Everyone’s abuzz about how Google and other search engines are now heavily weighting your “social signals” — how many people like, friend, retweet, repost at LinkedIN, and Google+ your content.   Google+ too?  Yep.  But how do you stay on top of your Social Media Strategy?

Why do I think Google+ is a winner for B2B MarCom professionals?  Power, placement and pull.  Its tool set is powerful (resources to help you here).  Placement?  It’s everywhere from YouTube, to maps, to Android to websites to… well, everything Google- – and more.  Pull?  Google has over 80% of search eyeballs, and they are factoring Google+ “social signals” into their ranking factors.  In fact… most savvy SEO practitioners admit that Social Media and SEO are converging.

Google+ “Listening” TIP:  Check out this professional directory with over 16 million G+ users to listen to your competition, and study your prospects.

Things are changing fast, and it’s hard to maintain an authentic (live) presence in all social venues.  Here’s a list of Social Media Strategy Success Tactics in a powerful B2B package to minimize time spent, and maximize your SEO and ROI benefits from emerging social media venues:

The Plan to leverage a Smart Social Media Strategy:

1. Get a Presence in the “Big Five” Social Venues — Twitter, Google+. FaceBook, LinkedIN, and StumbleUpon.  Just one of the tactics we use is the WordPress plugin that provides quick ways to bookmark your business blog posts into all 5 venues (see top of this page).  But we know, you don’t have time to be in all places, so ask us about our “focused lead social  venue strategy.”
   
2. Save time, and proactively promote from one social media dashboard (they’re adding Google+ soon):  HootSuite*
   

   Consolidate your social media work on one convenient dashboard for all accounts, accessible by all your MarCom team.

3. Use an emerging “curation” tactic offered by Twylah.com to present your relevant Twitter messages in a zine-like format — on a subdomain for your site, so you get added SEO juice… see ours here:  http://tweetradar.webfadds.com/
   

   Deploy a dynamically updated tweet curation subdomain at your site which serves the dual purpose of refocusing prospects on important tween content plus gathers more SEO value to your domain

    

   • You set your blog to auto tweet to Twitter using HootSuite tools — set it then forget it, and focus instead on the new emerging leader… Google+
4. B2B Marketers… jump into Google+ — it is now recommended over Facebook (more options), and Twitter (better content tools).  TIP:  You may “curate” what you post back from Google+ to your blog.. with an auto-download of recent posts, as I did at my own blog:  http://www.webfadds.com/2011/07/google-digest-of-primers-guides-and-resources/
   
   • Find me on Google+ at ScottGooglePlus.info
5. Make your Social Business Efforts Prove themselves for ROI.  We’ll work with you and create a custom Analytics report designed to show how visitors to your site from each social venue completes desired business goals at your sites including signing up for newsletters, downloading white papers, and completing lead forms.

This is a powerful Minimize-Maximize strategy for your Social Media presence that I  sum up like this:  Minimize time using a central social media dashboard (HootSuite), then use Google+ as your primary “live presence” social venue for B2B professionals.  Maximize ROI using content curation techniques and good Content Marketing tactics — always testing that your Social Media activities yield optimum prospects and customers.

We will be happy to provide you with a prompt estimate for consulting and integration work as you strengthen your Content Curation and Social Signals Strategy.

* Scott Frangos is a Certified Social Media Consultant for HootSuite, and WebFadds has a marketing agreement with HootSuite

What a week for Google with 20 million new G+ users at last count!  Below you’ll find a reference list of usage tactics, guides to help you come up to speed, and some apps to help you work efficiently.  Welcome to the revolution – follow me at ScottGooglePlus.info.

The Future for Google+

• Is Google the Next Big Thing?  Find out what some thought leaders think.
• How will Google Plus change your Business Game? Take a new Poll on that and watch this one to see how your colleagues (at LinkedIN) vote.
• On Phones:  Huddles… the wedding of Google+ and Smart Phones (never forget the Android factor)
• Discuss Usage, Marketing, and the Future of Google+  in a new LinkedIN Group — Business with Google Plus

Google+ Usage Tactics and Techniques

• Been Invited?  How to get the elusive Google+ invitation.
  
• Very usable  Google+ Directory: Scroll down on left to find people by Occupation, State and City.  You can drill down by city, then profession if you like, or do a general search, for say — WordPress — then drill down from there.
• A real-time list of Google+ “Hangouts“, and you can list yours there.
• Great article on using G+ for your job search: Includes 5-slide overview of Circles is another good visual primer.

Google+ Articles with a Marketing Focus:

• Interesting take on G+ marketing strategies…Reshared post from +Carri Bugbee BruceClay – Google+ Profile Optimization: Branding, SEO and Social Media Marketing
• Is G+ the best Content Marketing Tool?  My own take is that because G+ emphasized Conversation over Content, that while it will serve many purposes of Content Marketers, that should be secondary to making authentic Connections.  Conversation, Content, and Connections are definitely three things that G+ enables.
• Excellent set of tips on using G+ for marketing, market research and other tactics.
• Here’s an excellent post about how to use Social Media to circle around your prospects (used “circle” on purpose… G+ is ideal for it) by +Chris Abraham — on Biznology.  Mr. Abraham not only reveals how to “smoke out” prospects, but also notes the huge organic SEO benefit.
• Wait a minute… what has Google been doing while we all are focused on Google+? +Steve Rubel has some excellent thoughts on that from an advertising and social signal perspective.

Google+ Guides & Primers

• Another good primer on Google+, this time from Sitepoint — thanks to +Joel Falconer
• I have a simple one-page PDF for download showing Google+ integration with other networks (Twitter, FB, and LinkedIN), and also with WordPress.
• Another great visual guide (it’s a series of images you flip through on G+)  The Google+ Start-Up Guide
  

  From the G+ Startup Guide by Saidur (Cy) Hossain

• Flip through Mr. Wong’s slides – excellent strategic overview of what Google+ represents  (Click first slide to open larger and get navigation arrows)
• And here’s a short You-Tube video with ways to adjust G+ Settings:

Google+ Browser, Phone and iPad Apps

• Chrome Browser App: Let the G+ app enhancements begin… this one, G+ me,  does look nice, but I have to agree with +Danny Sullivan that adding too many browser apps have been known to slow things down.
  
  
• iPad Hack:  If you can’t wait, here’s how to Get G+ on your iPad (remember… you do the first 5-6 steps on your desktop or laptop Mac BEFORE hooking up your iPad to the Mac)
• iPad App Coming Soon: I’m waiting for this iPad app — there’s no name given, but it comes from the Google team itself (it’s waiting for approval from Apple)… read article about it and keep watch
• SmartPhones: Here’s how to get Google+ on SmartPhones (iPhones and Android)… go to: http://www.google.com/mobile/+/ Notice carefully the “Huddle” feature, referenced earlier — it’s specifically to help mobile people coordinate get-togethers.

So… is Google+ to become the holy grail of social hangouts online, an also ran, or bound to fizzle out? The CEO of LinkedIN, Jeff Weiner, was just quoted in PC World stating that he things there’s not enough time in the day for another social network (see: “LinkedIn Boss is Down on Google+“).

I think he’s wrong. Weiner may be correct in his assessment that currently, Facebook is for old friends and family, Twitter is for quick tweets, and LinkedIN is for business networking. But he’s forgotten two keys to the puzzle: there are plenty of integration tools to save you time, and the user-interface factor. I never liked the Facebook interface and look forward to Google features like “circles” to address some of the weaknesses on the Facebook platform.

“Google+ and the ability to become the only place you need to communicate, collaborate, share, discover, and work, creates a social OS that is promising to the say the least.” — Brian Solis [G+]

Oddly, the writer of the PC World piece, Sarah Jacobsson Purewal, reacting to Weiner’s postion, states, “No offense, but I don’t see anyone using LinkedIn — ever.” Strange. She must not have ever needed to find a job, or review job and colleague qualifications. I have used that network to also find two different clients (my score is one obtained entirely via Twitter, two on LinkedIN, and zero on FaceBook).

Before we see what some other thinkers make of the new network, here’s a quick video about the “Circles” in Google+ — one of its most attractive and powerful features:

What do other thought leaders think about Google+?

Let’s review and discuss what some other luminaries now think about the prospects for Google+:

Chris Brogan, (co-author of the New York Times Bestseller, “Trust Agents”), writing for Forbes, lists 10 Things CMOs Need to Know About Google+, prefacing his list with, “If people are asking for what the next big thing is for online marketing, mobile marketing, digital communications and social media, this is certainly my pick for 2011.” The list includes that Google+ impacts search (think SEO), evolves from Gmail, has a lot of Buzz and early adopters, and the fact that lots of companies block FaceBook.

Brogan [G+] also advises CMO’s that “First movers win,” and Google+ can put you ahead of the competition. Of course, Mr. Brogan has already invested “over 250 hours (and counting)” in Google+ (“so you don’t have to”), and so is looking forward to leading the way. I tend to agree with Brogan’s take here after watching Google’s earlier attempts with Buzz and Wave.

Bryan Eisenberg [G+], who co-authored a book I highly recommend — Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer, has been streaming some strategic thinking about Google+ plus… on Google+. Today he posted a list of Facebook employees on Google+, and over the last few days he has posed and mused on some interesting questions about the game changing nature of the new network. In Eisenberg’s column from last Friday, he takes careful note that Google+ is an open network, while Facebook is relatively closed — a model similar to the old AOL. He also lists the mobile factor — Google has the android platform to its advantage, and soon phones will be able to notify you of local real-time streams of conversations that are both in your interests and located geographically close to you. Finally… have a hard look at the engagement factor, detailed by screenshots showing comparison heatmaps of Facebook versus Google+. Google+ wins.

What is your take? I look forward to hearing from you in comments (an archaic technology?) here, and also on the network — Scott Frangos [G+ ScottGooglePlus.info].

Let’s conclude with some quick takes by leaders on G+:

Chris Brogan [G+]: Most of my traffic is coming from G+ already.

Robert Scoble [G+], former technology evangelist at Microsoft currently working with Rackspace to develop Building 43, a new content and social networking website: “I’ve noticed over and over is how boring Twitter has gotten when compared to Google+.” See his reasons, here: http://scobleizer.com/2011/07/17/google-has-made-twitter-boring-heres-what-twitter-should-do-about-that/

Brian Solis [G+] an American marketing executive, author, entrepreneur, speaker, and host of Revolution, a webshow: Solis believe that Google+ “will not run circles around Facebook”, but then writes a detailed and thoughtful essay on how circles gets it right. Huh? Maybe he’s just being cute with the title to his long post, because in the end he concludes, “Google+ and the ability to become the only place you need to communicate, collaborate, share, discover, and work, creates a social OS that is promising to the say the least.”

Playing Ball: Innovation, change, and Social Media Marketing growth… it’s happening rapidly each week.  Last week, Twitter reported astronomic growth — up 422% in 12 months. WordPress reported 2 million business blog and CMS installations in 2008.  Wow.  Talk about “playing ball on running water.”  How do you grab a hold of this tiger and make efficient and effective use of it in Business?  I’ll give you some pointers on how to stay optimized.

CMS Thought of the Week: The *whole web* is your Content Management System.  Today, I was checking my LinkedIN homepage, and reviewed a number of blog posts — there — from friends and colleagues.  The same posts often show up in my twitter stream (shortened into 140 characters with links back to posts). And, Google lets you create a sort of “mash-up” via Google reader (for RSS feeds) where you can share your posts and those of others — see: my Google Reader Public Mashup.  Are you optimized to take advantage of these key web CMS techniques?  Contact me and we’ll work on it together.

Twitter Tips of the Week: If you’re looking for a job, check this link to an excellent Mashable article (a great web publication, using a CMS developed in WordPress) will help you learn how — on Twitter.  That’s right!  I’ve found and worked with two clients there in two weeks.  Plus… even if you’re not looking now… consider the article carefully and you’ll understand some key Twitter Social Media Marketing strategies and Tactics.

Next, look carefully at the “Five Phases of Social Media Marketing” — Social Marketing is not “free”, but it will pay off when you tie it into Analytics… and — analyze for conversions (that’s the R.O.I. secret).  One great question from the article:  “Will your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system interface with your social media tools?”  Watch for good CRM’s to start adding in Twitter functionality.

WordPress Eding Tips on Video: WordPress is a great CMS solution — we develop exclusively with it.  As you learn WordPress, and start managing the admin. area, you may like to review these short (approx. 2 min.) videos.  There are more available at WordPress.tv, but these are my “A-List” to help your work be optimized… in WordPress:

Posts:

• writing-and-publishing-a-post
• using-quick-edit-and-bulk-edit-to-manage-your-posts-in-half-the-time
• saving-and-returning-to-draft-posts-pages
• publishing-your-post-at-a-later-date

Add Categories & Tags to Your Posts (always do this — good for both SEO, and helpful site navigation):

• adding-categories-and-tags-to-your-posts

Pages:

• creating-a-post-excerpt-using-the-more-tag

Sidebar:

• adding-a-widget-to-your-sidebar

There you go.  That should help you optimize your WordPress and Social Media work.  Now… about those conversions? Have you optimized your landing pages so you can increase your conversion rates?  Contact me.

WordPress CMS News: A new report shows WordPress taking a leading position as one of the top four Open Source Content Management Solutions — read more here.  Version 2.8 is coming soon, and rumored to add even more flexible CMS capabilities.  If you have upgraded to 2.7.x, the upgrade to 2.8 will be easy — no expensive programmer required… just push a button.  If now… contact us, and we can upgrade you.

Are you optimized for Twittering yet? Social Media Marketing is coming fast and hard, with Twitter a major force (see below).  You will find me twittering @webfadds (and Spirit too). And, there are ways to optimize and automate — I’ll show you some here.

Not yet? Well, maybe you’re still on the fence about the “business worthiness” of Tweeting. It’s simply micro-blogging for business people and you are out there letting people get to know you before they buy. Why? People buy from people they know. It’s that simple. Add to that the ability to brand and establish authority in your niche.

And, the Twittersphere itself is offering increasingly useful tools to take your twittering to the next level…

Twitter Resources:

• Polling? You bet — check out: StrawPoll
• Productivity? It’s covered. Track Daily Goals with a social twist of accountability  | An event manager that auto-links to Google Maps, updates your Google Calendar, and auto-invites via Twitter  | Twitter for Organizations | Share files on Twitter
• Job Search? You got it… a job search engine for Twitter
• Research? Check it out… Track Trends and Events with TwitScoop | Tweetscan hunts for topics of interest and sends you an alert
• Publicity? Of course. TweeTube shares photos, YouTube videos, multiple website urls and more (from your iPhone too)
• Staying Efficiently Organized? Right. Have a good look at Easy Tweets* to promote your business and monitor your brands featuring an easy, efficient dashboard (we include coaching for this service in our Social Media MAX pack)
• In Gmail? Yup. Get an app to do Twitter from Gmail (another reason why Google is watching carefully)

Interesting Business Marketing Use of Twitter: ForkFly — a service providing discounts from hundreds of Portland, Oregon merchants. Hmmmmm. Get a following, sell access to focused followers. Earn money. Opportunity knocks.

Another Interesting, Government (hey… looks like they can be efficient sometimes) use of Twitter: If you are a Twitter user you can get northbound Canadian border wait times by sending a direct message to WSDOT – the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Is all of this useful in business? Well, what is one closed sale worth to you? Ten? I had a business meeting last week with a prospect I found on twitter, and am estimating proposals this week. Still questioning it? I agree, in business you have to focus on ROI… so do it. You can track it — Web Analytics Word is reported that Ominiture, a popular commercial Analytics provider, is integrating with Twitter.

Time to Get Going: We have a new package — Social Media-MAX Pack – here at WebFadds to help you get going. You leverage your Business Blog in a synergy with Twitter to engage prospects and leads… and learn about your niche. We coach and train you on efficiency in addition to installing and configuring your package. Contact us to start today.

It works. A week ago, I had 38 followers on Twitter. Now I have 295 (at time of writing), 344 predicted later this week, with over 1,000 predicted ( by yet another twitter service, of course) next month…

How did I do it? I’m practicing what I teach… using the synergy in our Social Media-MAX Pack is very powerful. Like a rocket. Watch me prove this @webfadds.

Is it fake? No.  Not if your intent is actually to engage colleagues and prospects in dialog about your niche focus, and business passions (with a bit of the personal side sprinked in, so people can know you too).  There are automated tools that save you time, but if you proceed ethically, (no spam) with honest intent… it’s for real.  You’ll probably see a few “fakes”… but Twitter is pretty quick to close down those accounts.

You can use our “old technology” contact form to get started… or just contact me on Twitter. And, we can chat about ways to increase conversions at your site too.

* WebFadds is an authorized reseller for Easy Tweets.  You’ll find excellent service and features (more coming… in Beta now) from the support folks there.

Social Media Marketing — who has time for this busy new marketing strategy? Busy indeed, but optimizable using automated techniques… I’ll tell you how.

What is Social Media Marketing? Simply put, it’s the use of new technologies — from blogging to twitter tweets — to engage prospects for your company’s services and products.

Is Social Media Marketing (SMM) on the Rise? Yes. You know — I resisted Twitter for some time due to my perception that it was juvenile and had no real business purpose. Wrong.

One example of how I was wrong about Twitter, and a tip for you: I used a new Nearby Tweets Search Engine (Twitter posts are called “Tweets”) recently to find out who was talking about similar business strategies in my neighborhood. Results? I have five leads, and one coffee meeting scheduled to discuss new business. Could I have looked up related businesses on Google? Perhaps. But I would not have known who was actively and currently focusing on certain business topics. That’s the key, and you can easily do the same.

Take a look below at the “Benefits of Social Media Marketing” chart which appears in a whitepaper, free for the download, by Michael Stelzner, who interviewed 900 business people and marketers for his research. You’ll get some great insights when you read the report.

Above, over 900 business professionals report positive results using Social Media Marketing methods (from Social Media Marketing Industry Report, by Michael Stelzner)

How to understand SMM and make it work? Two recommendations: Think about standard sales and marketing principles in new venues. Look for automation.

On the first point, just think about standard sales methods and think of social media a bit like those “business after hours” prospecting events that sales people always attend. You tune in, listen, make yourself known, and schmooz around a bit. People buy from those they know.

Of course, you’ve still got to find the time to make the switch from old ways of doing things to new. Good news. Since the new “venue” for Social Media Marketing is online, on computers, some of the work may be automated. I want to caution you — you still have to get in there and “hand out cards” and make your personality known… that’s what it’s all about.

Which social media sites for business? There are a lot of choices out there, but for now, I recommend concentrating on just three: Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIN. These are market leaders, each with a different focus and functionality, and I have seen all three bring business for our clients.

New WebFadds Social Media Max Service: Now about automation — one of the reasons we’re focused on CMS solutions using the WordPress platform (in addition to SEO strengths) is the excellent sets of plugins to add features and streamline your work. We have identified eight key plugins for SMM which in particular automate blog postings to twitter, and facebook walls, display of feeds from twitter in your blog, display of linked in information, and more.

We will install and configure this Social Media Max package on your WordPress Content Management System for $739. Need your Facebook, LinkedIN, and Twitter accounts set-up too? No problem — we’ll do it for $339. Includes initial coaching on working these services for business “conversion” purposes. We then set up your Easy Tweets controls for a powerful way to grow your twitter following, and channel them back to your business blog (we coach you on success with your Easy Tweets – $25mo. account). And for a limited time, we’ll include installation of Google Analytics at your site to help you track your site for conversion health. Contact me today to get started.

That’s enough Optimizing for this time — remember to always be converting.

#3 on Google in less than 19 Minutes: What’s the true power of a Business Blog? Well, you know I always focus on conversions. But before you can convert a visitor to a customer, you have to have visibility. And once your Blog gets accepted as a trusted source for information in your market niche (about 2-3 months of steady posting at least twice a week for new blogs), then your latest posts will go up fast — and rise to the top if your content is good.

A case example is a blog post on camp cooking contests we put up Saturday morning at SportsExposBlog.com, during their four-day tradeshow, where each day selling more tickets is a key to success. Within 19 minutes, that post was #3 on Google for the search, “Cooking Contests, Salt Lake City.” Great for immediate, and targeted visibility for those interested in reviewing cooking contests.  It’s still in position #4 on Google as I write this post.  Another client, Tom Hale — an Adwords Expert Extraordinaire — regularly sees his posts register high on Google in under 10 minutes.

SEO Technique Tip: First, the business blog for SportsExposBlog.com is developed on the WordPress platform, which out of the box provides a number of ways to Optimize for Search Engines. Then, we used a professional SEO plugin called HeadSpace (see articles about how HeadSpace works here ) and configured it for the phrase “Cooking Contests”, and the locality, “Salt Lake City”, for that specific post. It worked.

Why WordPress as a CMS? Last week I was at the Portland Search Engine Marketing Professionals annual Search Fest — a day of seminars and trainings on tips, traps, and techniques for this rapidly evolving field. There, a sales rep. told me that WordPress was not a CMS. Huh? Funny, it seems that Ford Motors, Comacho Cigars, CNN, the New York Times, and a host of other Fortune 500 players didn’t get that memo. They’re all enjoying the strengths of WordPress as their primary Content Management Solution. Of course, the sales rep. was, well, repping his own proprietary CMS based on Microsoft’s unpopular ASP.net platform.

There are several platforms out there offering CMS solutions, ranging from Cold Fusion, to Open Source PHP/MySQL, to Ruby on Rails, and ASP.net. Check around, and you will find many more options in the PHP realm, of which WordPress is arguably one of the top five choices. Way back in 2007, WordPress won “Best Open Source Social Networking CMS” from Packt Publishing.

What’s the best CMS solution for your company? Well, WebFadds, of course, can make the case for WordPress. But I admit, you’ll see some great contenders out there. A young fellow on a plane I took to Salt Lake City last week showed me an impressive proprietary CMS built in the Ruby on Rails environment. One big choice is Proprietary (you pay one company for a license and rely on them to continually improve your CMS) versus “Open Source” (the initial core program is free to download and install, and upgrades are free).

WordPres wins again, since it is in this initially “free” category.  But to be frank, free is not really free. You will want to custom configure and tweak it for maximum SEO and administration optimization — and that costs some money. But I think you’ll see that WordPress still wins when you compare your R.O.I. to other systems over the mid-term.  And, optimization with WordPress is not just about SEO — you’ll also streamline your content administration wrok.

Contact me — I’ll be pleased to work with you to find the best solution for your R.O.I… and, take a look at this overview: CMS WebSite Solutions with WordPress.

How Well is Your Site Converting?

Business Blogging — A Paradigm Shift: I was working on a CMS development project last week for a company of technically savvy consultants, and so was very surprised when our team received feedback that blog links shouldn’t appear on the front page of their site, and that blogging was just for rambling. Hmmmmm. At first, I thought they didn’t get it — they didn’t understand how social media marketing was such a great opportunity for them to connect with prospects and make sales. Then, I realized I didn’t get it. I’ve been engaged with it for some time, so I assumed clients understood that nowadays, Marketing is Publishing, and Publishing is Sales. Yeah, yeah, I know about the “ass-ume” thing.

“… when I worked in Advertising for a Manufacturing Company, we produced “sales literature” and hired field sales people. Online, your blog is both. It combines the education of good marketing literature, with the entertaining, instructive, and persuasive conversation of good sales people. “

This just goes to show that in a time of rapid change you can’t assume people have caught up with the paradigm shifts. Shifts? Yes. You know, like, “The computer will never replace typesetting machines.” “Art will never be produced on a computer.” “Professionals will never use digital cameras” … Those kinds of shifts. To those we’ll add, “blogging cannot be a very good business tool.” Ready to make the shift?

Anatomy of a Good Business Blog Post: Remember, you are a “Conversion Blogger.” In those two words are the secret of your success. You “blog” to put your personality into it and engage your readers. You make “conversions” (get leads, downloads of whitepapers, make sales), by simply asking for them after your readers get to know you.

Above is a “strategic wireframe” of a good business post. Note, that I have added some SEO tips, since that is still another reason to make regular Business Blogging a primary marketing thrust.

Here are the essential elements of a good Business Blog Post:

1. Write a good headline using the “H1″ tag, and include a primary SEO phrase
2. Write friendly voice blog copy, that educates and entertains, and also include your primary SEO phrase.
3. Include a compelling photo or illustration that helps you put your point across
4. Include a call to action that asks your reader to convert to a prospect (download a whitepaper), a lead (fill out a form), or a customer (make a purchase).

Connect, Engage, Convert… people buy from those they know.

Can You Prove It? Can I prove this works?  Yes. Install Google Analytics. Set up a Sales Funnel from your blog to a conversion page. Assign an ROI figure per conversion. Then, analyze the results.

Some Common Reservations about Business Blogging:

“It Takes Too Much Time”: Yes, it takes time. So, for business purposes monitor your R.O.I. with a good Analytics tool. Done well, it will pay off.

“It Takes Too Much Time”: It takes time, yes, but it’s more efficent than writing individual emails to all your clients and sales leads.

“Our Competition Doesn’t Do It”: Opportunity for you.

“Isn’t a Press Release Good Enough?”: No. Press releases miss the opportunity for you to engage directly with your prospects and customers. Remember, people buy from those they know, and most press releases are cold, corporate statements. Put some personality in your posts. Entertain, Educate, then ask for the sale.

“We Don’t Know Good Writing Techniques.” Here’s a link to a series of articles on copy writing and blog writing.

“Blogging Isn’t Supposed to Be About Sales”: Two thoughts for those that say this. Why not? And, second, “all of communication is an attempt to persuade.” I quote one of my Communication Professors on the last point, and yes — I wanted to argue with him, but it would only have proved his point.

“Blogging is Only for SEO Juice.” Write blather filled with SEO phrases, and you’ll get traffic, until Google penalizes you. And even that short lived traffic will bounce away from your site and you’ll miss the sale. Use SEO phrases cleverly in copy? Yes. But don’t fail to engage and convert.

Remember… it’s not just about sales, because you also use your personality to entertain and provide education for readers. But it can and will definitely lead to sales.

In the 90′s, when I worked in Advertising for a Manufacturing Company, we produced “sales literature” and hired field sales people. Online, your blog is both. It combines the education of good marketing literature, with the entertaining, instructive, and persuasive conversation of good sales people. So… go make the sale.

And remember that the only thing constant is change, and with change comes inevitable paradigm shifts. Resistance is futile (any trekkies out there?).

Give me a call, or contact me and we’ll explore Business Blogging opportunities for your company, and how to make the paradigm shift.

Contact Us · (360) 566-2451 · Email | Twitter: WebFadds

Hello -

What is your Video Strategy? Video Strategy? Yes… get ready for it. I too held off, but WebFadds just received a new client as a result of my first video posted on YouTube in January.  I mentioned this WordPress 2.7 with conversion tip video in an earlier edition, but some of you said the video was not permitted in your email — so here’s a direct link: WordPress 2.7 Introduction – Using WordPress as Your CMS.

Whether you’re a service provider, or selling products… video is becoming a key component of good content. But, will sales result from any video you place on your site? Jon Quarto-vonTivadar, writes how that is NOT the case in his article: “Video Views Up, When Will Sales Follow?” Take a look — he has good advice.  And here’s a series of articles about producing videos.

The Most Important C’s of Successful Online Marketing: A while back, I wrote an article on the five C’s that contribute to your success online: Content, Community, Conversation, Connection, and Conversions. Note that at the original writing the final word was Convergence, though I am updating this strategy to change that to Conversions, for the best focus, from a business perspective. Which of the “C’s” are most important?

Content. Everything else is secondary.
Conversions. Everything else — except Content — is secondary.

Get Content… and you'll Get Customers.

What about the other three C’s? They’re important too, because even in these times of new technology… people will still buy from those they know. But they’re not primary.   Because you can chat people up and plant links here and there back to your site, doesn’t mean you’ll be successful… even if your Google pagerank increases. Unless you have persuasive content, and continually focus on improving your conversion rates, all else is just busy work with no pay off.

And yet, I often see many requests for SEO work, or social network linking projects with little consideration toward first making your Content compelling, on target, and persuasive — a discipline my colleagues Newt Barrett and Joe Pulizzi write about in a new book about, “Content Marketing.” You should get their book – Get Content, Get Customers.

I see even fewer marketing project proposals written with an eye toward Conversions. Why?

I’ll close with some interesting results from our LinkedIn poll on “How well does your website convert visitors to leads or customers?“  which point to the answer to that question:

Results by Job Function…

This result shows that some creatives actually focus on conversions — those are the ones you want to hire, because they begin with the end in mind (your strategic business goals).  Marketing types, so far in this poll, seem focused on sales (yellow), but not completely clear on the concept of conversions — they do not understand how “optimizing” (blue) landing pages (adding your value proposition, for example), can increase your conversions .

So… how well is your site converting? Stop by at LinkedIn and take the poll… and if you’d like to focus on, and increase your conversions — give me a call.

Contact Us · (360) 566-2451 · Email | Twitter: WebFadds

WebFadds.com Conversion Marketing Program

How well is your website converting? If you can’t answer this question, or you don’t know what “conversions” are – you’re not alone. Conversions are when a visitor to your website takes one step closer to an important business goal for you.  That is, when a visitor a converts to a prospect (downloads a whitepaper), converts to a lead (fills out a form), or becomes a customer (makes a purchase).

We took a poll about conversions at LinkedIn.com, and while no one was brave enough to answer “Huh, what’s a conversion?” — 22% may well have answered that way.  They’re not tracking conversions and don’t know how well their site is performing. And what’s worse — they aren’t discovering ways to increase their conversions, and so their sales.

We recently optimized a lead form landing page for a client, and over the two following months they saw their leads increase by 43%.  The client values each lead at $100, since they close one in ten leads for a $1000 sale.  So, in a two month time period, after installing Google Analytics, optimizing the landing page, and running an Adwords PPC campaign to bring traffic for the test — they had 80 more leads worth $8,000 to the company — $48k more business per year. In national surveys, companies of all sizes focused on optimizing for conversions report gains ranging from 20% to 150%.

What’s makes a successful Conversion Site Marketing Program? It’s a process we’ve boiled down into three words:  Optimize, Connect, Convert. First, Optimize your site with a smart, SEO savvy CMS (Content Management System) solution, and install Google Analytics.  Custom configure it for SEO — Search Engine Optimization.  Optimize your landing pages for conversions.  Second, connect with your prospects and customers using a Business Blog, eNewsletters, and Social Marketing.  Use a good Google Adwords targeted PPC campaign to bring qualified prospects to your landing pages.  Third, make conversions, and analyze your statistics (particularly your “sales funnel” at your site) to continually test and optimize to increase your conversions. That’s the strategy for maximum R.O.I. for your web business mission.

Custom Design & Configuration of your WordPress Business Blog, or CMS.  This platform both saves you money (it’s Open Source — meaning free to use with frequent free updates), and is optimized for SEO out of the box.  We’ll design a blog to match our existing site, or upgrade your old-school side to a dynamic, automated CMS solution for your company.  Costs range depending on size and scope of project.  Simple Business Blog Set-ups average $499.

Max-SEO Configuration, for WordPress based Business Blogs and CMS solutions.  We research the actual terms people search on and weave them into your site, meta-tags, and titles using an installation of five major SEO plugins, plus we install ping services and coach you on blog copywriting.  Now, you’re optimized.  Starts at $489.

Analytics-MAX service. We’ll install Google Analytics at your site, help you set-up your conversion “funnel”, and site goals, then track and analyze results.  $199 mo. – 6 mo.

eNewsletter Service — we offer two options: An installed WordPress plugin for a one-time fee (includes custom template creation), and a pro-service through Constant-Contact that tracks open rate, provides 100’s of templates, tech. support, and an online control panel (set-up and monthly fees apply for this option).  WordPress is not required for the second option.

Adwords PPC campaigns. Bring targeted, qualified leads directly to your landing and conversion pages so you can analyze how well your site is performing, make adjustments, and increase conversions.  Management fee is 35% of your PPC ad buy ($1200 min. PPC buy), so figure $1620 for a minimum campaign ($1200 PPC ad buy, plus $420 management fee).

Landing Page Optimization: Want to increase leads at your website by 15% – 60% or more?  Make your site pay you back – WebFadds will track, analyze and adjust your key landing pages to increase conversion rates – Contact us for estimate.

Reach us: email:  sales@webfadds.com  •  phone: 360.566.2451