Back to Basics - Philadelphia Web Design

After reviewing the past couple of posts I realize I've been yapping on about social media. Well no more, it's back to basics people! I was asked by a few people at the conference I sat the panel of: "Where Should I Start?" Here are the top five things I think you should concentrate on, take them in order for best results.

Step 1
The Website
Your main brochure, your online store front, your little slice of the internet.

Let's go back and review that fact that you need one.

All of you.

Pizza shops, doctors, lawyers, bloggers, convenience stores, mega-malls, everybody should have at least a one page profile. You don't need a 50 page, blow-out animated, fully interactive super-site, all you need is presence. Get it listed on Google maps with a nice shiny new domain and you'll, at the very least, start getting some local lovin' from your customers.

Step 2
Create an Email List & Mail to It
If people like your product/service, ask them for an email address so that you can inform them of future events, specials and advice.

Do it ethically, go out of your way to MAKE SURE that the people you add to this list want to receive correspondences from you. The better the list the more likely it is that people will help you grow it by referring their friends, family and associates. Remember, a referral is worth 1000 cold sales contacts.

Step 3
Search Engines
Millions of people use search engines to find information on services and business, get involved.

Google has 66% of the online search market as of July of this year, it's the gorilla of search. This is where you want to start. Submit your website so that it gets listed on Google and wait two weeks. If you had a professional design your website than ask him to optimize it and if he can't get someone who can. To be honest, optimizing is a never ending battle against the forces of evil (listing sites, spammers and black hat marketers). To circumvent this problem, do a basic optimization and then take advantage of PPC and Social Media instead. Also use the tools at Webmaster Tools.

PPC
Use the Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) program: Adwords
Hire a professional, you can teach yourself but I don't advise it. I've covered this in a former post.

Step 4
Social Media
You're internet presence needs to be more than a website, think about your business as an all encompassing online entity.

I've been going on and on about this for a while now and I don't want to get too far into it.
Take the basic step of Googling your businesses keywords and look around for blogs, social networks, and forums that talk about the sorts of things your business does. Then have a conversation with people on those websites. DON'T SELL. Just talk. Get out there and be an expert at something, help people, give your opinion, gain a reputation as a knowledgeable person and you'll get referrals. Then start a BLOG!

Step 5
Shoot Video
Get yourself a camcorder and start shooting video of your business and yourself.

Get interactive, create a Youtube profile, start with either a tour of your facility or a personal introduction. Move on to giving seminars, lectures, informative video on processes, advice on how to save money or improve a product. Above all be yourself and create a personal connection with the online communities you interact with in Social Media (above).

Those are the steps in order that I think you should work on, you can go out of order if you want as long as website is still #1 on your list. This is a very general list and I can expand on any one of them, on request.

Making Your Blog Buisness Friendly - Philadelphia Social Media

For the past two weeks I've been doing searches for blogs that would be appropriate for my client to advertise on. It's the dream of many people to blog for a living, to get paid to write about subject matter that is important to you. Well I have to tell you... you're making it difficult for me to pay you any money. So I've decided to put together some tips and guides to making your blog more attractive to businesses looking to capture your reader's interest.

Location Keywords
Since many of my clients are the contractor type, they have a service area. So the first thing I do is try to find blogs tied to location. However not many people think about putting a city, state or county name on their blogs. After all, most blogs are supposed to have a global appeal correct? Well not really. Some blogs talk about local issues, other blogs are geared toward the right demographic I'm looking for, while still more blogs happen to talk about the sorts of things that compliment my client's services. Examples: A blog about West Chester Courthouse Cases, A blog on Flipping Houses (if my client sells windows this is useful to me), A blog on being a retired Electrician (the tips and advice compliment home remodeling companies). Placing some location specific keywords somewhere on your main blog page (anywhere at all, doesn't have to be in the title) will open one more door of opportunity for you.

*You should NEVER write a blog for the purpose of gaining advertising. The result will be disingenuous and poorly written. Write what you want to write about, there are plenty of advertisers out there looking for your type of reader.

Posting Statistics
I want to see some sort of statistics on the amount of people view your blog. I DO NOT want to see all the clicks you have received during the history of your blog. I want to see a monthly count of Unique Visitors and if possible, how many are repeat visitors. Placing Google Analytics on your blog and then posting up the monthly results for those two items on the first of the month would be very useful to me.

Frequency of Posting
I'm not interested in a blog that doesn't post, at minimum, once a week. Ideally I'd like to see a post every day, but that's unreasonable for many bloggers who aren't being paid. I have to see that your producing articles on a frequent enough basis that it will draw readers back to your blog.

Adsense
If you use blogger, and even if you don't, placing Adsense on your blog will give me the ability to place ads on your website. If a business, like my client, is running a Content Network Campaign and I can pick your website on a list of available blogs, I don't even have to go looking for your blog. This is a no brainer, you get paid AND I don't have to do random google searches to HOPE I run across your blog in the haystack that is relative search engine results.

Take a Hand in Your Own Success
If you think your blog speaks to a businesses demographic, approach them and ask if they would like to place a link on your blog. It can't hurt. In many cases a business owner won't understand what your talking about, but if they are at all web savvy it will get them thinking about it and they may call you up a month or two down the road. Don't forget, business owners have to spend their marketing capitol carefully, the smaller the business the more careful they are. Let the owner stew over the idea for a while, they generally come around.

Make A Media Kit
If your not using Adsense but would like to sell space on your blog via banner ads, you should create a price list. Clearly state in your Media Kit what your offering, size of ad, length of term, cost and payment methods. If you're having trouble figuring out what you charge a company for a banner ad or text link on your blog then just think about what you'd like to be paid per article, ideally. Shoot high and lower your costs if you can't get any interest. The more traffic your blog gets and the frequency of your postings will weigh heavily on the price you can ask for. There is no industry standard for blog advertising so be prepared to bargain. This subject deserves it's own post, to be honest. There are so many different ways to charge for advertising online that several comparisons need to be made.

PayPal Buttons
Easy to make and implement on your blog, a perfect way for me to buy a link off of you with the company credit card. Set up the payment button, I pay you, you get an email to put up my link... as simple as that.

Creation of Social Content - Philadelphia Internet Marketing

Normally I don't link to articles but rather digest information I read and then write my own opinion and take on things. But I'm going to make an exception this week for two reasons.

1) This is a very good article.
2) I have to prepare for the Social Media Panel I'll be sitting July 16th (next week)

So hear is Matt McGee with 12 Tips on Creating Content for Social Media

Modular Success: Building Blocks for Do-It-Yourselfers

Through trial and error I’ve been discovering the best way to provide affordable internet services to small business but still retain the quality needed to succeed. After several versions of ‘Per Project’ cost proposals and trying out ‘All Inclusive Retainer’ services I’ve come to find ‘Modular’ services are the perfect solution.

What is a Modular service? I define it as a simple building block, a simple service that when combined with other modular services create a greater whole. Like Lego’s each modular piece (website, landing page, ppc campaign, 3 month link campaign, 2hrs of social media research) can be taken individually or in sets. Sometimes one module can be broken down into several smaller modules. The key is making sure that each service provided in this manner is a benefit and useful to future services. A client may not have the budget to afford a new website, ppc campaign, email campaign and research all in one go, but most can afford one or two at a time. The creation of a modular series of services, is a balance of time spent and self-sustaining work (low maintenance website or a self updating blog). This business model has let me become one of the most adaptable and flexible web service providers in my field.

Applying this same idea to other businesses and organizations you can see where some are succeeding and others failing.

Dell provides businesses with ‘All-in-One’ packages, you pay an enormous sum for everything you could ever need and many things you don’t. You get the Computer, Monitor, Peripherals, Operating System (Windows), Audio software, Virus Protection, Browser, Movie Maker, Solitaire, Paint… the list goes on. They give it all to you for one single stunning price that guarantees you’ll not be buying anything from them again for a few years. There are payment plans if you wish to pay 30% more for your computer over a longer length of time… what a deal.

Now the savvy consumer does a little research and finds out he can build a computer and get his software for almost half the cost if he’s willing to buy it in pieces. Although there is a learning curve to overcome, putting your own computer together is not as difficult as it might seem. BUT WAIT! Along comes this great idea, a modular idea, to provide pre-built boxes with ONLY the features you want. Newegg, Tiger Direct… suddenly you’ve got choices again. You can buy your computer in pieces and have them slap it together for you and it’s STILL cheaper than buying from Dell. In fact you can pretty much get anything you want, any software, peripherals, monitor, computer case color and have it shipped right to your home. This is the face of the new business model, giving people the tools to do it themselves.

A subtle change has taken place as the younger generations use an increasing amount of ‘do-it-yourself’ tools throughout the service industry. Realtors and Travel Agents are hardest hit by this idea and you can ask them how Travelocity and Realtor.com are changing the face of their businesses. People are increasingly using the internet to find things out for themselves where in the past they would have hired a professional to look for them. The Stock Market is another example, with online trading you can go and be your own broker or even play with your friends money (if they’re the trusting sort). The Modular business practice takes advantage of the ‘do-it-yourselfers’ by offering them pre-packaged products they can snap together and reach their own goals. Do you want to go on vacation to Florida? Go to Expedia.com and they have packages, or individual travel plans you can purchase as well as bundling a rental car into the mix as needed. Separately, while you’re putting together your dream vacation you may see an ad for swimwear, which is also something you might need. Now how long do you think it’s going to take for complimentary businesses like that to figure out that if they have a common payment and shopping cart system, they can make a bundle? If Expedia and Ralf Lauren decided to share a Pay-Pal account then the customer could buy everything they need in one place, quickly, easily, and on their terms it would create an even stronger incentive for customers to shop in one place. Now imagine the entire internet was linked in such a way, no more hopping around from site to site to buy things here and there, no more paying for shipping 6 different times in 6 different places. Each company could create a Module of it’s services and products and link it into a National or Global payment system. The idea is a little ‘out there’, at the moment, and not very cost effective with current technology, but it’s coming.

So what can you do to move toward a more modular model? I use the three tenants of Time – Money – Quality to craft well balanced services that are easy to understand and use. You can have two but never all three tenants, and you have to ask yourself what’s the most important two for your type of business? For me it’s Quality and Money, keeping the cost down while providing a superior service. The means I have to sacrifice Time, the time it takes me to do the project as well as putting in some time before hand to setup a modular system. As an example a roofing contractor may want to consider creating a modular system for new roof installations. One module could be for an Estimate, the next for selecting and purchasing materials for your home, another for scheduling a time and implementation of the installation. Each module would cost a reasonable amount, the customer could then walk away or proceed in buying the rest of the modules to complete their new roofing installation at their own pace, in their own way. There are endless variations to the module system, each module should be easy to understand, a reasonable cost and simple to close the deal. Your customer should walk away from the experience of purchasing an ‘Estimate Module’ with a feeling of satisfaction and control so that they will come back and take the next step in completing the entire roofing project.

To close, the Modular business model allows a non-expert the ability to put together a package of equal if not greater value than an expert. If you’re a professional and your modules are professional then the whole experience will come off professional, no matter how unprofessional a customer can be. Make your modules fool proof so nobody is made to look the fool and you’ll profit from the new ‘do-it-yourself’ generation.