Learn how to use Web 2.0 tools and technology to promote your business!
Join us for an "Ask the Expert" event featuring Anita Campbell from Small Business Trends.
Anita’s expertise has been noted or her opinion quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Inc Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, and many more!
**Note: This event is now closed. You may read the questions and answers, but may not post new questions.**
FeedBurner.com is a nifty FREE service. It makes your feed more powerful. It gives you tools and capabilities to reach more people.
Think of it as:
(1) part traffic-stats tracker for RSS subscriber numbers,
(2) part tool to customize your feed from a technical standpoint, and
(3) part tool to publicize and market your feed.
These days a lot of blog content is being read without someone visiting your site. It's read through a feedreader program or feedreader webpage like Google Reader, Bloglines or Netvibes,
Consequently, if you track traffic statistics on your website, you're probably not seeing the entire picture of your readers. You're probably missing those who read your RSS feed, because THEY DON'T VISIT YOUR SITE. That's why you need something like FeedBurner, to track those numbers.
FeedBurner will not only track the number of subscribers you have, but it also will give you detailed information on which actual feed items (i.e.,blog posts) were viewed and how many times, how many people clicked through, and similar statistics.
FeedBurner also lets you easily customize and manipulate how your feed appears -- you can make it user friendly and add features too numerous to mention here.
FeedBurner also offers a number of ways to spread the news about your blog and feed. For example, you can use it to create badges for a web page or to embed in your email signature block, showing the latest rotating headlines from your blog. There's even an email subscription feature, which allows readers to subscribe and receive each of your blog posts in the form of an email -- a great way to stay top-of-mind with clients and readers.
A FeedBurner account takes just 5 minutes, if that, to set up and it's free. I suggest that if you have a blog with an RSS feed (most blogs do), grab the URL for your RSS feed, head over to FeedBurner.com, and "burn" a new and improved FeedBurner version of that feed. Then start exploring the FeedBurner admin panel. You'll be amazed at how much is packed into your free account.
That's a pretty broad question to answer without knowing more about your situation.
But let me give it a whirl. Here are some general pointers.
(1) Search engine traffic -- Try to improve the traffic coming to your store through the search engines such as Google. This is called search engine optimization.
I happen to know that Jumpup.com, the sister site of Quickbooks Community, offers a free 15-page guide to Search Engine Optimization written specifically for small businesses.
Start there. If you don't have time for a lot of hands-on work, you might want to consider hiring an SEO firm.
(2) Paid ads in search engines -- Called pay-per-click ads, these are one of the fastest ways to get traffic. Google AdWords is one source. Yahoo also offers them, called Yahoo Search Marketing.
(3) Start a blog -- If you are hands-on, like to write and have the time, consider starting a blog. This will provide a conversational way of talking with the public online and getting them comfortable buying with you. It also is a way to engage loyalty to encourage repeat sales. Depending the type of store you have, it could be a draw for customers to ask questions. This has 2 benefits: gradually it will draw in traffic, and it also can help increase conversions among those who arrive at the site through some other means.
Those are 3 starting places.
If you have a more specific question about your situation, just leave another comment below and I'll be happy to tackle it.
Question:
Blog Vs Email Newsletter Mar 11, 2008 01:32 pm
Hi Anita,
Thanks for offering your advice today. I am a new business owner and just getting setup online. I have an existing customer base built through traditional networking. I just went live with a website and e-store although I still need to get them recognized in search engines. As a DIY-er,
I have limited time to embark on the next new undertaking. To start attracting new customers and to retain my existing customers, would an email newsletter or a blog be more effective?
I started my blog because I was looking for a better way to publish newsletter articles. So let me describe a way to do both -- blog and newsletter -- without doing lots of extra work.
I would start with a blog. It gives you a way to publish information about your site online, easily and swiftly. That gives you more content for your website and ongoing search engine benefits.
On top of that, you can always “repurpose” the blog content to use in a newsletter. That’s what I do. So how do you do that?
Well, when you create a newsletter, simply link to several recent blog posts along with the opening sentence or two from the blog post.
What you’re really doing is creating newsletter articles throughout the month, but posting them to your blog. Then all you need to do to create the newsletter once a month (or whenever) is link to the blog posts. See what I mean?
You might also look at a tool like Feedblitz which makes the process of turning blog posts into an email newsletter simpler and easier.
For an example in action, Ramon Ray of SmallBizTechnology.com writes a blog and issues a newsletter using Feedblitz.
As a follow up to my last message on combining a blog and a newsletter, the following article describes how to "automatically" (sort of) create an email newsletter from a WordPress blog.
If you're new to blogging, don't get scared off by the technical nature of the article. Remember that you have to approach this stuff one step at a time. Bookmark the article for later.
Question:
How many networks? Mar 11, 2008 02:16 pm
I have been a member of LinkedIn since it went beta and am relatively pleased with it. What I am finding now is that other people in my network may be in one or more additional networks out on the web.
With a plethora of options and claims that one is better than another an individual could make a full time job of keeping the profiles fresh and up-to-date.
Is one better than another? Is there an easy way to maintain the many different profiles (through a desktop application or otherwise)? How many profiles are enough?
Yes, yours is a common problem. Too many social networks, too little time!
For businesspeople, I suggest limiting your activity to a select few. This is definitely a case of the 80/20 rule.
LinkedIn.com helps you maintain your "official" professional profile online.
Facebook.com can be good, too, because it allows you to connect with others a little more easily. And it lets you show your blog posts, set up groups and communicate with group members, publicize events and do other activities.
JumpUp.com is good for those new at a business and starting out. (no, I'm not plugging it just because it is owned by Intuit -- I happen to be a long-standing member over there)
SmallBusinessBrief.com is another one I happen to find value in.
Beyond these, there are some niche locations that make sense depending on the type of business you run. If you are a musician, for instance, MySpace can be good. There may be some industry-specific communities that are right, too. But look closely before jumping feet first.
As to any easy way to maintain profiles, I haven't found a good tool.
If anyone knows one, leave a comment and share, please!
Question:
Business Ranking Sites Mar 12, 2008 12:41 pm
I am finding, like the social networks, there are many, many ranking sites. These sites apparently gather information from each other-even though it can be wrong information (we have been listed at the wrong address for nearly a decade by many)—and publish it on the web. If you happen onto it you are asked to "claim" the business listing. These sites also provide the opportunity for clients or complete strangers to "rate" the business.
How truly effective are these sites and as asked in the previous network question, is there an easy way to correct and manage multiple profiles from one application or site?
Studies show that consumers tend to pay attention to user reviews.
You can judge that for yourself. For example, have you ever read Amazon reviews before buying a book or a product? If you use a travel site such as Hotels.com, have you ever checked out the guest reviews? I know I have.
There are an ever-increasing number of places online that allow small businesses to be reviewed. Yelp.com is one of them. And many more. How effective they are depends on how much traffic they get. Such sites tend to be less popular than a huge site like Amazon or even a travel site.
As far as one application to manage them all, I don't know of anything that allows you to specifically manage all your profiles from one place.
There are tools such as QAlias that claim to help drive people to your preferred online profile, especially for professionals. And Google Local tends to come up high in the search rankings, so you might want to put special attention on completing an accurate profile there.
Perhaps someone else knows of such a tool? Please weigh in.
Video is great for website tours, demo-ing a product, showing how to use a piece of equipment, and welcome messages from independent professionals, Screencasts can be great training tools. You can even use video to promote an event. You can even create video advertisements. And many more uses.
There are tons of ways to get video on your site. It depends on how much money you can spend and how much technical help you can call on.
A simple and cheap way is to get your video camera out, film something, and upload the digital video file to YouTube.com, which hosts video for free. Then you can embed the video player in your site. However, you may not want to do this if you are concerned about losing control of your video (remember, YouTube is a sharing site).
Another option is to outsource to a local videographer. They are popping up in cities all over, and they're not nearly as expensive as you might think. They will do a professional-quality job, add text and music, do special effects, and provide it to you in a format that is Web-ready.
Question:
Any SEO packages or tutorials you recommend? Mar 12, 2008 01:19 pm
We are looking into improving our Search Engine placement by improving our sites themselves, especially via things like Meta tags and more effective arrangement of data, etc. I have been using the Google website tools pretty much since they came out, and I have seen some definite improvement since then. We have tried a small amount of paid ads such as AdWords, and have had little success from them. We have a message board, as well.
Do you know of any SEO packages -- or just DIY tutorials -- that you would strongly recommend? I have a programming background, so I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty ^_^
Our sites are currently all done in ASP (v6), and I'm also wondering if it might be worth the trouble to update our code (mainly Access database interfaces to serve up info and pricing on specific products) to something more .NET friendly. Any suggestions?
Eric H Krieger, CQA, PTCC, CQPOSA
Allday Consulting Group: RSP's and ISP's
Systems Analyst & QuickBooks Point of Sale Specialist
QuickBooks Certified Pro Advisor, QuickBooks Certified Point of Sale ProAdvisor QuickBooks-Help.com
First let me start out by saying that I am by no means an SEO professional. However, running my own websites for 6 years I have learned some practical advice, which I will share.
The Google Webmaster tools are great, including tools such as Website Optimizer and Google Analytics. Both are free tools and I can't say enough great things about them. If you are using those right now, good for you!
There are software packages on the market that purport to improve search engine position. Sometimes they consist of nothing more than traffic-analysis tools (which you already get for free with Google Analytics) and automated search engine submissions, which most SEO pros say you really don't need to do. Just evaluate any software carefully to make sure you know what you are getting, before you leap.
For someone like you who already has some SEO knowledge, I have another suggestion. You might want to look at the new online SEO subscription services. With those you can get access to online tutorials and advanced educational materials, along with special SEO analysis tools, private advice forums, and/or subscription-only email newsletters. Two that I've heard good things about are SEOBook.com and SEOMoz.org.
As for the technology, this may be a bit beyond my depth, but 2 things to ask yourself are: (1) is Google having trouble indexing all of your site, and (2) how easily can you adjust things like title tags? If either of those are a challenge you might want to look at re-working your site. However, I caution you that I am by no means an expert on the technology and perhaps I am not the best person to weigh in that particular point.
Question:
How to incorporate social media? Mar 12, 2008 11:00 pm
Working in internet marketing for a retailer that does a lot of eCommerce, I'm struggling with ways to incorporate social media (facebook, linked in, digg, etc) into our plan. We have a blog but I want to make use of these other avenues and although I have experience with them personally, I'm at a loss as to how to incorporate them on in a small business setting...?
Social media can definitely be used. But I think you have to choose sparingly. In other words make sure that what you choose fits your business.
Congrats on having a blog! That's a wonderful first step. It's best not to try too much at first -- it will just be frustrating. Here are 3 specific steps you can take:
(1) Consider offering discount coupons to other bloggers. Internet Retailer offers this article on the topic:
(2) Look at Facebook.com. I recently did a radio program with Shama Hyder of AftertheLaunch.com and she gave several tips for using Facebook to market. You can: show your blog posts on your Facebook profile; create a Group on Facebook in which you can create a mini community of loyal followers and send them update communications about specials, new products, etc,; and publicize any events you may be holding.
(3) Consider guest posting on a topic related to your business, on other high-traffic blogs that attract your audience. It's a way to draw in new customers.
There's a lot more you COULD spend time on. But this is a case of the 80/20 rule, so be sparing in the activities you attempt.
Buying pay-per-click ads can be a super-fast and convenient way to draw traffic to a website. I generally recommend them for small businesses.
They are called "pay per click" because you literally pay only for the click-throughs back to your website.
Google's pay per click ads are named AdWords, You've probably seen Google AdWords in the Google search results. They usually appear down the right side of the page, or across the top marked as "sponsored".
You bid on keywords to try to get your ad to show up whenever someone searches for that keyword or key phrase in Google. The more you bid on a term, the higher up in the results your ad shows up.
AdWords are easy to manage, since you can go online at any time of the day or night and stop them, change them, etc. You can set up a budget in advance and know that the ads will run until your budget is reached and then stop automatically before you go over your budget.
Google AdWords tend to bring targeted traffic. You can start to get traffic almost immediately. And you can do a meaningful campaign inexpensively -- sometimes for as little as a few hundred dollars a month.
Google ads also can be placed on third-party websites, such as blogs, magazine sites, transactional sites, etc. -- called the Google Content network. If you are a newbie, stick with placing your ads in the Google search results, rather than in the Content sites. You will probably get more conversions to sales.
Why? Because people who see your ad in the search engine results are already searching for a solution -- that's why they are looking in a search engine to begin with. So they tend to be more primed to buy than someone who stumbles upon an ad on a content based site.
Think carefully about the keywords you choose to bid on. You want keywords or key phrases that:
(1) use words a customer might search with, and not industry lingo; and
(2) are as specific as possible. You want the keywords to be specific because a person using a specific search phrase is usually closer to the buying stage, rather than the "looking" stage. Consider the difference between someone searching for "tax" and someone searching for "Cleveland tax accountant." Which do you think is more likely to be ready to hire a tax advisor in the Cleveland area?
Plus, the more general a keyword is, the more expensive it is likely to be because so many other companies will be bidding for that keyword. The bargains tend to be had for longer strings of words -- sometimes as long as 4 or 5 words in a phrase.
Start creating a list of keywords or key phrases. From time to time a new search phrase may occur to you. Just add it to your list.
I suggest that you experiment. Set aside a designated budget and allow a certain time frame, say 60 - 90 days. See if it works for you.
Imagine your Web-presence strategy visually in concentric circles.
Your first priority (in the center of the circles) should be to have a good informative, professional-looking website. It doesn't have to be fancy. It doesn't have to have lots of pages. But it should clearly describe what your company does and put your best foot forward.
Your website should suggest that your company's services and/or products will be delivered professionally. Like it or not, people subconsciously equate the professionalism of your Web presence with the quality of your firm's work. But a website is clearly a higher priority than a Facebook page.
The exception to having a website might be a solo professional, such as a consultant. In that case, you may be able to get away with just having a well-fleshed-out LinkedIn.com profile, as a substitute for a full-blown website. Or freelancers in certain niche industries might get by just with a profile page on a niche-industry site. Either way, spend some time on it. There's no substitute for a first impression.
Once you have a basic Web presence like a website or professional profile page, then you can go out to the next circle. A blog is helpful, if you like to write, as I've described above. If you don't think you can keep up with the commitment needed to write in a blog, then you might decide it's not right for your company. That's OK -- you know best what you can do.
If a blog is not right for your company, or if you have a good blogging strategy and it's chugging along nicely, you might want to consider going out to the third circle. This is where sites like Facebook.com, MySpace and even Twitter come in. These tend to be strategies that are more advanced. Most small businesses really won't get value from these strategies until they have the other two circles addressed, i.e., they have a website and have at least considered having a blog.
Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites are best leveraged if you already have a basic presence and can send people back to your website. Plus, each of these takes time to learn and use. If, like most of us, your time and resources are limited, these sites could be more than you can chew.
I like Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn -- and I use those sites myself. However, they're not exactly for beginners and I think it's important for you to recognize that they do involve a time commitment if you want to get any ROI for your efforts.
If you had a choice between doing 2 things well, or attempting 8 things and doing none of them well, I'd choose to do 2 things well.
But if you have time, explore those social networking sites and see what you think.
Question:
Let's Talk, or IM, or Fax, or EMail... Mar 14, 2008 01:04 pm
Being connected is "in". Faxes can be sent and received remotely, email accessed worldwide—as is my computer (if I wanted to), telephone services are available on the net—as are video conferencing, instant messaging and more.
In your opinion what are the essential online communication technologies that should be leveraged by small businesses? Has traditional telephony gone the way of the Dodo?
You've hit the nail on the head with regard to the fact that we have more telecom choices than ever. And it's a very confusing set of choices for businesses to face.
First, let me answer your last question. The traditional landline phone has not gone the way of the Dodo -- yet. However, an increasing number of small businesses are leapfrogging over landlines and going to 100% wireless phones or VOIP (telephone over the Web or a private network).
But these days it's not so much an either or, as it is a matter of "layering" of multiple services to meet your communications needs. Most businesses need:
(1) Basic phone service. This could be a landline system, VOIP or wireless. Most businesses will choose either landline or VOIP plus wireless for mobility.
(2) Robust voicemail and virtual switchboard. Most businesses will benefit from technology that answers calls while people are away from their phones, forwards calls to mobile phones, and similar capabilities.
(3) Fax
(4) Email
(5) Conference call bridge to make multi-person calls.
Beyond this, it's much more situational. Some companies use instant messenger. Others don't.
Some firms rely heavily on mobile devices such as Blackberrys to handle documents, calendar and other functions while out of the office. Others don't.
Video conferencing tends to be used even less by small businesses, although I am hearing more frequently about businesses using the Skype video conferencing capabilities (which are dirt cheap).
I wrote about this topic last year at Inc Technology, and maybe you'll find this discussion useful:
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