Marketing Sherpa last week released its 2010 Social Media Marketing Benchmark report. Though the full report runs $400, much interesting data can be gleaned from the free executive summary. The report’s authors begin by noting that:

“An important transition in the use of social media for marketing purposes is taking place. A rapidly increasing segment of marketers are gaining the experience required to advance from novice to competent practitioner capable of achieving social marketing objectives and proving ROI…In the past year, marketers have been captivated by the ample hype about Twitter, Facebook, blogs and other social media platforms…(but) they jumped into this new medium thinking tactically about the latest social media platforms they could add to the mix rather than thinking strategically about the objectives they needed to achieve. In the year ahead, we see social marketing maturing to the point where a majority of organizations will be in transition from the trial phase to the strategic phase of the learning curve.”

Among the key findings from the report:

Despite the lingering economic malaise, companies across virtually all industries plan to increase budgets for social media marketing in 2010. Such plans are most nearly universal in retail and ecommerce, where 79% of survey respondents plan to increase budgets, with only 1% planning budget reductions for social media. In computer hardware and software, 55% of firms plan budget increases while 5% say they will cut budgets. In business and consumer services, the figures are 54% increase, 1% decrease.

When asked which objectives they planned to target and measure, 88% of “strategic” social media marketers (those who have reached the highest level of social media marketing maturity) answered “increase website traffic” while 75% said “lead generation.” Interestingly, PR-type measures—such as improving brand or product awareness and reputation—scored in the middle of the pack of 10 possible objectives, with just over half of marketers indicating they would target and measure these objectives. Note that these are some of the most effective uses of social media, and arguably much more important from a strategic standpoint than simply increasing web traffic—but they are also much more difficult to measure with any precision. Somewhat surprisingly, increasing customer support quality and decreasing support costs were identified as the least important objectives, with only about a third of companies in the MarketingSherpa benchmarking study planning to target and measure these goals.

This key chart compares the difficulty and effectiveness of various social media tactics, as well as their level of usage. Note that the four most popular tactics are microblogging such as  Twitter ( highly effective with low effort); blogging (highly effective but high effort); social networking (moderately effective, low effort); and multimedia content sharing such as images, video and presentations (low effectiveness, moderate effort). Fewer marketers are focusing efforts on blogger relations, which is viewed as being the most effective tactic but also the one requiring the most effort. That result seems somewhat counterintuitive, as companies that actively use tactics like blogging and Twitter will find blogger relations less taxing than will firms who rely primarily on “pitching” bloggers to obtain coverage.

From the buyer standpoint, the two most popular uses of social media (with roughly 60% each) in the commercial realm are to “learn about new products / features / services” and to “learn about specials and sales.” What is critical for marketers to understand is that buyers are talking about two distinctly different sets of products and services here. Buyers are most interested in price for items like a popular model of flat screen TV, common office supplies or today’s lunch; but they are seeking thought leadership when considering hardware, software or services to solve a vexing business problem. They don’t care about the technical details behind today’s lunch special or a thought leadership white paper on “Solving Your Mid-Day Hunger Issues,” and are likely to be skeptical of a coupon for a 5% discount on outsourcing a critical IT project or purchasing a key piece of enterprise software.

Finally, when using social media for research purposes, buyers are most interested in hearing from independent third parties, with blogs, boards and forums being the most popular tools. Secondarily, they want to read about results from peers and colleagues, with blogs and Twitter being the most popular media. However, close behind, vendors are the third-most sought source of information; blogs and Twitter are again the preferred platform, with wikis being the least popular. The lessons? It’s critical to get key influencers and customers talking about your products and services, and if you’re not currently writing a blog or optimizing your use of Twitter, you need to.

Again, you can purchase the full report or download the free executive summary of this social media benchmarking report from MarketingSherpa here.

• Business coaches provide business leaders with awareness, education, and accountability through regularly scheduled coaching sessions and other proven, best-practices business performance tools.
• Instead of getting paid for billable hours or project work like consultants, business coaches get paid for the value they deliver to clients.
• Business coaches help business owners become aware of their blind spots, and leads them to discover the possibilities in their business. 
• Business coaches provide information to help build business best practices and close the gaps and accountability to meet performance objectives.

• Employment --Owners reported workforce reductions that average .52 workers per firm, basically unchanged for the past several months.

• Capital Spending --the frequency of reported capital outlays over the past six months rose three points to 47 percent of all firms, an improvement from December's record-low reading, but historically very weak. 

• Inventories and Sales --Small business owners continued to liquidate inventories and weak sales trends gave little reason to order new stocks. 

• Earnings -- In a word -- weak.  "Don't expect much spending or hiring until these trends reverse," said Dunkelberg.

• Credit --Regular borrowers (accessing capital markets at least once a quarter) continued to report difficulties in arranging credit at the highest frequency since 1983. 

I had a very interesting coaching conversation the other day with a bright young woman. We were talking about her desire to expand her business and play bigger in the world.

(And don’t worry, I asked her permission to tell this story. And no, that is not her picture, it is a stock photo )

When I asked what would happen if she started to put herself out in the world in a bigger way by offering more programs and connecting with more people, she got kind of quiet. I asked her what it would mean to her life if she grew her business.  This is what she said:

“I would have to be out there with people all the time and wouldn’t be able to spend days at home re-energizing.” (she is an introvert according to the Meyers-Briggs, which means she needs time alone to re-charge her battery)

“I would ramp up my business, then if I decided to have kids, it would be hard to give that up so I could focus on being a mom.”

“I would have to have all the answers and I am not sure I do.”

I listened to her, and realized that she had very strong ideas about what it meant to be a leader. And I wasn’t sure that this definition of leadership was one she wanted for herself, it was the model that she saw practiced by people she viewed as “successful.”

So our homework assignment was to come up with a definition of leadership that only applied to her life and situation. If she wanted to be known as a leader who worked one day a month, that was OK. If she wanted to lead by having the freedom to change her mind frequently, that was OK too.

So how about you — would you be willing to do the same assignment?

Complete this sentence with as many points as you like:

I demonstrate leadership of my own life by:

(Fill in the blank).

Here is my own list:

I demonstrate leadership of my own life by:

• Only doing projects that energize me
• Only working with people who energize me and who share similar core values
• Not working more than my body can handle
• Leaning into my market and listening for what they want
• Actively looking for fun and joy in work
• Not having the expectation of being perfect
• Occasionally feeding my kids potato chips for dinner and not worrying about it
• Contributing to the global discussion of what work means in the 21st century
• Hugging my kids and husband every day
• Being open to feedback and coaching in areas of weakness and fear
• Being gentle with myself when I screw up
• Representing myself in a way that my mother, grandmother and daughter would be proud of
• Being proud of being a woman and a mother
• Risking being wrong
• Holding love and compassion in the highest priority

Do I do all of these every day? Rarely. But this vision of leadership feels right to me. I am sure your list will be very different, but I hope it feels right to you.

Thanks for pondering this question. And thanks to my client for letting me share her story.

The topic of increasing online sales through conversion rate optimization has been discussed in length recently and rightfully so. More and more online stores are looking at conversion rate optimization as a means to increase online sales, alongside traditional means such as increasing traffic volumes.

Four Smart Pricing Tips to Increase Online Sales

One area which is often overlooked, is using smart product pricing as part of the conversion rate optimization process.

1. Show The Customer How Much Can Be Saved

Whether or not your website has the newest features or hasn’t been updated for some time, at the end of the day customers are looking to save money. They will often compare your prices vs the prices of their local store, so some savings has to be reflected and visible shown. Products will often come with an RRP or suggested list prices. Visibly show this price and your price as it’s a very strong pricing message. My favorite way to display this message is RRP $$ Our price $$ (% of saving or you save $$).

2. Waver Shipping Costs

Excessive shipping costs will often result in negative customer reaction and basket abandonment. Free shipping on the other side of the scale, will cause the opposite and result in a more positive customer reaction. Now, of course wavering shipping is easier said than done, but there are couple of tricks you could try. The first is to offer free shipping over a certain order value which works, but is very limited in its effectiveness. The second is to include the basic cost (to you that is) of the shipping in the price of the product. You will still need to ensure the end price is competitive, however the behavioral effect on the customer will be worth the effort. 

3. Compare Your Prices To Others

If you excel in this area, don’t be shay from visibly showing your prices and your competitor prices (just don’t link to them ). Chances are your customers will first look around, research and compare prices anyway. By giving them all the information at once, this pricing strategy can help bring their buying decision forward. Pricing aside and looking at the overall conversion rate process, you could also compare availability and shipping costs next to each price.

4. Reward Customers Who Buy Multiple Items

A smart pricing strategy will reward customers who buy multiple items at one go. From the business perspective, more items means higher order value and more revenue. There are many types of rewards to consider from upgraded shipping (when the normal shipping is free), to discount off the total amount or even upgraded products. The principle is, if you want customers to spend more, you’ll need to work for it. 
Online shoppers often look for the web in order to save money. Pricing your products smartly will ensure you are still relevant.

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You’re a sales genius. They love you; they trust you; and some of them keep on coming back for more. However, you can very suddenly go from Hero to Zero if you don’t keep your sales figures up to scratch. As a sales genius, you’ll be working hard to have deals lined up for weeks in advance so that you’re not enslaved by what has been referred to as “the Curse of a Sales Job”.

Working month to month, just treading water in the hopes of staying afloat, does not make you a super-sales-hero. You need to plan ahead – take the long-term view and line up those deals to ensure you maintain your status. This is what makes you great – and able to achieve your fullest potential. Again, this is hard work and dedication – but it is fueled by your passion for selling and your dream to achieve all that you can.

You must realize that customers are available for everyone, at any time and at any age. Not so when it comes to sex, right? No – even with a reputation as a serial womanizer, you can go for weeks or even months at a time without having a beautiful woman to accompany you to social gatherings. That’s the quickest way to dissolve your reputation! But the beauty of sales is that there will always be someone who needs something that you’ve got – you just need to find them and approach the sale in an appropriate way, depending on their needs.

And, with selling, buying leads is also a legitimate way to generate sales – it’s not against the law, either. So when you find that you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of customers and your pipeline is running dry, you can absolutely purchase a list of leads. However, when your sex life is becoming somewhat dull, or non-existent, paying for a “lead” is not exactly the way you want to go (nor is it legal – in most countries, anyway).

Cruising the internet in search of customers is perfectly acceptable too. You won’t find yourself in any moral or ethical dilemma when paying for leads. And you won’t get fired for typing “selling techniques” into a search engine at work. But wait and see what happens when you’re caught surfing the net for tips on “how to please…”

With all the technology that we have available to us today, the act of “cold-calling” is just about becoming a thing of the past. You can access so much information about a client before you even get to the first meeting. As a result, you will be better prepared than if you had just picked up the phone and dialed a random number in the hopes of charming yourself into another sale. With as much “pre-knowledge” of the customer as possible, you’re equipped to ask all of the right questions, and you’re able to listen to the client’s needs with a greater understanding.

If you’ve carried out your research thoroughly, half of the work is done. It can no longer be termed a “cold call” when you’re already warming up to the client and the operations of his business. Rather, you have the upper hand as you begin the call, knowing more about your client than he does about you. This means that you’re better prepared to approach him in an effective manner and better prepared to address the type of business that he has and the problems he might be encountering.

And besides, you don’t have to dial a “900” number to sell over the phone. If you want customers from faraway places, it’s not that difficult and not that expensive either. You just pick up the phone, send an e-mail, and use any modern technology that you have on hand. But try finding your dream woman from some faraway exotic place – you’ll pay a fortune in traveling costs and accommodation, and that’s before you’ve even taken her out to dinner.

Yet again we can prove that selling is better than sex – and far less risky too. Finding new customers won’t get you into trouble either. You can have as many customers as you want, and as many as you can handle!

—————–

The secret of being successful in selling is the ability to transmit your energy and your enthusiasm about your product or service. If you fail to do that, you will not sell. If you want to learn how to transfer your energy into sales enthusiasm to improve your career and life, get my book “Selling Is Better Than Sex” today!

This book will provide you with more than 200 reasons why selling is even better than sex, and what you can do about it in order to improve your career and your life. This is not just another sales book – this is a revelation!

Avatar is a world-wide phenomenon and is currently the top grossing movie of all time*. How can you learn from its success and apply it to your own projects (even if they aren’t billion dollar movies).

1. Technology Matters. James Cameron first wrote Avatar in 1994, but he ended up tabling it until 2005 because he felt the technology wasn’t there yet. Figure out what your idea needs and how you can make it happen. If your current idea won’t work well, put it on hold and work on something else.
2. Love Your Idea. This movie finally came to fruition 15 years after Cameron’s initial idea. He didn’t just forget about it, he waited for his moment and made it happen. And now he’s very rich (er, richer).
3. Get Fans, Not Just Viewers(/Users). Avatar was so successful because you didn’t just go and think “good movie” and go to sleep. You wanted to tell everyone you knew about it. After watching this movie I immediately started telling my family and friends they had to see it. Now.
4. A Little Controversy is Good. Avatar’s a commentary on the war in Iraq. And our treatment of the environment. And a critique of the military. And advocates polytheism. And deals with racial issues. Or maybe none of the above, but it made you talk about it, didn’t it?
5. Make it Beautiful. Avatar is a cinematic masterpiece. It’s gorgeous. Don’t settle for less with your iPhone app. If your iPhone app is the best looking thing I’ve ever seen I’ll not only use it but share it with everyone I know.

*Okay, so this actually depends on whether or not you count inflation. In any case, it did very, very well.

On the one side is the argument expressed in the title of Dick Armey's Philadelphia Inquirer commentary: "Cyberspace is the last frontie; don't let them tax the internet" . . . Armey advocates keeping the internet tax-free, though that is a misleading goal. The internet has not been tax-free, is not tax-free, and will not be tax-free. Armey argues chiefly against taxing Internet access, but he doesn't distinguish between that sort of imposition, and taxation of transactions conducted through the Internet. The principal argument that he and other "don't tax the internet" advocates raise is the wisdom of letting Internet technology grow and mature without the hindrance of taxation. If we were to abolish taxes on all who need to grow and mature, there wouldn't be much left to tax.

On the other side are the folks who advocate taxing all internet transactions. Chiefly advanced by some state legislators, who are seeking to increase state tax revenues, the argument is that any connection whatsoever between the transaction and the state entitles the state to subject the transaction to its tax system. The best example is that of on-line sales and the extent to which a state sales or use tax should apply. Suppose consumer A, living in New Jersey, uses the Internet to access the web site of a retailer located in Illinois, looks at products, orders a product, pays using a credit card, and receives the shipment in New Jersey. Does a sales tax apply? The answer is found in the tax treatment of a similar transaction, in which the person's neighbor looks at a print catalog, phones the retailer, and makes the purchase. New Jersey cannot require the retailer to pay a sales tax because the sale does not take place in New Jersey, and New Jersey cannot require the retailer to pay a use tax unless the retailer has a sufficient "nexus" (or set of contacts) with New Jersey to justify imposing the tax. Without getting into all the technical analysis, sending a catalog into New Jersey is not sufficient nexus. Why should the Internet transaction be treated any differently? What New Jersey can impose is a use tax, on the purchaser, but effective administration and enforcement of use taxes seems to escape state legislatures. The hole in tax revenue caused by inefficient use tax enforcement existed long before the Internet came into being, but the Internet brought attention, and the attention brought the state legislatures the temptation to make the retailers do their use tax administration and collection for them.

States are strange in this respect. Because Delaware has no sales tax, and Pennsylvania does, many Pennsylvanians drive to Delaware to purchase items on which they do not pay the Pennsylvania use tax. Delaware merchants use "no sales tax" plugs in their advertising. Unlike the Liquor Control Board, which sends undercover agents to the District of Columbia (where alcohol is much less expensive principally because of lower taxes) to look for vehicles with Pennsylvania license tags outside retail liquor establishments, and who then call ahead to officers "waiting at the border," the use tax division doesn't seem to care. Some states now include a "use tax" line on their income tax returns. How effective that will be remains to be seen.

The overriding principle that should apply is this: when it comes to taxing transactions and activities conducted on or through the internet, or taxing access to the internet, those transactions, activities and access should be taxed no differently from the way in which transactions and activities conducted through means other than the internet are taxed. This principle, though, is ignored by those who take either extreme position with respect to taxation and the internet.

the last time I looked at the case law state 1 has no "independent and sovereign authority" to impose a sales tax on a transaction that takes place in state 2. Whether the state 1 resident travels to state 2, phones a merchant in state 2, or contacts the merchant in state 2 through the internet, state 1 is powerless to impose any tax until the state 1 resident returns to state 1 with the item. If state 1's legislature and tax bureaucracy cannot figure out how to do that, perhaps they can resign and make room for those who do.

As I re-read my three-year old Taxing the Internet, I see descriptions of the same arguments being advanced today by the "tax the Internet" crowd and by the "no taxes at all" group. The flaws in the rationales for taxing email continue to exist. I urge all those involved with, or interested in, this latest round of "tax the Internet" to read Taxing the Internet. Then it will be fairly easy to understand my proposal: "(1) tax access as is taxed telephone and cable access, (2) tax retail transactions as catalog sales are taxed, imposing use tax collection responsibilities on those with sufficient nexus to the taxing state, (3) eliminate and prohibit "Internet only" taxes, and (4) find another way to deal with spammers, casinos, and other social behavior that is considered unacceptable or inappropriate."

Now what are the odds that politicians will follow this sensible approach?

Here is a list of 20 things you can do to in order to reassure your customers and online:

1. Third-part seals or certificates, such as the Verisign logo, are important in reassuring customers that any data input is securely protected by a recognised independent vendor. Make sure that the seals are visible, clickable and present from early on in the sales process.
2. Make sure that personal data is visibly submitted securely using HTTPS. This follows from point one, but some websites only transfer the user to HTTPS as they click the button that submits personal data. While this is a secure interaction, the customer cannot verify that it is secure until they click the button.
   
3. Phone numbers and contact details should be clearly visible. Some websites actually hide these when all the research indicates that most people are reluctant to purchase on websites they are not familiar with unless they can easily find and get a response from such contact details. Avoid PO boxes and provide local numbers as alternatives to LoCall numbers for those who cannot or do not want to use them.
4. Make sure there are no surprises such as terms and conditions that were not visible up-front, hidden charges that don’t appear until the payment screen, or unclear delivery costs. We don’t like surprises and don’t trust websites that use them to get more cash sneakily out of our wallets.
5. Provide product ratings and reviews, since customers are more likely to trust what other customers say than what your literature says about the products you sell. We spend less than 1% of our time actually making the purchase, and the rest is spent researching and finding out what others think.
6. Engage with third-party review websites that are talking about your products or your brand. More and more we check out what others say on these websites about the products we are going to buy or the companies we are going to buy from. Negative comments will put us off, but a response from the brand in question will help to reassure us that they are listening and do care about their customers.
7. Respond to criticisms on social media and discussion forums. We are all using these to seek the opinions of others, and there are opportunities for businesses to address customer complaints and turn them into positives by being seen to be responsive. Damien has an excellent post on how transparency and responsiveness can really help to rebuild trust when an online crisis happens.
8. Get blogging. Employees are the most trusted source of information on a company. Get your employees out in front of your customers by having them write company blogs with personality. They are believable and will help to provide a more human, and hence trustworthy, face for your business.
9. Rank well in Google. According to the Edelman survey, Google and other search engines are more trusted as sources of information than company websites. Searchers use Google results to help inform their decision-making process. If a website appears on the first page of a search results then there is an assumption that if “independent” Google rates it, it must be okay.
10. Implement a professional and functional design. Don’t scrimp on the graphic design. Think about it; wouldn’t you be less likely to purchase from a salesman in a shabby suit with stains on his tie? Don’t make it too “slick” either as very few of us are sold on hyperbole.
11. Clearly display the returns policy. No one likes the hassle of having to return items, but there is an inevitability about it that all online sellers need to be clear about. It will give me lots of confidence if you highlight to me what the steps are in case I need to send an item back.
12. Provide comprehensive product information. This is especially relevant for clothing and used goods. The more information – including descriptions, specifications, imagery, video and even 360 degree views -  that you provide the more likely I will be able to decide that this is the right product for me. Scant information doesn’t help me make a decision and at worst could lead me to think that you’re trying to hide something.
13. Build offline awareness since customers increasingly rely on multiple sources of information to support purchase decisions. While we are certainly less trusting of traditional advertising; features and articles in traditional media are still seen as reliable. Advertising is not dead and, together with general awareness in the media, can help to both build visitor numbers to your website and increase conversion rates.
14. Eliminate errors as there is nothing that will undermine confidence in a site more than technical errors. A customer will be thinking; “If these guys cannot get some basics right, how do they expect me to give them my credit card?”
15. Proof-read all your content and eliminate spelling mistakes – a pet hate of mine that  smacks of lack of attention to detail. Why would I trust you with the bigger things if you can’t get the smaller things right?
16. Use Plain English in all the content on your website and when you contribute on other websites. Legalistic text or complicated terms and conditions will confuse customers and make them wary that you many be trying to hide something.
17. Only ask the questions relevant to the transaction in hand and don’t waste customers’ time asking them questions you may use in the future for marketing purposes. Customers don’t want to waste their time on your marketing and are always wary of providing information that could result in unending amounts of spam.
18. Provide local payment options when you are selling into diverse markets. The payment screen is critical and customers are used to paying in certain ways online. If you don’t provide them with a payment method they are familiar with and trust then they could well go elsewhere.
19. Provide post-sale updates as regularly as is needed. You have secured the sale but where the customer is unclear about delays or gets a sense that all is not right they can still choose to cancel their order. Provide immediate email confirmation and at each point notify customers of the order progress or of any delays.
20. Ask your customers for feedback. This shows them that you care about their experience and will help to build trust for future purchases. Encourage your customers to leave product reviews on your own website or to submit positive (genuine) reviews on third party websites.

I have spoken here at Frank Thinking about how it seems that SMB’s just don’t get it when it comes to Internet marketing and social media. Too much chasing rabbits and too little chasing reality.

Well, I am real happy to say that I am seeing a shift. I am not ready to say that all SMB’s get it because that would not be realistic. I am seeing, however, more businesses that are willing to talk the language of planning as it relates to the Internet. I have talked to many small businesses as of late who understand that SMB’s absolutely need to do their Internet marketing homework before they dive into the online marketing game.

Maybe there is a sense of optimism but I don’t think that is the only factor. I don’t see these SMB’s saying that things are turning around. They are too smart. They don’t believe politicians of any stripe any more. What they do believe is that if something is going to happen it is up to them. I raise my glass to this attitude because this is the only thing that will break the current economic cycle. No promise of money going anywhere will guarantee it lands with any particular business. Instead I think that SMB owners believe that they need to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and get it done. I appreciate that. The free market and sheer determination will beat anything that comes from other sources.

This willingness to invest in research before the tools of Internet marketing also has several common variables such as:

• Fed up with the Yellow Pages – Whether it is online or in print I have not been able to hear one positive story about this option unless it is a testimonial from the YP or IYP providers themselves. What I have heard is that these people are tired of long restrictive contracts and monthly costs in the thousands of dollars for no measurable results. Good for them!

• Realization that Internet marketing is not automatic – These SMB owners are also seasoned enough to know that while Internet marketing (in particular organic search and optimization of local online marketing opportunities like Google Maps) is attractive it is not a “set it and forget process”. It takes work. Now they want to know just what they need to do so they do not throw good money after bad recommendations. They are too smart. Good for them!

• Recognition that social media is daunting – Social media is not rocket science. Social media is not expensive. Social media is, however, extremely time intensive (which carries a dollar cost by the way) and it is the one resource they little extra of.

• Admission that it’s OK to seek help – I am seeing real smart business people admit that their own efforts at Internet marketing, while well intentioned, were misguided. In other words, they don’t have the expertise and they need help. Amen! I call a plumber because I don’t know squat about what they do. I watch them do it and I think “I could have possibly done that” but I quickly realize that it would have taken much longer and it would have likely been done in a sub-standard fashion.

So here’s to the SMB’s that get it. To the one’s who know that their business’ future is in their hands and that they have options. Good options. Options that require some help but that’s fine. I will hopefully share some of their stories with you in the near future. These are stories that need to be heard to encourage others to step away from wasteful marketing practices and move toward the future with confidence, even if it requires some help.

Remind me not to move to Colorado Springs. Or even visit there. Its anti-tax residents have decided to rough it rather than pay for services most of us take for granted.

Streetlights have gone dark. Buses don't run at night or on weekends. Road paving is out. Trash is no longer collected at city parks.

And that's just for starters.

The Denver Post says that city recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools and some museums will close by the end of March. Landscaping at public places, including mowing and watering, will end soon.

Fire and police department jobs will continue to disappear. So will the city's police helicopters. Want to buy one? They're for sale on the Internet.

Cash-strapped Colorado Springs: The reason for all the cuts? The city's growing financial woes.

As is happening everywhere, sales tax collections are down. In a recession, people don't buy as much, which means they don't pay sales taxes. Colorado Springs' 2010 sales-tax collection forecast is almost $22 million less than in 2007.

Meanwhile, the city is facing growing pension and health care costs for city employees. The same problems plagued Vallejo, the first city in California to go bankrupt.

And then there's the electorate.

Last November, Colorado Springs voters soundly defeated a proposal to increase property taxes. Without the higher levy, the city's treasury is out $27.6 million.

That money would have gone toward the city's $212 million general fund budget. But voters apparently don't trust city government to wisely spend a general tax increase.

When a town dies: So now Colorado Spring is dying the death of a thousand budget cuts. Residents soon will have to decide just how much deconstruction of their town they're willing to take.

I understand the frustration. When times are tough, the last thing you want to do with your limited cash is send some of it to the tax collector.

For homeowners, that "enough already with the taxes" position is aggravated (in every sense of the word) when the levy is on a residence that's gone down in value. 

And yes, officials at all levels of government too often make poor fiscal choices that cost us more in taxes than we want or are able to pay.

Back to tougher times: But are we all really ready to essentially go back to the totally on your own days of the Wild West? I'm a native Texan and we take our independence and self-reliance very seriously, but I also appreciate the value of a good community.

What do you think your home will be worth if buyers have to negotiate potholes to get to it?

Or your kids can't play in the overgrown neighborhood park that's become home to rodents who love all the increased ground cover.

And about your kids' education. Their teachers' salaries (as well as school infrastructures) are paid with property tax money. When it dries up, the city will indeed back to the proverbial one-room schoolhouse.

That's a fine romantic vision in a western movie, but not so good to meet today's educational needs.

Time to get real: It's all fine and well to be angry about excessive taxation. But don't think for a minute you can get away with no taxes.

And don't be manipulated by politicians who are more concerned about themselves than about the communities they say they want to serve. The demagoguery is only going to get worse as we near the November elections.

Despite the hysteric cries of the totally no-tax crowd, every tax isn't a weed to be cut indiscriminately to the ground. There are wildflowers among them that benefit everyone.

Both sides need to drop the inflammatory rhetoric and figure out a way to keep Colorado Springs, and other cities across the country in similar straits, from drying up and blowing away. Trust me, that is what will happen.

Eventually folks will leave for a place that yes, collects taxes they don't like paying, but also provides services and a true community that they want and need.

Search engine marketing (SEM) can be a powerful lead generation source, or a complete waste of money. B2B marketers often get less from their SEM programs than possible by overlooking basic but critical steps. Here are some best practices to optimize your results from SEM campaigns:

1. Determine your budget: while there is no hard-and-fast rule for this, there are a number of factors that will affect the size of the budget required to optimize your return from search marketing

• Number of keywords—more keywords means a higher budget.
• Time-of-day and days-of-week display—running a campaign 24/7 will require a higher budget than a business-hours-only campaign.
• Geographic display—a global campaign needs a higher budget than one limited to one or a few countries.
• Search-only or search plus content sites—running a campaign across both search engines and partner content sites requires a higher budget than a campaign focused on search alone.

2. Keyword / Key Phrase Development: look at multiple sources—your existing site content, competitors’ websites, industry trade publications, relevant blogs, and the keyword suggestion tool in Google AdWords—to develop your long list of key word and phrases to use in your SEM campaign. You can afford to go a little overboard here, as you only pay for actual clicks. Key words and phrases that get few impressions or a low conversion rate can be culled later.

3. Divide your keywords / phrases into logical groups: keep the number of groups manageable, but ideally you’ll end up with 30 or fewer keyword search terms per group—60 terms as an absolute maximum.

4. Write your ads. Both Google and Yahoo frown on the use of shorthand (such as “GR8” for “great”), excessive punctuation (FREE!!!) and superlatives (“best,” “leader,” etc.). So, keep your verbiage humble—but compelling. For example, “the affordable option” or the most specific functional benefit you can factually tout.

For headlines, you’ll increase your click-through rate by using variable headlines, where the term the searcher actually used appears as the title of your ad. The syntax for this, on both Google and Yahoo, is {KeyWord: your service} where “keyword” is the term your prospect actually searched on, and “your service” is the default term to use in the ad if the search phrase is too long to serve as an ad headline.

5. Set your campaign parameters—geography, time/day and search/content. Both Google and Yahoo provide campaign settings pages where you specify these various parameters for your campaign.

First, determine your geographic coverage: do you want your ads displayed to a global audience, or just one or a few countries?

Second, set the time and day criteria for your ad display. For global campaigns, time needs to be set for 24-hour display. For localized campaigns, you may want to limit display hours, but set your ranges broadly—few people work 8-5 anymore, and both B2B and B2C prospects may well be searching in the early morning or late evening hours.

Third, decide if you want your ads to display only on the search engines or across their content partner networks as well (this blog is an example of a Google content partner—notice the relevant ads displayed at the top and bottom of this page). Content partner sites tend to deliver lower click-through rates than search, but can still be a valuable part of your campaign. For aggressive campaigns, content sites should definitely be included; for more limited or test campaigns, search alone may be the better setting. If you’re uncertain, start your campaign with search, then expand to the content network once your keywords and messages are optimized. You’ll need to develop different ads for the content network with compelling static headlines to catch the attention of readers who aren’t necessarily seeking your content on network sites as they are on search.

6. Develop your landing pages. Logically, you may want a different landing page for each key term group. It’s amazing how many Google and Yahoo ads (still!) simply send clickers to a site’s home page. Unless your home page is spectacularly well-designed, visitors will wonder, “What am I supposed to do now?” Best practice is to send them to landing page that explains why you are absolutely the best vendor on earth relative to the key term group they came from, and then give them a clear call to action (“contact us for more information;” “download our white paper;” etc.).

7. Consider your “incentive for response.” A commonly used item is a white paper; visitors are far more likely to sign up to download or receive something than to simply fill out a form to get “more information”—from experience, about 10 times more likely. Research reports, webinar registrations, contests, surveys and newsletter signups can also be used as incentives.

8. Implement conversion tracking. Both Google and Yahoo provide conversion tracking code for your landing pages and instructions on how to implement this. Ultimately, the goal of SEM is to produce either leads or sales, not just clicks, so conversion tracking is a critical component of your search marketing campaigns. Without it, you’re just paying for traffic, with no way to measure the ROI of your SEM campaigns.

9. Launch your campaign and analyze the results. Neither Google nor Yahoo provide real-time statistics; there is a lag of several hours in their reporting, so it will take a few days to get a usable picture of what’s happening with your campaign. Analyze results weekly for at least the first six to eight weeks of your program. When analyzing results, look for both which keywords are generating the highest number of clicks as well as the highest conversion rate. Remember the 80/20 rule: 20% of your keywords are likely to generate 80% of your clicks. Start by focusing on improving your results for these high-value keywords, and optimize on less-frequently searched terms later.

10. Optimize your keyword bids. The top three ads displayed get the highest click-through rates (CTR), but are also the most expensive positions. The bottom two ads (positions 7 and get the second-highest CTR. To optimize your budget, bid for the top three position on terms where you get the highest conversion rate (regardless of CTR). For terms with a high CTR but low conversion, bid for the bottom three first page spots (positions 6-8). It’s unlikely that you’ll have terms that generate a lot of clicks with no conversions, but if you do—drop these ASAP, as they are just a waste of your money.

11. Test alternative ad copy. Write at least two different ads that point to the same landing page, then in Google AdWords and Yahoo Sponsored Search, turn on ad optimization so that your more effective ads are being shown more frequently. After 2-3 weeks, check performance; if one ad is clearly generating higher CTR than the other, delete the lower-performing ad and replace it with a new one to test.

12. Test alternative landing pages. Once your ads are optimized (i.e., you have two ads performing about equally well), point each to a different landing page. Test differing types of copy, amounts of copy, contact form / no contact form, and different offers. Test until you have one that clearly outperforms alternatives at converting visitors to leads.

13. Unless your goal is an immediate online sale, implement appropriate lead follow-up programs. “Warm” leads (someone who completes a “contact us for more information” form) can—and are likely expecting to—be followed up with a (relative prompt) phone call from sales. “Cool” leads (e.g., visitors who download a white paper) should be followed up with by email, with phone calls to those who haven’t opted out of your messages after two mailings.

14. Finally, optimize your site for natural search based on your ad search terms that generate the highest number of impressions and best conversion rate. Organic search listings typically generate 3-4 times as many clicks as paid ads, so it’s critical whenever possible to have your website rank highly in natural search results for popular ad terms.

No sense putting more on that pizza, sending more staff to that event, answering the phone in fewer rings... what's the point? No sense being kind, looking people in the eye, being open or welcoming or grateful. Doing the least acceptable amount is the way to maximize short term profit.

Of course, there's a different strategy, a crazy alternative that seems to work: do the most you can do instead of the least.

Radically overdeliver.

Turns out that this is a cheap and effective marketing technique.