Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

Little Known Tip for Building Facebook Fans

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This is a guest post from Ann Baker, CEO of Publicity Pros.

You show me yours, I’ll show you mine.  It’s an age-old attention grabber that goes back to childhood days.  Apply it to your Facebook business page, and you’ll build Likers in rapid order.

Here’s the concept:  When a visitor comes to your Facebook page (more on how to make that happen in a minute), you lure him to a special tab you’ve created – one that offers something of interest or value that your visitor will want.  The trick is, you don’t just give the item to the visitor straight out – you show a screen that offers to show or deliver the item when the visitor clicks ‘Like’ for the page.  The offer could be for something like a tip, access to an article or video, a coupon code, or simply placing a vote for something fun – like a thumbs up or down on a recent event.

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Idle Chatter or Worthwhile Talk?

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This week’s Monday Morning Message from Wm. H. Danforth, founder of Ralston Purina:
What is the Monday Morning Message?

Before you read this message glance around and see how many conversations are taking place on your office floor.

How much of it is idle chatter and how much is worth while talk?

You wouldn’t dare — twice — to come into my office and tell me about the vaudeville show you saw last night. But some people impose on the good nature and courtesy of others by wasting their own time, and the other fellow’s time, with social visits during office hours.

Show me the man or woman that avoids useless explanations and gets right to the point.
Show me the man or woman who saves golden minutes by frankly telling the chatterer to be gone—

Show me these, I say, and I will show you the Purina Leaders of today and tomorrow.

This type of Monday Morning Message makes me uncomfortable because I must check up myself. Maybe it will make you uncomfortable too, and we will all have a better week.

Good-bye — Idle Chatter
Enter—Worth While Talk

Although William Danforth wrote this message decades before the Internet became a part of our lives, his words apply to the Internet, too.

The “office water cooler” may still exist for those who work in offices, but wherever you work you can be lured into idle chatter via Twitter, Facebook, email, texting and other online communications. Each of these has valid business and personal uses, but it is easy to get distracted by unimportant chatter and waste minutes or hours everyday.

We all need a little downtime during the day to decompress and recharge. Spending a few minutes catching up with friends and colleagues, in person or online, can be fun and the interactions keep us connected day-to-day. However, when it becomes a habit that encroaches on productive time, it is time to scale back.

Draw a line between productive time on email and social media and non-productive time. Pay attention to how much of your work day is spent on “idle chatter,” then decide if you need to make some changes. One way to start is by setting aside time every day to handle email and social media. Set a timer, and when it goes off, get back to other tasks.

Why Should Small Businesses Have a Social Media Friendly Website?

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This is a guest post from Phyllis Zimbler Miller of http://www.millermosaicpowerof3.com.

According to a webinar I attended, approximately half the small businesses in the U.S. do not have a website for their businesses.

Believe it or not, this could be good news for these businesses.  Why do I say this if I believe every business should have a website?

Because many, many businesses – whether they’ve had a website for some time or have a new website – have an “old-fashioned” website that is not social media friendly. 

What is an “old-fashioned” website?  It’s one that doesn’t offer potential customers/clientele a connection with the business owners – one that doesn’t offer people the opportunity to interact on Twitter or a Facebook (business) page or a blog with the real people (by name) of a business.

What does your website home page say?

Imagine a website whose home page touts its products or services without any information about the people behind the products or services.  And when you go to the ABOUT page all you read is how long the company has been in business.  Maybe there are the names of people in the business or maybe just the “we have been in business.” And certainly no blog, no Twitter or Facebook page links.

Now imagine a website whose home page introduces you to the people behind the products or services that the business offers.  The Twitter and Facebook page links are prominently displayed “above the fold” (before you have to scroll down).  There’s a photo of the business owner with an email more personal than info@company name.  And there’s a blog that enables people to leave comments about the blog posts.

If you were considering buying a specific kind of product or service, which website would be more likely to engage you?  And I’m not even mentioning that the second website probably has an email optin box to capture your emails and stay in contact with you.

Now you may be thinking: 

What’s the big deal about potential customers/clientele being able to interact with me/my business on the Internet?  They should just buy my products/services.

Wrong!  They shouldn’t just buy your products or services.  Thanks to Facebook, Twitter and a host of other social media sites, today people expect to have a relationship with the person whose products or services they are buying.  They want to know whose reputation stands behind the company’s offerings.  What are the company people like?  Do they truly understand the potential buyer’s needs?

Think of your own buying habits

Do you frequent a neighborhood restaurant not just for the food but for the feeling of connection with the restaurant owners?  I know I do.  I love it when the waiters at the family-owned restaurant Al Gelato in Los Angeles automatically put a lemon in my husband’s water. 

We are social creatures – and social creatures like connections with others.  Thus when I come to a “cold” website that doesn’t seem to have real people behind it, I’m unlikely to feel welcome.  Yet when I come to a “warm” website with the company personality up close and personal on the home page, I’m much more likely to stick around and see if the site has information/products/services for me.

What is the ideal for your business website?

The ideal is, first, have a website.  If you don’t have one already, get one.  This will serve as your home base for connecting with potential customers/clientele on the web.  (And, yes, this is equally important for both online and offline businesses.)

Second, make sure your website is social media friendly.  If it isn’t, make changes right now: 

When people land on your site’s home page they should immediately know your name (and your photo) and that you are the site’s owner. 

Then make sure you have an active Twitter account and a Facebook (business) page and encourage people to interact with you on those two sites. 

Plus, if you can commit to publishing new blog posts approximately three times a week (by you or by guest bloggers), definitely consider having a blog.  It’s a great way to interact with your potential customers/clientele.

If you want more convincing that social media works, watch this short video by Chuck Hendershot of Exit Realty Group NJ: http://budurl.com/socialmediapraise

Phyllis Zimbler Miller has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing.  Get her FREE report “Twitter, Facebook, and Your Website: A Beginning Blueprint for Harnessing the Power of 3 for Your Business” at http://www.millermosaicpowerof3.com

Create a Presence Through Social Media

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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.

Bring Your Website Back to Life

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You had the best of intentions when you started your website, but it is not getting many visitors and you haven’t touched it in months–or even years. It’s not hopeless! Here is what you can do to bring your website back to life and start generating traffic (and ultimately revenue) from your site.

Fix what’s broken. Check the navigation on your site. Do all of the links lead visitors to active pages? Run a link checker (such as the one at http://www.addme.com/link-checker.htm) to see if there are dead links on your site and fix any you find. Is your contact information correct? Is the copyright date current? Are you still promoting your “upcoming” October, 2008 event? Are there features on your site (e.g., audio or video, widgets, tools, etc.) that no longer work? Does your site have a Flash intro? (Lose it. Now. Really.) How long does it take your site to load? Visitors will not stick around waiting for a slow site. Before you do anything else, get your site up to date and working well.

Add content. When is the last time you added articles, news, event listings, press releases and other content? Uh, huh. I thought so. That is too long ago. Get a few things on the site immediately, and make a plan to continue adding new content at least every couple of weeks.

Get social. Attract visitors to your site by participating in social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others. Social media is about creating relationships, not selling. However, when you engage with people who share your interests, many of them will visit your site to read your new articles and learn more about you. Bookmark your new (and best) stuff on sites such as Delicious.com, Digg.com and others.

Participate in forums where your target market hangs out. Network with people there. Remember, it’s not about selling, it is about creating relationships. Create a profile. Participate in discussions and be helpful to other members. Create a signature file that you use in your forum posts so that people who are impressed with your knowledge and sharing can visit your site.

Start an email list. When people come to your site, ask for an email address so that you can keep in touch with them. Offer tips, news and other information they want to receive. Let them know they will be the first to learn when you have new content on your site. Bribe them to sign up by offering a free ebook, audio program or other downloadable bonus. I use Aweber to manage my email lists.

Start a blog. One reason many people do not update their websites is that they can’t. A web designer set it up for them, and when they want to add or change anything, they have to get the designer to do it. With a blog, you can easily add content whenever you wish. Add a blog to your existing site, set up a blog on a separate site, or (in extreme cases) consider tossing out your current site and starting over with a blog. If you are truly intimidated by technology, you may want to hire someone to set up the blog. Once it is up and running, though, you can take over.

Keep the conversation going. Once you are actively participating in social networks, adding content to your site and/or blogging, keep doing it. Respond to comments on your blog. Send out news and information to your email list. (You can use the RSS feed from your website or blog to automatically generate a newsletter with Aweber.) Guest post on other blogs and invite other bloggers to post on yours. (Use http://BloggerLinkUp.com to find compatible bloggers.)

It won’t happen overnight, but you will see your site come back to life with more traffic than ever before.