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The previous articles in this Marketing Right Now series have helped you set a direction for your business and suggested how your Internet marketing efforts should be applied.  Now it is just a question of making it come out right. The challenge is to grow your business so as to achieve your goals.  Many businesses fail particularly in the early months so it is important to understand what needs to be done. 

Remember that growing does not just mean getting bigger.  It should meaning getting better.  That is not just in monetary terms like profits or returns to shareholders.  With a little extra effort and thinking, a business can have a successful long-term future and deliver good values to its customers, to its employees and to its shareholders.  Remembering all of these stakeholders is often handled by using what is called a balanced scorecard approach.

Adapted from The Balanced Scorecard by Kaplan & Norton

Although this is often applied to large corporations, some of this thinking is useful even for smaller companies.  As the authors of this approach, Kaplan and Norton, suggest, "Information age companies must create future value through investment in customers, suppliers, employees, processes, technology, and innovation."

That’s the big picture.  This final article will look at more immediate tasks which will be reviewed under three headings:

• Things You Control
• Things You Do Not Control
• Things You Must Manage

The Internet has changed the ground rules so that there are many fewer Things You Control.  Markets with global competition are much more turbulent than in the past.  You must navigate your ship through much more stormy waters if you are to succeed.

Things You Control

 

Like any good captain, you should ensure that your team can handle the important tasks.  Since the customer is the ultimate boss, that is a key determinant of what are the important tasks.  Many operational decisions are involved in that and these go far beyond the scope of this Internet marketing series. They are listed in the next section and all contribute to the satisfaction of the customer with the buying decision they have made.

Make The Sale, Deliver The Promise

Internet Marketing should create a favourable image for the company and bring the potential customer to a web page where they can take the purchasing decision.  The website must be designed so as to maximize the percentage of prospects arriving at the website who then convert to customers.  This involves many skills in web design, usability, accessibility and captology (the persuasive strength of a web page), which again fall outside the scope of this series.  If the conversion percentage is less than 5%, then this is something that still requires work.  In other words if your website is meant to ’sell’ and less than 1 in 20 who arrive take the ‘buy’ decision, then you’ve got to find out why that happens and correct it.

Once they have bought, your organization must deliver to the customer the product/service in such a way that they are fully satisfied.  Here are just some of the tasks involved:

• Delivering a product or service on or before time that works as they wish it to work.
• Providing a full range of customer service options in case they experience any problems in receiving or using the product.
• Providing information (including online) that helps them to get the best performance from the product or service throughout its life.

There is a huge amount of skill, experience, competence and effectiveness required from your whole team in taking all the operational decisions involved in these three major tasks.  You should tune your whole operational process so that you don’t turn off those customers you worked so hard to get.

Satisfied Customers Are Your Best Salespersons

The efforts of the previous section will be very well rewarded if customers do enjoy the total user experience.  Satisfied customers are the very best salespersons a company can have. If creative ways of maintaining their loyalty are devised, then they will make further purchases and encourage their friends to do so.  This can be developed as an important element in the company’s social media marketing efforts.

Conversely if some people do not convert from prospects to customers or if other customers are dissatisfied, then it is important to understand why these things are happening.  Sometimes understanding the reasons why sales do not happen or sales go sour is the clearest signal one can get of problems.  Often customers will not complain, even though they may be unhappy or irritated by produce or service features.  It’s known as cognitive dissonance by the experts: customers don’t want to signal that their purchase decision may have been the wrong one for them.  Your critics are the best friends you can have.  Remember comcastcares.

Remove Growth Blockers

Even if sales seem satisfactory, there may be subtle ways in which sales are being blocked.  If these involve the website, there are a number of ways this can be checked out.

One way is to identify what people do on the website, how they enter, where they go and how they leave.  There are a number of programs available to quantify these factors.  Google Analytics is one very effective way of handling this.  If that is something you have not heard about before, then you might want to check out the benefits of Google Analytics.

Since Google is such a big part of the traffic enjoyed by most websites, it is important to know of any ways the Google referrals may be blocked.  The website should be submitted to the Google Webmaster Tools website. If the verification process is also completed, Google then provides a large amount of data that can be explored to confirm there are no hidden blocks to visitor traffic. Complete information on Google Webmaster tools is also available:

Our suite of webmaster tools provides you with a free and easy way to make your site more Google-friendly. They can show you Google’s view of your site, help you diagnose problems, and let you share info with us to help improve your site’s visibility.

Things You Do Not Control

None of us is ever completely in control of our future. Unexpected things may intervene, competitors may come up with new approaches or may react to actions we have taken.  You have to stay alert.  Changes in society or the marketplace may represent opportunities or threats.  This may even require you to rethink your strategy.

Keep Your Radar On

The Internet provides an ideal way of watching for unexpected happenings.  Here are some of the tools you may use.

• Google Alerts
• Google Blogsearch
• Twitter Search
• Google Reader or Bloglines checking on appropriate RSS newsfeeds.

Check the Competition

The actions of your competitors can also represent opportunities or threats.  In particular the effectiveness of their online presence is something to watch carefully.  If you use the Firefox browser, then one particularly effective add-on is SEO for Firefox from SEObook.  Another useful tool from the same firm is the Firefox Rank Checker extension.  This allows you to easily check your website rankings in Google (US and international), Yahoo, and Microsoft Live search.

If their online presence seems more effective than yours, you should try to understand why this happens and use it to improve your own website’s effectiveness.

Things You Must Manage - Go For Your Goals

The earlier article on The Plan concluded with the following:

Planning is not a once for all activity but is an ongoing part of the road to success. The plan must set out the objectives against which actual performance is measured. Initially the plan may have some summary targets such as total prospects making contact or the number of items sold. In time as more knowledge is obtained, sub-objectives can be targeted as well.

Remember the plan is not just a forecast, it should be a personal commitment.  The plan should include sufficient detail so that if the bottom line does not follow the plan, other details will pinpoint the reasons why.  Corrective action can then be applied where appropriate.

For example for an e-commerce website, the plan might include the following summary parameters.

• Number of visitors to the website
• Number adding a product to their cart
• Number completing the purchase
• Average purchase value
• Total sales

By assessing actual results versus the plan on a weekly or monthly basis in a simple spreadsheet as shown below, the activities where improvements are needed can be highlighted. 

Similar charts can be maintained for particular subsets of data and the analytics programs mentioned earlier often will display such data in a visual format.

Conclusion

This series of articles has set out for you in a summary way the important tasks you will have in setting up your business and using Internet marketing effectively in growing that business.  Your success will come by applying these messages with passion, enthusiasm, commitment and dedication.  Your rewards will come not only in monetary  forms, but also in the words of appreciation you will receive from your team and from your customers.

It is fitting that this article appears on the date of the US Presidential Election.  The reason for that will become clear later.  One of the hottest topics in Internet Marketing is what has been called Social Media Marketing (SMM). Many people are also acknowledging that they don’t really understand what it’s all about or what to do with it. This article will attempt to demystify SMM and suggest how you can use it effectively.

It really should not be so little understood because the Clue Train Manifesto appeared In April, 1999.  On that website you will find the following:

A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies. These markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can’t be faked.

Most corporations, on the other hand, only know how to talk in the soothing, humorless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure, and your-call-is-important-to-us busy signal. Same old tone, same old lies. No wonder networked markets have no respect for companies unable or unwilling to speak as they do.  But learning to speak in a human voice is not some trick, nor will corporations convince us they are human with lip service about "listening to customers." They will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf.

They were prophetic words but they still do not get sufficient attention.

Social Media

What exactly are social media?  Here is how the experts define it:

social media: A category of sites that is based on user participation and user-generated content. They include social networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us, social news sites like Digg or Reddit, and other sites that are centered on user interaction.
- from the SearchEngineWatch Glossary

That covers a wide variety of websites as can be seen from the following examples.  Each subgroup list is only a small fraction of the websites of that type.

The words, user participation, user-generated content or user interaction, hardly do justice to what is happening here.  What we are really talking about is individuals communicating and interacting with other individuals.  Historically the best example of such online communities of individuals were bulletin boards and forums. Given that they tend to draw fewer participants now, they are often left off such lists of social media.

The most useful definition of marketing is that it is a dialogue, a conversation, with prospects and with customers.  What are the best examples of social media marketing: that is dialogues with the social media?

Politicians Must Do SMM

Most observers feel that the politicians are the ones who are using SMM most effectively. As Clikz pointed out Voter-Generated Content Makes or Breaks Candidates.:

When it comes to campaigning — in effect advertising — Barack Obama and John McCain are facing the same challenges as brands. Neither candidate is completely in control of his image. Messaging at people no longer works. Candidates on national and local levels must find ways to connect with their constituents as well as be nimble and quick to respond to questions, concerns, and misconceptions. People want to have a conversation — they want to be heard. And, online video is the critical new medium that will make that happen.

The SEOblog uses what I feel is a misnomer for SMM, calling it SEO 2.0, however it too gives high marks to Barack Obama.
From a SEO and SEO 2.0 perspective you can’t help admire Obama for his Internet campaign. Thus I will outline the 7 SEO 2.0 methods the Obama campaign has scored with on the Web most successfully:

• Pull vs Push (encouraging dialogues rather than having intrusive advertising)
• Blogging
• Viral video
• Social Networking
• Web Design for ROI (with many forms to get people involved)
• Local SEO (linkages with people in your area - volunteer)
• Mobile Marketing (Twittering and Instant messaging)

The reason why SMM works so effectively for politicians is that connecting with people is exactly what the politicians want to do.  This is after all a democracy and people want to have their say.

Can Big Corporations Do SMM?

Given such a powerful way of connecting with prospects and customers, clearly corporations would like to be using these new channels. According to the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, that wish is shared by their customers:
93 percent of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while 85 percent believe a company should not only be present, but also interact with its consumers via social media. In fact, 56 percent of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.

It is important to meet that need for interaction even though some feel that some industries like  Pharma Fears Social Networking. Companies can either be participants in online discussions or they can merely be the objects of such discussions.  Before the Internet, some would encourage such companies to hide in a trench until the noise died down.  That is no longer an option.

Social media are somewhat of a challenge to all big companies. That is why it was interesting to see the BlogWell seminar on How Big Companies Use Social Media. The biggest challenge is that social media involve individuals talking to individuals.  That raises the question of The Ethics of Disclosure as Mike McGrath suggested.  The WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) Ethics Code is largely accepted as the standard, but some companies occasionally have breached the code.  Since there is great transparency with the Internet, such breaches are usually quickly spotted.

It also raises the question of whether the ROI on SMM justifies all this effort.  Jay Deragon points out that
Any good sales person will tell you their number one objective is building relationships over time. … Relationships come from human experiences, not corporate spin and hyped promises. Human relationships are measured by trust, sincerity and common values. If you want a return on social media, then focus on conversations that build lasting relationships based on value exchanged and create great experiences.

That is an important message for any company of any size or even individuals who wish to do effective SMM

SEM versus SMM

It is worth pointing out an important distinction between SEM and SMM. SEM involves working with how computers that only use logic and are without judgment will assess different websites.  That is why key word searches can occasionally serve up somewhat irrational web pages.  SMM on the other hand deals with how individuals are assessing and commenting on things they see on the Internet.  Although some may attempt to manipulate results by gaming the system, this is a tiny fraction compared with the proportion trying to manipulate search engine results. 

Some Rules For Effective SMM

Social media come in all flavors, so if you want to do SMM, which I would encourage, then you need to check out what works for you.  Each of them has different rules and ways of working so you may wish to do some research on what others say.  The following topics cover some of the more important points in SMM

Your online persona

It is important to select a user name that will work in the long term for you.  It is almost as important as your company name.  One excellent example of this is the Twitter username that Frank Eliason of Comcast chose.  His user name is comcastcares.  He looks for any items where someone has mentioned Comcast and tries to respond to any where Comcast service has been less than adequate.  Not surprisingly this has given him and his company good visibility.  A Google search for his user name shows 48,900 references.

Another example of a well-known username is DazzlinDonna, that used by Donna Fontenot, an online business coach. She only recently, as an experiment, tried a different name (WebChicklet) and found that Fake Social Media Avatars Suck.  In addition to the reasons she mentions for avoiding multiple persona, her real username shows 30,300 Google references, so there clearly is no reason to look for another.  I have for years used the username bwelford which shows 22,100 Google references.  Such visibility is important in developing a personality for the various social media that you participate in.

Your Online Friends

Unless you develop a circle of friends in any given social media, it is unlikely that your social media efforts will produce useful results.  You make friends just as you would in real life by participating and by giving rather than always trying to take.  Others will fairly quickly determine whether you are someone they would wish to associate with. Be true to your personality and be sociable and you will see positive results.

Time Management

There is no fast way to develop a social media presence.  On the other hand it is important to budget the time one spends in such efforts.  With an hour or two each day it is possible to develop a significant presence. 

Twitter

Although Twitter leaves many people confused, it has become a place where many people participate often somewhat infrequently.  The references suggest how best to tackle Twitter.  It is probably time well spent.

Exponential Marketing

Social Media Marketing operates under other names such as Buzz marketing or viral marketing or word-of-mouth marketing.  Another less used term is exponential marketing.  I suggest this has value in reminding us that we should be looking at ways in which as many people as possible pass on the news to as many other people as possible (she told two friends, etc.).  This usually means creating items where someone passing it on is seen as being a very helpful friend by passing on something of value.

Conclusion

Social media tend to be somewhat chaotic like many social communities.  It is important to measure what you are doing in terms of results and to make sure that you are applying your efforts in the best possible places.  As Jay Deragon pointed out, the ultimate value is in the relationships you create, so try to evaluate how well you are doing on that scale.  Relationships are what will give you eventual rewards for your efforts.

Further Reading:

• The social media toolbox (PDF) - Alec Saunders
• Twitter Primer - Beth Kanter
• Twitter Best Practices - Kristin Foster

The biggest factor to consider on the Internet when planning marketing efforts are the search engines and the way they operate.  The major ones here are Google, Yahoo and Live/MSN.  They bring a lot of visitors to any web page and so it is important to know how to maximize that traffic.

For every other article in this series, it is possible to put down a few key principles that will have a major impact on your Internet marketing effectiveness.  This is not the case for Search Engine Marketing.

There are a great number of tasks that must be done well to be highly visible to the search engines. The search engine field is in continual evolution and what may have worked well six months ago may no longer be all that effective.  To be on top of all this requires a great deal of attention to detail and keeping aware of the latest developments by research or by involving a reliable consultant.  This article will provide a big picture, summary view of the Search Engine Marketing field.  It will give you an indication of the things that are important to consider. Even so this article will be somewhat longer than the target 1000 words that was promised.

To define the terms, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the process of promoting your web site on search engines keyword report pages. These are often known for short as SERPs (Search Engine Report Pages).  It includes:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the free process to gain natural or organic search engine visibility
• Paid advertising on SERPs
• or indeed any other marketing programs offered by search engines.

Search Engine Traffic

To illustrate how important search engine traffic is, here is a pie chart showing how visitors arrived at the SMM website during the past six months.

 

More than three out of four visitors came via a search engine.  Less than one in 10 visitors came direct, that is typed the address into the address field or clicked on a direct link to the site perhaps in an e-mail newsletter.  This website includes a blog and has been optimized to be very visible in the search engines.  However other web sites would show similar results.

This is the way the Internet largely works.  For this reason, marketing through search engines, or SEM, is a major activity for most website owners.  Most websites will also find that Google provides by far the most traffic to them.  For the SMM website, Yahoo and Live/MSN bring only a small fraction of the traffic.  Other websites with different audiences might find slightly higher numbers.  StumbleUpon is an example of one of the social media and this will be discussed in the next article on SMM (Social Media Marketing).

The Way Search Engines Work

The first major activity search engines do is to find as many web pages as they can and summarize the content into a huge database.  To understand how a search engine then produces a relevant answer to a keyword query, here is how Google explains it.

The software behind our search technology conducts a series of simultaneous calculations requiring only a fraction of a second. We use more than 200 signals, including our patented PageRank™ algorithm, to examine the entire link structure of the web and determine which pages are most important. We then conduct hypertext-matching analysis to determine which pages are relevant to the specific search being conducted. By combining overall importance and query-specific relevance, we’re able to put the most relevant and reliable results first.

Submitting Websites To Search Engines

Although it is possible to submit websites to search engines, it is not absolutely necessary.  Search engines have spiders or robots that are continually exploring the Internet to find web pages to add to their search engine databases.  They do this by following links from other web pages that may point towards new web pages. The time to do this is measured in hours for Google and in days for most of the other major search engines.

There are two important exceptions to this.

• One is the pinging process involved with RSS news feeds, as mentioned in the previous article on The Blog.  This is an extremely effective way of signaling to all the search engines that a new post has been added to your blog.  However your blog software should be doing this automatically.
• The second is that it is now possible to submit a site map file to the major search engines.  Google provides information on how to do this.

Submitting Websites To Directories

Google puts great weight on the hyperlinks pointing towards any given webpage.  They are what are called back links by Google.  In the early days, Google seemed to value most back links to some extent.  If the sources were authoritative than the links were worth more.  Everyone was encouraged to submit their website to the Open Directory Project or DMOZ or one could even pay $299 to Yahoo for possible inclusion in their directory.  If accepted then a further $299 must be paid for each subsequent year.  There are also many other directories that accept submissions for free.

Google measures the authority of any web page by a factor it calls PageRank™.  This is determined by the number of links pointing to that page and the authority of each of those links.  The authority of any link from a directory page is related to the authority of the page divided by the number of links on the page.  A link out from a directory page with 300 references on it will therefore be one 300th of the authority of that page.

The bottom line on all this is that effort spent in submitting to directories is of very dubious value.  Getting a single blog post that refers to the web page will be a much better use of effort.

Reciprocal Links

Since links are important in gaining Google visibility, some webmasters offer to set up reciprocal links  with other webmasters, whereby each displays a link to the other.  Since the sole purpose is to influence their ranking with Google, this is clearly against the Google Quality Guidelines.  Normally this is only a complete waste of time and effort, even though there are now companies offering to do this service for you.  In some cases where the other website might be deemed by Google to be a bad website then this could invoke a penalty.

The Search Engine Robots Are Blind

The following mental picture will help you better understand how the search engine robots work.  You might almost think of them as blind tracking dogs.  These computer processors handle only digital information.  They cannot see a picture or image.  They assess only the text content and the code that makes up the webpage.  Jordan Kasteler has put together a video that provides more details on How a Search Engine Reads Websites.

One way of checking what the spider sees is to do a Google search for the website.  Normally you will find a link in the SERP to the cached version of the website.  Clicking on that cache link and then on the link at the top right to the text only version will show you what the Google spider is seeing.

Making The Spiders Welcome

In addition to providing webpage content that spiders can see, it is also important not to put blockages in their way.  A good assessment of this is provided as part of the Google Webmaster Tools website.  A wealth of information is provided about your website, particularly if you go through the verification process to prove that you own the website. 

Search Engine Optimization

Developing web pages that will rank highly with the search engines is a huge topic that cannot be treated in detail here.  The references at the end are valuable but the following provide more manageable summaries of what is involved:

• SEO Checklist 
  One of the many you will find by doing a Google search for this.  They are usually fairly long and sometimes contain some misconceptions.
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Key
  A short list prepared by SMM
• Writing Memorable Search Visible Blog Posts 
  An approach to the most important aspects of any blog post in SEO terms.

Creating Click Through Serp Entries

One often neglected topic is the Title and snippet that Google shows in the SERP.  Your web page may appear in a keyword search at the #4 position but if the Google snippet for your entry is much more inviting than the three above it, then the searcher may click on your entry.

The first important element is the Title of the web page.  Then Google has an automatic snippet creation process that determines what it shows below the title in the SERP.  You can influence that if the meta description of your web page is carefully developed.  For a blog post it should have a description of 138 characters and spaces because Google often will insert the date of the web page before this text.  With such a meta description length, Google will often reproduce that description as the snippet.  For a traditional web page the description can go to 155 characters and spaces since that is the maximum that Google will show.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

In some highly competitive markets, it may be almost impossible to get web pages that will appear at an early position in the keyword query reports.  One can then use paid advertising in the search reports such as that provided by Google Adwords.  Again this is a large topic and the following will provide entry points to further reading.

• Google Adwords Learning Center 
• SEO ++ PPC For More Sales

Analytics

It is important to monitor how effective the SEO and PPC campaign is so that improvements can be made.  Even the raw website traffic logs can give useful information.  However an analytics program such as that provided by Google gives more easily digestible explanations of what is happening.  If you have concerns about Google knowing too much, other analytics services are available, either free or for a fee.  Clicky is one analytics service at modest cost that seems to have good reports.  There is also a comparison with other analytics services on the Home page there.

Conclusion

This summary overview has been quite lengthy and yet has just touched on many of the topics involved in Search Engine Marketing.  Why not add a comment if you think some aspect should be treated in more detail.  We will then determine how best to meet the need you are expressing.

References:
Beginner and Comprehensive Guides to SEO, Link Building, PPC, etc., etc. - Donna Fontenot
The following provide up-to-the-minute information on SEO developments:

• Search Engine Journal
• Search Engine Roundtable
• Search Engine Land

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A number of these articles take a non-conventional point of view and this will be the most controversial of all.  Have you spotted why?  We’re talking about Internet Marketing and so we have now arrived at your online presence.  Why is the title The Blog rather than The Website?  The difference is fundamental and is very important. 

If history could be changed, it would be so much better if the blog had come along before the website.  Then you would go to a blog designer rather than a website designer.  For most people that would bring enormous advantages.  It should be emphasized that we live in a Google world where more than half of the visitors to any website will come via a Google search.  This article will explain why developing your blog is the most important marketing task you have.

A blog is most often produced with blogging software.  Images for four of the most frequently used software appear throughout this post and by clicking on the image you can check out further information on that software.

The Difference Between A Blog And A Website

Technically a blog is one type of website. Why the big fuss?  The two may look very similar.  Both may include an online store.  Or there could be a forum included in both cases.  There could even be a wiki involved in either case where the participants aim to build up a knowledge resource.

The critical difference is that a blog most often has an associated RSS news feed. The simple explanation is that the blog is designed to be read by human beings while the news feed is designed to be read by a computer.  Although humans can read both, as can computers, it is helpful to think in this way.

Why is it necessary to make this distinction?  Well blame Google for covering up this factor.  Google is so rapid in detecting web pages from traditional websites that we may sometimes forget that there is a distinction between what is good for human beings and what is good for computers.

Marketing Means Visibility

A story is often quoted to illustrate what marketing is all about.  Suppose someone invented the best mousetrap in the world.  However if they lived in the middle of a forest then no one might ever know about them.  Unless they do some marketing to make themselves visible to customers they will never sell that fine mousetrap.  Even though Google Earth could now even show the sign in front of their workshop and may in the future link that to their data in the Google Local Business Center database.

In some ways the traditional website is a little like that mousetrap producer.  Just being on the Internet, at least before Google was around, did not mean that you were visible.  Someone would have to know the location of your website (your URL) in order to find the website. Some years back, people would talk about how many weeks it might take for Google to find the website so that it might appear in a search.  If other websites that were already indexed by Google had links to your website, then that did speed up the process.  However it still is true that it may take some time for a new website page to appear in Google’s index.

Newsfeeds record the changes that occur in a blog.

Every time a new post is made then this is recorded in the news feed.  There is then what is called a pinging process to alert the Internet world to this change.  Most blogging software will automatically produce such pings.  However if not, there are pinging services such as Pingoat or Ping-O-Matic. 

Such pings are immediately recorded by news feed aggregators such as Google Reader or Bloglines.  That means that your more technically bright clients who follow news feeds will know instantly that you have produced some new information on your blog.  It is a type of early warning system.  This is slowly becoming a much more important way to contact humans as well.

In a way you can regard a traditional website as a passive online facility.  A blog on the other hand can be regarded as a proactive online facility that keeps the world informed. 

Blogs Are Search Engine Friendly

Another reason why a blog is much preferable is that it is much more visible to a search engine such as Google.  As mentioned, the pinging process brings instant visibility and the blog structure and content work well with the keyword algorithms.  The text content of blog posts is exactly what the search engine robots or spiders are designed to evaluate.  In addition blogs have highly interlinked web pages and for Google, links are almost more important than content.

It may also be that content in a blog post is treated with more authority than content on a web page.  Some speculate this to be the case, given that blog posts usually have a named author.  Certainly blog posts do seem to rank well in keyword searches, but it is difficult to separate out the relative importance of their good link structures and their authoritative comments.

Having A Blogging Mindset

It is unfortunate that blogging came along some time after most people had  websites.  Many of the early blogs were also just personal journals.  That has colored how many people see them.  They are seen as optional rather than essential.  In fact given Google’s apparent liking for blogs, we would argue that the blog is the most essential thing you can have on the Internet.  A blog is also an ideal way of communicating with potential customers as we will explain.

The Online Objective - Make Sales To Customers

We have identified a market niche and we believe we have the right product/service package for them.  We now hope to use the Internet to help us grow sales at a sufficiently fast pace to create a satisfactory cash flow.  Potential clients are out there, feeling pain, and will buy a solution from whoever seems to be reliable to them.

There are a number of steps involved in reaching that point.  Whatever we do on the Internet must be effective in finding our prospects and converting them into clients.  The selling cycle involves moving prospects through the AIDA path, that is from awareness through to action

Awareness  >>  Interest  >>  Desire  >>  Action

Taking action does not happen instantly.  It usually will require a number of contacts to give the prospect information and confidence they need for their purchase.  That is where a blog can be extremely effective.

Effective Marketing Is A Dialogue, Not A Monologue

There are many definitions of marketing, but a major distinction can be made between what is called Push Marketing and Pull Marketing.

• Push Marketing
  Messages are beamed to potential customers with the aim of persuading them to take actions.  This is a monologue.  It is the way many websites function.  Potential customers could be put off by this unwanted intrusion.
• Pull Marketing
  Information is provided to customers who are seeking it to help them take purchasing decisions.  This is a dialogue.  People may search using Google and the results give them the answers they were looking for.  A blog with its comments can be a useful way many companies develop a favorable attitude towards their brand.

Are There Any Disadvantages Of Blogging?

Despite the advantages listed above in terms of marketing effectiveness, a number of objections are often raised against business blogging.  Here we will provide you with a list of counter arguments.

Will there be enough to blog about?

If the company is not creating enough news items of interest to potential customers, then it is unlikely it can grow sales to meet its objectives. This may point to a criticism of what they are doing in their total marketing plan.

How can control be exercised over a group of corporate bloggers?

This is only a problem in companies where there is strict top-down control or where staff members may not be fully aligned with the company’s mission and objectives. 

Aren’t blogs being hacked all the time and filled with very questionable links ?

Blogs just like websites can be hacked and filled with wrong or malicious web pages.  Provided the blogging software is always upgraded to the latest version and appropriate security measures are taken, this should not be a problem.

Business Blogging Is Now Accepted As A Key Priority

If there are any lingering doubts about the importance of blogging to successful corporations, a survey will rapidly turn up many corporate blogs which are now in operation.  As one example, GasPedal is presenting the BlogWell Seminar on How Big Companies Use Social Media on October 28th, 2008. The seminar features Cisco Systems, Graco, The Home Depot, Intel, Kaiser Permanente, UPS, Wells Fargo and Wal-mart.  That is a pretty stellar group of companies.

If you don’t have a blog that is working hard for you in helping achieve your goals, then now is the time to start. I would highly recommend using WordPress as your blogging software.  Unfortunately we’ve run out of space here but you’ll find most WordPress users are very strong enthusiasts.

References:

Newsletter Or Blog - Which Works Better?

Link Building: The Future Of Relationships - Aaron Wall

Not only did I buy a Dell-forced-Vista laptop, but I begged my husband, Eric, to give me dual bootup access so that I could use both XP and Vista.  Surprise, surprise!  I ended up adapting quickly to Vista.  Now I have a Vista laptop (with XP on it too), plus an XP desktop computer.  There’s a mix of OS’s in the house, but the newer PC’s are all Vista. No one is complaining.

Are there alternatives to Vista?  Yes.  Are these alternatives other than asking for XP? Yes.

An educational thread can found at Cre8asiteforums, in Is Vista Good Or Should I Get Xp Loaded On New Computer?.

Welcome to Windows Vista, you have been demoted!…really, you were demoted. “It’s good to be the King” (or Queen). Typically Windows XP users granted themselves Admin access to their operating system. You have permission to do anything, install anything, delete anything (just about). You are now the master of all you survey, on your XP desktop, however so are any nasties that came in with you from the internet.

Enter the paranoia zone, next stop Windows Vista ACL (UAC)

So you have decided to start a business. Entrepreneurs are often action-oriented people. There is a natural tendency to want to start doing things immediately. However it is always wise to think before you act. What are the first things you should think about?

In most countries you will find that there is lots of online help to advise you. For example the US Government has a Small Business Administration group. The first thing they recommend is to write a business plan and that is a very common approach.

The Business Plan

A business plan is a road map of how you intend to operate your business to achieve your business goals. The BBC has a very good short description of a business plan. If done well it can take a considerable amount of effort and time. Most venture capitalists require a start-up company to have a business plan before they will even consider whether or not they might provide investment funds.

That is in line with the Initial Steps as set out by the US Government Small Business Administration
group

it all seems a somewhat leisurely process. You almost need to be independently wealthy or have a rich friend to adopt this approach. Perhaps having an angel investor is the only way. Many entrepreneurs with an urge to get results often ignore this cautious approach. That may mean they forget some important steps and are doomed to failure.

Nevertheless there are examples of growing your business without a business plan that seem to be doing pretty well. The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, says that he hopes to have a business plan within the next three years. Fred Wilson, successful venture capitalist and author of the celebrated blog A VC, accepts that view and Twitter, one of his portfolio, is another striking example where a business plan seems to be lacking.

Here we will recommend a middle-ground approach. This involves doing that part of the business plan that brings you the most effect rapidly (using that old Pareto principle). The content of the business plan is extremely useful. The checklist of headings can be a useful reminder of all the topics that must in due course be covered. It also includes those that must be handled immediately. Here is the SBA list of headings.

Eventually all must be considered. A practical procedure is to handle the critical items early and complete the remainder as time permits. So what are the critical items? Most of them are what might be called strategic issues.

Strategic Plan

It is useful to split a business plan into two sections: the strategic plan and the operational or action plan. The strategic plan sets the general direction and the way resources will be used. The action plan then details on a time schedule what is to be done and when results are to be achieved.

At the strategy level, one critical item is the human resources that are available. Have you got the right people with skills and experience to accomplish the tasks that your business idea involves? if not, can you involve others in some relationship to correct this. Without the right people, success will never happen.

The other critical items at the strategic level can be summarized in the acronym, NUB. Nub as a word means the essential core of some topic. Here it applies to the business plan. NUB stands for:

• N - Niche of potential customers
• U - USP, Unique Selling Proposition. This describes what you offer to those potential customers, that is unmatched by the competition, and
• B - Bottom-line. The forecasted 12-month cash flow to confirm that this is a satisfactory and viable scenario.

The N and U together define whether you have a product/service package that is likely to be a basis for a successful business. The B highlights the acceptable cash flow, without which the business will not survive.

The approach we suggest here is to refine this NUB analysis while at the same time taking some essential actions which will help to launch the company. The previous article on The Customer Is The Boss has highlighted the importance of looking at everything from the point of view of the prospect. The U signals the challenge we have. Our product / service must be something the prospect really wants and which they feel is best bought from you. You must do enough research to confirm that you have a winning proposition and that there are sufficient prospects in this niche. If you believe you are ending up with a me-too product, then you should re-examine the niche and the product service package you are proposing. Some adjustment of one or the other may result in a product service package that has no direct competitor.

A minimal requirement is that the business must survive for the first 12 months. In other words you should be forecasting a survivable cash flow. A convenient way of checking this is to develop a 12 month Excel spreadsheet that calculates the bottom line. This should detail the cash inflows from revenues and investments and the cash outflows for expenses so that the net cash flow can be determined. Once an acceptable 12 month cash flow pattern has been developed, then it should be regarded as a commitment to yourself rather than merely a forecast. Only by doing this and working to make it happen can you be assured that the company will survive the first 12 months of life.

Action Plan

At this point, the NUB analysis suggests we have a viable project. What then do we do first? Remember that this is the Internet age. Marketing through the Internet is likely to produce the best return on our investment. The most important item is how our company will be known on the Internet.

The Company Name / Domain Name / Brand

The most important test of a company name is whether a Google search for the name leads to the company. Google is by far the way most visitor traffic comes to most websites. If Google does not equate the company name with the company, this is a major weakness.

Once the right name has been found, it is important to stay with this name and build up its visibility on the Internet. This puts the pressure on getting the right name as quickly as possible and then sticking with it.

The second criterion for a good name is that it should work well for human prospects. Ideally it should be a mental hook that triggers a certain brand image. Someone who has never heard of the company when hearing the name should have an appropriate view of what the company offers.

Getting the right name demands great creativity and an ability to avoid some very obvious mistakes. Here are some good rules in order of declining importance.

• Have a short name that is easily pronounced and easily understood.
• Avoid accents and punctuation marks in the name.
• Secure the dotcom domain if possible.
• Choose a name that describes the product/service package

Government Requirements

It is important to be legal at all times. You should check all Government requirements and licensing arrangements for the type of business you are setting up. Any necessary permits or registrations should be obtained.

Faster Is Better

With the NUB analysis confirming the viability of the project, the right company name chosen and appropriate government licenses and permits in hand, we are ready to roll. What are the important next steps?

Before the Internet, Push Marketing was the approach. When all was ready, you would spend some (often many) promotional dollars and Da - daa!!! The product was launched in the marketplace. You can still do that, but it is even less effective than it used to be.

Marketing Takes Longer

Marketing is all about communicating with prospects and clients and ensuring they are ready and eager to buy. This can be a slow process since many others are competing for attention in the crowded Internet marketplace. The earlier the process is started, the greater the results that will be achieved.

In general having a mindset of Faster Is Better will serve you well. As Heracletus, our favorite ancient Greek, said, You cannot jump in the same river twice. Things are in constant evolution. Here are some of the advantages of acting promptly.

• You can test Beta versions of your product with typical prospects.
• You can Learn and improve your product, its features and how it is best marketed.
• You can be farther ahead of the competition
• You can make money faster

Developing a comprehensive marketing section of the business plan would take us far beyond what can be included in this planning overview. The traditional Marketing 4P’s concept provides a framework for this. The four Ps are: Product, Price, Place, Promotion.

• Product: this has already been covered in the niche USB discussion
• Price: pricing and how this may change during the lifespan of the project has a major impact on sales growth and on bottom-line profitability. Excessive prices may rapidly kill the project.
• Place: this covers the location at which sales are made and sometimes has less relevance online products and services.
• Promotion: this includes not only online tools but the traditional off-line promotional methods (TV ads, billboards, newspaper and magazine ads, etc.)

The list of online promotional methods is long but here are some of the more important ones:

• blogging (this will be covered in the next article)
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• email newsletters
• Ads on relevant websites
• PR - online media releases
• AdWords and other online advertising networks
• social media involvement
• webinars, etc.

An appropriate marketing mix of these various tools must be set out over the 12 month time horizon to produce early results with the available person/dollar budget.

The Business Must Last The Course - The Ability To Survive

Planning is not a once for all activity but is an ongoing part of the road to success. The plan must set out the objectives against which actual performance is measured. Initially the plan may have some summary targets such as total prospects making contact or the number of items sold. In time as more knowledge is obtained, sub-objectives can be targeted as well. Online activities provide a wealth of data on what prospects do when they visit the website, what they look at and whether or not they take action. As time passes, improved knowledge on these matters provides a basis for more detailed plans and targets. In this way remedial actions can be more easily taken early.

Useful References:

• How to write a business plan (BBC)
• Writing The Plan (US Small Business Administration)
• The Marketing Plan
• Faster Is Better
• The NUB Of Getting More Internet Sales

Risa, who is a Moderator for Cre8asiteforums, is also the forums’ logo creator. She designed the logo for this blog, as well the incredible logo for Cre8pc.com. She has been designing our holiday and celebration logos for the forums as well.

The contest was for a new website and foundation called “Give A Little Bit” (Site coming soon. Her logo design is up on the placeholder page.) Risa won a prize of $200. A web designer, mother of 3 boys, artist, and ecommerce site owner of several sites including Jewish Gift Place and Basics Body Care.

Congratulations Risa!