by Cathy Rodgers

Can I tell you how many websites I run across that have old copy and out of date information on them?  It sort of makes my stomach heave.  The same stagnant websites usually have no analytics installed to know how they are performing and there are no gauges to know what’s working and what’s not.

Think of your business website as a living, breathing component of your business.  Just like dusting, sweeping or vacuuming in your home – your website needs to be updated frequently.

Business owners are busy, full time marketing employees have fallen off the payroll and no one is dedicated to the online marketing efforts.  We’ve all heard the great saying, if no one is responsible, then nothing gets done.  

So what can you do?  First of all, step back and take a look at the message you are trying to deliver and then outline your goals and objectives. 

Here are some Online Marketing questions to answer:

• How are you differentiating your business from the competition?
• Are you telling the story of how your customers use your products or services?
• Do you have photos that help tell your story?
• Is there a dedicated page where a future customer can meet you, so they know who they will be doing business with?
• Do you know what words people are searching for when looking for your products or services?
• Does your message make an impact?  Does it deliver and is there a call to action?

 Don’t miss this Online Inspiration from Coca Cola:

If your business does not have the budget for a full-time marketing person, then hiring a freelance website editor/writer or a marketing company should be in your business future.   Seven Waves can help write your website content – just drop us a line.

If you’ve heard of Julie & Julia or the Pioneer Woman, then you know it all started with a blog.   The Pioneer Woman started taking photos and talking about her life on the farm:  rounding up cattle, adventures of her four children, sharing cooking tips and recipes and basically keeping it all together. 

She created a following by being real and opening the door of her everyday life to the world.  She’s made it to the Food Network and now businesses like Bush’s Beans include the Pioneer Woman as part of their business Strategy – which means she writes about using Bush’s Beans on her blog and they pay her!

So how do blogs like this grow?  Is it luck?  No, it’s word and subject searches on search engines.  It’s also word of mouth, it’s sharing on Facebook, it’s talking about it on Twitter and more.

Blogging can drive traffic to your website.  I’ve noticed when I blog, the visitors to my site increase by about 25%. I can look at the most popular subjects I’ve written on and then make that a priority for my next writing.

Your blog or Website should ALWAYS be the source of your business news, THEN you can share on Facebook or Twitter with a link back to your site.  Why?  Because you own your website, and Facebook changes frequently and so do their rules.

Think of a blog as your own personal news channel. I challenge you to think of 10 things about your business others will find interesting, along with some photos to illustrate. Here are some ideas for content you can try to Promote your Business:

1)   New products.

2)   An installation or services in action.

3)   How –To Tips.

4)   Happy customers with your products.

5)   Unusual features of your services.

6)   Tie your business to pets or sports.

7)   Your products or services with trendy topics or services.

8)   Partner with complimentary businesses and cross-blog.

9)   Breaking news:  Simplify new technology information.

10)  If you have a store-front location: photos, photos, photos.

11)   Go back to the basics of your business and write about how you or your products can help others save time, money or provide amazement.

12)   Take a team approach like Paula Deen.  While Paula Deen cooks and entertains the likes of Liza Minelli and famous celebrity chefs, the public can learn what happens behind the scenes from staff members, along with some photos prior to airing on TV. Take a look: http://www.pauladeen.com/blogs/

Learn from the best – go to the Pioneer Woman and read “10 Important Things I’ve Learned about Blogging”.

There are many approaches to writing, so read, read, read to get ideas and never give up. If you need help with web content writing, drop us a line here at 7 Waves. 

My friend just told me her husband saw a car pulled off on the side of the road with out of state tags and the car door opened over the weekend.  This was on a road they frequently traveled.  He thought something was wrong, so he phoned the local police who said, “it’s not in our district”.  Then he phoned the county police who said, “It’s not in our district”. 

When running another errand during the same day, he noticed the same car.  So he stopped and found a woman slumped over her steering wheel.  She was clearly disoriented and in shock.  Her husband was slumped over in the passenger seat and had died of an apparent heart attack.  Then he had to physically go get the police to come and help.  The discovery happened on a Sunday, on a well traveled side road right beside a high school with several churches on the same road! The woman had been there since Friday night through the cold, and rainstorms.  What?  No one helped?

No Regrets.
Our friend who was able to help this distraught woman has no regrets.  He is no longer questioning, “I wonder if anyone looked in that car?”  He is no longer feeling the tug on his mind saying, “something is wrong, I should help”.

Each and every day new opportunities are available for businesses.   I recently heard a marketing “infomercial” on the radio, which summarized that marketers are selling “hope”.  Your life will be better if you buy this video, this book, or this product.

Aren’t we all selling hope?  Whether you have a product or a service, selling hope means business owners and managers should be helping others, not just talking about themselves.  

Some people just think of their single mission for the day, or the week, or the month, and continue to delay interacting with others and helping.  What a missed opportunity!  Helping others can always come back to us … simply by the human “wow” factor or “If they helped me, I should do something in return”.  These interactions happen everyday on Facebook and Twitter.

The great Oswald Chambers says, “people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude and the rest will show gross ingratitude, but nothing must deflect us …”.   

There are many opportunities to help others around us each and every day. Some of those opportunities may be physically in front of you.  Some of those opportunities may be online – it may be taking time to listen.  It may be as simple as “sharing” or “re-tweeting” something to help a non-profit in your community. 

Don’t Wait for DOA.  
Ask yourself, who can I help today?  You will be glad you did, and your analytics may prove you should have been doing it the whole time. 

By Cathy Rodgers
This blog post also appeared on Marketing Mel Feb. 13, 2012

Dave Ramsey the Practical Money Manager

With the viral spread of a Dad trying to teach his daughter a lesson on Facebook, it gives one pause to think of what the long-term effects of social media are, and what the long-term effects are on all the relationships involved.

Is this too much family information gone public?  What is the impact of all this personal information?  Where does it all end?

Many view the incident of shooting the daughters computer as a total act of anger, but as a parent myself, I view this as a total waste of money (plus I know I will have to shell out money for something later because teenagers are not cheap). Having a lot of friends who are Dave Ramsey providers, I receive frequent tips, hints, and “think before you do that” lessons.  I wonder what the financial guru himself would say? 

All opinion aside, people from all over the nation have either sided with this father or decided to hate on him.  The sad thing is the father is a small business owner, yet has generated as much hate and love as a politician.  I wonder if he is prepared for the impact this will have on his business?  This could be considered a PR crisis.

 Here are a Few Insights About the Laptop Shooting Dad

1. If you are a business owner, everything you do or say on social media channels can be judged in relation to the image of your business.  You may be the best at what you do, but business is conducted based on relationships.
2. Relationships tend to have a “ripple” impact within a business community.  If the talk of the cocktail party is the video dad and some think he is a “psycho” or “angry”,  yet others already have loyalty to the business, will that lead to loyal clients sending more business referrals as they put their own reputation on the line? 
3. Even if the father decides to get out of the limelight and takes down the You Tube video and deletes his personal Facebook page, will it all be forgotten?  At this stage, the whole subject has achieved the “tipping” point in information sharing and can continue to be talked about as much as murder in a small town.
4. What is the impact on others?  This short list shows how far reaching social media really is. I wonder if the father thought about the impact this video would have on all the people effected (and how they digest and respond to the information within their own homes and families). 
   1. His own daughter, Hannah.
   2. All members of Hannah’s immediate and extended family.
   3. All of Hannah’s close friends.
   4. The parents and grandparents of those friends.
   5. Hannah’s church family (or sports teams).
   6. People who do business with the father.
   7. People who live and work in the town they live in.
   8. Vendors and business partners of the father.
   9. The teachers in the school Hannah attends.
   10. Hannah’s future opportunities for high school, employment and college.
   11. There are more …

 I invite you to view this video for yourself with relationship building in mind.  

If we ask ourselves what people are looking for when they do a search online, then social media campaigns should make an effort to meet the needs of those searches.  Online searches can vary with a wide range of topics, yet all of them break down to these basics: users are looking for ideas, solutions, people, products or information. 

Many business owners are overwhelmed by all the options, yet the potential for social media success is worth investigating all the options.

Creating Content for Web Searches

There is always something to create and share within your realm of expertise.  You can write a “How To” article or create a video for an even better visual. If you are a photographer, then share your topic with sequential photos on your own blog and on Instagram or Flickr.

Make an effort to create compelling content which will meet an informational need for others.  For instance, if you are a balloon maker then you may want to “follow” event planners and organizers because your businesses are already complimentary. At your next event, have photos taken of you and the event organizers and post those on your channel of choice.  This creates enthusiasm for your brand.  Be sure to use key “content” words within your text and when labeling photos.  This will help people find your blog or website.

Pick Your Channels

After creating your content, simply copy the link and paste into your favorite social media network.

Are the people you are trying to connect with on Twitter?  Are they on Facebook or Google Plus?  Surprising new data just came out from Hub Spot the most effective place for lead generation is on Linked In and it seems the hottest new channel of 2012 is Pinterest.  Each of the social media channels can be effective in combination or just by themselves, it just depends on the time you have.

Making it Easy?

Many people choose Twitter as their media hub and “tweet” out all their information from there.  I would caution that each gathering place has language of their own and “twitter talk” is not one of them.  The human touch of sharing at each point of contact and being real is important. 

Even though more companies are putting a process together for “automated” marketing by scheduling posts through Hoot Suite, TweetDeck, or Tweetie,   this “push marketing” is missing the point of “social” media.  That missing piece is interaction and helping others.

It’s Not All About You

So you’re not the life of the party, but a real “wall flower”?  Not to worry, you can still meet others, talk about their event, give someone a little encouragement or maybe just hit a “like” button or “retweet” from time to time.  The person on the other end may in turn take a look at what you have to offer, which can begin an online friendship and possible future contact and business.

Unfortunately there is no secret formula for success in social media – it simply takes time, writing, sharing photos and working the social media circuits.  

 How can 7 Waves help you? 

As we rush into 2012, it’s time to reflect by taking a look at the status of your current business marketing, while taking the time to look ahead to see where you are going.  

Will you be going toward more healthy fresh marketing or sticking with the “bagged” solutions? 

Marketers may be the slowest to upgrade, as we are busy helping others with their web identity or in fear of losing web traffic.  But, this writing has forced me to upgrade one of my own community blogs which was on a free site.  The domain name had been reserved for some time, but just making the move unfortunately kept getting pushed to the back burner.

Your Home Base of Operations

The hub of all online activity should be on your website or blog.  Consider this as your home base of operations, where all original content is parked.  This is the branded site you own, and where everything can be launched to share on various social media sites.

Can you identify with any of these seven potential opportunities?

• Are there current photos of your company team so potential clients can meet and identify each of you online? 
• Is the information on your site totally stagnant and obsolete?
• Is the latest information on your company parked on a free Word Press website blog with a domain name you don’t even own?
• Is all your company information parked on Facebook with no website presence at all?
• Is it clear what your business does to generate revenue?  Envision yourself as a first time visitor to your website – what do you see?
• Are all news updates and photos parked on Facebook?  (Which could easily disappear – based on past changes) and not on your blog?
• Is there evidence of helping clients on your site with testimonials?

Each of the above opportunities should be the foundation of your online brand. Even though you may hire a professional to help brand your image, or do copywriting to expand your brand, there is still preparation work required by the owner, so start making your list of improvements today.

Does your branded image meet the demands of 2012?   Let Seven Waves Marketing help – just drop us a line.