Blogs are for Companies also

One thing about a good blog is that it is personal. So how does this apply to business? First of all blogs being personal can portray to the reader sense of personal touch which is very important in today’s environment where service is so important.

Blogs can also give you insight into your clients’ attitudes and behaviors that you probably would not gain from a survey.

Blogs can also extend your company and brand personality. Distinguish yourself by writing with an unique voice that is welcoming, fun, somewhat entertaining, always being informative.

Keep your blog low-profile but have links to your company sites. Do NOT make your blog a get in your face sales piece but tell your viewers about opportunities for sales and discounts.
Blogging should be a major part of your marketing program. Some lessons learned from other companies that successfully use blogs:

Give it time – creating your blog page, developing a blog strategy, and keeping up with your postings takes time – but it is worth it. As a blog author you need to be active in the blogosphere. When we say that it takes time that also means that your blog will not produce results over night.

The Golden Rule Applies – Write your blog just as you would want someone to write about you. It does not mean not to be truthful and/or controversial. Just review the voice of the blog before you finally post it. Remember your blog is a representative of your brand.

As we mentioned, blogs should have a personal touch. Thus it becomes very obvious if you are not knowledgeable or passionate about what you blog. Don’t fake it.

Continue improving your blog by increasing your participation in the blogosphere and staying with the basics of what makes a good blog.

If you have any other examples or suggestions on how you use your blog for your company, please share them.

I am a blogging but not a seeing. . .

Now that you finally have taken the leap and jointed the world of blogging how do I become part of the blogosphere. In other words, once you have created your blog and started posting blogs on a regular basis, how do I let people know about your blog? Remember: It takes time for a blog to become established, accepted, and frequently visited.

The following are some techniques you can use to help “get the word out about your blog”.

1. Create a blogroll. This is a list of related blogs and site on the same subject. You can place your blog roll in your blog and also on your web site. This helps establish your community affiliation. It states that for a given topic or profession your blog is relevant.
2. Comment within other links and include in your comment a link back to your own blog.
3. Social media Link on Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and others.
4. Include links on your own web site and email signature blocks
5. Use trackbacks – acknowledgement tool that lets other bloggers know that you have mentioned them and are sharing information
6. Most important tool for blog-distribution is RSS. A RSS enables those following your blog to be instantly informed when you update your site.
7. FeedBlitz and FeedBurner(owned by google) are services to help you establish a RSS for your blog
8. End your blog posts with open-ended questions. Ask for feedback.
9. List in a blog directory – Blogs are rated by popularity in blog banks. Top places to submit your blog (also search for other blogs) are: Technorati (www.technorati.com), Google Blog Search (blogsearch.google.com), Blogarama (www.blogarama.com), and BlogPulse(www.blogpulse.com - These directories categorize blogs by topic.
10. Guest Blogging – invite others to post on your blog
    

These are just a few of the ways you can gt people to know about your blog. If you have any other suggestions and recommendations please share them with us.

Blog – No not a 50’s B-Monster Movie

It is known as a blog not the “Blob”. There are many different approachs to creating a blog or even describing the act of blogging – posting a blog or comments to a posted blog. Think of it as a type of journaling. You may also think of it as an on-line newspaper or magazine of opinions and interactive comments.

Blogs have the greatest effect on business communications. As it relates to New Media Marketing, they are the most direct to-way online communication vehicle used in today’s business environment. Consumers today do not want a monologue. They want conversation and that is exactly what a blog does.

Just as any other marketing tool, blogs must have a specific target audience to be successful.
Remember: Because of the nature of blogs they are the key to building your community of buyers. Your audience, who may not normally have the chance of communicating with each other, can use a blog to do exactly that. Thus they can not only communicate with a business owner but also with each other. To ignore this is ignoring how people use electronic communications.

Working with clients and New Media Marketing, the blog is often the most difficult to convince them of and yet the most important and critical. Some of the reasons used for not blogging:

• Fear
• Ignorance
• Lack of leadership (agents of change)
• Lazy
• Insecure
• Belief that it does not apply to their industry (this demonstrates a total lack of what is happening in the world today or misplaced sense of knowing better than your customer)

Blogs also permit you to not only listen to your targeted audience but also to communicate with them in an informal manner. Many entrepreneurs are using blogs to introduce their new concept or enterprise.

Some people do not blog because they do not want return comments. In today’s environment that is “burying your head in the sand”. With that attitude or fear, you might as well raise the surrender flag and prepare to close your doors.

There is one simple rule for a blog: make it relevant and update frequently. A good rule of thumb is to blog at least twice a week. One of the great things about blogging is that it is an excellent platform to stir the pot, kick the ant hill, stimulate thought. Just remember to be interesting and not offensive.

Some people just cannot blog, it is not in them. Many in this situation have others create their blog. It is no different then having a writer create your text/copy for other marketing collateral. Several of our clients retain us to write their blogs. It is also acceptable to get personal just keep your professionalism.

And finally, if you build a successful blog site, you can actually create revenue through such programs as Google’s AdSense.

Search Engine Optimization – Getting Noticed

Search Engine Optimization (known as SEO) is and is not easy to obtain. A simple way to describe SEO is where will your web site listing appear if someone was looking for your products/services utilizing a search engine query usually through Google or Yahoo. Your position in these queries is also referred to as ranking.

Why is this important? Most purchase selections are made from the top 3-5 sites listed. You can "buy" your way to a higher ranking utilizing pay-per-click/sponsor links or you can optimize your site by building and incorporating certain rules. This is often referred to as organic SEO. Each search engine has developed a set of algorithms they have developed that decides where a site is positioned (ranked). Certain aspects of your web can include approaches that are acceptable and recommended by the search engines - known as white hat organic SEO. There are also tricks that one can use to try and outsmart the search engine algorithms - black hat SEO. Note: if caught and eventually one is, you can be temporarily or permanently black listed by the search engine.

No one actually knows the exact algorithms used. These are closely held secrets but the search engines and companies offering web site SEO as a service do have a set of guidelines. Note: Often what achieves higher ranking may be in conflict with a highly designed rich media site.

When attempting to achieve high ranking, many different parts of your site must be considered:

• Web site code
• Web site theme
• Web site structure
• Internal links
• Alt Tags
• Header Tags
• Inward links
• Content
• Meta data
• Keywords

The whole goal is to establish relevance in all aspects of your site.

I will make the statement that there no longer is such a thing as SEO. What is required is an integrated marking program built around a well-designed site. SEO is one of the first steps.

Some say there are more than 118 factors utilized by the Google algorithms. Here are some basics to consider. The percentage shows the relative importance.

• Incoming Text of Links (2.3% & up) - phrasing, terms, order, and length of incoming link -anchor text
• Title Tag (2.3%)
• Keyword Use in Document Text (2.2%)
• Links to Document from Site Internal Pages (2.1%)
• Primary Subject Matter of Site (2.1%)
• External Links to Linking Pages (2.0%)
• Links Popularity of Site in Topical community (2.0%)
• Global Link Popularity of Site (1.9%)
• Keyword Spamming (1.9%)

The above accounts for 21% of ranking. Some other techniques are:

• Keyword Placement in the
• Using header tags to emphasize keywords
• Naming website and pages with keywords
• Incorporating keywords into body text

There is no way one can cover the topic of SEO in a single blog. These are just some considerations one can take immediately. Remember: the web world is constantly changing. It is no longer about having your site as a destination but more importantly, distributing your site outward.

Widgets, Wikis, Dashboards - What the heck are you talking about

Took a few days off to visit my son and 8 grandkids in Chicago – but am now back. This blog takes a side step to cover topics that are surfacing more frequently. They are widgets, wikis, and dashboards. These tools are very effective if and when used properly.

Widgets

Definition: A widget is anything that can be embedded within a page of HTML, i.e. a web page. A widget adds some content to that page that is not static. Generally widgets are originated by third parties, though they can be home made. (Wikipedia)

Basically it is a mini-web application that you place onto a web page, desktop, blog, or social profile that stream information to the viewer usually containing some visual information. The widget becomes very valuable if it provides relevant information that someone can use daily. For example if you had an airline web site, you may have a widget on your home page that would provide visual in-flight information for a given flight.

Widgets are here to stay and should be considered for your web site or blog.

• Do not contain just a collection of titles and hyperlinks – this is no more than another web page.
• Display information tailored to the user
• User should be able to glance at
• Scrolling titles to breaking news, videos that play inside the widget are acceptable examples

Widgets can also be used to support customers. A widget that puts a subject matter expert directly in touch with a customer to answer questions is a viable widget example. Widgets are also used to help provide added value during document approval processes.

Wikis

Definition: A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content (excluding blocked users), using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. (Wikipedia)

Basically it is software that enables visitors to create and edit Web page content using their web browser. Wikis are like web sites but are more interactive. Note: when using wikis there is a risk that someone may add content that is not relevant or inaccurate.

A blog is similar to a daily journal that others can comment on. A wiki is also participative but its end result is a single entry that reflects a collective consensus.

For both widgets and wikis remember content is king – must be new and relevant.

Dashboards

Dashboards are at the opposite new of a New Media Marketing process. They are instruments that one uses to monitor metrics to measure your program. We will cover these metrics in detail toward the end of this blog series but since it is one of those new words that frequently appear, it is a good idea to at least understand what the word means.

There are several definitions and uses of dashboards. We are referring to a measurement dashboard. Think of it being a report card – a standardized data presentation that provides information reporting on the metrics you use to determine the effectiveness of your business process.

Web Speech – How to say it on the web

Since your web site increasingly becomes a hub for your marketing program, what you say and how you say it is extremely important. One of the original assumptions of New Media Marketing (NMM) is that we still buy from people we know, like, and trust.

Values
At the studio we believe that it is important that your web site convey values that are important to your organization and industry. They go beyond the basic ones of quality, reliability, customer service, professionalism, etc. Ours are: talent, creativity, design, and great stories (t • C • D • G •).

Mission
Mission and Vision statements have been around for a long time. Because of this, we often think that they must not be hip or in vogue. You can not be so far from the truth. Mission tells the world who we are and vision announces where we are going.

Compelling Content - verbal
The main purpose is to address the visitors needs and wants; their stereotypes and emotions. (customerology psychographics – remember focus, targeted audiences).
As a storyteller I will not be able to get through this series of blogs without telling this story (analogy) so we might as well do it here. It is the key to everything we are addressing. I call it my Grass Lawn story.

“Lets say that I manufacture grass seed. Over the years my engineers have the developed the best grass seed ever produced – needs hardly any watering, birds do not like its taste, grows deep roots, not effected by weather, and produces the greenest grass. We have this technological process that no one else can even come close to replicate. Visit are labs and you will see the investment in equipment and knowledge we have put into this product. The problem is as a consumer I really do NOT care. I do not care how you do it just make sure that I have minimal lawn maintenance and yet have the best looking lawn in the neighborhood.”

You see as founders and entrepreneurs we are very proud of our product specifications but the buyer is ONLY interested in benefits. Make sure your site benefits oriented not specifications oriented.

Some other tips:
• When offering solutions and advice opt for conversational writing style.
• Address directly using ‘you” instead of customer, client, patient, etc.
• Modifiers actually tend to dilute and weaken what you are saying
• In all cases remain professional
• Use headlines and sub titles to guide readers
• Again stay focused on your audience with benefits, results, and solutions.

Compelling Content – Nonverbal

Color: If you have read any of the studios’ past ezines, you have heard how important color is. Color is often the most nonverbal element of your site. Put bluntly – we do not care what your favorite color is, we are interested in what color provokes the emotions we want created to cause a response to a call-to-action. Just like specs versus benefits, concern is not about you, it is about the buyer.

Logos and Header: Your site should protect and foster your brand. Your top header is extremely important. Have a professional design a header that incorporates your log, tag line, and appropriate color schema.

Images: The web is 70% visual so make visually appealing. Images can help. Make sure that the image files should be optimized for fast browser loading. They should also be part of telling your story. The wrong image could just as easily make your site look totally unprofessional and “mom-and-pop”

Special Effects and Rich Media: When used properly, they have their place. Some will say for SEO considerations – no flash others will say that as a society we are custom to special effects. As most things in life, the answer lays somewhere in the middle. Pure technicians will only do what can be produced by code and pure graphics designers will over-kill with eye-candy. Find the proper balance. Branching to pages that load electronic presentations, video, etc. should be considered for providing additional information.

Navigation –Extremely important both in extent and placement. In recent years, placement has moved to the upper center and gone from an extended list of buttons to more of a hierarchy of information. A good rule of thumb is a main nav bar with around seven buttons. Latest studies have shown that males use the web to surf and females use the web for research. Too complicated navigation, males will opt out.

Lena Claxton and Alison Woo, in their excellent overview book How to Say it: Marketing with New Media, Prentice Hall provides a good checklist.
• Refine your home page copy – it is the first impression of your company
• Write conversationally – use words to convey the desired emotion
• Choose the right color
• Use the correct pronoun
• Communicate your credibility
• Use language that positions you as an expert
• Focus on benefits and results
• Use a variety of promotional methods to promote your business

And don’ts:
• Don’t use corporate speak
• Don’t use passive language
• Don’t focus on your own gains
• Don’t lose track of the customer
• Don’t use multiple animations on your home page

What makes a good web site?

On one hand a simple question and on the other not so simple. Lets look at the not-so-simple answer first. Ask 10 people and you will get 11 different answers. At the studios, we consider three major areas:

• Design – web is a visual media. It needs to look good, easy to navigate and holds the viewers interest. You need to balance eye-candy, flash and rich media with the site being too plain with no ability to grab attention. Remember your site often produces “first impressions.”
• Functionality – That is does it do what it is suppose to do functionally. No broken links (pressing on a button that goes to a page that does not exist), no error messages, loads in a reasonable time-frame, works on multiple browsers, calculations, branches, etc. all work.
• Marketed – Having a nice looking, working site and no one visits it or does not support your marketing program is like an un-charted island that no one knows about.

The simple answer is:

• Does it do what it is suppose to?
• Does it help expand and protect your brand?
• Present a good first impression?
• Support your marketing program? and
• Helps bring in more revenue (or at least some call to action).

If it does these five things, by definition, it is a good web site.

Another question often asked is template vs custom. Bottom line is cost. However, a large percentage of our web work is for clients moving away from an existing template:

• Difficult to change
• Found out they do not own their site
• Starting to look like everyone else using the same template.

“If you are different and unique – that is why you rather then your completion – then why are you spending so much effort to look like everyone else?”

At t • C • D • G • Studios, we provide a detailed web site audit that covers the three major areas of design, functionality, and marketed. Below is a short list of the audit areas:
Part I: Design elements
First Impression:
• Colors
• Logo/Branding
• Header Images
• Typography
• Unprofessional items
• Spelling and Grammar
• Overall professional appearance

Purpose:
• Well-defined purpose
• Clarity

Design:
• Smooth transitions
• Use of active white space
• Page consistency
• Other:

Part II: Usability/Functionality
• Load time
• Error messages
• Amount of advertisements
• Navigation
• Accessibility
• Hyperlinks
• Page organization
• Use of CSS
• Use of pop-ups and pop-unders
• Other

Part III: Marketing
• Relevancy words phrases for page/file names, alt tags, header tags, meta areas
• Do-nots

New Media, Web 2.0 and Social Marketing
• Associations
• Opt-in registration
• Collaboration
• Ezine and email links
• Articles and other content
• Social Media servers

Your web site is one of the most important assets of your business. It needs to be right. Since it serves a broad range of purposes, there are many aspects that must be considered. You need a web site – but do it right. A bad site can actually hurt your business a good site will help your business.