Back on track!

Hey gang, fell off the planet for a week...so I have a lot of things to catch up on .

First, I am currently reading "Communities Dominate Brands" which so far is a very interesting read on community engagement and the future of business and marketing. When I finish it I will report back!

I have also been working on a larger post that I should have ready by mid week. It's a little research experiment that I decided to conduct...on the presidential hopefuls.

So thanks for being patient and I'll be back posting this week!

The Top 5 Small Business Marketing Tips for Budget-Minded Business Owners

I am fortunate enough to have made great friends in the blogosphere, some of which are the best marketing minds in the business. In particular, Caroline Melberg of the Small Business Mavericks blog has been a regular in my feed reader from almost my first day blogging. I read her posts regularly for all the best insight into small business marketing tactics which also happens to be a primary interest of mine.

So I asked her if she would be interested in guest blogging and she politely accepted. Concerning her expertise in the small business sector I was very interested in what she considered to be the most important small business marketing tips for those who are on a tight budget (which is all of them!) Here is what she had to say:

When it comes to running a successful business, marketing is essential. For a small business, marketing often seems like a daunting task – especially when it comes to marketing your business on the web.

Many times, budget-minded business owners fear that small business marketing needs to be expensive in order to be effective. Fortunately - this isn't true. Here are five simple tips for small business owners who are looking to save dollars, while stil running an effective online marketing campaign.

1. Optimize Your Website

There are three simple steps to take so that you can be sure that your website is working for you.

The first is to use a descriptive title for your site as well as keywords and a description that allows search engines and site visitors alike to know what they will find when they visit your web page. Once that's taken care of, make sure that you are placing keywords appropriately in the text of your website.

Your keywords should be specific to your products and services, and should be chosen with consideration for the terms prospective customers would use when searching with Google or Yahoo or whichever other search engine they use.

Finally, these keywords should also be used in the alt image tags as they relate to the photos and illustrations that you post to your website.

2. Market Your Website with Articles & Distribute Press Releases

Article marketing is an extremely effective way of drawing visitors to your website. By creating an informative short article that relates to your business, your area of expertise and your keywords, you can show readers a bit more of what they'll find from your business – which you can link to in your resource box at the bottom of the article.

Online press releases are another effective marketing tool. Like conventional press releases that let local newswires pick up a story about a new staff member or a new product line, online press release distribution will allow you to get the word out to those who publish online newsletters or who review products and services like those that you offer.

Both articles and press releases published online create valuable, relevant inbound links to your website (via the link to your site in your resource box at the end of each article or press release). Search engines place a great amount of value on the number of inbound links you have to your site, so this is an excellent way of building popularity with the search engines, as well as your human customers.

Both article marketing and distributing press releases will enable you to establish yourself as an expert and your company as a source for products or services. Each is effective, and often, submission to article directories is free – that's right, free marketing for your business, all it takes is a little bit of time.

3. Start a Blog

It's a common statement when it comes to Internet marketing: content is king. A blog – short for a weblog – allows you to create fresh content at regular intervals, driving traffic and search engines to your website.

Like article marketing and press release distribution, having a blog allows you to establish your expertise about the products and services that your small business offers. Unlike article marketing and press release distribution, however, a blog allows you to begin to carry on a dialog with your current and prospective customers.

Your blog works like search engine magic for your website. By linking your blog to your website, you draw the search engines to your website. Your site will rank higher and your customers will have a much easier time finding your site.

4. Commit to a Link Building Campaign and Submit Your Site to Directories and Search Engines

As a small business owner building and promoting your business on the web, having quality inbound links is important. Links allow your site to be found by those who visit similar sites looking for the products and services that your company offers.

Links – like those at the end of your articles and press releases, like those that exist back to individual products or services from within your blog, like those from others who have purchased from you in the past – help to improve your site's search engine rank.

By submitting your business' website to relevant directories and even to industry-specific – niche – search engines, you'll begin to generate additional links. More importantly, however, these niche directories are increasingly used by those looking for very specific sites. Having your listing present will make it even more likely that your prospective customers will find your page; that makes them a particularly valuable marketing tool for your business, and, again, it's often free to submit your site.

5. Look for Joint Ventures with Other Like-Minded Business People

It's not uncommon for small businesses to work together – a movie theater and a restaurant offering coupons for a discount if you spend the evening at both places. In my past life working with large corporations I realized that the largest companies grow by means of joint ventures all the time. However, many small businesses do not look into joint ventures when it comes to marketing their businesses.

Is it always easy to find the right joint venture for marketing your business? No, of course not. But it is possible to find like-minded business owners whose customers could benefit from your products or services just as your customers could benefit from those that they offer.

As a result, both small businesses will be better able to extend their outreach and develop a wider customer base. If you are going to enter into a joint venture, search for companies with similar goals and a similar customer base but a different type of product or service. Stay on the lookout, keep an open mind and you just might find the perfect opportunity to market your business to a new audience.

A perfect example of this principle is a recent joint venture I did with a company who specializes in teaching business credit skills to small business owners. This company markets to the same clients that I wish to add to my customer list, but they offer a completely different service. By working together, we were able to market our services to each other’s mailing lists, resulting in both of us attracting new customers we would not have had otherwise. The great part about this joint venture was that there was no out of pocket cost to either of us – just our time and a little creativity in coming up with suitable promotions to each other’s lists!

Taking your business to the web does not need to be difficult, nor does it need to be expensive. By taking a creative approach, small business owners on a tight marketing budget will be able to find traffic and increase their customer base.

Focus on reaching the search engines: use the right keywords and use them appropriately. Let people know that you have the information they need with articles and be sure to get the word out by distributing press releases. Interact with your customers with a high quality blog, and focus on getting great links. Lastly, take advantage of partnerships with like-minded business owners.

Marketing your small business website may require a lot of hard work, but it doesn't require a lot of money – oftentimes, the best results are derived from the most creative (not the most expensive) solutions.

About the Author
Caroline Melberg is President and CEO of Small Business Mavericks, a division of Melberg Marketing. She has over 20 years of experience creating marketing communications materials and writing copy for some of most successful companies in the world. She publishes the popular eZine, "Small Business Maverick Secrets." Learn insider Maverick Marketing secrets you can use immediately to find new customers and increase your sales. Subscribers also get a FREE copy of her e-Book, "Local Small Business Internet Marketing Secrets." Get your FREE subscription at www.SmallBusinessMavericks.com.

Pay-Per-Click Hero

I have a friend who is an extremely successful pay-per-click marketer and as he has grown out his business his team has taken to blogging on the topic of PPC. After checking out the posts for a few months I have to say that I am impressed. I have worked directly with Patrick and his company Hanapin Marketing in the past and can attest first hand to their expertise and success in the search marketing arena.

So if you are doing any paid search marketing go check out PPC Hero, it has some great tips and advice.

Changes to Skatterbox.com

If you haven't noticed, Skatterbox is undergoing some cosmetic changes...primarily intended to increase the focus on content. I decided that it would be a much better experience for my readers, because thats who I care about and why I write.

The first noticeable change has been the elimination of the sub header (with the stacked stone image) which was taking up way too much screen "real estate" and pushing a lot of content below the fold.

The second (and biggest) change was the removal of advertising. My intent was not to blog to make money...but I did want to understand it. So using my blog as a testing ground was a great learning experience and a lot of fun...but its time to devote full focus to my audience now.

So I hope that the changes make it an overall better experience for you. Over the next few days I will be expanding my blog roll to include a bigger list of sites I frequent. If you would like to be included, please let me know and we can possibly do a link exchange.

Be well!

Back in the Saddle!

Some of you over the past month have been nice enough to politely inquire as to why I have been posting less frequently lately. The simple answer is that I got really super busy at work... and then took a much needed vacation in the Smoky Mountains. I had to hit the pressure release valve on my head before it exploded...

What I realized while I was gone was that I have a great set of dedicated readers who really care about my little blog. To those of you who were nice enough to inquire let me tell you that its you who make this all fun and worthwhile.

So I am back with a renewed sense of purpose and excited to get back to work. I had a lot of time to clear the head and with that new ideas formed... and I'm just itching to share them with you here!

So to the one faithful reader who politely ribbed me if all I was going to post about this month was book reviews...

I say no.

But I did get them finished while on vacation and will be the inspiration for many of my next posts. Book reviews are here to stay ;)

Targeted bigotry from adsense?

I was shocked when I went to my blog tonight and saw this adsense ad combo on my top banner...



I clicked the link to see what nonsense was being linked to from my site and I was taken to an online quiz to assess your gayness or stupidity.

I have to say that I was personally offended by the ad appearing on my website especially the two of them together which implies that being gay is indeed stupid. While I do not plan to bring my personal politics into this blog I will state for the record that I am adamantly opposed to stereotypes and bigotry of all kinds and apologize to anyone who took offense as I did.

I will be notifying Google to see what they have to say about this kind of "targeted messaging" appearing on a small business marketing blog ...

(If you have any advice on how to protect my site from this crap I would appreciate your comments.)

Great article from B2B Magazine Online

There was a great article posted by B2B that does an outstanding job of discussing Web 2.0 and I wanted to share it here. If you have time check it out - its a very good article.

Happy Marketing!

3 blogs I visit every day...and you should too

I was told once that there are “no new ideas, only new ways of presenting old ones". And the more I surf around the more that holds true...especially with blogging.

That doesn't discourage me because I take away much more from individual perspectives and experiences, as do most bloggers. I actually love the smaller blogs that are "finding their voice" much as I am doing here...they have some great perspectives that you wont find anywhere else.

But that being said, there are 3 that I visit every day - and you should too. These are the best blogs on marketing and provide plenty of info for the small business marketer.

1.GrokDotCom
If you are serious about web analytics (and you should be...) this is one of the best blogs on the internet. This is the home of Bryan and Jeffery Eisenberg - they are web analytics gurus and founders of the Web Analytics Association. I also highly recommend their book "Call to Action" it is a must read. If you visit this site only once in awhile you will come away a 10x smarter marketer.

2.SEO Moz
I am a junkie for all things search marketing and read many blogs on the topic - but this one is the standard bearer. If you are looking for ways to increase search traffic there are few things that these folks haven't tried and have all documented them here. If this isn't in your reader...it should be.

3.Marketing Sherpa
This is where serious marketers go. This blog is filled with success stories, case studies, whitepapers, manuals, surveys, studies, and analysis on every marketing topic and tactic that ever existed. Smart people learn from successful people - and this is where they go.

Honorable mention:

Forrester
I almost included it and made this a top 4 list - but decided against it. Some of us only have so much time in the day. So if your finding that you have a little extra time to devote swing by here for some of the best insight on marketing trends and analysis.

Web 2.0 Explained

This is the best video I have ever seen explaining Web 2.0. Very cool...

It explains it in a way that I think might resonate...especially with those marketers who are critical of all things Web 2.0.

Let me know what you think...

h/t: to Michelle MacPhearson for the article and video...

Branded Desktop RSS: Lessons Learned

Have you ever heard of Southwest "Ding"? They have achieved crazy success with their RSS based desktop application - driving over 1 million downloads and $60 million in sales per year since its launch.

When I was with a previous company I managed the development of a similar application. It was closely modeled after the Southwest Ding desktop app as a way for customers to make the most out of their membership. When I left the company over a year ago, the product was getting serious traction - but not after some interesting lessons were learned.

The company I worked for was in timeshare (or vacation ownership...the word "timeshare" is taboo now in the industry) and the desktop application was available for members to find good deals on vacations to exchange for their own. It was also a good way for the company to promote inventory they wanted to move. It seemed like a win for both the company and the customer.

When we launched it the adoption rate was steady, but soon after the complaints came pouring in...

Some typical complaints:

• Cannot not use the application due to not meeting the system requirements
• Paranoid about it affecting the functionality/performance of their computer
• Worries about security and computer viruses
  
• Worried about getting spam

It was quite amazing. We thought that we had thought of everything - but it was some of the obvious concerns that were ringing true...

Majority of timeshare owners were older and more skeptical of downloading applications on their computers - and many were not extremely comfortable with technology in general, so our online tutorials and FAQ went by unnoticed. What we got instead was a deluge of email and phone calls about the very same topics covered in the FAQ and online tutorials!

So we quickly ramped up our customer support so we could respond to their incoming questions and concerns. We began monitoring the response in the call center and online... there are quite a few blogs dedicated to timeshare ownership and as soon as we released the app to the public - they were all over it. Their response was extremely eye opening.

So we began soothing member concerns right away by using both a support phone line and through email. We also added a support blog as a part of the application which helped immensely. We had made assumptions that just turned out to be incorrect - and were in need of a full support mechanism to ensure our products success.

The lesson here is that while desktop RSS applications can be extremely successful - they can also pose a large commitment of resources to support it. Before you take the plunge, make sure that you accurately anticipate what your user response will be and be ready to answer questions. Your product success and development hinges on this 2 way communication.

What we learned (quite obviously) was that the choice to download an application to ones desktop is a quite a personal one - and needs to be treated with alot of respect. If you are successful - then you have an open and direct line of communication with your customer - and the opportunity to build a relationship on trust and mutual benefit. If you fail - you will most likely loose them forever. Its all about the lifetime value of the customer vs. the cost of customer acquisition. This is why if done correctly - desktop RSS is a viable marketing tool.

So as a result of being able to respond to their customer's initial concerns , the product is very successful and has become a major channel for the marketing department. They are able to use it to communicate to their customers in ways that even email cannot.

If you are interested in companies that specialize in desktop RSS applications - I highly recommend The Port...they are building a superior solution and can customize it for the specific needs of your business.

If you are interested in learning more about desktop RSS here is a great article on top desktop applications being used today.

Happy Marketing!

The great social media experiement of 2007

I was working for the advertising agency for a major sporting league when I came up with a concept I call the "event blog time capsule."

I got the idea when I was standing directly in front of the stage at a U2 concert - the band was two feet in front of me with thousands of fans shouting, dancing, and screaming around me.

What I noticed was a phenomenon that was extremely interesting. Everyone around me was taking pictures and short movies on their cell phones. There must have been hundreds of them - all with their own angle and point of view.

And I thought - how cool would it be if all of these people took the extra time to send those pictures to their blog...or even better, the same blog?

Which got me thinking about chronicling huge events - sports, concerts, political rallies, ect on an open blog that is available for the duration of the event.

Imagine capturing something like the Indy 500 or Ozzfest from the unique perspectives of not just 1, 5, or even 10 people - but from hundreds of people!

The result would be an online phenomenon...an event blog completely broadcast by the fans attending the event - from each unique perspective and experience. Instead of trying to bring all the unique experiences together from a multitude of personal blogs - it would be collected in one spot - raw and unfiltered.

I think that a smart marketer could really generate buzz about it - by handing out exclusive invitations (blogging email addresses) to event goers and anticipating a whisper campaign where those people hand it out to their friends. The result would be hundreds (thousands?) of people posting to an event sponsored blog that then becomes a time-capsule for the event.

There are challenges of course...

• The volume of posts and concurring posting could bring a server to its knees
• The content is raw and unfiltered - Ozzfest pics could get interesting...
• Many televised broadcasts will have restrictions on publishing event content
• Approving posts if necessary could be overwhelming

I am absolutely positive that there a many more than those. The deal breaker for my initial pitch to the sporting venue was broadcast restrictions on event images.

So I'm throwing down the gauntlet.

What marketer can make this happen? I have made the pitch and everyone I know loves the idea and think it would be an awesome spectacle. The benefits are as intriguing as the challenges...

• Competely viral - the buzz would be amazing
• Get perspectives that no other camera can get - unique and individual experiences
• What better advocates for the event than the fans that love them
• Get those people who missed the event to see what they are missing
• Give the event goer the power to dictate the story (was the race the best part of the Brickyard 400? Or was it the party that Tony Stewart threw the night before?)
  
• Go places the media doesn't know about

There you have it, I gave my idea away. Nothing would make me happier than to see some marketing guru build out the first major "event time capsule". It would be awesome. So take part in my great social media experiment and prove to me that it CAN indeed be done!

Good luck to you all!

Why I chose Google Blogger

The decision to start blogging had come to me a long time ago. I had developed blogs before but did not fully understand the shear amount of time involved with creating and posting to one regularly.

After shelving my ambitions for a year and doing more research/reading I decided to pull the trigger and fully devote myself to blogging on a topic that I am passionate about. I have to admit that I am excited and slightly intimidated to put myself out there.

Unlike a lot of bloggers who begin on a whim - choose a blog publishing solution and move on, I actually evaluated a handful of them for a year before deciding on my choice.

I looked into typepad, blogger, wordpress, and social network blogs like myspace and xanga. I also tried open source content management blogs like Joomla with varied results for each.

What pushed me over the edge was the new Google Blogger.

The first conclusion that I came to was that I did not want to mess with hosting if I didn't have to. I fully understand the implications with not hosting my blog myself - but it would actually be a hinderance to me. I would probably end up spending all my time customizing the application instead of writing anything.

Another conclusion that I came to was that I didn't want to pay anything. I like free applications and open source software - so being a cheap ass definitely played a part.

The social network blogs were weak in their extensibility...and the content management was overkill.

But I wasn't sold on blogger until the "new blogger" came out.

The first (and obvious) benefit was the integration with my Google account which is great because I hop between my google apps quite frequently.

But the most impressive changes were the way in which a person with html experience can build out their own blog templates and edit the styles from within the interface. This is great if I decide I want to change colors or fonts of particular content - I can specify the variable in my blogger template and update it anytime without having to edit the css again. This may come from the fact that I have a graphic design background and get bored easily with the look and feel - so this was a nice feature.

I also love that I can use my own domain. I didnt want a blogspot address (there was no way I would have that) and I was going to go with a different application based solely on that fact. But new blogger beat me to the punch and fixed it before I had come to any definite conclusions.

The widget options were nice and suited most of my needs. I rarely found an app or widget that I could not easily integrate into the new blogger. And most 3rd party widgets are custom configured for blogger and wordpress which made extending the template very easy.

Overall, I found that the new blogger was more than suited for what I wanted to accomplish. It provides me the freedom to build out cool, custom templates and add new features on the fly. The functionality is what you would expect and provides very few limitations.

Now I understand that pro bloggers out there will decry me for placing my uptime/downtime into google's hands, but some of the best blogs I read are good old blogger blogs with the blogspot address. And I have seen both uptime and downtime for blogs from every stripe. I am not looking to become a powerhouse blogmaster with 10 blogs...I dont have that kind of time and I if I did I would be golfing instead.

So I chose the new blogger and I have to say that i am very pleased with it so far.

Let me know what you think - do you use blogger? or did you come to a different conclusion?

Google Reader and Blogging

I have to say that most of the fun in building out a blog is evaluating the shear amount of plug-ins, widgets, components, ect that you will find available to you. I have to say that I could blog for months on just that topic alone because I must have evaluated over a hundred of them, but I only want to bring the most relevant ones to topic here...so I digress.

One that I find particularly cool is the widget for sharing your google reader articles. While you dont actually need the widget - you only need a reader that allows you to create a shared feed and a blog that reads RSS feeds, its actually a great little tool.

It allows me to quickly post links to great articles without having to think twice about it. I just click on the shared button and the link instantly appears on my blog in a content area on the right...awesome! For me this is all about the flow of information and any time I can easily share it I get excited!

So check out the little gray box on the right for some great content from around the web!