Hi, thought I’d do something different today and do a Video Blog (or Vlog as they are called).

Enjoy!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

I now have a Mobile Marketing Channel:

Just text

To:  90210

Message:  successpoint

to subscribe to Trina’s Monday Morning Marketing Tips

Every Moday morning, right to your cellphone, you’ll get a short marketing tip that you can use right away to market your business.  How fun is that?  Subscribe today!

Tweet This Post

WOW! That’s all I could say after I heard the results.  Twelve inquiries and 3 sales of a downloadable e-book from a series of classified ads – that was pretty good for just about three hours of work.  I had almost forgotten completely about classifed ads until I was speaking with a small business owner who uses them regularly — but now I’m beginning to use them for my own business, and helping more clients plug into this little marketing success secret.

Online classified ads are a very simple, but often overlooked, marketing technique to get your business message out.  It is easy, it is inexpensive, and a recent study showed that 47% of all internet users browse at least one classified ad site a week. It takes a little bit of time to register and submit your ad to alot of sites, but if your competitors AREN’T taking full advantage of those potential inquiries, you may want to consider at least testing a few sites to see what happens.  Some of the sites offer a paid submission service and it is my understanding that for a winning ad, it pays to use a submission service.  But don’t do it until you are convinced the ad will pull in response.  No reason to pay to have a non-performing ad mass distributed.

Besides generating sales and inquiries, another great use for classified ads is testing of offers, headlines, and messages.  You’d be better off failing to connect with customers with a classified than with a pay-per-click ad.  Many of the top internet sellers use classified ads merely as a testing ground before they launch a PPC campaign.  Put out several different versions of ads and see which ones garner the most response.  Then keep tweaking the ad until you have the best ad you can make.  Then transfer it to a pay-per-click campaign, and you’ll likely see better response than if you had started with PPC.

As with all online marketing strategies, you need to use target keywords in your ads.  Most classified ad sites are searchable, so make sure you are using words your potential customers are looking for.  And yes, major search engines like Google and Yahoo scan the classified ad sites and will note your backlink. 

Try to grab attention of your readers.  Funny or odd subject lines that cause people to stop and go “Huh?” often work.  I recently stopped and read an ad with the headline “If a frog asked you to go to the movies, would you say Yes?”  It caught my attention at least. 

Here are some of the bigger Free Classified sites that you may want to try:

• http://www.inetgiant.com
• http://www.ecki.com/links/advert.shtml
• http://www.usfreeads.com
• http://www.boconline.com
• http://www.craigslist.com
• http://www.kijiji.com
• http://www.backpage.com
• http://www.sell.com 
• http://classifieds.excite.com
• http://classifieds.yahoo.com

 Each site has their loyal following, so you have to research a little to find out where your product or service would perform the best, but it’s worth trying.

Good luck and let me know if you have had any classified ad success stories.

Here’s to your success,

Trina

P.S.  Special Offer:  I’ll write 5 versions of a classified ad and submit them to all ten of the classified ad sites listed above for only $100.00.  That’s 50 submitted ads.  What’s your time worth?   If you are interested, please email me at Trina@SuccessPointConsulting.com.

Tweet This Post

Ok, I admit it.  I am not an early adopter of all things digital or electronic.  I’ve only been on Facebook for about 9 months, Twitter for less time than that.  I do not own a big-screen TV, nor do I TiVo.   

At my house, not that long ago ...

  Heck, for that matter, I don’t even get HBO or Showtime.  I don’t own an iPod.  I don’t have a “smart” phone or Blackberry.  I resisted getting a phone with a camera for quite a while because I couldn’t imagine walking around taking random photos.  However, now, if anyone asks about my nieces, I can whip out my phone (that is always with me) and show them pictures from the latest cook-out.  And believe it or not, I now often appreciate getting photos emailed to me from friends and family, straight from their phones. 

I also resisted text messaging for quite a while.  I used to get annoyed with certain friends and colleagues who refused to answer their phones and talk, but would respond to a text within seconds.  Now, oddly enough, I find myself being more and more like them.  I am discovering the appeal of text messaging.  (Though I still don’t approve of texting and driving, my dear friends — and you know who you are!)

So when a friend suggested I look at a new mobile marketing company that is about to launch, I was a little skeptical.  But I went, I looked, I listened. And I walked away a believer.  Mobile marketing is going to be big.  I knew that print and direct mail marketing that I did for so many years of my career was becoming less and less effective.  When is the last time you actually used those yellow page books to look up a business?  I don’t get magazines sent to my house anymore, but I still read the headlines and certain articles online.  Just think about all those advertisers that no longer  have access to me.   Not all of them followed where my eyes went.  

I have seen the full potential of websites, blogs, and social media outlets like Facebook, and Twitter, and LinkedIn for business.  I watch in fascination the people who are embracing FourSquare.  And what I see are the people who are really good at marketing, really good at understanding human behavior, and who really know who they are and what their brand represents, are the ones taking advantage.  I think the same is going to be true of mobile marketing.  You have to get your message in front of people — you have to go to where their eyes are.  Why do Super Bowl ads work?  Because of the eyes.

For those companies who have, or want, repeat business, mobile marketing could be a no-brainer.  Restaurants, bars, stores.  Having a slow day?  Text a special offer to everyone who has opted-in previously – ”Unadvertised Special: 20% off all blue jeans until 6 p.m.”   Or “Buy one Get One Free Entrees tonight.”  Any organization with members, like a gym or church, can send out reminders about special events or encouraging words on a regular basis.  And what about the daycare center or school that has to close because of bad weather?  Public speakers and bands can notify their followers of the appearance dates and locations.  The possibilities are endless.  I can’t wait to see what kind of small business success can be generated from the phone.

Those companies who want a competitive advantage, who are willing to be creative and take a chance, and who know their customers and their brand, are going to embrace mobile marketing, quickly.  I think this new company,                     iZigg Mobile Marketing, has got it right.    

Go to where the eyes are, and the eyes are on the cellphone.  It’s coming.  There are some folks doing it now, but not nearly at the scale that it’s going to be.  Remember when companies didn’t put a website or email address on all their marketing materials?  But now, it’s automatic for most.  Soon it’s going to be the mobile marketing short code.

Some of the things I like about iZigg:  1)  It’s the right kind of product at the right time; 2) I think the packages seem pretty competitively priced from what I’ve seen; 3) They seem to have financing, technology, relationships, and leadership that position them ahead of any current players in the market; 4) They have purchased the exclusive rights to short code 90210, which means their branding is going to be recognizable very quickly.  Not only is it memorable for the promoting business, it’s going to be universally associated with iZigg; and 5) They have chosen to take it to market using network marketing, which means that it will grow fast everywhere.  There’s a reason Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump, Warren Buffet, and Richard Branson (all billionaires) have all come out in the past few years and announced that network marketing is the most powerful business model at work in today’s economy.  Because it works.

So, I’m getting involved.  I am going to be encouraging all of my business clients to try it.  I’m going to help them set up campaigns to test it out.  I will have several test accounts available, so if you are interested, please let me know.  Some won’t work, but some will.  And we’ll start learning about this new marketing method.  I’m excited about the possibilities.

If you want more information on iZigg, or if you know anyone who is looking for a network marketing or mobile marketing sales opportunity, just email me at SuccessPointConsulting@hotmail.com and I’ll get you hooked up with more information.

Until next week,  here’s to your success,

Trina 

Tweet This Post

Congratulations!  You’ve now thought about keywords and should be beginning to see the impact they can have on your online success.  But doing the research is only half the puzzle — now you have to use them. 

The first step is to review of your list of potential keywords  and keyword phrases and pick the one or two, but no more than three, of them to target.  You may have a list of 25 potentially dynamite keywords, but you cannot effectively go after all of them at once.  For each keyword or keyword phrase, think about how you would use it in a headline or sentence.  Sometimes keywords pop up that have a decent number of searches and almost no competition — because they are almost impossible to use in regular language.  You can choose to target those — but understand that it will make your job just that much tougher.

Before you do anything else, pull up a Google search box and type in the keywords or keyword phrases you have chosen.  Make note of the top ten results.  You want to be one of them within the next 60 to 90 days (or sooner).

Now get to work on your copy.  If you have a traditional website, ideally, all three keywords will appear on your website’s home page:  include all of your keywords at the top of the page; put at least one keyword or phrase in a headline or a subhead; at least one or possibly even two of your keywords or phrases should be in the first paragraph of the page; and make sure you add at least one in the last paragraph of the page.  If you can make the targeted phrase a logical hyperlink to another page in your site, Google will give you bonus points in your search rankings.  Note:  Make sure your keywords are in text, not artwork.  If your headlines and subheads are graphics and not text, Google may ignore them.

Make sure you include one, two, or all three of your targeted keywords in your page’s title and meta description and of course, include them in your web headers as meta keywords.  You can target different keywords on different pages of your website if each page is indexed separately.  That may be a little advanced for a basic website, but it’s something to keep in mind.

If you are using a WordPress or other blog format as your platform instead of a traditional website, you will want to make sure that each post has one or two keywords in it and that your targeted keywords are included as Categories and Post Tags.   If you have added an SEO plug-in for your WordPress blog, make sure you include your targeted keywords in your Title and Meta Description.

But don’t stop with your website or blog.  Now go into every directory your site has been listed in and re-write the description to include your keywords.  Pull up your profiles in LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook and add your keywords.  Begin a concentrated, targeted online campaign emphasizing those keywords.  Try to use those targeted keywords in your Twitter updates, on your Facebook wall, in articles submitted to article directories, and in press releases.  Add your website or blog to different social bookmarking sites and include your keywords in your profiles.

Finally, set up Google alerts to track your keywords or keyword phrases.  As you start to use the phrases more and more, you should start to see your site or marketing efforts pop up.  This will give you an idea of where Google is recognizing the phrase and you can adjust your copy or marketing efforts accordingly.

Give it a shot.  I would love to hear your success stories in a couple months.

Here’s to your success,

Trina

P.S.  SPECIAL OFFER:  

  GET A WEBSITE ANALYSIS AND CUSTOM ACTION PLAN — TODAY!

 Finally, a customized report that actually gives you what you need — real, solid, ACTIONABLE recommendations that you can implement IMMEDIATELY and start to see improvement in your page rank, search engine results, and traffic.

We produce a different kind of website analysis report, one that’s actually relevant to your goals. Most SEO analysis reports are canned. They use stock software to ”analyze” your website based on computer driven formulas, or even worse- copy and paste information from a grab-bag of resources. They produce results that have been predefined and offer nothing more than useless information.  Heck, a lot of them don’t even really look at your website.  They plug your URL into a software package and take what gets spit out and hand it to you, expecting it to make a difference.  Their reports might as well land in the trash for all the good they do.

Unlike the competition, we actually go on your site, read the content and check all the links.  Sure, we’ll run a software program or two to get us some baseline information from Google, but the meat of our report is a result of over 20 years of sales and marketing experience, including the last 5 years heavily invested in learning SEO and online marketing strategies.  We give you an ACTION PLAN of steps   you can implement right away to improve your website’s performance.  Not listed in enough directories?  We’ll give you a list.  Not utilizing social media effectively?  We’ll get you specific suggestions on how to improve.  Don’t know what to say in a forum?  We’ll provide you with a suggested topic list, as well as suggestions on what forums and how often you should participate.  Every website and market is different, and every Action Plan should be, too.

Satisfaction is completely guaranteed. If you don’t see results in 60 days after implementing our suggested changes in your Action Plan, we will refund your $179 investment. We produce results, or our services are on the house.  Our ACTION PLANS are effective. We guarantee it.

Order Today!

Website Analysis & Action Plan $179.00

URL to Analyze

Tweet This Post

SPEED NETWORKING IS NEXT WEEK.  RSVP at http://gemstonebiz.org today!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

I had the privilege of presenting with Andrew Catapano of mywebWOW!com this morning at the Short North Business Association’s Educational Seminar series.  We had a small but engaged crowd.  They had lots of good questions.

I was going over the four Cs of successful online marketing – Content, Conversation, Community, and Commerce, but what is apparently burning in everyone’s minds is Twitter.  And more specifically, they were hungry for a nitty-gritty take-me-by-the-hand-and-show-me-a-strategy session on Twitter.  Well, I wasn’t quite prepared for that much detail but I’ve thought about their questions today and maybe this will give others struggling with those same issue some ideas.

So, in response to Joe Spinelli of Spinelli’s Deli, who very bluntly said a) I don’t know what to tweet about; and 2) just tweeting about sandwiches and the specials of the day is boring;

here are some possible Twitter campaign ideas.

1)       At the restaurant, have a laptop computer set up and encourage patrons to go over and tweet about coming in for lunch/dinner.  Make sure they mention your @Twittername.  Every 20^th Tweet mention (or 50^th or whatever number feels right for your crowd) gets a Free Dessert, or free cup of coffee, or free appetizer – some type of reward.  Promote it on Twitter (but not on Facebook or LinkedIn – make it a Twitter exclusive).  Have signs in your restaurant window.  Have the wait staff encourage Tweets.  As they are leaving, ask if they would Tweet about their good experience.  Someone would have to be checking Hootsuite or other application regularly to count the number of mentions, but it’s an easy type of campaign to measure.  Then, announce every winner with a Tweet that mentions their @Twittername.  Do this once a week.  The more you do it, the more reaction you will get.

2)      At the art gallery, promote an “Artist Answers Questions” event where the Artist responds to questions that have been sent in via Twitter.  Again, have a computer on hand so anyone who is in the gallery live still has to submit their question via Twitter to get it answered.  Promote it on Twitter to your community and to the Artist’s community and to any art-related groups for 10 days to two weeks prior to the event.  Start collecting the questions.  At the end of the event, send Tweets thanking everyone who participated and mentioning their @Twittername.  Maybe award virtual prizes for “best question” “funniest question” or “best stumper question.”

3)      For any kind of business, offer a discount or reward to anyone who calls the office or comes into the store and asks for “Larry.”  Only promote it on Twitter.  It could be anything of value.  Maybe a 25% discount for mentioning “Larry.”  They have to spend money to get the discount, so that’s good.  Or a $10 Visa gift card.  They have to give you their name, address, and email address in order to claim their prize.  That’s good, too.  And then, of course, you would send Tweets announcing everyone who “earned” a prize.   For a twist, maybe announce on Twitter that everyone who appears at X location at 6:00 p.m. with a nametag on that says “Larry” will be entered into a drawing for $200.  Do this for a week to 10 days and see what kind of reaction you get. 

4)      Choose a charity, like Operation Feed or the MDA Walk/Run, or Race for a Cure.  Send Tweets encouraging your followers to come to your location to drop off food, or sign up to sponsor a racer.  Offer a Buy One Meal/Get One Meal Free with every donation of 5 cans.  Again, every time someone drops off a can or signs up as a sponsor, mention them in a Tweet.  Make it a Twitter exclusive campaign and see what happens.  Do a different charity every quarter, or maybe even every month.

5)      Have a “We Love our Customers” Tweet day.  Promote that you are going to thank all your customers starting at 9:00 a.m. on X day.  Get as many of your customer’s @Twitternames as you can and on the appointed day, send out Tweets praising and thanking your customers for their business.  Send the Thank You Tweets continuously for 24 hours. Track how many times those Tweets get retweeted.  Wouldn’t you want to do business with a company that publicly thanked its customers?   Other people will want to, too. Do this once a quarter. 

These are just ideas that came to me this afternoon.  Depending on your target audience, there are so many creative, imaginative ways you can a) use Twitter Content to b) create Conversation to c) encourage your Community to d) increase your Commerce (the 4 Cs of social media success).

I would love to hear about your Twitter campaign ideas or stories about Twitter campaigns that worked or ones that flopped.  Leave your comments below.

Here’s to your success,

Trina

P.S.  It’s not exactly the same presentation, but I’ll be speaking on a similar topic at next week’s Abundance Marketing Series.  I’m going to be reviewing strategies on how to better manage your online content (hhmm, let me see, could one of those strategies be to hire me to write your blog, articles and press releases?).  I’d love to see you there.

RSVP at http://abundancemarketingpro.eventbrite.com

Tweet This Post

Like it or not, if you want your small business to be successful online, you need to have an understanding of Search Engine Optimization and you need to take steps to get listed in the organic search results of the major search engines, especially Google, Yahoo, and Bing. 

One of the ways you get noticed by the search engines is to develop backlinks. Backlinks are exactly what they sound like — they are links which directs others towards your site; they are also often referred to as inbound links (IBL’s). In the world of search engine optimization, the number of backlinks your site has is an indication of how popular or important it is according to your peers (other site owners). These are especially important because search engines such as Google will give more credit to those sites with a good number of quality backlinks. So they will then consider these sites more relevant than others in the results pages of a search query and will show your site higher on in the rankings.

Most search engines will want websites to have a level playing field, and so will more often than not look for natural links that have been built slowly over time. Although it can be fairly easy to manipulate the links on a web page in order to achieve a higher ranking in the short term, it is a lot harder to influence a search engine with external backlinks from another site. This is why these count so highly in a search engine’s algorithm.

One of the best ways to achieve quality backlinks to your site in a fairly short time is Directory Submissions.  Why don’t more small business owners do this?  I know it may have been some years ago, but you actually had to buy an ad to be listed in the  yellow pages, or at least buy a telephone line.  It’s no different online.  You actually have to DO something to be listed in a directory.

 It takes time, it takes effort, but it gets results. Believe it or not, you actually have to submit the link for your site to directories in order to be listed. Many directories allow free submissions. There are dozens more that want you to pay for the privilege of being listed. If you can afford it, DO IT. There are many sites around which offer a service where you can submit your site details to numerous sites. Do a search, you’ll find them. In some industries (like legal, for instance) there are well over 2,000 potential directories your business can be listed in. Every one of those listings then becomes a backlink.

But another benefit of submitting to directories, in addition to creating backlinks, is getting a boost in traffic. Imagine, some people actually use directories that they know to search for businesses instead of just Google search. The key to getting a traffic boost from directories is to actually write out a good description of your product or service and use your targeted keywords. I know, it begins to sound like a broken record, but if you use the same targeted keywords on your site, in your LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook posts and profiles, in articles that link back to your site, and also in business directories, you will start to become associated with those keywords in the eyes of the search engines. You will start to rank higher and be seen as more relevant. Isn’t that what you want?

I almost feel like the directories I tell clients to submit their site to are a closely guarded secret, but they really aren’t. This isn’t my complete list, but here are some ideas to get you started. You should make sure your business is listed in: Local.Yahoo.com, Google.com/maps, MerchantCircle.com, Brownbook.net, Cityslick.net and if you can afford it, PR.com.

There, now don’t tell me I’m not helping to make you successful online. I don’t get paid to advertise these directories (though occasionally clients pay me to help them listed on all of them ). But because you are friends of mine, I feel like I need to at least give you a hint.

Here’s to your success,

Trina

P.S.  We’re only 10 days away from the How to WOW! Now Seminar.  Have you registered yet?  HowtoWOWnow.eventbrite.com

There’s now a discount for friends of mywebWOW!com, which I would be glad to share.  Just let me know that you are going to attend and I’ll get you a discount code for 50% off the ticket price.  What are friends for?

Tweet This Post

As a small business consultant dedicated to helping my clients succeed, I am always on the lookout for resources.    One of the places I always turn to are online forums.   I was looking for a source of photos or art for blogs, Squidoo lenses and other uses, and went to the Work-at-Home forum (http://www.work-at-home-forum.com).  A lot of people there seem to be using Photobucket.com instead of Google Images.  So I checked it out.

I spent WAY too much time last night browsing. Any photo that made me laugh out loud, I downloaded. Any photo that I thought could be used in other contexts, I downloaded. I now have a catalog of about 85 photos and images, like the one to the right here, ready to be uploaded whenever I need them.  And since they are submitted to the site by users who agree to share, I don’t have to worry about copyright infringement when I use them.  Nice.

I surf forums all the time.  I think I belong to something like 34 of them at last count, in several different industries.  I still look at some of the legal discussions from time to time, but I spend a lot more of my time these days on the work-at-home, working mothers, small office/home office forums.  I find they are great places to find out information about what’s new and happening.  You also get a sense of what the issues are and can craft a stronger marketing message to those particular audiences.  The tips and techniques that get shared are incredible.  Who needs to buy an ebook?  Someone out there will tell you what they’ve learned, and if you don’t see it readily available, just ask and someone will answer.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

WAIT!  I have to interrupt this blog for an

SPEED NETWORKING is scheduled for May 18, 2010, at The Meeting Place.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Anymore, I never buy a new piece of software or advise a client to use any online service without first browsing a couple forums to see what the positive and negative reports are.  The Warrior Forum is a great place for all things internet-marketing related.  If it doesn’t work, if the provider promises a money-back guarantee and they don’t honor it, if their upsells are too aggressive, you’ll find it discussed.  Or, if the product exceeds everyone’s expectations and they get 20 ideas on how to grow their business, you’ll see that discussion, too.

I’m using the forums mostly for information gathering, not to sell my services per se, which is good because most forums frown on blatant selling.  But I do get business.  It’s just a more subtle approach.  I answer a lot of questions and try to give people honest answers.  I refer them to my blog, or to other resources I know about.  In return, I get inquiries from people who want to know more about me.  Those inquiries often lead to connections on LinkedIn or Facebook, and new followers on Twitter.  Sometimes, those inquiries lead to sales of my content-writing packages or consulting services.

And don’t forget that other nugget that comes from being involved in forums, especially the more active ones — that precious backlink to your site that Google loves for search engine optimization purposes.  If you write your forum profile using your targeted keywords, and your “about you” box has the link to your website or blog, Google will find you and give you credit in the page rankings and search results.  Win-win for everyone.

Depending on the target audience, I encourage clients to get involved in one or two forums, in addition to LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.  If you are active on the forum, you will develop a following and start to be recognized as a expert.  That’s not a bad thing.  But sometimes, you don’t need to be active.  Just sign up, go out and observe.  Read the discussions.  See what resources people like.  See what they don’t care for.  There is a wealth of informatioon about your potential customers out there just waiting to be discovered.

For my list of favorite forums, email me at SuccessPointConsulting@hotmail.com.  Please put “Favorite forums” in the subject line.

Here’s to your success,

Trina

P.S.  We’re only 3 weeks away from the How to WOW! Now seminar.  Seating is limited, so reserve your spot NOW.  RSVP to http://howtowownow.eventbrite.com.

P.S.S.  My good friend, Heather Tapia, is running a series of classes entitled “Why2How2 Abundance Marketing” starting Monday, April 26.  Get more information and sign up at http://abundancemarketingpro.eventbrite.com

Tweet This Post

Okay.  First things first.  You ARE getting Google Alerts every time your small business is mentioned on the web, aren’t you?  If you’re not, get with it.    It is an awesome tool that can make increasing the online visibility of your small business online so much easier.  (Side note: I’m talking about the real Google.com/alert, not the commercial googlealert.com.  I don’t know the commercial version, only the free Google service.) Basically, you ask Google to troll the web for you, looking for specific keywords or your company name.  Every time a Google bot finds what you requested, it captures the page and sends it to you.  You can choose to have it sent “as it happens,” which means immediately upon the bot finding it, once a day, or weekly.  Your own site isn’t included in the results, nor are Tweets or Facebook mentions at this time, but those will be coming soon. 

Google Alerts are great for finding out when you are mentioned on someone else’s blog, or in an article, or in an Answer in LinkedIn.  If you are submitting press releases to dozens of press release services, Google Alerts can give you exactly which services are distributing your releases, and which aren’t.  You’ll know what sites are promoting you.  It’s the easiest way to create a file of your online press clippings I’ve found.  It’s also a great tool for monitoring who is talking about your competitors, what blogs are actively talking about your areas of interest, and catching any negative reviews or bad-mouthing before it goes viral.

But what I have found with many small business owners that I consult with is that they set up Google Alerts, they get the email from Google every day or every week, they open it up, say, “Oh goody, my press release was published,” and go on with their day.

Wrong.

You got the information, now DO SOMETHING with it.  For instance, if a press release about your small business’ upcoming event was published by one of the online news agencies, go to the site, capture the URL, and send a tweet announcing you’ve been mentioned.  Don’t stop there.  Submit the URL to Digg, Redd It, StumbleUpon, and every other social bookmarking site you participate in.  Go to a couple forums and say, “Hey, PRNews just published our press release.”  Update your wall on Facebook, submit a little news items to each of your LinkedIn groups.   

I suggested this plan of action to a client and she responded with “Why should I promote their blog?  Aren’t I just sending traffic to them instead of to me?”  I had to pause for a second.  But really, why wouldn’t I want to promote a blog that is talking about my business?  Sure, I’m making an effort to make that blog successful, but I think that’s OK.  If that site publishes a mention about your small business, and their site viewership increases, what are the chances they will be interested in publishing the next release you send, or mentioning your small business again?  Pretty good, I’d say.

But Google Alerts can be used for so much more.  For instance, if you are a graphic designer looking for a new project, you can set up a Google Alert to look for “graphic designer wanted.”  You’ll get an Alert that has combed through Monster, Careerbuilder, Elance, GoBig, and other sites and condensed it down to a daily digest of potential projects.  so much easier and more convenient that going through each site separately.  It can work for just about any job or project search.  I’ve used it to identify companies who are actively looking for an online marketing consultant. 

Think about the topics you want to know about on a regular basis and create an Alert.  You’ll be amazed at how much information you get so easily.  I have found in my small business consulting practice that my topic research for certain clients has been cut to almost nothing because Google is doing it for me and delivering it right to my inbox.  It’s like having an intern doing your research and just presenting you with a summary of the latest news.  How cool is that?

I’m curious about how you use Google Alerts.  Please leave your comments below.

And as always, if I can help you create an online or offline marketing plan or help you get your business growing and moving toward your success point, please call me at (614) 753-5979 or email me at SuccessPointConsulting@hotmail.com.  I would be honored to help.

Here’s to your success,

Trina

Tweet This Post

Okay, okay, yes, I admit it.  I have been slow in getting on the Facebook bandwagon, but with small business clients and friends seeing FANTABULOUS results, I’ve been forced to take another look.   

And I’m here to tell you — Facebook advertising is the real deal.  You can target demographically and geographically, it’s cheaper than Google, there’s less competition, and small business owners are seeing results.  I just ran a little ad myself — I had a simple landing page offering a FREE Report and asked the respondents to fill out a short survey about their current online marketing activities – and got 6 very high-quality business leads in about 36 hours, for less than $100 ($82 to be exact).  I’m excited.

Facebook Ads provide two ways to advertise on the pages of Facebook. You can create an ad campaign that links to a landing page within your Web site, or you can advertise something on Facebook, such as your new Business Page or an application you have developed. You can also employ a Social ad. This shows your image and text alongside the social action you take on Facebook pages.

The targeting available for Facebook Ads is awesome.  You can choose  the location, gender, interests, relationship status and other demographics of your target audience.  For my test, I chose to target women, in Ohio, who were business owners and involved with service professions, like attorneys, accountants, insurance sales, etc.  And sure enough, every response I got was from a woman, from Ohio, and all but one is in an industry I was targeting.  And my guess once I dig a little deeper into her background, I bet I find she is or was connected somehow to a law firm.

In creating a Facebook Ad campaign you will need to decide which type of ad you want to run and provide the link the ad will lead visitors to.  The link does not appear in the ad — it’s behind the scenes.  The entire ad is a hotlink to the URL you select.  The ad title is restricted to 25 characters while the  text (body) must fit in 135 characters. If you choose to include a photo (which I recommend), it needs to be 110 by 80 pixels.  And like any good ad test, you should run at least 2 versions, if not 3 or 4 versions, to make sure you are getting the absolutely best response rate you can.

Very similar to the Google model, Facebook Ads can be run on a Pay for Clicks (CPC) or Pay for Views (CPM) model. During the ad creation process, you set your daily ad budget and the maximum bid, which is the most you are willing to pay per click. CPC ads are displayed in Facebook’s Ad Space, Home Page (or both), while CPM ads are shown only in the Ad Space. Facebook selects the best ad to run based on the cost per click or impression and ad performance.

After creating the ads you want to run, Facebook will approve your ads for use and suggest a max bid if you have bid too low.  This seems to take anywhere from 4 hours to 24 hours, which is very comparable to Google.  Through your Ad Management Page, Facebook provides ad data so you can track your progress, change the audience, or adjust other metrics as the campaign progresses.

And here’s a little tip for the day (you’ll never be able to say I didn’t help you out after this) — do a search for FREE Facebook Ad Credits and you’ll find several companies out there willing to give you $50 to $100 in Facebook advertising credits.  I did it — I took a $50 credit to test with — so my $82 campaign only cost $32 — and it would have only cost me $0 if I had shut it down a little earlier.

So go ahead, try it.  You just might find a new PPC platform that really performs for your small business.  If you need help coming up with a strong headline or ad copy, just ask me.  I’ll give you three or four versions for you to test for a very reasonable $80.00 — I’ll even do the set-up for you, if you want.  Call me at (614) 753-5979 or email me at SuccessPointConsulting@hotmail.com and I’ll do what I can to help you succeed.

Here’s to your success,

Trina

P.S.  Plans for Speed Networking at being finalized.  May 18 is the target.  Stay tuned!

P.P.S.  If you’re in the Columbus Ohio area, make plans to attend the How to WOW! Now seminar on April 29, 2010.  Local celebs like Gabe Speigel, Ryan Bauer, Bruce Heinemann, Shelley Moore, and Andrew Catapano are going to talk through the process of going from having a dream about owning a business to starting a business and then promoting your business online.  A portion of the proceeds from the night is going directly to Junior Achievement.  Make your plans now — it WILL sell out.

Tweet This Post

We lost an hour this weekend because of the switch to Daylight Savings Time.  If you are like many small business owners, you need more hours every day, not less. 

Here are a couple ideas on how to get that hour back and build a more successful small business while doing so.

1)  Learn to use the tools and systems you have to their full capacity.  Whether it’s Word or Excel, or HootSuite, so many small business owners could save themselves so much time and effort if they would just take the time to learn how to completely utilize the tools and systems they already have.  I am constantly amazed when I talk with small business owners who have trouble keeping track of appointments, deadlines, and heavens! billing, and yet they have the software that could make it a breeze.  They just don’t know how to use it, or they don’t know what is available.  

One such tool is Microsoft Outlook. It is so much more than an email management system (though it’s good for that).  My good friend, Bob Cich, of Priority Management will actually come to your office and train you and your staff on how to use all the bells and whistles of Microsoft Outlook.  How awesome is that? 

2)  Another area of Bob’s expertise is organization.  He does a seminar titled  “Organize or Agonize” which basically says it all.  Spend the time to get organized today and you’ll save that lost hour over the next few weeks just by being able to access your resources quicker.

3)  Make a list of all the tasks you should perform weekly and daily and SCHEDULE them on a calendar.  I can’t stress enough how important it is to actually schedule time — and stick to your schedule.  But WAIT — before you put them on your calendar, take one more step:  Sort these tasks into “like” activities.  For instance, in my business, I typically have these weekly tasks:  client writing, client research, client promotions, client consultations, new client prospecting, online business promotion, telephone calls, new business development, business writing.   When I sort them, I have the following activities: research, writing, telephone calls, promotions, and prospecting.

When I first take on a new small business consulting client, I create a list of all the tasks I plan to complete for that client.  I used to schedule my work based on each client.  For instance, for many clients I have to conduct research into a client’s product or service and then write blog posts or articles to support their business.  I also need to promote their business by creating listings in directories, posting comments in forums, sending Tweets and such.  I also help them with offline promotions, so I sometimes design flyers or brochures for them.   I used to pull out my client task list and do all of that day’s tasks for that client, then go to the next client and do that day’s tasks.  What I discovered was that I was doing the same activities over and over again.

I had a productivity break-through when I switched from client-based to activity-based scheduling.  I can get two or three times more work done in the same amount of time by focusing on the “activity,” not the client.  For instance, I will now block out a couple of hours to do nothing but research.  I will do research for all of my clients at once, not just one.  While I’m researching, I’m not checking my email, I’m not randomly surfing the web.  I’m focused on finding information and downloading or saving it for reference later.  After the research is done, I’ll schedule a block of time dedicated to writing the blogs and articles.  During my writing blocks, I don’t chat with friends on Facebook, I don’t make or answer phone calls.  If I have done my research thoroughly, I have no reason to go online until my writing is done.  For me, when I’m on a roll, I can write fast and furious and if the research is already done, I can zip through client work.   

Activity-based scheduling has been proven to be one of the most efficient methods to increase your productivity. I highly suggest you try it.  You may be amazed at how much more work you can get done in  day.

Sometimes, fresh eyes can see where you are wasting time.  I recently met with a gentleman who was complaining about not having enough hours in a day to get everything done, yet during our one-hour conversation, he pulled out his iphone and texted at least 3 people.  Not only was it rude, but it was telling me exactly why he’s not efficient.  If that’s you, you may want to consider only checking messages once an hour, not every 5 minutes. If you need someone to help you organize your tasks and suggest some tools and processes that could make you more efficient, let me know.  I would be glad to help.

As always,  here’s to your success,

Trina

Tweet This Post