Marketing – Page 8

What Net Neutrality Means to Small Business

September 16, 2009 Carolyn Griswold

The internet, in it’s short history, has been a great equalizer for small businesses. Small businesses are free to put up websites that promote their business, sell their products, services and applications and are assured that their information is served to the consumer in the same way that everyone else’s content is served. It gives all businesses the possibility to attract a worldwide market. Many of today’s internet giants–think Google, Yahoo, E-bay–started out as small businesses with great ideas. Because their ideas were allowed to be served to the public in a fair way, they were able to develop into highly successful businesses.

Some of the major network operators are trying to change that. They want to set up a tiered payment system for content providers. Theoretically, the premium fee would ensure the fastest download speeds. And lesser rates would result in slower websites. What does that mean? Network providers could decide what content is shown on their networks and at what price. Suppose AT&T decided they wanted to expand their web hosting business. They could effectively eliminate the reach of web hosting competitors’ sites by raising their rates or slowing the delivery of their material to an unpalatable crawl.

Given the fact that there are actually very few network providers in the US — especially in rural parts of the country — shouldn’t we be trying to ensure that everyone has access to all information on the internet no matter what network they can access. In some parts of the country consumers may only have broadband access through one provider. Even in populated areas the choice is usually limited to the phone company or cable provider for the area. Shouldn’t we ensure that your website is as accessible to everyone as your competitor’s website?

Do we really want want big business deciding what is available on the internet? If not, we need to ensure that net neutrality remains in effect. Please support the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009.

Guerilla Marketing: Could I ask for a few mouse clicks?

July 7, 2009 Carolyn Griswold

This morning I received an email from one of my clients, Trevor Eissler. Trevor’s a clever guy who is marketing a book he wrote. The subject was “Could I ask for a few mouse clicks?” The email was addressed to friends and family and asked if they’d mind spending ten minutes to complete 3 of 6 items on a list.

Here’s Trevor’s list:

Post a review of the book on Amazon.com. (If you haven’t read it yet, feel free to improvise. Pretend it’s one of your all-time favorites!)
Paste the address www.montessorimadness.com into an entry you write—in support of the book—on a site geared toward education, parenting, or early childhood such as www.mothering.com, www.parenting.com, or other big name sites, or even smaller blogs such as www.themoveablealphabet.blogspot.com, www.montessoriforeveryone.com, www.educatingforlife.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews, or any other relevant site you can think of. If you can’t think of anything to say, you could cut and paste or cite the review at www.michaelolaf.com/store/product1032.html or any of the reviews at www.montessorimadness.com.
Join the Montessori Madness! Facebook group and post a link to www.montessorimadness.com on your Facebook page.
Hold a sandwich board, emblazoned with the book title, outside your local Barnes and Noble bookstore.
Tuck the book under your arm next time you’re on Oprah.
Tattoo “Montessori Madness” on your forearm (using other body parts tends to discourage sales).

Trevor’s common sense approach to spreading the word about his book is simple and brilliant. By asking a favor of friends and family who I’m sure want to see his book succeed he’s leveraging the power of their networks. With Facebook, Twitter and other networks it’s easy for Trevor’s friends and family to help him spread the word.

I also like that he asked us to “Spend ten minutes to complete 3 of the 6 items.” By telling us how long it will take us (not long) I think that the average friend or family member would be more likely to complete the request. And by giving us a list of six and only asking us to complete 3 items it seems an even easier assignment.

Items 4 -6 are kind of funny and are a little beyond what most of us are willing or able to do, but that makes the list more brilliant. By process of elimination most of us are likely to complete items 1 -3 and that was probably Trevor’s goal. But it’s not beyond belief that someone in someone’s network knows Oprah – so spread the word friends! Good work Trevor!

More information about the book – Montessori Madness! A Parent to Parent Argument for Montessori Education

Just stick your toe in the twitter water

May 8, 2009 Carolyn Griswold

I took a little field trip a couple weeks ago and attended the Hartford Business Journal‘s E-Technology Summit in South Windsor. The hot topic of the day was, not surprisingly, social media. It’s hard for some business folks to wrap their heads around how “tweeting” and “friending” will help their business grow.

I kept hearing “How do I integrate it (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) into my business and how exactly can I use it to improve my business’ bottom line?”

I’m still a novice when it comes to integrating “social media” into my business but really Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn ( to name a few) are just communication tools. They are tools that expand the reach or your network.

Most of us know how to network. You listen. You talk. You find out what other people do. You tell people what you do. You see if there is a connection. You try to find people you can use as a resource. You see if you can be a resource to the people you meet. You make new friends. You tell your new friends about other friends who they might find interesting.

In the process of networking, you find business–via referrals, collaboration or strategic alliances. And you learn stuff–stuff that makes you more marketable. This all adds to your bottom line.

The new tools don’t change the concept of networking. But they do expand your network. Now instead of your business network being limited to Hartford, or to your region, you can make friends all over the world. Isn’t that a cool concept?

So, I made a new friend at the E-Technology Summit and she came by my office to have a chat yesterday. She’s a writer, I’m a web designer, so there’s opportunity for collaboration. We talked about the kind of clients we have and the kinds of things we’ve done and are doing.

I mentioned that with the popularity of blogging, there might be great opportunities for writers these days. I brought up the post one of my tweeple (a Twitter contact) made recently about a winery in California that was looking for a writer to blog about wine and food. They were offering a 6-month contract at $10,000 a month. That’s not bad green for eating, drinking and writing.

I saw the light go on in her head. But although she recognized that opportunities were out there in “twitterland” she was still kind of hesitant about the technology. She said she’s been to workshops about social media and they all tell you to “just jump in”. She pointed out that if she were the type of person to “just jump in” she probably wouldn’t be at the workshop.

Point well taken. I didn’t tell her to jump in.

But I did tell her what I did. As I said earlier, I’m a novice, so there are many people who are far more knowledgeable about this than I am. But for all you newbies out there who are afraid to “jump in” here’s how to stick your toe in the “twitter water”.

Sign up at twitter.com
You don’t have to answer the question “what are you doing now” (if everyone answered that question honestly there would be a lot of “I just signed up for Twitter and I’m wondering what to do now”)
Use twitter search to find posts about topics you’re interested in. I might have originally done a few searches, probably for SEO, web design, and Google Android.
Look through the search results and click on some interesting posts. See an interesting post? Click on the poster’s link – read their other posts. If they seem interesting, click the “Follow” button. Now all the posts that person makes will show up on your screen when you’re logged in.
The person you “Follow” will get a message and may decide to “Follow” you. You’ve now got your first “follower”.

That’s it. I’m going to stop there. That’s how to stick your toe in the “twitter water”.

Next week I’ll talk about some of my favorite Twitter tools such as TwitterFeed, Twirl, TweetDeck.

Using .tel for digital branding

April 17, 2009 Carolyn Griswold

There’s a new domain type in town and it’s different than the .com, .biz, .org and .nets domains that you probably know. The .tel domain is not attached to a website like all the others. This new top level domain (TLD) is an internet directory listing that gives you complete and easily managed control over your online contact information.

When you sign up for your .tel domain you’ll get a username and login. With that you can login to your account anytime and update your contact information, address, and business information. They are like an online real-time business card. It’s a low-cost way for a business to keep current information available online without having a business website or in addition to their website.

From the .tel website…

Join a global online directory that provides you instant worldwide exposure…
Integrate all your means of communication in a single place under your control…
Update and manage your contact information and keywords in real time…
Increase your search engine visibility through descriptive keywords…
Provide a fast way for your customers to connect with you in a single click from any mobile device…

Another take…

Top Ten Reasons to Buy Your .Tel domain

It’s a low-cost alternative or addition to a website and the new digital business card. Buy through your favorite domain seller – hopefully that’s cgwebhelp 😉

See a sample at cgwebhelp.tel

Return To Creativity

April 6, 2009

Admit it. You lose contact with your ability to be creative sometimes. Or, maybe you think you’re not the creative type. Truth is – everyone’s creative. Truth is – everyone sometimes gets stuck regurgitating tired ideas that put even themselves to sleep. Here are some ways to return to the creativity to your business.

Read The Unrelated.

Creativity isn’t discovering something new. It’s making new connections between old things. Pick up that teen magazine and an idea on how to write about that IT seminar may jump into your lap. Read U.S. News & World Report in search of an idea you can connect with your ad for your new hair styling product. I once based an insurance product sales brochure on something from the National Enquirer.
Have Fun.

Loosen up. Life’s too short. Take a break and do something you enjoy. You’ll get a fresh perspective and start new ideas flowing. Remember Archimedes in the bath tub. (I didn’t think you’d remember him. Archimedes, a great ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, and inventor, was stumped. His ruler wanted him to devise a way to tell whether a crown was pure gold or alloyed with silver. Solutions avoided him like cockroaches avoid light. Then when he took a break to take a bath he had a brainstorm. As he stepped into the water and watched it rise, Archimedes realized that a given weight of gold would displace less water than an equal weight of silver because it’s not as dense. Legend has it that in his excitement about his discovery he ran home naked shouting “Eureka! Eureka!” (“I have found it!” “I have found it!”))
Look Under The Hood.

Maybe your creative engine is starved for fuel. You may need more information about the project or the audience. Ask your client or source more questions about what you’re trying to accomplish. Set up an informal focus group. Call in your management team. Creativity often requires a sea of research. The writers for John Hancock’s award winning “Real Life” ad campaign got several of their ideas by spending long hours hanging out in a bar listening to people discuss their financial worries. (“No, boss, that’s not a beer, that’s part of my research.”)
Seek Inspiration.

We all have a place or person or book that never fails to inspire. Make contact. Spend some time relaxing with that enthusiastic presence. Good things happen when you’re in a good place or with a good person or in the mind of another creative. Whose brain do you like being around? Who always seems to be working on something wacky? Go see them. I have a few books that always offer me nourishing food for thought whenever I pick them up. Mind Your Own Business! by Murray Raphel and The Wizard of Ads by Roy H. Williams are two.
Create Something Awful
Want to ruin good creative people? Go through their trash. The best creatives create awful Frankenstein-ish things. They realize that’s usually the only way to do their best creative work. First create the monstrosities; then come the beauties. Writers in particular work like sculptors. To develop a great 500 words they may write a terrible 2,500 words. Then, like sculptors, writers begin to chip away and polish, chip away and polish, chip away and polish.
Do the Opposite
Let’s say you want to come up with the five greatest reasons why people should shop in your store or why your product is superior to the competition’s product. Take the opposite point of view. Brainstorm about all the reasons why your store stinks. Write a list of negatives about your cherished product. (This is not for the faint of heart.) Then, just flip the arguments upside down to get your creativity right side up. For example, if you want to promote your one woman interior design business, a nasty negative might be, “no staff, no associates, no backup.” Turn that around and say, “You always deal with the business owner and get immediate decisions.”

Creativity is key to business. It’s creativity that helps invent the new killer product. Creativity makes your stand out from the crowd and get noticed. Creativity finds a way to cut production costs by a third. Creativity opens your eyes to new ways to get your customers to buy again. So, get creative. It’s good business.

Chris Amorosino is the president and founder of Amorosino Writing LLC, a communications firm in Unionville. You can reach him at 860-673-0089 or chris@amorosinowriting.com.

Can LinkedIn Build Your Business?

March 24, 2009

Right up front I will admit that this article will not answer the question the title poses. But you will learn more about this business networking Web site if you keep reading.

I’ve been on LinkedIn for about 15 months but had not been very active. For the next six months I’m conducting an experiment. I want to discover whether feeding LinkedIn lots of attention and good stuff will reward me with what I want (more and better business contacts and visibility.) I believe it’s possible that LinkedIn could help me find vendors, keep up with business education, promote my business and maybe even provide some solid clients.

If you’re interested in this concept, here are eight steps you could take.

Spruce up your LinkedIn profile
I heard one guy complain that LinkedIn only considered him 40 percent of a person. That’s because his profile wasn’t complete. You won’t be taken seriously if you don’t include a professional photograph and complete the rest of the profile. Your profile should have lots of juicy tidbits about your business talents and successes.
Give and get recommendations
Ask your clients to recommend your services on LinkedIn. Their recommendations will appear in your profile and serve as great endorsements. How do you get recommendations? You get by giving. Recommend good, solid people you’ve worked with. It’s fun and rewarding to recommend good people.
Obtain at least 100 connections
I’m told the magic starts happening when you are connected to at least 100 people. So go through your rolodex and invite people to link with you. Visit the profiles of people you’re already linked to and check out their connections to see if they know people you’d like to know. Then ask for a LinkedIn introduction to them.
Ask Questions
I had a client problem and used the LinkedIn question feature. Within two hours I had four good answers to my client problem.
Don’t Sell
Perhaps this should be number one on this list. There’s nothing worse at a cocktail party than the guy running around basically saying to anyone who will listen, “Wanna buy from me? Wanna buy from me?” Please don’t use LinkedIn that way. Find ways to make yourself useful to others. It’s true: Givers gain.
Join Groups
To learn about a topic or get closer (electronically) to a market, search for LinkedIn groups you can join.
Find People
LinkedIn has a feature that lets you search for people by name. You can also search by company name for LinkedIn members. And you can search by job title within a geographic area. These are good ways to find people in your market or people you know but have misplaced along the business way.
Add Applications
You can choose from about ten pretty cool applications. One app lets you share slide shows. Another lets you take online polls. I have added to my profile the application that lets you share book recommendations.

Your best bet is to go to LinkedIn and experiment. See whether you think there are tools there to help your business. Give the site a fair chance by putting in your time to create a good profile and build connections. I heard one LinkedIn expert say you need to devote about 30 minutes a day to the site when you first join if you want to maximize the site’s effectiveness. Try to add value for other people you run into on LinkedIn.

May your business prosper as a result. See you out there.

Submitted by:

Chris John Amorosino
Amorosino Writing, LLC
Writing Business Stories That Live Profitably Ever After
860.673.0089

What is Twitter?

March 12, 2009

For social media junkies, they already know the answer to this question, but for many, they know that they should know the answer, but they don’t know.

So here’s my twitter 101 discussion, just to get you started. The concept of Twitter was originally that participants answer, in 140 characters or less, one question: what are you doing right now? Your answer (called a “tweet”) is intended to spark short messaging conversations and deeper engagements with those who share your interests.

It’s a fledgling media, one that is changing and growing day by day. However, I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon, so I suggest you get to know it. Now, that doesn’t mean that you may be somebody who spends their life on Twitter. As a matter of fact, most people don’t. The only people that I know that do are those who are engaged in the social media world. However, I have found it to be useful.

In May, I am giving a talk to the financial services industry on New Media Marketing. I wanted to research who was engaged in new media marketing in the insurance world. I put a tweet out on Twitter and Facebook, asking for ideas and information. Many people got back to me, giving reference material, lists of those engaged in social media, as well as connecting me to people relevant to the topic. As a matter of fact, I got hooked up with a director of social media at one of the major insurance companies and was able to get enough information for a case study. If you need to do some research or find the right person, chances are you’ll find it by crashing around on Twitter.

Now most people don’t actually answer the question posed, “What are you doing right now?” They simply comment on interesting things that they found around the worldwide web. Twitter becomes, then, a type of human search engine, pointing out interesting or relevant information to a particular group of people that you have decided to associate with or “follow. “

In addition search.twitter.com can help you find the conversations and the people engaged in activities that are of interest to you. I suggest you spend a little time getting on Twitter and trying it now. Just listen. That’s what everyone else is doing too. If you’re old enough to be puzzled by Twitter, you may be old enough to remember life before e-mail or voice mail, and look how helpful those tools are. This is just another technological tool to be used to communicate and engage with your clients and your customers, your friends, your family and your neighbors.

Happy tweeting!

What is Website Optimization and Why do I Care?

February 23, 2009 Beth Devine

This is a question that I’ve received on more than one occasion. Anyone who has a website should care about website optimization. If you have a website, odds are you’ve spent time and money to create it. So what is it doing for you? Too many people create a site and do nothing to drive traffic to their site, then, wonder why business hasn’t improved. In traditional terms, you can create the most beautiful advertisement, however, if you never place it where it can be seen, it’s useless. It’s the same for websites. That is where website optimization comes in. It’s the practice of driving traffic to your website. There are several ways to do this.

The first way to drive traffic to your site is to ensure that your site can be found. This is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO. By including meta tags and descriptions as well as improving the content of your site, you can improve the organic search-ability of your site so that people can find you. This is a long-term investment that pays off in gradual increments. Over time, search engine optimization will help improve your search engine rank and make it easier for potential customers to find your site.

The second way to improve your website optimization is a traditional pay-per-click program. These are the ads that show up in the right hand column of a Google search. The nice thing about these ads, as the name says, you only pay for those searches that actually click through to your site. This program is intended to drive unknown prospects to your site.

A third method of website optimization is called e-marketing. This includes creating an e-newsletter campaign and/or blog to help educate your customers. It is a good way to ensure that you have a consistent presence with your existing customers and known prospects. It will remind them that you’re out there and in some cases, depending on the article, educate them about capabilities you have that they may not know about or have forgotten.

The final form of website optimization is inclusion of RSS feeds to your website to pull the latest news from a blog into your site. This can help to keep your site updated with little effort. This will also help your search engine optimization and gives users a reason to go back to your site more frequently as they’ll know that you have updated information.

Basically, website optimization is a means to get your site working for you. Years ago, when people created or changed their website, they would let everyone they knew know about it. We’ve gotten away from that practice. Website optimization takes the best of those practices and incorporates them into a program that will make your website work for you.

Let’s talk passion

February 16, 2009 Carolyn Griswold

WebSavvyMarketers is a group of four marketing professionals who have joined together to explore and comment on digital and on-line marketing. We each have a unique passion that drives our individual careers and as savvy marketers we recognize the power of strategic alliance and collaboration. Meet the WebSavvyMarketers.

Rahna Barthelmess, who jumped in with the 1st post on the blog, has a passion for marketing. She’s helped large corporations and small companies navigate the digital marketing world with up to date, and effective online strategies. She’s focused and energetic about her passion. Tap into her energy here and through her website beacon-marketing.com.

Nancy Simonds loves to proofread. Isn’t that an unusual passion? In a world where the practice of texting has developed a new lexicon and threatens the art of a complete sentence, we need people like Nancy. Although Nancy has helped develop web content for many business websites, she would probably be the first to admit that blogging, facebook, and twitter are a bit, shall we say, beyond her comfort zone. But exploring new worlds is part of being a websavvymarketer and I think Nancy’s perspective on this “new world” will bring comfort to those of you who might find some of the new technologies overwhelming. More about Nancy at simonds.com

Have you ever met anyone who loves to cold call? Meet Beth Devine. I swear, her passion for cold calling, could possibly be an addiction. What’s her perspective? How does a cold calling addict become a websavvymarketer? Stay tuned. By the way, Beth also creates multi-media sales CD’s and tradeshow presentations. and recently has begun to work with me on SEO projects. More at devinesolutionsinteractive.com,

And finally, who am I and what’s my passion? I’m Carolyn Griswold and have a passion for the web and for building websites. I love the technology that is ever evolving. I love the immediacy of the web. I love the interactivity, the functionality, the design, the language and the art. I love to explore the web and as I explore I plan to use this space to share ways to become a web savvy marketer. More at cgwebhelp.com