Content 911

Content 911 is Moving!

B-I-G news around here at Flair...

The Content 911 blog is moving AND it has a new name! Why, you ask? Here's the scoop...

We've created JUMP START, a new online community for content managers and online marketers. The JUMP START community will feature a blog, a forum, ebooks, teleseminar recordings, special reports and other valuable resources for online marketers and content folks. Eventually, we'll be adding group coaching and online classes about lots of interesting and useful topics.

Here's a sneak peek of some of the current and upcoming JUMP START content and products:

• JUMP START: Intro to Online Marketing is our first audio teleseminar that provides practical, hands-on tips that will help you plan your online marketing efforts more wisely
• We'll be offering 7 more JUMP START audio CDs during the next few months, about topics such as Web Hosting and Domains, Search Engine Optimization, Web Site Planning and Project Management, Email Marketing and more--plus we'll offer all 8 CDs as a bundle so you can get a "crash course" about all things web!
• Lisa Kirschner's "Choosing a Web Content Management System" ebook is due out next week, and it will be available at the JUMP START site, as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the Apple iPad Bookstore, Smashwords, Sony, Kobo and other major online ebook outlets.
• Tons of practical and timely blog posts in the JUMP START blog

We'll no longer be posting to the Content 911 blog, and we've already migrated all of this blog's content over to JUMP START. Subscribe to JUMP START today so you don't miss a beat!

See you at JUMP START!

Lisa Kirschner
Founder and Managing Director, Flair Interactive Services Inc.
Managing Editor, JUMP START Blog

Mobile Marketing Basics

Implementing a mobile marketing plan into your current marketing strategy really isn’t all that difficult and it’s actually less expensive than you think. It can’t be stressed enough that mobile marketing is about consistency and commitment. You have to think about what you want to offer your customers, how you want them to react to the offer and what you will do to see it through.

Business is about building relationships and mobile marketing is no different. In order to be successful in offering your customers what they want, you have to first know what they want.

To help you on your way, here are a few steps that you can take to begin implementing mobile marketing in your business today:

• Learn the basics first. You have to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. If you're planning to go this alone and not hire an agency that specializes in this field, you must learn the basics. The Mobile Marketing Association’s Best Practices Document is a good place to start. Unless you're a computer and Internet guru, some of the information may seem over your head when you first start reading. It’s okay--take your time, do a few tests, refine your approach and you’ll catch on in no time. Practice is the best experience.
• Case studies are excellent examples. Case studies help you to see what other businesses are doing in the mobile world. They can also help get your creative juices flowing and give you ideas about what you can do in your own business. Study what other companies are doing and pay attention to mobile marketing campaigns that you receive every day.
• Walk the walk. Use mobile devices to browse the web or read email and texts frequently. There’s no better way to learn something new than by putting it into practice. Subscribe to as many text messaging campaigns as you can find. If you aren’t already on an unlimited data plan, now would be a good time to change that. You have to use the technology if you expect to sell your customers on its benefits.
• Determine how you’re going to get your offer out to your customers: text messaging, a mobile version of your web site, mobile coupons, mobile advertising or some combination of these.
• Find companies who can provide the technical support that you’ll need. You may need to utilize various tools or service providers to make it all come together, but it doesn't have to be expensive.
• Never stop learning! Mobile marketing is a relatively new technology and just like everything else, it will continue to evolve even in its formative days. Learn what your competitors are learning--but try to do it first or do it early instead of lagging behind the competition now or a year from now.

Like it or not, mobile marketing is the wave of the future of the Internet. The yellow pages and other forms of traditional marketing have run their course. It’s now time to embrace this technology and discover what it can do for you and your business. Contact us or request a quote to find out how we can help.

Lisa Kirschner
Managing Editor, Content 911 Blog
Managing Director, Flair Interactive Services Inc.

Top 5 Ways To Generate Low-Cost Traffic

Ever wonder how large sites generate traffic and attract visitors? Sure, they do have big budgets for advertising and promotion, but they also know that there are several low-cost ways to attract users to their sites. We've listed a few of them below.

1) Exchange Links

This is a sure and proven method. Almost all sites contain links to related sites, and you'll want to get links to your site on the most high-quality sites in your industry. Sometimes, web site owners will do this for free if you just ask. Don't just request links on 5-10 sites--make it a point to build links on dozens (or hundreds!) of other sites. You’ll soon see and feel an upsurge in the traffic coming to your site.

A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is having the same niche or content as the other site. The two sites should share a common subject so there is genuine interest in your products, services or other offerings.

Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a high ranking in search engines. Modern search engine algorithms highly rank sites that have high-quality inbound and outbound links. With a good ranking position in the search engines, you'll generate more traffic to your web site without the high costs.

2) Produce Online Videos

Online videos are one of the best ways to generate extremely high-quality traffic to your site, hands-down. Users love online videos and adding this one element to your site or blog can reap huge rewards. It may seem intimidating at first, but check out our recent blog post about creating online videos to see how easy it can be. Not only will your users love you, but search engines will as well.

3) Write and Submit Articles

There are numerous web sites, e-zines and online encyclopedias that allow you to submit articles for free. In addition, you can probably find journals, magazines or associations in your industry that publish online pieces from experts within the industry. Granted, you might not get paid much (if anything), but you'll gain visibility and audience members that you might not have reached otherwise. You can write the articles yourself if you want to save money, but there are thousands of freelance writers who are willing to write articles for you for a small fee.

Write articles that are related to the the niche or topic of your site. Readers will be able to sense your knowledge about the subject and will be eager to go to your site. You should also write articles that offer practical tips and guidelines as opposed to "selling" something. Provide value and you will automatically be perceived as an expert.

Remember to include a resource box at the end of your article with your bio and a link to your site.

4) Produce a Newsletter

This may sound like hard work, but in reality, it's not the case.

The most frequent complaints I hear about creating a newsletter is that it will take too much time and that it's too confusing, but neither is true.

There are a number of easy-to-use newsletter tools on the market, including Constant Contact, MailChimp and Vertical Response (my favorite). You can usually create a free trial account, import your mailing list (email addresses for your clients and propsects) and create a sample newsletter in about 20-30 minutes. Don't overanlyze this--just commit to spending a few hours learning about the tools, pick a tool and do it.

The second argument that I hear is that it will take too much time to write the content and commit to a regular schedule. It'll definitely take some time, but again, there are ways to properly manage this. Assign this responsibility to someone else on your team (unless this happens to be your area of expertise and you like doing it) or hire a freelancer or intern. Also, keep in mind that hiring someone to spend 1-2 hours per week is MUCH cheaper than more expensive forms of online marketing. If you're spending money on AdWords or other methods without seeing a good return, reduce that spending and allocate it to your newsletter instead. The ROI can be much higher.

No matter how you do it, you have to make sure that you COMMIT to it--whether you spend 2-3 hours per week or 5 hours per month, just make it a part of your regular routine and it'll get so much easier after the first month or two. Schedule reminders in your calendar, delegate it to someone else or use a "done-for-you" newsletter service, such as the one that Flair will be introducing soon. No matter what, make it a priority in your business.

5) Join Online Communities and Forums

You can share your knowledge and expertise with thousands of other users in a variety of online communities and forums, regardless of your niche. You'll get free advertising when you go to forums that have the same subject or niche as your site.

Share your two cents and let users see how knowledgeable you are with the subject. As you build your reputation, you also build the reputation of your site. Just be sure that you're providing actual value instead of just hitting them over the head with an ad about your business. Gain their trust and you'll gain high-quality traffic.

If you don't know what other forums and online communities are available for your industry, do a quick web search, ask around or check the ads in your industry's magazines or web sites. There are forums available for pretty much any topic out there.

 

Keep in mind that you also want to pay attention to what your users are doing when they REACH your site. It doesn't do you any good if you gain 1,000 new users if none of them buy or convert when they reach your web site. Utilize Google Analytics, A/B split testing and other methods to find out how to capture that business when it arrives at your site.

These are just a few tips about how you can generate more traffic to your site. Want to learn more about how we are helping our clients attract more visitors and ALSO increase their conversions or sales once those users arrive? Contact us today to learn more about how we can help.

Lisa Kirschner
Managing Editor, Content 911 Blog
Managing Director, Flair Interactive Services Inc.

Using Online Videos To Promote Your Business

Are you a small business owner or web manager? If so, how is your business doing?

Many companies spend thousands, if not millions, of dollars on advertising without seeing a good return on their investment. Be careful before you dish out thousands of dollars to promote your business, and keep in mind that there are numerous free or low-cost ways to get the word out (although it should be noted that you need to account for hidden costs such as your time).

One of the best--and least expensive ways--to promote your business online is through the use of videos. Now, you may be saying that you don't know anything about video, that you don't know how to use a camera or webcam or that you don't have time to learn. But look at it this way...wouldn't you rather invest 10-15 hours and a couple hundred bucks upfront for an extemely high ROI, rather than continuing to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars per month for NO return? Besides, once you get over the initial fear factor, learning and shooting video can actually be really fun.

There's a good chance that you're already fully aware of online video web sites--such as YouTube and Vimeo--and what they do. If not, you'll want to learn. The best way to do that is to just visit them and type in topics in which you're interested, such as online marketing, cooking, writing or virtually any other topic.

Free online video web sites are sites that allow internet users to watch videos that are hosted on their web site for free. Most will also allow users like you to make, upload and share their own videos. Regardless of what type of business you own or manage, you can use videos--and these web sites--to your advantage. (And, no...don't say that your users aren't interested in videos...almost all users prefer to learn in an interactive format such as video instead of reading pages and pages of text. This applies to you, too, B2B businesses!)

We've outlined a few steps below so you can get started on creating business videos in no time:

Step One: Understand the Tools

First, you'll want to familiarize yourself with the video web sites that are currently available. You can easily do this by performing a standard internet search for "video web sites." Your search should produce a fairly large number of results. Before making your video for a particular service, you'll want to examine its rules and restrictions to ensure that you're adhering to any policies. Also, spend some time browsing that particular service--particularly videos that are similar to your own--to become familiar with its content and audience.

Step Two: Pick a Topic or Niche

If you sell products, you should make videos showcasing each product and any applicable accessories or parts. For instance, you may want to show how to use your products or how they are made. Be sure to focus on the issues that your product will solve for your customers--make it about helping them as opposed to why your product is the greatest widget ever made. If your product would make a great gift, mention that. Videos are also a great way to showcase any seasonal specials or promotions.

You'll want to refrain from making your video seem like spam or too "sales-ey." Although you may want to mention the price, remember that it shouldn't come across as an infomercial. Provide tons of value--in the form of knowledge, tips, advice or "how-to" info--and your video will be shared (which is one of the main purposes of making videos available online). At the end of your video, you should offer instructions about how to make a purchase or learn more information, but only AFTER you've given the user some form of info or knowledge for free.

Although products are the easiest to showcase in an online video, you can also use your video to help promote a particular service that you sell. For instance, if you offer assistance to people or businesses that are in debt, you'll want to provide an overview of what debt is, who it hurts and how help can be obtained. Providing general information on debt is a great way to keep your video from appearing too pushy. As mentioned above, you should include information about your business at the end of your video. This may help to increase the number of clients you receive, especially if you provide a service that is used and needed by many.

Step Three: Video Production

You'll need a few pieces of equipment to make your video, including a recording device or method. If you're shooting products or something offline, you'll need to use a camcorder, phone or webcam. Online recordings can easily be made with a webcam or with one of the many screen recording services available, such as GoToMeeting or Webex. These services are great if you're going to be recording webinars or Powerpoint presentations that describe a service or if you need to showcase a software or digital product.

Video editing software is important, as well. Most computers already come equipped with movie making or video editing software, so check out what's available on your system already. More frequent video producers will want to look into more robust video editing tools, such as Camtasia Studio (my personal favorite for the PC platform).

Step Four: Uploading Your Video

After you've made, edited and saved your video, follow the instructions for the online video web site where you wish to publish that video.

If you're using a phone or webcam, you'll most likely see a prominent link to share your video to popular platforms such as YouTube, Facebook or other social networking tools. Camtasia users should use the "Share to YouTube" link that's built into the software.

Regardless of where you publish it, be sure that your video is tagged appropriately for search engines, so users who are looking for that topic can find it. Again, check out the instructions on the video web site to learn how to tag your videos.

Step Five: Publishing it to Your Web Site

Once your video is online, you can very easily embed it into almost any web page using the "embed" code that is provided by the video service. In YouTube, click on the "Share" link and then cut and paste the "Embed" code into your web page's HTML. If you don't have HTML experience, ask your webmaster or web manager to do this for you.

Follow the steps above, and you could have your first video online in less than an hour. I suggest that you take it slow and produce one or two videos using the most convenient method available before you commit to doing a large number of videos. It's best to start out slow and do one or two right, instead of trying to do 25 and not getting anything done.

Let us know if you need Flair's help with setting up a YouTube channel for your business, creating or editing videos, or creating a realistic video or online marketing campaign. We'd love to help!

Lisa Kirschner
Manging Editor, Content 911
Managing Director, Flair Interactive Services Inc.

Understanding SEO Techniques

Search engine optimization (SEO) should be an integral part of every business owner's or web manager's marketing arsenal. You can significantly boost your traffic, conversions and sales by following the right SEO methods and techniques, which I've described below.

Commitment to the Process

SEO needs to be consistent and requires a lot of work in your part. Search engine algorithms adjust regularly, so it is important to stay updated with the latest trends and approaches, since some of your methods may no longer work after a few months. You have to be prepared for the long term and view how your business will continue to grow through SEO. Your methods may not seem to be working at first, but you'll notice results as you continue to enhance the steps and process. Commit to learning everything that you can about SEO, and then put together a plan to make SEO a regular part of your workflow.

The Importance of Content Strategy

One of the most effective methods for optimizing your site is to ensure that it's easy to navigate and that users can find the high-quality content that they need. You need to give users a reason to come to your site and then come back later--so make sure you provide fresh content (via blog posts, web site promotions, landing pages, new products, events, videos or other engaging content) to your users regularly.

You can also join online forums and discussion boards to talk to your target customers, and be sure that your company has a presence on social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Find out which keywords will most likely be used by your target customers and use these wisely throughout your articles and the above-mentioned content. Don't get overwhelmed by the seemingly large amounts of content needed for all of these channels--it's easy to hire freelance writers or agencies to help you make relevant and useful articles in a short span of time.

Stay Visible

Include a site map page on your web site and make sure that you utilize modern coding techniques so spiders can see your web site and its content. Spiders cannot index your pages if they cannot be crawled. Make sure you have an easy-to-crawl navigation menu and utilize alt tags for your images. Any good developer or webmaster should be able to help you improve your site's visibility for search engines.

If you have a big web site, you may need to create multiple site map pages, and make sure that each one has less than 100 links.

Also, keep in mind that your URLs and file names should be search-engine friendly. Avoid using complicated parameters and use hypens--not underscores--in your URLs and filenames. Hyphens are considered a "space," unlike underscores.

Relevance Matters

Always ensure that you have a relevant title and meta description on each web page. The page title is the most vital factor of on-page SEO. A page is unlikely to rank very high for a primary term without the word being included in the page title and within the page. Rewrite the keyword meta data completely if you find that these are not relevant--but keep in mind that search engine algorithms do not currently give as much weight to keyword meta tags as they previously did. It's better to ensure that the primary keywords for a page are included in the meta title and within the body content. Always write your content for visitors and tie your page content to accurate keywords that are specific to that page.

These are just a few of the most critical SEO techniques. Contact us to get an SEO analysis of your web site or if you have questions about SEO. We look forward to hearing from you!

Lisa Kirschner

Business Blogging 101

Wondering what a blog is and why you'd need to use one for your business?

A blog (or weblog) is basically an online journal that lists current and previous posts about a particular topic, usually in reverse chronological order. Personal blogs are usually created and managed by one person, but business blogs frequently have multiple content contributors.

Blogs are particularly attractive for business owners, web site managers and marketing folks for a few reasons:

• Blog technology is simple, so anyone can easily set up a blog very quickly.
• It’s also easy for others to comment on a blog. This means that blogs are inspiring unprecedented interactivity between writers and readers--or companies and their customers or prospects.
• Blogging is considered to be quick and informal. That means that blogs can cut through a lot of unnecessary steps and really reach people.
• Blogs are easily linked to other blogs and sites, so information can be shared very quickly.
• Blogs are a great way to obtain high-quality incoming links, which are critical to search engine optimization and modern search algorithms.

There are a variety of blogging tools on the market, including Wordpress, Typepad, Blogger and others.

Here at Flair, we frequently help clients select a blogging platform, set up their first blog or create blog content on an ongoing basis. We frequently hear our clients--especially B2B clients!--saying that they don't need a blog. We beg to differ and we'll be sharing some more information about that in an upcoming blog post here.

Stay tuned for more about business blogging--and in the meantime, let us know if you need help with your blog.

Lisa Kirschner
Managing Editor, Content 911 Blog
Managing Director, Flair Interactive Services Inc.

Improve Your Quality of Life With Flexible Working

Almost every day, I talk to online marketers or web professionals who feel as though their professional--and sometimes even personal--lives are spinning out of control. As they struggle to meet their responsibilities in the workplace, at home and to themselves, they begin to feel increasingly that they are not doing well enough in any area of their lives.

The world that we live in is a challenging one. New technology means that more and more companies are dealing in global markets and across different time zones, and even local retail customers are no longer prepared to settle for 9-to-5 service. For today’s workers, these things mean greater opportunities for flexible working patterns than ever before.

Flexible working provides advantages for anyone who wants to maintain a better work/life balance, particularly those of us who work in busy web and online marketing environments. These advantages might include decreasing "dead" time due to long commutes; better fulfilling their roles as parents, partners or caregivers; recovering some sense of a social or personal life; or simply fitting their work schedules to their natural body clocks to become sharper or more productive. Greater flexibility can also allow employers to become more competitive and gain better results, creating a win-win situation for all. 

If you think that a revision to your working patterns could tip your work/life balance in the right direction, then speak to your employer. You could be doing yourself and your employer an enormous favor! To learn more about how large and small companies have implemented flexible work arrangements, check out the Results-Only Work Environment site at www.gorowe.com.

Do you utilize flexible work arrangements in your company? If so, how is it working for you and have you found that it has increased your productivity, creativity or results?

Lisa Kirschner
Managing Editor, Content 911
Managing Director, Flair Interactive Services Inc.

How to Use Mind Mapping Software to Generate Innovative Ideas

Have you ever tried mind mapping? If not, I highly recommend it, whether you're a content strategist, business analyst, web manager or online marketer.

Mind mapping is a technique used in problem solving, for decision making and as a study aid. It's a superb way of generating creative ideas. Essentially, you begin with a single idea or topic that you want to develop, then brainstorm to incorporate subtopics and sub-subtopics and so on. All of these are connected but--because you are not thinking in a linear way--you tend to be more creative than in a traditional brainstorming setting. Mind maps are incredibly useful tools and the end result is something highly visual, so they can be a great way to simplify otherwise complex plans or concepts.

When using mind maps at home to work out problems or come up with ideas, it may be perfectly adequate to create them using pen and paper. In a work or group environment, however, the product of the session needs to be properly recorded and perhaps even presented at a later stage. This is where mind-mapping software can be particularly useful, since the results can be printed and shared.

There are many mind-mapping software packages available, and most allow exports to Microsoft Office and Adobe applications to make sharing the documents extremely easy.  If you want to try before you buy, find software providers online that offer a free 30-day trial.

If you've never tried mind mapping before, get your creative juices flowing and give it a try!

Lisa Kirschner
Managing Editor, Content 911 Blog
Managing Director, Flair Interactive Services Inc.

How to Convert More Website Leads

In the B2C environment, most customers tend to do a bit of online research before actually placing an order, and the same is equally true--if not more so--with B2B customers.

This means that--even if your company uses marketing automation tools that allow you to identify potential customers and provide you with insight into the goods or services in which they are interested--you could risk either scaring them off or letting the lead go cold if you don’t time your follow-up communications just right.

In the same way that you might check with your spouse before ordering something for your home online, corporate decisionmakers often need to seek approval or discuss with others before placing an order--even if the value of the order isn’t huge. Calling a B2B prospect within a few hours of the prospect’s visit to your website, therefore, is unlikely to generate a sale. 

In terms of the best time of day to follow up, experts believe that after 3:30 p.m. is most productive, because even though customers might not actually place an order at this time, they are generally more open to arranging a telephone appointment for the following day.  Perhaps surprisingly, Mondays are the worst day of the week to follow up and Fridays are far and away the best.

Timing, as they say, is everything, and that is never truer than in the world of online B2B marketing!

Warm regards,

Lisa Kirschner
Managing Editor, Content 911
Managing Director, Flair Interactive Services Inc.

The Perils of Perfectionism in Web Development

Finding work/life balance in today’s busy and highly competitive world could never be described as easy.  For most perfectionists, however, it is downright impossible. I see this play out every day when I'm working with busy web and marketing managers who have huge To Do lists and virtually no personal lives.

Although many people tend to think of being a perfectionist as a positive thing, true perfectionism can be extremely counterproductive. Not only does the need to attend to every last little detail waste unnecessary time and lead to tasks and projects taking MUCH longer than they need to, but it typically means that perfectionists end up allowing work to eat into their own personal leisure time. And even worse...once the job is finally complete, the perfectionist may feel that he or she has not completed it well enough, leading to intense feelings of frustration and low self-esteem. This can lead to a downward spiral of negativity and a lack of motivation at work and at home.

Striving for excellence is something that can benefit ourselves and our employers, but there is a world of difference between this and trying to achieve the impossible. As human beings, we are not built to be perfect; trying to achieve perfection is a certain road to unhappiness. By all means give everything your best shot, but know when to stop because your best really is good enough!

If you're a perfectionist and you're trying to do too much or get everything PERFECT in your web site or online marketing initiatives, it's time to sit back, take a deep breath and...LET IT GO.

Strive to remember the Pareto Principle--basically aim for 80% perfection and don't sweat the other 20%. There will ALWAYS be something that you can do better with your web site and online marketing campaigns: more content that you can write, more pages that you can add to your site, more marketing campaigns that you can run...but do your best and aim to do just ONE thing at a time (and do it well!). When you free your mind of clutter and focus, you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish. Complete that single thing well, and THEN move on to the next thing on your list.

Until next time,

Lisa Kirschner
Managing Editor, Content 911
Managing Director, Flair Interactive Services Inc.