Websites People Read

What Kind of Content Should You Add to Your Site?

I'm preparing for a speech I'll give tomorrow entitled "30 Marketing Tips in 30 Minutes."  As part of the list I have several items that can be categorized under the title "becoming known as an expert."

We all have some niche of expertise within our industry, but how many know what that is?  How many people say "gee you need to call so-in-so, they are the best when it comes to "x."  You want that person to be you! 

So how do you begin to make that happen.  As with anything marketing or branding related nowadays, the first answer that comes to mind is a blog.  Today the writer at SEOmaha, talks about useful website content and he focused on the importance of a blog.

Write what you know - tips and techniques, nightmare stories, best practices, great books you've read, plans for success.  With a regular blog posting you create traffic to your blog, a fan base of readers who look forward to your comments and you foster the reputation of being an expert in your field. 

What kind of website content should you add?  Content that adds value, teaches, shares an opinion and also content that gets people talking and participating.  The great thing about the blog is the opportunity to join in the conversation.

Start to brand yourself as an expert in your field with a blog.  Need help? 

Take Your Kid to Work Day

Today has been Nationally recognized Take your Kid to Work Day.  As the owner of a home based, one-person operation, I was surprised when my eleven year old daughter expressed interest in spending the day with me.  Afterall, she has witnessed countless hours in the evening and on the weekends when I'm glued to the computer writing, researching and editing.  Other than a day off school, what could I possible teach her?

The more thought I gave the idea, the more I liked the opportunity of spending the day together and so the planning began.  She already handles logging my receipts and keeping up with my filing - the operational aspects of the business - but today I decided to show her some of the other components. 

We started the day by prioritizing the "To Do" list and then taking a walk for fresh air, exercise and to get the creative juices flowing.

Then we met with a printer - took a tour of the shop, learned about "dots per inch," selected paper for a printing project and learned about the bidding process.

Lunch was with a graphic designer that I have partnered with on a company newsletter.  The three of us also brain stormed an upcoming business expo and what materials I might have at my booth.

This afternoon we've spent with follow-up thank you emails to all of the attendess at a speech I gave. 

She's been very helpful with her ideas and suggestions and spelling corrections.  But what has the experience meant to her?

Em, what did you think today was going to be like?

I thought it was going to be just any other "take your kid to work day."  Your parent takes you to work and you watch a movie in the basement or have some punch and watch them write.  But in this business I got to go to a printer and have lunch with a graphic designer and then help write this blog.

What was the hardest or most boring thing you had to do today?

Walking was probably the easiest.  There wasn't really anything that was hard. Nothing about your business is boring.  Maybe I think that because my favorite subject in school is English.

What was the most interesting?

Most interesting was probably going to the printer and seeing all the machines print out paper of all different sorts.  Plus getting a free pad of paper along with it.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A fashion designer.

Was there anything you learned today that would help you being a fashion designer?

The importance of saying thank you to those who have come to one of my possible fashion shows and how to create a thank you letter.

Did you miss school?

Yes, no, I don't know - my feelings are in between yes and no.

Are you glad you came to work today?

Yes, very!

Me too!

Did you take your kid to work today?  Who learned from whom?

NAWBO Recognizes Top 10 Business Women

This past week I had the opportunity to attend the annual awards dinner sponsored by NAWBO.

I went because a friend, colleague and fellow chamber member, Robin Penca of Penca Creative Designs was one of the honored 10 top business women.  I also went because I look forward to hearing the stories of the honorees.  Inevitably among the list of thank-yous (because no one gets there alone) they'll share tidbits of how they define success.

"What does it take to be successful?" asked Lori DeVore or DeVore Technologies.  "A Nordstroms credit card and a great banker."  She attributed her success to the relationship she had with her financial planner to set the foundation for her growth.

She also advised that we focus on the SOLUTION rather than the problem.  When I worked at Pearle Vision I would start each committee meeting with "if you will be sharing a problem, please come prepared with your suggestions for fixing the problem."  It stops the whining and starts the turn around to success.

Rose Corrick of Art of Cloth clothing designer started her business by literally selling the shirt off her back.  A woman admired her top - refused to wait for one to be made for her causing Rose to actually take off her top and sell it to the woman.  "Thank goodness for layering," she quipped.  But the real message is - you have to be ready to make bold moves to grow your business and be willing to do whatever it takes to meet your customer's needs.

Cindy Mustafa of Realty One said that "I don't sell real estate, I sell the dream of the home."  So often when we are asked what we do we respond with our title or a feature rather than the end result.  She went on to talk about the importance of listening and changing your communication styles based on the person you are working with.

Robin has made made changes in her business over the last several years based on customer needs starting with firing her biggest client.  That bold move led her to redefine her business with the result being a 700% growth in sales.  Makes you want to take her to lunch and pick her brain, doesn't it?  She says "The true measure of success is laugh lines."

Robin lives her life by the George Bailey method.  You remember George from It's A Wonderful Life.  She strives to ensure that she makes a difference in people's lives so that their life/work/products are better because she helped make it that way. 

The key note speaker and recipient of the Tower Award was Colleen Barrett, president of Southwest Airlines.  A down-to-earth, tell it like it is, leader - she believes in every associate of SW having three things:

1.  A warrior's spirit

2.  A servant's heart

3.  A fun loving attitude

"We spend more time on hiring decisions than any other company out there."  With just a 2 year legal secretary certificate as her formal education, she has worked to grow SW Airlines to be the fun, successful, quality experience, customer focused company that it is.  She was very inspiring and I could have listened to her all night long.

Each woman came to the podium with a different story but the bottom line ingredient for their success was a dream - a passion and determination for achieving their goal, a team that supported and encouraged them and a willingness to keep at it no matter what came their way.

If someone were to ask you the same question, what would your answer be? 

How do you define success?  Where are you on the journey to achieving your goal? 

For a complete list of Nawbo Top 10 Business Women winners.

Where No Computer Has Gone Before: Camping

I work all day on a computer.  At night I use my computer to research and write my novel.  I love working on my computer, surfing the web and being connected to the global community.  But there are sometimes when a computer just isn't needed.

I started tent camping as a young girl.  I love the opportunity to get away from it all and rough it.  And I do mean "rough it."  But this past week I learned that a whole new batch of campgrounds have added Wifi and all campgrounds are expected to have "hot spots" in the next three years.

Camping and computers?  Am I the only one who sees a disconnect?  You go camping to get back to nature; fishing, canoeing, sleeping in a tent, campfires, S'mores.  Where does Excel and Facebook and Quickbooks fit into this calm, relaxing picture.

Weigh in here:  is there a place for computers when camping or should that be the one place where you unplug and actually experience real life instead of a virtual one with mosquito's?

Blogger Appreciation Day

Thanks to Chris Brown for letting me know that today is "Blogger Appreciation Day."  She is my inspiration!

I'd like to shout out to those I enjoy reading and who inspire me:

Bob Bly - as the guru of freelance writing, he keeps us thinking about our craft and asks great thought provoking questions. 

Scott Ginsberg whose ability to create a list surrounding a topic never ceases to amaze me and whose blog ending questions get me to think: am I being the best I can be and what I do?

Daniel Sitter whose positive approach to the selling process inspires me to keep the faith and continually pick up the phone to grow my business.

Anita Campbell and her crew of experts at Small Biz Trends who raise the bar on bringing insights, resources and an eceletic information critical to small business to the table.  She is who I aspire to be.

And Ivana Taylor from Strategy Stew whose positive and realistsic approach to customer relationships is a great inspiration.

Who do you admire and appreciate in the blogosphere?  Give them a nod today.

 

Measure the ROI on Marketing Campaigns

I've been asked to give a speech at an upcoming business expo entitled 30 Marketing Tips in 30 Minutes.  As I began to write the speech today I sought additional tools and resources to add to the handout.

With any marketing effort one of the key tips is to evaluate the effectiveness of your campaign.  In other words - did I make money or loose money on that last marketing program.  Whether it is a direct mail post card, pay per click ads or the effectiveness of an online marketing campaign, you need to determine whether or not it was financially worth your while.

I discovered a marketing calculator that easily determines potential ROI before you commit the dollars.  It requires you speculate a little but isn't that what you do every day of your business.  The calculator takes the following information:

• # of pieces
• cost of marketing effort
• expected number of responses
• expected number of those you will close
• profit on the product you'll sell

Using that information it will tell you the expected ROI.  I have a bunch of $.41 stamps (not the "forever" kind) that I need to get rid of before May 16 when the price goes up again.  So I've been tossing around the idea of using them to send a note out to a select group of prospects.  Using the information from the calculator I can plug in the estimated numbers and play around with it until I discover what combination will bring me a positive return on my investment. 

I believe that your marketing message should just focus on one thing - that being said, which of my services would appeal to the largest audience and bring me the best ROI?  Using the calculator I was able to see which message, based on the profit margin of the service, would be the best.

It's a fun tool to use - there are a lot of "guesses" and so it isn't a hard and fast tool to use BEFORE the marketing campaign but it will give you an idea of the calculated risk.

Used AFTER the event is completed, the marketing calculator will quickly let you know if that is something you want to do again.  Don't rely on "gut feel."  Check the facts.  Marketing dollars are too precious to do anything less.

Do You Have to DO To Successfully Sell?

  I have a question.  Is the old adage true "do as I say, not as I do?"

I have recently come across professionals in the web development/web marketing field that "talk the talk" but don't "walk the walk."  If you were to visit their sites, you wouldn't find evidence of what they recommend to their customers happening on their own site.

I'm reminded of the children's story of the shoemaker whose children were barefoot because he was too busy to make his kids shoes.  I once attended a party where I met a woman whose husband was a carpenter.  He was famous for the beautiful furniture and cabinets he crafted and yet his wife had been waiting years for him to make something for their home.

Is it okay for a developer to talk about the importance of optimizing your site but when you visit theirs you find no sign of meta tags or descriptors and the photos are missing alt tags and the title tag for their home page is...wait for it...."home page."

How important is it for you to take time putting in place for your own business, the elements your recommend for your customers?

And should customers expect to see you providing the example? 

I say yes.  I say - if a marketing expert suggests that you have a monthly newsletter to reach your customers then they had better be setting the example with one of their own.  If a developer talks about the importance of

Meta tags and descriptors, then if I look at the source code for their site I'll see a whole list. 

Am I wrong?  If you are getting ready to hire someone to provide a service for your business; i.e. marketing, writing, web development - do you expect that they do the same for their own business?

Photo courtesy of Questioning

Content Pilfering?

I have a Google Alert set up for several phrases; my name, my company name and a few industry terms.  Each day I receive an email or multiple emails with the latest on the web with my phrases of choice. 

Last week I received an alert that my company name had been used on a website so I clicked to explore what was being said. 

What I found was a mess.  Someone - can't tell you who because the site doesn't have a name and WhoIs was no help - had taken snip-its of articles that I'd posted on line and used them jumbled together at random.  The paragraphs made no sense and the links only went within the site, not back to my complete articles or my website. 

As I searched further I discovered several pages in which copies of my articles had been taken out of context and mixed with other random sentences to complete a blog post that made no sense.  I knew they were my words because the phrases reprinted were from distinct stories that had happened to me.  My company name was being used on a site that didn't reference me and in such a way that didn't accurately represent the original thought.

The blog has lots of Google ads and so I can only think that someone is attempting to make money by using other's content.  But why in snip-its?  Why steal? 

I filled out the Contact Us form in an attempt to contact who ever was using my content and since then, it appears as though my content has been removed.

But the question "why" still remains?  Why would someone do it in the first place when they can easily reprint my articles as long as they give credit?  Why would someone visit the site?  What would they get from articles that make no sense? 

Any answers?  Here is the site - see what you think.  Has this happened to you?  What have you done?

Michael Gerber Invites us to Dream

I'm in the middle of a huge project - having a blast, but consequently very protective of my time.  Hitting my deadlines is the promise I made to my client.

That said, when I received an invitation to meet Michael Gerber, Small Biz guru, author of E-Myth and all it stands for, well, I couldn't resist.  The L’Oreal tag line:  Because I'm Worth It, rang in my ears.

I have read E-Myth and E-Myth Revisited and know in my head what I need to do for my business and frankly have attempted working ON my business instead of IN my business but something holds me back from truly following his words.  I made the mistake of saying that to Michael when I met him prior to his speech.

"I'm a big fan, I quote you all the time but sadly I don't live your teachings everyday," I told him.  He nodded.

When he took the stage he remarked that many had come up and said the same.  In fact one poor soul said they start each New Year reading E-Myth so they are clear on what they need to do but know they won't do.

But Michael had a new message for the audience today.  On a book tour introducing his latest Awakening the Entrepreneur Within, he talked about scrapping everything we think about our business.  "QUIT.  LEAVE." He told us.  That was the Old Company.  You can't spend any more time trying to fix the old company.  Leave it behind.  It's time for the new company.  Start with a beginner's mind, a blank piece of paper and DREAM.

In his new book he talks about creating the Dreaming Room where anything goes but he isn't talking about personal dreams or goals, he is talking about creating a dream for how we will CHANGE THE WORLD.

With a son about to go off to college who constantly tells me what is wrong with today's "society" and how he is going to make it different, I remember that passion of youth.  The feeling you can take on the world and that one person really can make a difference.

Michael Gerber, no young man right out of college, but a seasoned, experienced, well respected entrepreneur of 71, wants us to dream of the future and imagine our role.

To be successful he told us we need four things:

A Dream - an impersonal dream, something that is bigger than we are.

A Vision -  the definition of our great result

A Purpose - what is the detailed system that works every time and that if people would only follow it they would know how to be successful? 

A Mission - How I will take the system worldwide to turn my dream into a reality

He was inspiring and thanks to COSE and Corporate College East for making the morning possible as well as the follow up day-long seminar that will feature Michael helping those who attended this morning start the process of creating the dream.

If you've read the E-Myth and still work IN your business, perhaps it is time to get out the blank piece of paper and begin the process of creating the NEW Company.

It's time to DREAM.  What is your dream?  If you could transform the way the world works, how would you do it?

Welcome WellFed Writer to the Blogosphere

I received an email this week from Peter Bowerman, famed WellFed Writer author and my first thought was:  his monthly e-newsletter is early!  I look forward to his monthly news on the first of the month, but this was only the 30th.

But when I opened the email I discovered that he was introducing his new blog.  FINALLY.  I met Peter a little over a year ago at a weekend conference for writers and editors in Rochester, NY.  It was a small crowd, and he made himself very available to the group for questions, answers and discussions and at one point I asked if he had a blog.

"No, not yet," he replied. 

But he does now!  So of course I clicked the link in his email to visit and found one post with an amazing number of comments!  And comments from well known writers!  As of today, he has FIFTY EIGHT comments on his first post.

Peter used his faithful newsletter following to attract an audience to his new venture.  Just imagine if half of them write a welcome post on their site - what will that potentially mean to his initial reach?  It's like Linked In on steriods.

Anyway, if you are a writer; corporate, freelance, marketing and enjoy finding new resources for your craft - keep your eye on what is happening over at WellFed Writer.  Peter's books have been a wonder source of information for my business and I'm sure his blog will develop into the same quality resource.

Check out the WellFed Writer blog.

Question for you.  When you first launched your blog - what marketing efforts did you find most effective?  How are you still marketing your blog?

Deborah