We'll present and explain the latest online marketing and web design strategies in a clear, get-to-the-point style, and we'll close the loop: Wheel Media can help you implement nearly every idea you find here.
Grow with us.
OK, so it's not the new, new thing, but on LeverageBlog, I've always fancied the useful thing.
I've found that Social Bookmarking is still unfamiliar to most of my clients, so I've posted another fantastic video from Common Craft to help people along. Hey, click the arrow.
A new study of women who use the web (i.e., most women) found that 53% read blogs. What are they doing? Read on:
Women read blogs for fun (46%)
To get information (41%)
Stay up to date on family and friends (36%)
Stay up to date on specific topics (34%)
Connect with others (28%)
Entertainment (26%)
It looks like the value of the blog is growing faster than I had guessed, with the 2nd most common reason being to get information. Wow.
Read the full article here (I'm pretty sure the data isn't just based on responses in the San Francisco Bay Area)
Read more about what a blog can do for your business here.
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ADMIN: 21-ch4: Bay Area San Francisco
The most common question we heard last week: What is a Podcast?
I'll rely on the talent at Common Craft again, and thank them again for sharing the info. Ready for your first podcast? I recommend the earnest, enlightening stories of This American Life. Find them here.
This Friday I offer you some smart ideas about Public Relations in today's online world. A few highlights:
- Optimizing news releases for search.
- Utilizing online distribution services to reach thousands of web sites and blogs.
- Leveraging advanced social media features including TrackBacks/PingBacks and Technorati tagging to extend the reach of your news.
- Developing content that attracts your key audiences and drives traffic to your site.
Thanks to PRWeb and David for the open distribution.
Oh, and add a few pictures while you're at it.
Research released today from the Email Experience Council revealed that 28% of marketing emails don't have links that take the reader back to the advertisers website.
And many are missing images.
Oops.
If you're going to send email marketing, send it in HTML and include interesting, relevant images and 2-3 links back to specific products/services on your website. There are a number of other super-important details, including sending from an independent server (not MS Outlook from your desktop) to protect against accusations of being a SPAMMER. This is key. The research also shows that the creative-- the design and the content-- are critical to the results, starting with a great subject-line.
The fact that emails are going out without images and without links suggests that small businesses have a great opportunity here: Do email marketing right and you'll leave the competition in the dust.
I'm sorry to draw you in with such a ridiculous headline. I couldn't resist, because I just discovered a threat to Google. And more importantly, a useful new type of search engines for small business.
Retrevo, is a vertical search engine for consumer electronics. What is a vertical search engine? One that focuses on something specific. Use Retrevo to search for some electronic product, like “D200” (i.e., The Nikon D200) in Retrevo and then in Google, and you'll see why vertical search engines are on the rise. The results are simply better.
Small business owners know that their customers are using their web to do their homework, and Google is where they start. In a few years maybe there will be a vertical search engine as well. The bottom line is that professional websites are what people are looking for-- they inspire customers to pick up the phone. Small time, low-budget websites, well, they make companies look small-time.
With the rise of vertical search engines and local small business directories like MerchantCircle it's never been easier for customers to use the web to find and compare companies.
Companies like yours.
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Thanks to Guy Kawasaki and his blog for the tip on Retrevo. More wisdom here.
Do we need more evidence that websites influence buying decisions? That your customer is using the web more every day, trusting it more deeply, and pulling-out their credit card?
Well, we got some.
I read today that a recent art school graduate used a blog, a social networking website, and an online gallery online gallery to sell her art. $20,000 worth so far. She's using a website, blog and good-old-fashioned networking to grow her business.
She's succeeding (in large part) due to a striking design and compelling content. Her website is attractive, professional and useful to her audience, and her blog sports a clean design and a message well-suited to her customer. Well done Emily.
Thanks to Seth for the discovery.
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ADMIN:
I've got a theory on the Web 2.0 technology boom, and I brought a visual aid. Refer to the chart at left, and let's begin.
OK, right now the number of "Web 2.0" companies is growing like crazy. (See the top line, the thin one.) What's a Web 2.0 company? To keep it simple, let's say Web 2.0 products and services involve social-networks and user involvement on the web. MySpace is one, where the users are creating the online content-- personal web pages-- and connecting with one another.
Flickr is another. Users, like me, upload photos to share, and we label them for others on the site to find and enjoy. (Go here for an expanded definition of Web 2.0.)
These companies and their online "products" are (mostly) amazing, creative and very, very useful.
On my chart thick line is the number of people who understand these new tools and are using them. I'm not talking about being hip and in the know; and I'm not making a value-judgment. I'm talking about people who have chosen to invest the time to learn about and use tools like Flickr, RSS or del.icio.us.
After all, it takes time to integrate this stuff into your life, right? What if you enjoy Triathlons more than technology, like my brother Eric? He's not listening to podcasts, he's running his business...and training for the next race. He's no slouch when it comes to technology, but we all make choices about how to spend our time. Choosing the web over a Triathlon-- one isn't 'better' than the other.
My point is there are tens-of-millions of Americans like my brother, slowly integrating the new technology into their lives. It will take time.
OK, back to the graph. The two lines intersect, and that's good because with adoption we get profitability, which leads to more innovation and more creative, useful products. BUT before they intersect I see this...gulp...downturn. (The cross-hatched area.) I'm a startup veteran, and I helped burn-through venture capital and watched the business turn-out the lights; I've been there, it's heartbreaking. But here's my point about this downturn (and I hesitate to call it that:) It's going to be different this time.
That cross-hatched area on the very scientific graph up there? Not fallout or crash. Not YIKES but more...YOWZA! Why? The people. The people starting these companies are collaborative, open-source thinkers and this will help the consolidation (which will happen) to occur more gradually and with less fallout. These innovators are more patient, less enamored with wealth, more often self-funded and stable, and the VC's funding them are more prudent too. They will merge with one another and will survive.
I'm optimistic. I'm excited. I say YOWZA.
What do you say?
Where are you focusing your attention on the web? A non-profit startup called AttentionTrust wants to help you protect (and profit from) your web surfing history. I'm glad they're on our side.
I recently interviewed Ed Batista, the Executive Director of AttentionTrust, a non-profit in San Francisco, CA researching the implications of our online attention, and their work is worth a minute of your time. While still in a research and information-gathering phase, the future implications of this work will be huge.
What we're talking about
Think of the value of online attention in the same way that Nielsen Ratings affect TV: When a 'Nielsen Family' focuses more of it's attention on a particular television program that programming becomes more valuable because advertisers will pay more for it; the same holds true for the web.
The exciting thing about the web however, is that we can collect much more detailed information. What you clicked-on, how long you visited a website, what you purchased. The ability to gather countless hours of information on our preferences is a fantastic opportunity, Ed says, if we can protect it and share it voluntarily.
The opportunity for us, as consumers, is to gather and store our online data-- our attention-- in a private way, and then to identify places we feel safe sharing it. Take Amazon.com, for example. AttentionTrust envisions a world where Amazon might be certified "trustworthy" because they will not misuse our privacy data.
If we voluntarily share our attention data-- our web surfing behavior-- with a trusted enterprise like Amazon they can recommend products we might really enjoy. (And more importantly, NOT send us the "special offers" that we don't care about.)
Less spam, fewer ridiculous popup-ads, and more relevance.
More than just eCommerce
AttentionTrust is not just concerned about smart recommendations for books and CD's. They and the growing community of "Attention Theorists" realize that social networks are built around attention. Imagine being able to find, for example, fathers in San Francisco with kids between the ages of 8 and 11 who play baseball. (Do you know anyone? Let's go to the Giants game this weekend!)
By saving my attention data and making it available (anonymously, of course) within a social context we can use the web to find others that share our interests. Yes,the internet can help create real, personal connections. Imagine that.
Implications for your business
The near-term implication for your business is this: Personal relationships with your customers are critical, and the web is the easiest way to collect and save the information. Help clients to register online and tell you what they like and what they want changed. AttentionTrust reminds us that this type of personalization is what your customer will come to expect from you.
Thanks to Ed and AttentionTrust for sharing their time and, er, Attention with Leverage.
