. You don't want to go to open a Facebook Fan page or Twitter account a year from now and find that someone else has your company's name locked down for themselves. You can make it private so no one goes there or if they do, that they see nothing's available yet.

2. Start Collecting Customer Information. All our research and experience shows that money spent marketing to your own customers, especially your best customers, has a far greater return than marketing to the general public. Create an internal process designed to get their name, address and email address. Email is a fairly inexpensive way to send customers special offers and communications. But, you need to have their email addresses to do so. So, come up with a way to start collecting them now. So, by the time you are ready to do something with them, you have a database to work with. Added bonus if you get their cell phone numbers, too.

3. Find Your Strategic Advantage. We believe an advantage exists at the intersection of strategy, culture and communications. If you can figure out what your strategic advantage is and it is one that fits your corporate culture, you can then start communicating it to the world and start taking advantage of it. All good companies have at least one strategic advantage over their competition. The sooner you figure out what that is, the sooner you can start leveraging it to tip business in your favor. Don't know what your strategic advantage is? There are plenty of good companies, like ours, who will help you discover it.

4. Have Executives Create LinkedIn Profiles. It's become a big research tool for anyone checking out your company and the top people in it. Whether it's someone researching you for a job or a potential client evaluating the people they'll be working with, everyone searches LinkedIn for info on key personnel. Even if they don't ever do anything more with their LinkedIn account, you should make sure all your top people have a profile that is carefully crafted to make them and your company look good.

5. Empower Your Employees. Make sure everyone in your company knows what the corporate vision is and then empower them all to become brand evangelists for your brand. There are things in every good brand's corporate culture that should and will get employees jazzed about working there. Make sure those strengths are clear and encourage employees to spreed the word - in deeds, in their own circles of friends, in their online communications and social networks, any place they interact with people outside the organization. You don't have to have a wildly employee-centriccorporate culture like Zappos for this to work. Just makd sure your company culture has a good story that rings true and your employees feel good about.

There are a lot of new choices and technologies for advancing your business today. But, these five things should give you a good place to get started. Do them and see where it takes you. Chances are, the next steps will become self-evident.

- Guest Post by Mike McClure | Permalink

5 Must Do Social Strategies

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:11:00 +0000

Social media is a wonderful tool which, when used correctly, can generate large numbers of visitors and new sales leads. There are 5 key areas you should focus on when using these platforms in order to take advantage of their marketing benefits and run a successful social media campaign.

Are you using social media networks to engage with your customers? Are you on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn? Most businesses are utilizing these popular social media sites, but many are not aware of the essentials and are not using them to their full potential.

Search Engine Rankings. Social media profiles have become a major inclusion in search engine listings, appearing on page one of most search engines. In fact, major search engines have put additional focus on these results as they provide regularly updated content and quality information. What many businesses fail to remember is to include keywords and brand information in the 'Bio' or 'About Me' section (these areas are searchable and included in search results along with your content). The more information on your profile, the more traffic you will receive to your website or blog.

Social Media Content. Not only do search engines index your social media profile, but they also index and display individual posts and tweets within the search results. Your tweets and post themselves should include keywords specific to your market niche. Search engines consider this type of content to be topical, relevant and useful to search users. While you should be using social media to engage your audience, additional quality posts and tweets should include those keywords as well as links to specific articles on your blog, an individual product your are talking about and your website itself.

Social Bookmarking. Your posts, articles and updates should be routinely (if not automatically) updated to bookmarking sites like Digg and StumbleUpon. These sites receive millions of visitors each day. By submitting your website, blog and social media content to thses sites, you have the ability to capture users attention and increase website traffic.

Social Media & SEO-Based Links. Links to your website and blog can be placed in multiple sections of your social media profile and within the content you provide. These backlinks should be placed everywhere possible. If you have a long web address to your site or to a specific product, service or article, you can simply use a link shortening service, like Bit.Ly, to squeeze down that link and still include it (this is also the best method to track how many clicks you are receiving on a specific link from your profile to your site). Though many bookmarking and social media sites prevent the indexing of links - to prevent abuse - these sites provide greater visibility and users will follow these links back to your website.

Increased Brand Awareness. The top social media sites, Twitter, Facbook, LinkedIn and even MySpace, have millions of users providing a steady stream of visitors and an opportunity to rapidly promote your brand. By creating a profile which provides information about your business, with a link to your website, and frequently creating quality content, your brand will be placed in front of millions of eyeballs. Many businesses fail to recognize this opportunity and the importance of a social media profile for boosting visibility, awareness, traffic and, in turn, profits. Promote your brand by engaging with users.

Does your company need to use social media? It's not a mandatory requirement to succeed, but every business should take advantage of the free resource to increase brand awareness, engage with their customers and draw new visitors to their website. If you are using social media, it is important to include these 5 strategies into your campaign in order to maximize your income potential and take full advantage of the marketing opportunity. Businesses that use these strategies, and correctly use social media, will excel of their competition.

- Michael Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

How Your Website Effects Rankings

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:11:00 +0000

If you have just launched a website or you have had your website up for a while but are frustrated that your not moving up the rankings in search engines, especially Googel, MSN and Yahoo, this is the article you must read. While there are a number of reasons you may not be moving onto page one of search engines, the most commonreason rankings are hindered is your website design and layout itself. So, how do you know if your website is poorly designed or optimized?

There are seven, count 'em - seven quick fixes that can help to boost your organic rankings.

Titles: The title of a web page is the most important part of optimizing your website. The title is the first tag found by search engines spidering your site. Be sure you are using a custom title tag on every one of your pages; for example, instead of using "Bob's Wesbite" as the title of every page, you may want to use "Come Learn More About Bob - The Best SEO Guy" as the title of your about me page. While you title should be short, sweet and to the point, if you choose to be extra wordy, keep in mind that most (if not all) search engines only include the first 80 characters.

Redirects: Not all website use redirect options. If you do, you must make sure that your script is formatted properly. There are many different options when using a redirect - Java, HTML, .htaccess - and since I am not well versed in all of the different forms, I would suggest picking up a book or asking your web developer to double, even triple check everything.

Backlinks: Think of backlinks as free advertising. It not only creates more "buzz" for search engines to include in their results, but it also puts your website, and your brand, all over the Internet making it easier for people to find you. Your goal is to create quality backlinks for websites similar to yours and the blogs you follow on a regular basis. Adding backlinks is something you need to work on constantly. if you miss a month you could easily fall behind your competition. How do you create backlinks quickly and effectively? Leave comments on websites and blogs that have products or services similar to yours. Every comment will have the option to add your name and a web address, which should link directly to your website.

Content: While the content on your website needs to be fresh, up-to-date and added frequently, context - in my opinion- is far more important. Have you ever wondered why a blog or website does so well? It is not just about the fresh content the post every day. It has everything to do with the context of the articles. Search engines love new content that has keywords that describe your business and brand.

Structure: If you build a skyscraper without the proper structure it is going to crumble right before your eyes. The same goes for your website. THe internal liks that yo use to structure your website are extremely important. If you are only using a menu navigation across the top or down the side of your website then your internal linking structure is poorly designed. Use links to other pages on your website and your blog in the content you post daily. If you are suggesting someone "Contact Me," link the text to your contact page. You can also link your keywords to specific article on your blog. Equally as important, create links that direct your visitors to other websites taht may have more information on a topic you're discussing or a review of a product, for example. This will strengthen your link structure as well as your backlinks!

External links: If you are linking out to another website or blog, make sure you take a good look at those links. Make sure they are relevant to your service and not spam. If a site you are linking to is spam, there is a good chance the search engines will think you are spam as well; and that's not good news. Only link to sites that you feel are trust worthy.

Keyword usage: Some SEO's will argue that keywords no longer play a part in search engine optimization. In some ways this is true, however, using keywords in your title, meta description and other areas of your head is an excellent idea. First let me say, DO NOT over use a specific keyword. If a keyword is used with too much frequency it may be considered spam by search engines. Keep a nice balance when using keywords. An average of 100-150 keywords per page (which includes the keywords used in your header) is perfect to help boost your rankings without being "spammy."

There are many issues which may lead to poor ranking on search engines. These are the ones that are found most common. A few simple little tweaks can seriously boost your SEO and draw in a considerable amount of traffic. I hope you find these suggestions useful; but, if you have made some, or all, of these changes and are not seeing a difference in your rankings, feel free to give me a call - we can walk through it all together.

- Michael "Grosh" Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Is a Website Important?

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:55:00 +0000

Even if you're using social media as your main point of contact with prospects and customers or as a way to spread the word about your marketing campaign, it is very important to have a web presence to reach out and tell people about you and your brand. Any business owner who has a website can speak highly about it's ROI. But, what if you're not convinced? Is this my 5 minutes to sell you on the idea? It shouldn't be.

As a savvy business owner, you should already understand the importance of a website. But, if the cost of designing and hosting a custom domain is a little to daunting for you, consider this; when it comes to building a website for small business, there are plenty of Do-It-Yourself, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) options which allow you to design your entire website without any HTML or Javascript knowledge. And, I have to say, these drag-and-drop style website editors have come a long way, packed full of tools to help you create a dynamic, visually pleasing and professional looking website in just a few hours.

There are plenty of options to choose from, so you can tailor a solution that best meets your needs. If you want an even more powerful website, with a custom domain and premium design style, your average monthly cost will be - with most companies - less than $20 per month. That's a considerable savings over the thousands you could spend hiring s designer. But if that hasn't sold you, let me continue.

For way too long now, building your own website lived in the realm of black-framed-eyeglass-wearing graphic designers in the alleys of SOHO or lanyard-garbed gearheads who breathe and dream code in Silicon Valley. Well, it's time that changed. Yola brings website building to the rest of us. Small businesses. Groups and organizations. Non-profits. Your Aunt Martha. The guy in the next cube. Everyone.

With DIY website builders you can easily take what's in your head and turn it into webpages in front of your eyes, making great-looking sites with webpages that work beautifully together. The days of banner filled advertisements of Geocities are far gone, you build it, you own it, that simple.

I fundamentally believe you should be able to build and host your website without paying thousands of dollars for a designer, a suite of software or a over priced hosting company. You have the power to bring your business to the next level of professionalism with a very attractive website without the high price tag. So, do your business a favor; get a website.

- Michael Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Optimizing Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:40:00 +0000

With Facebook's every changing design, rules and frequent user upset, boost your fan base and increase visibility by turning your fan page from whimpy to wow is becoming increasingly stressful. The goal is to optimize your fan page by boosting your ranking and capturing your audience. But, if you're using social media as a tool to create a profile with your company information and a picture, and to connect with people who are contacting you, then you are making some very big mistakes.

As a business owner or individual with the goal of increasing brand awareness and driving in sales, you should not be sitting back waiting for customers to interact with. You should be using your Facebook fan page - or any social media account for that matter - as a landing page to interact with people that is rich with variety of marketing techniques.

The most important consideration to make when using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter is how your content, wall posts and tweets effect search engines. The goal of your social media use should be to drive popularity and captivate an audience by increasing brand awareness.

As social media continues to grow and evolve, more and more businesses will be utilizing the great benefits it has to offer. For this reason, Social Media SEO needs to play a huge part in your social media marketing efforts in order to stand out in the crowd. With that in mind, there are a few "Must-Dos" for every business or personal brand that wants to optimize their social media experience - in this case, Facebook.

Respect Your Audience. Every person you connect with has the right to his or her own opinion. When it comes to good and bad experiences, most people are more likely to be vocal about a bad experience they have had with your company. Use social media to make a public attempt to resolve the issue and find a solution. Instead of using your profile page to pitch products and services, utilize this space to connect with customers by posting information they may be interested in, as it relates to your industry. This is also a great place to provide them with free tools, information and coupons to show them how much their being a fan means to you.

Use Your Keywords. The keywords you use on your website or blog are a key contributor in determining your ranking on a search engine. This is equally true for social media. Including keywords that describe your business, service or brand on Facebook will be recognized by search engines increasing your ranking. While you should include keywords in your posts, it is a very good idea to include those same keywords in the "Info" section of your profile. These keywords will help to boost your fans, optimizing your overall social media experience.

Engage And Reciprocate. Instead of sitting back and waiting for people to come to you, go out and engage with them on their wall by posting comments. Help people by providing answers to their questions or suggesting links to information they may find useful. People who find your information useful will click through to your fan page and, if your content is engaging, will become a fan. This is the most social way to use social media and improve traffic to your fan page.

Using Multiple Media. Unlike some other social media platforms, Facebook offers the ability to included different applications on your profile. If you have a blog, include a tab with your RSS feed. If you post videos on YouTube, include those videos on your fan page and in a tab to give your fans direct access. There are several applications which will create a fun, engaging and informative fan page. Don't over-crowd your profile with tons of different application, but select a few and use them to their fullest potential.

Finally, the people who are succeeding with social media are the people you should be learning from. The same keywords that you should be using to optimize your social media experience are also amazing tools to help you find incredible amounts of free information on the web. Search for people in your industry who are "Crushing It" - in the words of Gary Vaynerchuk - and copy what they are doing. Don't be afraid to try new marketing ideas and to be creative; and, when you find something that works for you, stick with it!

- Michael Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Social Networking & Your Brand

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:36:00 +0000

Before the age of Social Networking, the relationship between a brand and it's customers was a one-way street. Now, social media provides a outlet where the voice of one person can reach thousands of potential customers. And, this can help or hurt you.

The Internet, specifically social media, has altered consumer behavior. What was once a small community platform that allowed people to connect about common interests and a place for families and friends to keep in touch, has turned into a global community where people can continue to share their common interests while ranting or raving about products and brands they hate or love.

Fortunately for your brand, social media has created a two-way street that allows you to thank your fans for their praise and address the concerns of dissatisfied customers - all in real-time. Although people use Social Media for a variety of reasons, and no two users are alike, it will forever be human nature to have a desperate need to connect; but, more importantly they want a leader.

Thanks to social media, traditional advertising is quickly becoming extinct. Television, newspapers and radio are transparent methods of advertising that are quickly diminishing in influence as more and more people turn to social media as their primary source for news, reviews, deals and steals, and as a communication tool. If you are still using the older methods of advertising, you will be forced to change your strategy to avoid becoming irrelevant.

Social media is more than a passing phase. It is becoming a part of everything we do, how we interact with each other, how we shop and how we express our views and opinions. Human nature requires social interaction; and while individual social media platforms will come and go, advancing technology will create new platforms that become flooded with new users. Brands that don't adapt will be left behind. They will become the guy at the party that no one wants to sit next to because he just keeps talking about himself.

So, how do you stand out and take full advantage of social media? Social networking is far more than having a Facebook profile. It is any platform that gives the end user an ability to contribute. Many companies have realised that developing an internal social media platform can aid in communication but have yet to work out how it can help shape their brand personality.

In marketing speak, a 'challenger brand' is code for 'the small brand'. A challenger brand is one that is meant to be fast, flexible and innovative in its communications. But in my view the word 'challenger' should instead be short-hand for 'emerging leader'. Emerging leaders challenge the status quo, they challenge themselves and they connect with others who have similar ideas - those people who need a leader to show what to do and inspire them.

Social media seems very daunting for many small business owners. It does take time and effort to build your social media community, but you can create an effective marketing campaign based on being social - just talking to people, answering questions, etc. The key to your success is to be honest, helpful and contribute. In turn, you will quickly gain ground, form new relationships and build supporters, fans and followers.

- Michael Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Social Change Through Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:08:00 +0000

America's been on the social marketing and cause related marketing bandwagon for a couple years now. But can you use marketing to get a community to pass a bond millage when they've never passed one before? Yes, you can. In fact, we did (in March) - in the conservative state of Texas, no less.

The Yaffe Group was working to establish a position for our client, Houston Community College (HCC), for a number of strategic initiatives. One of the most important of those was an upcoming bond election.

Passing the bond was critical to the on-going success of the college. We conducted research designed to understand the performance, attitudes and value drivers of the voting public in the area. After reviewing the research and a strategic planning session with the client, we decided to position HCC as key to the success of the city of Houston and the surrounding districts.

One thing about social marketing, you usually have a big job to do and a limited budget.This was no exception. The good news is that you can usually get the media to give you more added-value bonus spots if it's for a good cause. I't a matter of positioning the client with the media reps, just as you have to with the general public. We managed to get tens of thousands of dollars worth of bonus spots and online adverting for the initiative.

Then we put together a campaign designed to influence the public awareness and attitudes towards HCC. Our main objective was to get people to vote yes on the bond issue. But, we had a number of secondary objectives. We wanted to foster public esteem as it related to HCC and their reputation. We wanted to talk about HCC's value to the community and as a valuable asset to Houston. And we wanted to attract more students and have communication efforts still be aimed at driving student registration.

While we did want to target the 18+ general public, which includes possible students, those looking to go back to school in this economy to find a second career and the 50+ adult population that has the heaviest voter turnout. However, we also targeted all the niches that were key to getting the bond passed. We targeted each niche with different media selection and different messaging. We targeted those in the 50+ segment since they represented a critical voting segment. We also targeted both students and prospective students, as both the end users and as important influencers. We had targeted marketing for the Hispanic, African American and Asian American population as well.

We used TV, outdoor boards, posters, print, social media and online advertising to reach these targets. The results were terrific. there was a dramatic increase n regard for HCC which resulted in the first-ever passage of a $151-million bond initiative. It received overwhelming voter response and an 11% increase in recruitment of new student registrations, a new all time high.

So, it can be done. You can create significant changes in behavior using social marketing. How about you? What successes have you had? We'd love to hear them.

- Guest Post by Mike McClure | Permalink

Facebook: A Brand Strategy Tool

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:05:00 +0000

By now you should be connected to your customers through social media. If you are just getting your feet wet, or even if you have been using social media and just aren't gaining any traction, now is the time to harness the power of Facebook - an amazing marketing tool in your brand awareness and management arsenal.

This is your opportunity to get out ahead of the competition and turn your Facebook friends and fans into excited customers who are ready to engage with your brand.

Although it is an amazing tool, it does require a little time and dedication; this is certainly not an overnight marketing fix. If your goal is to drive customers to your website or front door, you must harness th power of social media and use it correctly.

Using Facebook or Twitter to build your brand starts with your website. If you don't have a website, get one now. It doesn't need to be extravagant, but it will be your most important tool. Remember to keep it simple - eventually you can expand into some more complicated areas - and find a spot to include a link to your Facebook profile or fan page.

Chances are that you already have a personal profile on Facebook. If not, that will be your first step. Setting up your profile is very simple and self explanitory, so I will not jump into great detail there. If you already have a profile, or once you have created one, it is time to build your fan page and start having some fun! When I created my fan page, it took me a few minutes to figure it out. The easiest place to start is by scrolling to the bottom of the page and click the "Advertising" link. On the next page, select "Pages" located in the top navigation bar. From this point, simply follow the prompts and your done!

Wasn't that easy? Of course it was. There are still a few more steps, however, for you to take full advantage of Facebook as a tool in building your brand. Before you do anything else, give your brand a face by uploading a picture. Upload a picture of your logo, or better yet use a picture of you or the person who will be updating the fan page daily. Let your fans know exactly who they are talking to. This creates an immediate connection for them.

Make sure you take some time, and deep thought, and write a small blurb about your company. You can enter this through a link located under your picture. This is your opportunity to let your brand shine by putting something spectacular directly in front of your audience. Do it!

And the final "must-do" step is to adjust your wall settings. Everything on your page - how people interact, information on your target audience, and more - can be adjusted by clicking the Edit Page link below your picture. The most important is how your fans interact with your brand. I can understand that there may be some hesitation in allowing your fans to post links to dirty websites or inappropriate photos directly on your wall, but the chances that something like that will happen is highly unlikely and you can always delete it, if it does. It will help you build your wall faster because people like to post messages.

Your fans want to interact with you. After all, they took the time out of their busy schedule to visit your page and click the "Become a Fan" button. The rest is up to you. Engage your audience by updating your fan page at least once a day. If you find something interesting on the web that you think your fans will enjoy, share it on your wall. Even if it does not relate to your business, it creates an exciting page, can draw in new fans and keeps your fans enteratined. It also helps your SEO tools, which is another topic we should discuss.

Your Facebook fan page is ready to rock. It is easy to make changes so you can always tinker with it later. Get it published and start drawing in fans. Use your personal page to recruit new fans, purchase an inexpensive Facebook Ad to raise awareness about your new fan page and use your posts to make your fan page visually appealing and links to add value. Most importantly, engage with your fans - talk to them, answer their questions, comment on their posts and pictures, ask questions, post special coupons, promotions or special offers just for your Facebook fans.

From this point, you can add other services and content; like uploading your blog onto your fan page. This is obviously for the advanced user, so take your time to look around and try things out. And, don't forget to include a link to your fan page everywhere! If you're really stumped, I am just a phone call away!

- Michael Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Tools To Make Your Website Better

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:57:00 +0000

There are many programs, applications and services - downloadable and online - to help you reach maximum effectiveness. But, how many of those are truly designed to provide real, honest and non-biased information? If you are worried about how accurate this type of information is, especially with many costly website optimization options, consider a few free options to help give yourself an overview and a starting point to make your website better.

Personally, I never pay for website analysis. Why pay for something that might not be effective when you can get reliable information for free?

Customer Focus Calculator : Analyze the words on your page to determine if your content is more about you and your brand or your customer/audience. This tool will measure if you are we-we-ing all over yourself.

BT Buckets : Engage your users with a free segmentation and behavioral targeting tool. (I am still testing the usefulness of this tool - but you may want to check it out).

4Q from IPerceptions : When evaluating how you website is doing obviously it helps to get your customers’ opinions. This free tool helps you answer four important questions: How satisfied are my visitors; What are my visitors at my website to do; Are they completing what they set out to do; If not, why not; and If yes, what did they like best about the online experience?

Bad Neighborhood Link Checker : This tool is great. It scans the links on your website, and on the pages that your website is linking to, and flag possible problem areas. It will tell you how Google perceives your links for ranking and the pages you link to. Use this tool to prevent Google from flagging your website as spam or as a link farm.

Webbed-O-Meter 2.0 : How much Buzz is floating around the Internet about your website? This handy little application tracks your Buzz score so you know if people are talking about you or not. Obviously you want people to mention your website - this tool can show you what you need to improve on.

Sitescore : All your analytic needs in one place: quality of incoming and outgoing links, keyword density, page titles, plagiarism, popularity rank, the usage of popups and the effectiveness of site’s structure. Sitescore also grades the printability, readability, spiderability and usability of the page as well as spelling and W3C compliance. Free Trial offers up to 10 reports.

There are hundreds of free tools available on the Internet to help increase website function, usability and to boost your customers experience. This list includes the tools I use to make sure my customers receive the best brand awareness and social marketing campaign while increasing my visibility on the Internet and creating a fun, dynamic and engaging website. I hope you find them useful!

- Michael Grosheim, www.mgrosheim.com

Charging What You're Worth

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Grosheim) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:49:00 +0000

I run into this so often, I finally had to do an article on it. For some reason, I’ve never had the challenge of not being able to charge what I am worth. In fact, I am very comfortable with my rates, packages and programs because I know that the value I bring is much greater. Yet so many creatives I know struggle mightily with this issue. This is particularly challenging for design professionals, stagers, organizers, coaches, and service based professionals. Here are three simple techniques to get what you are worth!

1. KNOW YOUR ROI: Get very clear on the benefits and outcomes of the service you provide. List these clearly and succinctly and rarely are they what you think. I urge you to dig deeply on this and really look at what your service brings at the end of the day. What is the Return on Investment for your clients and customers? Is it security? Is it peace of mind? Is it time with family and friends? Is it an environment that fosters loving relationships, great health, and career success? Detail these on a sheet of paper and keep it handy for daily reading and use in your sales copy.

2. STOP DEFENDING, START SHARING: This is vitally important. When you quote your rate, when you aren't comfortable you will immediately start explaining, justifying, rationalizing, and defending it. This makes the prospect entirely uncertain of your value and gives them the opportunity to negotiate. Instead state it and be quiet (shut up.) When you have led them to this point in the conversation by sharing your value proposition, your rate should come as no surprise. When you fail to share your value accurately then there will be a disconnect.

3. LOOK YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR: I mean this literally. When you determine a fair rate, then you need to practice stating this in the mirror without flinching, without looking down or away, without giggling, without blushing. Just look yourself straight in the eyes and state your rate. How did that feel? Scary? Then do it again, and again until you feel confident and at ease with it. And until you lose the urge to defend it.

- Guest Post by Melissa Galt | Permalink