Building a Community Archives - Page 3 of 5

Who Should Be Your Next ‘Go To’ Employee?

June 15, 2011/in B2B, B2C, Branding, Building a Community, Convert, facebook, Inbound Marketing, Lead Generation - Nurturing, SEO, Small Business, Social Media, Strategy, Web Analytics, Websites

“So I have a website –now what?” That is the question I often get when a client is asking why the website they either made themselves or ‘had a friend’ design isn’t getting any results. And I mean it –ANY RESULTS. So many small business owners are not getting the point. A website is only one piece of the online marketing puzzle but its potential to help your business is the secret to solving that puzzle. Your website is not the place to CHEAP OUT.
INTERNETS: ON/OFF photo © 2005 mikael altemark | more info (via: Wylio)

Many entrepreneurial business people consider a website an afterthought and as not really that important to the success of their company. They are quickly being proven wrong. Inbound marketing which starts with having a website, is the most affordable method of marketing your business and is most likely to get you the best results. Using a pull strategy in Inbound, a.k.a. Online Marketing, you interact with people through many social media networks, then pull them into your online business realm via a website or social media platform specific to your business.

What a website isn’t

It should not be a static online brochure, a website that after you’ve given people your web address they can pull it up and… what? Gawk at it? Exclaim of its beauty? See all the ‘stuff’ you’re trying to sell? It should DO more than that.

So what should a website do for a business?

Every smart or lucky business has a ‘go to’ employee. Someone that takes on every challenge, is your best advocate, is the warehouse of much of your companys’ knowledge. That ‘go to’ employee, in this case, is your website and it’s vital that you prepare it for the challenge it is about to face. It will provide a foundation that you can use to venture into the social media network. This foundation should have SEO capabilities for every single thing that you publish. It should have reporting capabilities both short term and long term. It should nurture your leads or in other words help you convince consumers to buy or at least engage with your business. It should allow you to work the way you want to –either on a day-to-day basis or with scheduling far into the future. It should allow you and your business to grow.

What are the other pieces of this Internet puzzle?

“Build it and they will come” strategy may work for big brands like Disney, but if you have a small business, how are people going to find you? You need to chart out ‘how’ that is going to happen. Where are your potential customers now –online or off? What would make them visit you online –and keep them coming back? What would entice them into buying your offering?

Social Media sites

Sure, there is Facebook and it is not to be overlooked. But more specifically, there are social media sites that let you, as a small business owner, narrow your efforts to get closer to your niche. If you’re selling craft or gift items, then Esty.com may allow you the larger, targeted audience your business needs to sell successfully. For service companies, like automotive service or beauty salons, I like Yelp! Yelp! Is a review site for professional services offered in your area. Let your customers do the talking for you. That is far more powerful than tooting your own horn. For the travel industry, Trip Advisor is fast becoming the most respected of online travel sources because of the use of customer reviews.

Don’t forget email

It’s not really glamorous, but small business owners should not forget email. Email offers a one-to-one relationship with your client and is of high value in the world of marketing, do not under-estimate its power. Plus, it’s affordable. Have you been collecting business cards for years and just use them to draw for a free dinner? It’s time to up the ante. Keep collecting those cards, but then start an email campaign that first gets them to ‘approve’ of you sending them these email messages from time to time. This would be called the ‘opt-in’. Then provides them periodic updates and offers to keep them interested and directly relating to your business over a period of time. Include links to your website that provides even more incentives and more info. An extra reason for keeping a solid email list is that it is an actual business asset. Think of it as an investment into your businesses future. –One more thing about email. Do you have your website address and social media handles at the bottom of your email signature? No? Do it today! It is a vital part of branding your business and should not be overlooked.

Integrate it!

With today’s popular mantra of “online marketing is where marketing is at”, one thing that seems to get overlooked, and is critical, is the integration of ALL your marketing efforts. On –AND Off line. Integration helps you get every bang for every buck. TV Advertising? Add in your web page. If you are planning on having a booth at a local farm market, be sure you have a brochure or business card that has your website on it –and maybe even add in how people may find extra value by looking your business up online.

Better yet, design a campaign that integrates some of the traditional advertising that you have done in the past and uses the website as a critical piece that drives excitement. Maybe it’s a TV campaign for a free prize that takes entries via your Facebook page, thus resulting in a large audience that ‘likes’ your site.

There are so many options and some, frankly, work better than others. Give us a call today, we’ll help you hone in on the audience you need and plan a strategy that will pull them to your business.

Social Energizer’s purpose is to help companies develop lasting relationships with their customers and increase their conversion rates by adding proven online marketing techniques to their marketing mix.

In addition to building great dynamic websites, we do this by integrating inbound marketing techniques into each business’ current marketing plan and by utilizing digital channels and strategies like Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Search Engine Optimization, and Web-integrated Email Campaigns.

The Secret is in Breaking the Chicken and Egg Problem

June 8, 2011/in B2B, B2C, Blogging, Building a Community, Business Management, Convert, Inbound Marketing, Lead Generation - Nurturing, Small Business, Social Media, Strategy

I found this BNET blog article interesting. BNET interviewed Ceriac Roeding of Shopkick and he discussed the ‘Catch 22’ facing many entrepreneurs. How do you establish that first base of business? Credibility struggles with success. You have to make someone actually BELIEVE. He cited examples he learned through his startup, Shopkick. These examples are transferable to many small business situations. They will even help me as I continue to establish my first year’s ‘base of business clients’ and as I help some of my small business clients address this same issue. I think its good stuff and I hope you like it.

Here is the BNET article below, visit BNET for more depth on this article:

“Too many entrepreneurs get caught in the age-old chicken and egg problem.”

“If you had consumers using your app, then you could get the first retail partner. If you had retail partners, then you could get consumers to use your app. If you had funding, you could build a team and breakthrough technology. If you had a team and breakthrough technology, then you could get funding. And so on, and so on forever, at every critical moment. The art of the entrepreneur is to break through that – to find ways to “crack” the chicken and egg problem.

Never believe someone who says one depends on the other. As an entrepreneur, you have to believe so fully in your vision that you can convince others to agree. Find a way through, get the first hook, find a few consumers or find a way to the top of a partner and convince them the world is changing, and you can help them change with it.

Seem like too much, too quickly? Select the one piece that would set off the domino effect in the fastest and most furious way, and focus on that. Even if it is the hardest piece to get.

With Shopkick, that was getting the first retail partner. With a large retailer, funding from a top VC would follow, and from that, a team, and from that, technology. How to get that first piece? Find ways to get to the very top of the partner quickly, and explain how your idea can address their major challenges. It must be so compelling, have so little downside, and so much upside that there is no other option but to say yes.

And then you go in parallel and try that at 10 potential partners, not one, and create a “rush” effect. And then hold on, because things go big very quickly once you crack that problem.”

Social Energizer’s purpose is to help companies develop lasting relationships with their customers and increase their conversion rates by adding proven online marketing techniques to their marketing mix.

In addition to building great active websites, we do this by integrating inbound marketing techniques into each business’ current marketing plan and by utilizing digital channels and strategies like Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Search Engine Optimization, and Web-integrated Email Campaigns.

10 Things You Could Do Instead Of Going To Work Today

May 17, 2011/in Blogging, Building a Community, Fun, Inbound Marketing, Small Business, Social Media

I’m on vacation at the beautiful boutique hotel of Posada Yum Kin in Tulum, Mexico. So while I’m whiling away my time walking the pristine beaches or snorkeling in one of the numerous cenotes in the area, I think you should take it easy, too.

Here are 10 things you could be doing instead of working. Ditch the job, just for the day!

Go for a bike ride. Ride somewhere you’ve never gone before.
Buy a fishing license. Take your gear and find that favorite fishing hole.
Relax on your deck with a good book and as soon as it’s ‘noon somewhere’ enjoy a margarita.
Rent a pontoon boat and lay out in the sun all day long.
Plant your garden.
Go see a matinee of that movie that you’ve wanted to catch.
Visit your mom (and dad).
Buy a kite and fly it as high as you can.
Go for a long walk in one of your nearby parks.
Plan a real vacation.

Life is short. As a friend of mine told me, “Don’t take life so seriously, it’s not permanent.”

Social Energizer’s purpose is to help companies develop lasting relationships with their customers and increase their conversion rates by adding proven online marketing techniques to their marketing mix.

We do this by integrating inbound marketing techniques into each business’ current marketing plan and by utilizing digital channels and strategies like Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Search Engine Optimization, and Web-integrated Email Campaigns.

Free -and Legal- Images for Your Blog

April 26, 2011/in Blogging, Building a Community, Content Management, Google, Inbound Marketing, Search Engines, Small Business, Social Media, Websites, Yahoo

from http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

For basic tips on using images online, please see our blog, Image Basics for Bloggers, from last week.

What is Creative Commons?

In the past, buying photography was expensive and complicated. Royalties needed to be paid and photos were limited to many restrictions on how they could be used. Then along came Creative Commons in 2001, and everything changed. This non-profit corporation started with a cooperative effort between MIT and Harvard Law professors (among others) who realized that the digital revolution altered many past concepts on copyright theory. The ability to work collaboratively, globally, decentralized and create derivative works and collections that were low to no cost were all issues that were eased with the creation of Creative Commons licensing. Click on the following link for more information on Creative Commons licensing.

How do I use a Creative Commons image?

Things are much easier today in the world of social media and inbound marketing. How do you know if it’s legal and IF you’re placing it correctly?

Be sure the image you choose and the way you are using it, applies under the Creative Commons license category shown to the right.
Credit the photographer (a.k.a. attribution)
- If saving the photo, add the contributors’ name into the file name of the image (when downloading or taking a screen shot). example: pen_ParkerDuofoldNib_JanosFeher_Flickr.jpg
- If using a link, HTML or BBCode, review the code to be sure the contributor’s name is included.
Link back to them when you can.

How do I find Creative Commons images?

From Google Image interface

What do you need to do to add photos into your blog or website with little to no cost, legally? Here are a few suggestions.

Google Images offers an “Advanced Image Search” (found just to the right of the standard Google Image search button) that allows you to use images “labeled for commercial use” only. Just click on the blue link and a window similar to this Google image appears. In a search for ‘pens’ you enter the word in the top field and make sure the “labeled for commercial use” is chosen in the field second from the bottom. Membership is not required. Attribution is required.

from Flickr

Flickr has a nice interface for Creative Commons. You choose the level that works for you depending on if you blog to earn money or just for fun. To use an image in Flickr, you click on the bar above the image, as shown in this Flickr image, and grab the Link or HTML/BBCode. The problem with this is that the image is not physically loaded into your site, it’s called ‘hot-linked’ and means it is ‘linked’ to your site through the Internet and does not sit on your directly-accessible servers. Test it to see if your page takes too long to load. Membership is required. Attribution is required.

New, Wylio.com for Creative Commons Images

With all that said, THIS ONE GETS MY VOTE… Wylio.com!

Wylio.com search for pens

Wylio is a slick, new image search engine that only searches for images offered under the Creative Common’s license. Users can be sure that all images offered are free for use. It’s a simple 3-step process: Search for an image, Resize and Position, and Copy and Paste the Code. Bloggers can easily grab the code to place in their blog posts, or for the low cost of $2.99 per month they can buy the premium version of Wylio.com and download the files.

Here’s the best part. Wylio inserts the photographer’s attribution into the code for you, no asking for permission, no wondering if you’re ‘covered’. Grab it and you’re done! With that said, I am testing this ‘hot-linking method’ today for download speeds and performance. Let me know, in the comments section below, if the pen image gives you any trouble. It is a ‘live’ test from Wylio.com.

Join the conversation on Twitter. How do you use images? Have you worried about your images?
Ballpoint Pens photo © 2009 Jana Lehmann | more info (via: Wylio)

Social Energizer’s purpose is to help companies develop lasting relationships with their customers and increase their conversion rates by adding proven online marketing techniques to their marketing mix.

We do this by integrating inbound marketing techniques into each business’ current marketing plan and by utilizing digital channels and strategies like Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Search Engine Optimization, and Web-integrated Email Campaigns.

Still need some help? Give us a call!

Image Basics for Bloggers

April 20, 2011/in Blogging, Building a Community, Content Management, Google, Inbound Marketing, Search Engines, SEO, Social Media, Strategy, Technology, Websites

Attract their attention

When it comes to blogging, we all know that it takes great content to attract attention. Part of this is the written content, but just as important part are the visuals you find to support your words. Yes, the secret is in the pictures. Adding just 2 images can increase the time someone stays on your blog by up to 300%. This happens because a person’s eyes are drawn to the photo and they study it. If the photo is good enough to attract their attention, then they are more likely to read the content.

Keep it simple for the web

The two nicest things about using photos on the web is 1) aesthetically, they do not need to be ‘photo shoot’ quality and 2) by file-size standards, they can be small, low-resolution images.

What do these two things mean to you? Not needing to hire models, hire a dedicated professional photographer and buy props will save you thousands. Thousands you probably wouldn’t want to spend anyway. And by being able to save your images at a small file size, lower resolution of 72dpi (dots per inch), allows you lots of flexibility. But again, what does that all mean? It means that you can practice, practice, practice on your low-cost digital camera, smart phone and scanner then quick and easily post them to your website and blog.

How to pick an image?

To choose an image, you really just need to tie the writing and the topic together. I do that by closing my eyes, thinking ‘big idea’ and seeing what comes to mind. A 30 second brainstorm. It usually works and my first impressions are usually the best ones.
Simple doodles, scanned on a low-cost scanner, and household items, taken with a digital camera, make great fodder for blogging images. Here are some examples based on topic:

Confusion, use a quickly drawn question mark and scan it
Buy Local, take a quick shot of your dad or uncle farming
Strategy, take a quick shot of Monopoly, or your favorite boardgame pieces
Sustainability, take a picture of your recycling by the curb
Planning, scribble out a ‘flow chart’ on a scrap of paper and scan it

See! That wasn’t so hard, was it? Keep it simple. That’s what works for blogs. Just tie it in to your topic and you’re all set.

Then what?

After you have your images, you can save them at 72dpi, which is usually a default setting on your camera (lowest quality). I suggest for the first few months of blogging you take lots of pictures and label them with keyword(s). Put them in a folder labeled for images that you created (and own).

Pay attention to events you may attend for that perfect photo opportunity. For added impact, give your camera to friend and have them take some pictures of you, the author. Little by little, you’ll perfect your skills and build that perfect blogger’s library.

Next week. Finding free and legal images –online.

Social Energizer’s purpose is to help companies develop lasting relationships with their customers and increase their conversion rates by adding proven online marketing techniques to their marketing mix.

We do this by integrating inbound marketing techniques into each business’ current marketing plan and by utilizing digital channels and strategies like Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Search Engine Optimization, and Web-integrated Email Campaigns.

We invite you to comment and rate each blog, so we can ever improve our offerings to you.

Five Ways to Poke the Box

April 13, 2011/in B2B, Book Review, Building a Community, Business Innovation, Inbound Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Trends

I just read Seth Godin’s “Poke the Box” and learned a valuable lesson. It’s okay to fail, actually it’s a good thing. I have to admit, I have been embraced by a “trying to be perfect” mentality from time to time in my life. Maybe even a little bit everyday. As usual Seth helps me open up my mind and see new ways to do things and recognize opportunities.

If you’re not failing often and repeatedly you are being remarkable in a way that is going to make a difference. Making incremental changes and doing what everyone else is doing, aka being ‘safe’, is not going to make the difference needed today to stand out from the crowd. Seth says, “the enemy is not piracy, it’s obscurity.” Did you know that 99% of the musicians on You Tube have not been heard? How do you suppose that converts to visibility for authors? I’d bet about the same or even lower.

Here’s a couple more thought-provoking ideas.

Everyday, see things that scare you and notice things that are interesting. Write at least one of them down.
List your daily failures and what you’ve learned from them. Put that into practice.
Watch people. Who’s curious versus uninterested in the great things occurring everyday? What can you learn about them?
Try BIG, new ideas –it’s okay to fail. Great actually. His viewpoint, “The cost of learning is so much less than that of not learning.”
Create moments and movements that people want to talk about. Don’t sink into the blah, blah blah world of ordinary.

So get out and ‘poke the box’ a bit. Buy the book, it’s a great quick read. Then experiment freely. See what works and what doesn’t. Use the power of the Internet to test various approaches and ideas. You really have so little to lose.

Computer Tips and Tricks for Cool Social Media Moves

April 6, 2011/in Blogging, Building a Community, Content Management, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Technology Optimization, Small Business, Social Media, Technology

During a recent ‘work session’ with a client, an important discovery was made. Many people do not use their computers as efficiently as they could. Really.

Today’s blog may be a bit passé for some of you and you’re welcome to join us back on another day. Thanks for stopping by (you’re still allowed to peak –just in case there may be a tip that you don’t already know). BUT for the group that feels like they’re ‘quickly getting nowhere’ when they work on the computer, welcome! Let’s get into some tips that may help you out of that rut. After all, it’s hard to stay in the social media game when you’re working twice as hard as everyone else just to keep up. These are important ergonomic techniques, the science that helps reduce RSI (repetitive stress injuries) like carpal tunnel syndrome. Use them to more easily build a better blog or engage with your community.

It’s all about the shortcut keys

Simply hold down your Control key (Command key for the Mac) and the corresponding letter to perform these often repeated functions.

CTRL+z –undo

CTRL+x –cut

CTRL+c –copy

CTRL+v –paste

CTRL+b –bold

CTRL+y –redo

CTRL+a –select all

CTRL+s –save

CTRL+p –print

CTRL+t –new tab in browser

Notice that the MOST repeated shortcuts are all placed at the easiest to reach place on your keyboard and line up all in a row: z,x,c,v,b.

Simple mouse tricks

Shift key and mouse click. Many text editors and programs allow you to highlight all or portions of text using the Shift key and the mouse. For example, place the cursor at the beginning of a paragraph, hold down the Shift key and click at the end of the paragraph to highlight the full paragraph.
In Internet Explorer or Firefox you can hold the CTRL key down on your keyboard and move your scroll wheel to adjust the text size you want to view.
Hold the CTRL key down when clicking your mouse on a link and it will open in a new tab in Internet Explorer 7.

Embrace the power of the right-click mouse

There are many actions that can be made easier with a right-click mouse. When you’re stumped try, just try, clicking with your right mouse button. Viola, all is revealed! You will usually have an option presented to you that will show you what you were looking for but didn’t know how to find quite often. You can do this on the desktop, in a program, in a browser –anywhere. Below are a few more things you can try:

While in a browser pressing and holding Ctrl while clicking on any link will open that link in a new tab.
You can right click on an image on the internet and choose to save the picture.
You can right click on any file to copy it. Then right click in another folder in the blank space and choose paste.
Customize the toolbars. You can adjust your toolbars to your liking. Right click on any toolbar, and select ‘Customize’. While this dialogue is up, you can move buttons around on your toolbars by click-and-drag to the new location. The window that pops up when you do this is a holding area for unused icons. You can drag any item from it onto your toolbars to have it made available, and you can drag any icon from your toolbars onto this box to hide that icon completely. Some toolbar items, such as the Location bar, will expand to take up all available space. You can fit the Menu Bar, Personal Toolbar, Location bar, Back and Forward buttons, etc, all to one single row if you really want to maximize web pages’ viewable area.

What is a scroll wheel on a mouse?

A scroll wheel is a small wheel located between the left and right mouse buttons. This allows you to smoothly scroll up and down a page instead of clicking at least 100 times.

Hope these little tips helped. If not for you, then maybe for that boss or co-worker that seems to ask these questions all the time. Let me know what worked best for you or add a few of your own. I firmly believe “Knowledge is not power, shared knowledge is power” -unknown.

Social Energizer’s purpose is to help companies develop lasting relationships with their customers and increase their conversion rates by adding proven online marketing techniques to their marketing mix.

We do this by integrating inbound marketing techniques into each business’ current marketing plan and by utilizing digital channels and strategies like Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Search Engine Optimization, and Web-integrated Email Campaigns.

We invite you to comment and rate each blog, so we can ever improve our offerings to you.

Your Website is Your Base Camp, Is It Solid?

March 30, 2011/in B2B, B2C, Building a Community, Content Management, facebook, Get Found, Inbound Marketing, Small Business, Social Media, Strategy, Twitter, Websites

Whether you’re climbing Mt. Everest in the heart of the Himalayas, like adventurers Rhys & Nicky, or leading your company into the world of inbound marketing, your success depends on having a solid base camp. Your website is your base camp.

A Base You Can Rely On

First off, your website is the most important part of your base camp, and making sure that you OWN your website is crucial. If you are unsure if you are the owner of your website, you can check on several registrar websites such as www.who.godaddy.com. If you are not the owner of your domain, you need to make sure that transferring your domain is high on your list of things to do.

Next step in having a solid base camp, is making sure your website is well designed and up to date to represent your hotel at the highest level. Here again, ownership is key. Self-hosted websites are affordable and offer the opportunity to retain all content, analytics and security making it a viable asset for your lodging property.

Closely Located to Your Final Destination

Your website needs to encourage a sense of community, but that is not where your community ‘lives’. Easily visible and friendly links to social media networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ will provide the conduit from your site to places where you can interact with your community.

Interesting Enough That It Can Be Considered Part Of The Journey

Your site should be intuitive and attractive, certainly even more attractive than the base camp at Mt. Everest. Your blog, if you have one, should contain engaging content that relates to your hotel/resort and brings the customer back time and time again. For more information on blogging, check out our articles:

10 Easy Tips for Better Blogging

So if I have to blog, where do I start

The Place Where You Realize Dreams Can Become Reality

Your engagement on various social network sites drives visitors to your website which is the place where your efforts can be measured best. Google Webmaster Tools and other analytic tools provide a consistent and straightforward means of tracking your traffic.

Your Strategic Centering Point

In the world of inbound marketing, the pull strategy is the rope that allows you to get up the mountain. With each effort, whether it is sharing on social networks, posting interesting videos, or writing interesting content about your area and events, your goal is to “close the sale.” At each step of the relationship with your hotel and potential customers, your website must strategically provide the information they desire and persuade people to proceed to the next step of staying at your property. Strong and compelling call-to-action mechanisms will pull your customers in, guiding both them and yourself to the top of the mountain.
For help creating and inbound marketing base camp, i.e. a company website, give us a call. We’ll be certain to include all vital gear and advice just like the best Mt. Everest Sherpa would.
Social Energizer’s purpose is to help lodging properties develop lasting relationships with their guests and increase their satisfaction and returning visits.
We do this by integrating inbound marketing techniques into each business’ current marketing plan and by utilizing digital channels and strategies like Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Search Engine Optimization, and Web-integrated email campaigns.
We invite you to comment and rate each blog, so we can ever improve our offerings to you.

We invite you to comment and rate each blog, so we can ever improve our offerings to you.

Twitter – The art of tweets, follows and hashtags

March 16, 2011/in Building a Community, Content Management, Convert, facebook, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Technology Optimization, Small Business, Social Media, Strategy, Twitter, Websites

If social media were a three legged stool, then a business website, Facebook site and Twitter account would be the legs of that stool. For businesses wanting to master the art of social media marketing, these sites must be professional looking, elegantly managed creating a seamless brand appearance. They also need to be balanced and leveraged between one another.

This week at Social Energizer, we are focusing on helping people get up and running with Twitter. As mentioned in our earlier blog, Rule 1 for Social Media Measurement, Twitter’s purpose is to generate excitement and rapid discussion. The important metrics are how many people follow you, how often you are retweeted and how often, and which, of your tweets are ‘opened’. By doing all of this you are generating activity, and hopefully, pushing them to your website where you can convert them into an eventual sale. That’s really why we’re here, right?

So, after you open your account, here’s where you start:

The make-up of a tweet

Write a tweet of 140 characters or less: note the number next to the word tweet keeps track of how many characters over or under you are.

The art of the Follow

When you find someone interesting, “follow” them, they’ll likely follow you back. To do that ‘hover’ over their name until a pop-up opens or click on their name and their profile will open for you. Simply select ‘follow’ and watch your numbers begin to grow.

The art of the @

Just need a short example here- I am @SocialLynn, type this into a tweet and it will ‘tweet’ me and let others know that you are talking to me. Yes, they can eavesdrop. That’s kind of the point.

The art of the # hashtags

# is used to find people tweeting about a certain subject.
When using it in your tweet, it allows you to tweet beyond your ‘friends and followers’ base.
Similar to keywords for your blog, #tags can be strategic. You can add people to your twitter account that are interested in the same things. Within www.search.twitter.com, #Science would pull people interested in science. Using that technique, add people likely to be found within the demographics of your target market.

KEY Twitter Strategy

You want to follow and have as MANY people as possible, but keep the numbers somewhat balanced with how many are following you. Don’t be too selective on the ‘who’. Twitter is about numbers. Maybe have a goal of 1,000 the first month, 3,000 the second month and so on. Keep building it until you notice your ‘trackable traffic’ picking up i.e. blog and Facebook when you reference them.

General Twitter guidelines

Soft sell, be useful to others
Tweet/retweet others, more than yourself.
To speak to someone directly use the @ before their name.
Let your friends and colleagues know you are on twitter. Include your Twitter ID on your signature line and business cards (website, facebook url, too)
Don’t feel obligated to keep up with it all. Twitter is a stream. You step into and out of it at your convenience. If you see something you like, tag it as a “favorite” and come back to it. Or send it to yourself as an email.

I recommend linking your Twitter account with your website. I do not recommend linking Facebook and Twitter (personal preference); they seem like different message formats and audiences to me. As part of the three legged stool, have you noticed that I seem to be leaving out Facebook? Check that in our post, First Steps to Successful Marketing on Facebook, it is certainly one-third of the social media equation, I just like to use it differently than Twitter. Facebook is also a tool that pulls people to your website and final call to action. Once again, this threesome should all appear professional looking, elegantly managed and brand integrated. To learn how to do that, just give us a call or drop us a line. Thanks!

What a website isn’t

So what should a website do for a business?

What are the other pieces of this Internet puzzle?

Social Media sites

Don’t forget email

Integrate it!

How do I use a Creative Commons image?

How do I find Creative Commons images?

New, Wylio.com for Creative Commons Images

Attract their attention

Keep it simple for the web

How to pick an image?

Then what?

It’s all about the shortcut keys

Simple mouse tricks

Embrace the power of the right-click mouse

What is a scroll wheel on a mouse?

A Base You Can Rely On

Closely Located to Your Final Destination

Interesting Enough That It Can Be Considered Part Of The Journey

The Place Where You Realize Dreams Can Become Reality

Your Strategic Centering Point

3, 2, 1, Twitter: The NASA Tweet up Shuttle Discovery Launch

“Mario” – SXSW 2011 Film Bumper

More Gary Vaynerchuck –he was a busy boy

Matt Mallenweg, WordPress/Automatic

The art of the Follow

The art of the @

The art of the # hashtags

KEY Twitter Strategy

General Twitter guidelines