Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

Create a Presence Through Social Media

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social media

This is a guest post from Chuggin McCoffee of The Coffee Bump.

No matter what you may have heard, it really does matter how you manage your reputation online as a small business. This is your opportunity to dive into a competitive niche market and come out on top by using social media to your advantage!

To begin with, what type of social media profiles do you have set up? It is important for small business to have a number of social media profiles, but the catch is that you need to have enough time to cultivate them. It won’t do you any good to sign up to any and every social media website if you can’t put in the effort. You can start with the most popular choices in Facebook and Twitter, and work on nurturing genuine relationships with people.

If you are a Twitter user, a helpful tip for small businesses is to start following people in your area of interest. Within social media, it is so important to be a giver and not a taker, so if you start to follow people first, create conversations, and offer advice, people will be drawn to you. The point is to use this relationship approach to make connections with people so that they will be interested in what you have to offer. On the flipside, people will be incredibly turned off by you if all you do is self-promote and spam, spam, spam.

Once you have cultivated a loyal following on Twitter, you can start to create updates about your business. Anyone and everyone out there always pays attention to a deal or free offer, so if you are hoping to get more traffic to your website, you can use tweets about discounts and deals to attract attention.

Last of all, use any number of Twitter apps that have a keyword tool. This can benefit a small business because you can start plugging in the name of your brand or company to see if you are being talked about. If you are a very new company, you can plug in specific keywords that you are targeting to find out what people are discussing. As an example, if you are selling cosmetics as a small business online, you can type in cosmetic related keywords to get into conversations on Twitter about that topic. This gives you the opportunity to get to know people in your niche market and then further draw them back to your website when the opportunity presents itself.

It really is that simple, but being successful as a small business through social media takes effort and commitment. Are you ready to get started?

For a wide selection of all things coffee, check out Chuggin McCoffee’s website at The Coffee Bump.

SEOing Up Your Site or Blog

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This is a guest post from A.J. Wilcox. A.J. has been in love with Internet marketing for 3 years. He is a local Internet marketing expert who currently resides at Orangesoda.com where he is the team lead over 400+ SEO campaigns.

Once you start a website or a blog, you may have wondered, “I built it, so why haven’t they come?” The truth is that Kevin Costner’s epiphany no longer holds true for the Internet. There are now so many millions of websites out there, that you need to get word out that you have something unique to offer (and please, have something unique to offer!).

So, How Do I Get Traffic?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of making the pages of your site relevant for chosen keywords. There are basically two sides to the SEO equation – keywords in your content & links pointing to your site.

Since Google owns more than 2/3 of the searches in the U.S., it’s safe to assume that if you get to the top of a Google search that lots of people search for, you will have traffic. So how do you get there?

Start with Your Site

You can’t directly control the links pointing to your site – you can influence them, but if you could control them, it would be a conflict of interest. You can, however, control your own site! The search engines know that you can change any aspect of your site you feel like, given that you aren’t limited by your site’s technology. Take advantage of that control.

Choose one keyword per webpage that you believe someone would search for. Add that keyword as often as you can on your page without going overboard and making it look ugly to one of your readers. You can add it in the:

  • Page title (This one’s important)
  • Headers
  • Text content
  • Image descriptions
  • The name of the page itself

Once you’ve picked a keyword (a really relevant one) for each page, and added them into these page elements, you will be super pleased with the results in just the first month. Still impatient? One month is actually really good for SEO – it does take time, so plan on it.

Finding Balance

You should find the delicate balance between writing for users and writing for search engines. For instance, if your site was a skydiving business in Virginia, and you chose the keyword “Virginia skydiving,” you might create headings similar to the following:

  • For the search engines: Virginia Skydiving – The Best in Virginia Skydiving
  • For your user: Looking to go skydiving in Virginia? You’ve come to the right place!

The first one uses the keyword twice, and the second one just uses a weak variation of the keyword. A happy medium might be something like:

  • Virginia Skydiving – Have the time of your life skydiving in Virginia!

You can see how strong SEO can cater both to search engines AND your users.

You Are Futureproof!

Links are the currency of the internet, and that currency is inflated. The content of your site is finite. Do that right, and it will be a boon for your site visibility for years to come.  If you target businesses in a specific geographic location, get in touch with the local internet marketing experts – OrangeSoda.com for the most optimized on and offsite work for search engines.

Success Without Goal Setting

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Ditch goals and get the life you want today by living in the now. A guest post by Madisen Harper

Each year millions of people fail to achieve their dreams. 97 per cent abandon their commitment towards self improvement within 30 days of their New Year’s resolutions and Harvard Business School say goals get in the way of success. All in all it leaves people discouraged, frustrated, unmotivated and feeling like failures.

Why do people continue to set themselves up for disappointment year after year?  [Read more…]

A Green Marketing Primer: The DON’Ts of Selling Green

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This is a guest post from green marketing consultant Anne Michelsen. Part one of this article, The DO’s of Selling Green, appeared yesterday.

In part one we talked about the DO’s of green marketing. Now let’s look at things to avoid:

  • DON’T be confusing. A while back I was asked to give a presentation on renewable energy to a group of seniors.  They seemed engaged and alert, but when it came time for Q&A, one old lady raised her hand. “I’m not sure I understand.  What do you mean by ‘green’?”

    She’s not the only one.  “Most consumers know less than you might think they do about how to ‘go green’ and what constitutes green,” says Suzanne Shelton, founder of the Shelton Group, a marketing research firm and agency specializing motivating mainstream consumers to make green choices.

    Ask any seasoned sales guy – a confused customer doesn’t buy.  In your marketing, do your best to educate your customers about your products.  Focus on the benefits, and be as specific as possible.  Use clear, easy-to understand language and avoid buzzwords and industry jargon.  And don’t assume that your customers are familiar with the same issues you are, or will jump to the same conclusions you do – chances are they aren’t, and won’t.

  • DON’T be boring.  Or irrelevant. We got a promotional mailing from our plumbing supply house the other day (my husband installs solar thermal so we get that kind of stuff.) Emblazoned proudly on the envelope were the words, “Go Green with XYZ Plumbing Supply.” My husband snorted when he saw it.  “Go green?  What the heck are they talking about – they’re selling the same plumbing stuff they have for years.”

    I smiled and typed “Go green” into Google.  Just as I thought.  142 million results.  Beats “Michael Jackson” by about 10 million. 

    Don’t, don’t, DON”T talk about being green just because it’s the in thing.  “Go green” will do nothing but blend you in with all the other zillion marketers out there wanting to cash in on the new green trend.  Do it, and you’ve committed the ultimate marketing sin – being BORING! 

    Make it specific. Make it relevant. Make it YOURS!  (Oh, yeah, and leave Kermit alone.  He’s tired.)

  • DON’T think Green alone will boost response. I don’t know how many research reports I’ve read that bear this out.  My own experience confirms it.  For good or bad, the vast majority of people buy for their own selfish reasons.  If an appealing product saves the planet, that’s great.  It’s important to enough people that it can make a difference – sometimes a big difference – in your market share.  But you better believe they’re not going to buy unless it ALSO, and in most cases PRIMARILY! makes them look good…makes them more comfortable…saves them money…etc., etc. 

    Bottom line: appeal to their deepest desires first.  Then use Green (along with other logic-based reasons) to firm up the decision in their minds.

One last disclaimer – the do’s and don’ts in this article represent generic best practice based on many hours of research and hands-on experience.  But hey, in marketing there’s always an element of crap shoot.  Every situation is different.  The only way to know for sure what works is to test. 

Have you tested Green messaging in your marketing?  How’d it work for you?

Anne Michelsen is a freelance sales writer and marketing consultant, and co-author (with Dan Kennedy and Thomas Ribar) of “The Ultimate Success Secret: Wealth Building and Success Secrets of Wisconsin’s Top Entrepreneurs.” She helps Green companies build sustainable connections with their customers with her dynamic sales copy and marketing expertise.  Visit GreenInkCopywriting.com for a free copy of her report, “Making Sense of the Green Sector: What Every Marketer Should Know About Selling Sustainable Products and Services.”

A Green Marketing Primer: The DO’s of Selling Green

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This is a guest post from green marketing consultant Anne Michelsen.

Is Green a passing fad? Not according to a recent report by Watershed Publishing. In the study released last month, 48% of marketers surveyed who tracked the effectiveness of their advertising reported that Green messages increased response (vs. only 7% who found it less effective).  But that’s not all – these direct marketers also reported that consumers will spend more when they perceive a product as being Green.

Good news to those of us who market a product or service that’s easy on the Earth, right?  But before you book Kermit the Frog as your poster child, take care:  the wrong Green message can get you smeared. 

Here are some basic do’s and don’ts for getting the most out of your Green marketing in terms of customer loyalty and money in the bank.  Let’s start with the do’s.

  • DO be authentic.  If Green’s not really your thing, steer clear.  At best you’ll be boring; at worst you’ll be tagged with the dreaded “greenwash” label and forced to face the scathing wrath of angry bloggers.  Don’t go there.
  • DO be transparent.  This is so ultra, ultra critical that at the last Green marketing conference I attended, when the question “What’s the most important element in a Green marketing campaign?” popped up during a small-group discussion all eight of us at the table practically shouted in unison, “Transparency!”

    If you’re not familiar with the term, transparency means full disclosure.  It means being open and honest about the methods, materials and procedures your company uses.  For instance, if you claim the tennis shoes you manufacture are made with organic canvas using fair labor practices, be prepared to prove your claims, preferably with third-party verification.  (For a great example of transparency in action, check out Apple’s Life Cycle Impact disclosure. Notice how they’re not just being transparent, they’re also taking the opportunity to educate their customer base – and, of course, plug their product.)

  • DO be involved.  Green isn’t just about the planet.  It’s about people, too.  Can you think of a project that will benefit your community and/or the planet, and get the word out about your company at the same time?  By all means, go for it! 

    Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program is a brilliant example. By taking back worn-out product (their own and their competitors’), recycling it into playground and athletic surfaces, and donating some of the resulting product to communities at home and abroad, Nike doesn’t just exhibit corporate social and environmental responsibility.  They’ve created a publicity monster.  The program gets regular mentions in the traditional media, in countless blogs like this one, and even during church coffee hours and the like all over the nation.  Oh, and one more plus – not all the reused shoe product gets donated.  The majority is sold as surfacing for gym floors and school running tracks – at a tidy profit for Nike.  Talk about turning waste into dollars!

Part two of Anne’s article, the DON’Ts of selling green, will appear tomorrow.

Anne Michelsen is a freelance sales writer and marketing consultant, and co-author (with Dan Kennedy and Thomas Ribar) of “The Ultimate Success Secret: Wealth Building and Success Secrets of Wisconsin’s Top Entrepreneurs.” She helps Green companies build sustainable connections with their customers with her dynamic sales copy and marketing expertise.  Visit GreenInkCopywriting.com for a free copy of her report, “Making Sense of the Green Sector: What Every Marketer Should Know About Selling Sustainable Products and Services.”