At least twice a week I send out an email newsletter.  Are you subscribed?

my email newsletter

The past three have contained some great information.  This past email newsletter, I summarized my Six Pack Series which discusses Six things you absolutely must have on your website.

The email newsletter before that contained an article called the Pumpkin Recipe for Success.  I enjoyed writing that one as I love pumpkins.

Finally, the email newsletter September 18, 2011 contained 5 Suggestions for non-profits using Facebook.

You can check out the previous issues here and you can sign up for the email newsletter on my email newsletter page.

I would love to have you aboard!

I try to do something different for my email newsletters, something not on the website.  Therefore, you get a different article than you would see on the website, and I hope that they are very practical and helpful for you and your small business.

My email newsletter is always designed to be helpful for small business owners giving advice on social media and website design.

I like chili.  No wait, I love chili.  And, I can make it just a few minutes, but I have noticed that when I take the time and let the chili simmer for an hour or two, it is much, much better!  It just seems that all of the spices get permeated through the chili more when it simmers for a while.  Sure, when you make it quicker, it still tastes good, but is not the same.

It’s the same with social media marketing for small businesses.  You can get some results with a quick strike social media action, but you get so much more when you take the time to build it, to plan and strategize your efforts.  It takes time to execute a plan, so be ready for some patience!

Chili needs to simmer to be its best!

Many people look to social media as a quick fix for their marketing problems.  The truth is, it takes time to get results using social media for a small business.  It takes some time to develop a following.  Mostly, people want jump at the chance to follow your business just because you are on social media networks.

You have to cultivate and grow your followers.  It takes consistency and effort.  Small businesses can’t just throw up a Facebook page or a twitter account and expect to have an instant stream of followers.  You have to engage people in conversation.

So, throw on some chili, put together a social media plan, and enjoy both in due time!

Picture source:  Flickr.com/Great British Chefs

Search Engine Optimization. SEObook.com, one of the foremost authorities on SEO defines it like this

Search engine optimization is the art and science of publishing information and marketing it in a manner that helps search engines understand your information is relevant to relevant search queries.

Wikipedia has its own definition.

I define SEO as the task of increasing your visibility in the search engines.  Your company, your brand, or even yourself has a visibility in the search engines.  This includes, primarily, your website, but other things effect visibility too.  For instance, social media profiles will increase that visibility.

Take a look at this image.

This is the front page of the results for “todd e jones” in Google.

You will see that my website, toddejones.net, is at the top of the rankings which I am thankful for since the sites listed just below mine have been around a lot longer.  However, if you look at the whole page you will see three social media profiles giving me a visibility of four different results on the front page.

I have circled the results.  There is my Facebook page, my twitter profile and finally, my Linkedin profile.

As a result, you will see, that a simple thing like having social media profiles will increase your visibility online and ultimately your SEO for your website.

Flickr: Intersection Consulting

If you are spending time trying to come up with a sure-fire social media strategy for your business or organization, there are some things you should remember.  There are certain key tasks that leverage the effectiveness of a social media strategy. In this post, I break down four tasks that should be the cornerstone of your social media strategy.

Engage

Social media is a two way street.  It is the ultimate in communication for business owners as they interact with customers and potential customers.  A business that comes to the social media marketplace and announces its products and specials without responding to those who try to engage will be ignored.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking all you have to do is promote your business without any kind of engagement with customers.

Edify/Enrich

Communicate something that edifies and enriches your customers’ lives. Offer helpful hints and advice. Further, don’t be preachy.

Your blog is the ideal place to do this.  For example, a coffee shop could offer tips in their blog on how to grind their customers’ coffee beans.  What kind of tips could you offer your customers that can be helpful to them and cultivate a sense of enrichment for your customers?

Empower

Empower your customers to be evangelists for your business.  Tell them it’s o.k. to check in at your place of business (geo-social networking) through Foursquare and Gowalla.  Encourage them by offering discounts, specials, etc for those that do.  Encourage them to share with their friends and families how much they love your business by giving them a place to “like” your business via Facebook or tweet about you on Twitter.

Energize

Energize your customer base with special for being a part of your social network.  Create deals that are designed for your Facebook fans, twitter followers, etc.  Run a contest through your social media channels.  Do something to reward customers who follow and promote you via social media.

Ask yourself when you engage in your social media, “Am I either engaging, edifying, empowering or energizing?”  These are the fundamental cornerstones to your social media strategy.

May Nellum is the owner of Smiling Sox Pet Care in Conway, AR.  She is so passionate for pets!  I’ve never seen someone with so much passion for pets.  I love to watch her interact with the pets she cares for.  She also does a great job training pets.

She started her business a little over a year ago and has seen a steady increase in clients.  There are a lot of reasons she has seen increase.  One, I think, is people recognize how much she loves pets.  Two, she has very reasonable prices and goes above and beyond the call of duty.  Third, she is very trustworthy so people are comfortable having her to come to their homes and care for their pets!

She has done an excellent job of using Facebook and twitter to engage her clients and potential clients.  She makes use of those two social media channels as well as Linkedin and Youtube.  Further, she has used these tools to network with other pet sitters which gives her more support and assistance as she helps her clients and creates a referral network.

Mary has done an awesome job of leveraging her online presence and promoting her tagline “My passion is pets.”

I sat down with Mary for lunch day giving her tips and ideas for using social media, many of which she used.  Mary went from having a client list of about 20 to over 60 in about 6 months.  Now, Mary has her own business running full force with employees.

I own a pet sitting business and about 6 months ago I felt like I was at a standstill as far as marketing and social media was concerned. Todd and I had an excellent conversation over lunch one day, in which he helped me clarify which social media avenues I wanted to pursue. As a bonus during our conversation, he brought to my attention a phrase I kept using, “Pets are my passion”, which has become my tagline. Business has since picked up and I credit Todd for his help. I know that the social media and my website have been huge factors in building my business. Thanks, Todd! (Mary Nellum, Smiling Sox Pet Care)

Visit Mary and Smiling Sox Pet Care online!

Smiling Sox Pet Care

on Facebook

on Twitter

Youtube

Saturday, May 21, 2011, I went over to visit my friend Jamille Rogers from Sandstone Real Estate.  We shot a short clip for their blog.  I was really afraid to look at it, but she did a great job!  I always enjoy hanging out and visiting with my friends from Sandstone.

I love how she uses Social Media to promote the business and in this case, videos.

Check out the video!

What makes a good website?  Great graphics?  Great content?

The answer is yes. . . . .and, not necessarily.

How about having flash?  Again, not necessarily.

Often, when I am looking over websites, I find that these six things are missing!

Analytics

Analytics are your website metrics.  You know, how many people came, how many views you have, how long they were on your website, those kind of things.  These are absolutely essential if you want to know if it is worth the effort and expense you have made.

It also helps you know where to improve or what needs to improve.

Google Analytics is the top program, but you may also be interested in Quantcast and Omniture.  They are paid options, however Quantcast has a free version which will help you with demographics.

Keywords

You need to research your keywords.  If you have keywords that are not heavily searched, you may not find much traffic.  Therefore, you need to really decipher what keywords you want to use.  They are the cornerstone of search engine optimization.  Figure out the best keywords for your business, and add them to your website in the meta tags.

Pretty Permalinks

Pretty permalinks are the internal links to pages on your website, and a string of code is not attractive to Google and her search engine friends.  Make sure the permalinks include the keywords of your article or page.  Add those keywords to the page and you get a nice keyword density that will help that article or page be found more easily in the search engines.

HTML

HTML is the code in which the world of the web runs on.  Sure there are other types of code such as java, php and jquery which may be included in your website, but it is html that the search engines really pay attention too.  This is why so many website designers are ditching flash based websites.

For instance, headers in your page that are surrounded by the header tags (<h1> or <h2>) magnify the keyword and tell the search engine that this is an important word on the page.

Updated articles/blog

With shear number of websites that are online today, a static, brochure-type website falls short of what is needed to receive the kind of traffic to help meet online goals for your business.  It takes an updated website to keep track with other websites.

A frequently updated blog or blogging platform on your website can help achieve this.  Add a blog to your website and publish articles, news, etc.

Points of Contact/Social Media/Email Newsletter

This is completely a “no brainer.”  Your website must include contact information, and, I believe, multiple forms of contact.  Include your mailing address, a business phone number, a contact form and any social media channels you have.

Also, have an email newsletter.  It can be simple, but you can build an email list (not spamming or selling/renting information of course!), and send emails reminding readers of new posts, products, etc.  There are plenty of email newsletter programs out there such as MailChimp.

If I can help you address any of these problems, let me know!

Photo source: practicalowl

Small Businesses need websites too!

I really have never had a tagline before.  Until now.

I just came up with this one this morning.

My business is to promote your business . . . .Online

Change of plans!

My Passion is to promote your passion . . . . online!

I am a promoter.  I like to promote you and it is a passion!

I build websites and set up online marketing strategies.  Do you know someone who might need help in that area?  Forward this post to them!

I will not build the best graphic-looking website out there, but I will build a website on a framework that makes for easy cross promotion of all online channels.  After all, in your business, it is about getting customers and making sells, not impressing someone with a flashy website that has multiple “bells and whistles.”

That makes me ideal for small businesses.

Small businesses need websites that work for them.  A website that works for them is one that can be easily updated, runs on good code and looks professional and clean.  Further, it is one that integrate social media in to the platform.

The websites I build can do that.

My business is to promote your business . . . .Online

Again. . .  .

My Passion is to promote your passion . . . . online!

When you choose to build a website for your small business, you need one that can be updated easily, engages customers, builds a community, builds traffi and above all,convert them to customers.

Why wait?

Contact me today!

Here’s my email address:  todd {at} toddejones.net.

Photo source: andyi

ROI.

It stands for Return on Investment.

At the heart of the reality TV shows Pawn Stars and Pickers is ROI.  You see it in every show.  They calculate, on the fly mind you, whether it is worth investing in the item based on what they think they might get from selling the item.

The more complicated the business or the more the money, the more ROI becomes a series of letters in a formula for the purpose of trying to measure success.  And, CEO’s like it.  ROI that is.

Chris Brogan tells us a story about the passion of Gary Vaynerchuk involving ROI.  Apparently, after being hounded by a business executive about what the ROI of social media is, Gary answered, “What’s the ROI of your mother?”

Look at it again.  What is the Return on Investment for your mother?  Think about from both angles.  You can’t measure all that your mother has done for you over the years, can you?  Look at it from your mother’s perspective.  She has invested a lot in you to see you become the person you are.  No amount of money can be put on that.

However, isn’t it interesting that when a young man makes it as a professional athlete, the first thing he does is take care of his mother?

That’s what Gary, and Chris, are saying about measuring the effectiveness of social media.  It can’t be measured in traditional business terms, and I buy in to that.

However, I have another take on the ROI of social media.

Before I answer that, answer this question to yourself.

What is the ROI of  NOT using social media?  Think about it.

Now, on to my answer.

The ROI of every business comes down to one thing, profit.  It is how much more you take in than you spent.  That’s profit and that is ROI.  Further, there are multiple ways of measuring profit.

It is measured in terms of clients.  It is measured in terms of sales.  It is measured in terms of invoices.  It is measured in terms of what you were able to buy with the leftovers, etc.  You get the picture.

There is really no formula for this.  It is, “at the end of the day, did you make more than you spent?”  At least, that is how small business owners look at it.  You look at a new car, and you see ROI.  You go out to eat, and you see ROI.  You buy a new pair of shoes, and you see ROI.  It is tangible.

Two of my clients have seen the ROI of social media.  One client invoiced 30% more in 2010 than the previous year.  Another client, a new start up, went from approximately 20 clients to about 70 in a few months from social media consulting that I did with her.    Social media helped each of them, but it was them who sold their services and had good customer relations.

There are metrics that can help you determine if you are gaining influence, followers, etc., and they are definitely worth tracking!  However, the true measure of ROI is sales.  What good is it if your Facebook page has 1,500 new followers if it doesn’t lead to a sale.

That is why it is important to funnel your audience to your product.

Therefore, isn’t it time to look at social media as a tool to help your business?  The issue isn’t that its a buzz or a fad, the issue is how people are buying now.  Ask someone under 40 years old how they find a business.

That is all you need to know.

Why wait? Get started today!

Contact Me

Photo Credit:  cambodia4kidsorg; deanmeyersnet

In case you haven’t heard it, TurboTax found itself in the middle of a nightmare this week due to a “processing error” pertaining to tax refunds that were to be deposited.  My friend Cheryl Phillips has documented the story from the beginning to the present time.

It seems that customers are angry.  Understandably, and the TurboTax social media channels were of little help.  In fact, a quick scan of the Facebook page shows no mention of the “processing error” by the TurboTax social media team.  The same is true with their Twitter account.  No mentions.

So, what could or should have TurboTax done.  I offer five different things they could have done to avoid, or help avoid, this nightmare.

1.  Admit the mistake

There seems to be some confusion about who’s fault it was.  Customers don’t want to hear that.  They want someone to take responsibility.  Big companies seems to respond to errors like politicians do, deny or hide it.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, social media calls for, and sometimes demands, companies to be more transparent.  When you give customers a voice, they will use it.  TurboTax’s Facebook page is filled with angry customers expression their frustrations.

Screenshot of TurboTax's Facebook Page

2. Issue official statements on all social media channels

Some folks follow Twitter, some Facebook and others are on YouTube.  Offer an official statement.  Why be silent?  That’s just what big companies do (see above).  Go ahead, get that statement crafted, get it out through your channels.  Also, if you can, beat the backlash.  Get that message out before anyone knows about it and the “news” goes viral.  Find ways to be creative about the message.

TurboTax Twitter

3.  Respond to individuals

In a situation like this, you may never be able to respond to everyone who tweets or leaves messages on Facebook, however, you can respond to some of them.  It makes the company seem be personal, caring.  It helps us customers to simmer down if we believe we are actually being heard.  Explain the situation, help offer a solution and never try to downplay the problem.

4.  Offer Solutions and Compensate

Companies rarely like to compensate, however, when there will always be a consequence to an error.  It’s better to go ahead and offer solutions.  If you have determined that a fee should not be made due to an error, go ahead and state it publicly on your social media channels.  If a refund needs to be issued, make a statement.  You may need to be general by having the customer to contact the company, etc., but make sure those affected know that there is compensation.

5.  Cultivate your community.

This one takes time and is not reactionary.  There are issues that delay responses that are outlined above such as legal reviews, etc.  However, if TurboTax, or any other company, takes the time to cultivate a vibrant, helpful community, the “crowd,” as it is, becomes agents for your company keeping others abreast of information.  They can offer solutions to other customers or simply verify that there is a problem.  On TurboTax’s Facebook page, several people actually took up for the company and alerted others customers to some glitches with the IRS system.

The bottom line is that TurboTax may not even be at fault here.  I am sure there is a big debate behind the scenes.  Nevertheless, their customers choose them unlike they choose the IRS or any bank they are using to process the direct deposits.  It is imperative that they respond responsibly because customers will make choices about them in the future.  With social media, we, as businesses, can show customers that we listen, we care and we speak the language that millions of people are speaking now.

Other Social Media/Customer Service Examples

Home Depot

United Airlines

Comcast

Dell

Timberland

What customer service experiences have you had? How did you use social media to engage customers?