The technology behind social media is evolving quickly and all I can say is it’s a full time job keeping up. To make your life a little easier Im going to provide quick list of top articles Ive found on a hot topic – SMO and the social media giant, Facebook and how they’re changing search.

This article; How To Use Social Media to Rank on Google is a good read and gives some good examples and links to tools to help you understand how to use social media for your SEO.

What Facebook’s Announcements mean for SmallBiz
At the recent Facebook developer conference, the social media giant announced a number of major changes to their platform that will affect the way developers create applications and the way users interact with them. The most important change for small business owners to be aware of, however, is the launch of the Facebook for Web Sites platform and specifically, the new social plugins. No matter where you’re at with Facebook or technology, as a business owner or marketer you owe it to yourself to read this article and know what is available out there.

Why is Social Media Keyword Search Becoming More Important for a Small Business? I like  this article because it shares why we should be using social media to search for the keywords our target audience is using.  The answers are right there for us, our prospects are all over the internet and social media – it’s just a matter of knowing where to look.

Facebooks Universal Like Button Added to Over 50000 Sites and GrowingThis is a must read for anyone wanting to stay up to date with social media, SEO and SMO. This article explains how SEO is now evolving, from “links” to “likes” and highlights the early adoption to Facebook’s “like” plugin just announced last week.

How do you use social media in your business? What are your thoughts on Social media optimization (SMO) replacing SEO?

If  you need help developing your social media content and communication strategies or with the technology please click on the “marketing consultation” button and submit the form.

1. Make the decision to start.
2. Put aside 1 hour per week.
3. Keep it simple!
4. Don’t lose site of your business objectives.
5. Focus on just 1 or 2 social sites.
6. Be Patient!

Your objective when starting with social media should be to:

1. Build your network based on your target audience and your industry thought leaders.
2. Build a rapport with your target audience and to position yourself, and or your company as a trustworthy, thought leader.

NB: Forget selling or promotions at this point, you’ll push people away. You may see results initially but it’s a short term strategy with short term results.

Because the majority of people have a  Linked In account I chose this site as the first social media site to concentrate on when starting with social media.
Linked In

• If you haven’t already set up a profile go to www.linkedin.com and follow the prompts to set up your account.
• Search for groups that represent your target audience and industry, and join them. Engage in this group and comment in discussions and answer questions – don’t promote yourself or your company. Your insightful, intelligent and helpful answers and comments will do that for you.
• Search for your keywords in Answers, and answer any questions you can. Remember to avoid the sales and focus on offering professional advice that is of value.

Here’s a couple of articles on how to use Linked In for business.

4 Minutes To Optimize Your Linked In Profile for SEO

Linked In For Lead Generation

The other two social media activities I would recommend – in order:
1. Blogging
2. Twitter

Did this article help? Do you have any questions regarding social media for business?

Marketing in the early 90s didn’t include acronyms like SEO, SEM and SMM. SWOT and the 4Ps were the ‘in’ marketing jargon of the day. But for many of us ‘traditional’ marketers, it is obvious that business owners and marketers must make the shift from print, radio and tv advertising to search engine and social media marketing. And if you provide a marketing service, from Advertising to Public Relations, you know you need to offer internet and web based marketing solutions to your clients.
So how do we make the transition from ‘traditional’ marketing that is heavily focused on interruptive strategies like advertising and junk mail, to learning social media and search engine marketing?

David Meerman Scott said in his Foreward for the Inbound Marketing book “… traditional marketers need to unlearn what they’ve learnt.” Everything or just some things? How do we do that and where do we start?
I first discovered a company called Hubspot in 2007, I was impressed with their, very easy to use, website software that allowed business owners and marketers, without any technical  or web development skills create their own content and upload their own web pages.  I started using their software and learning their Inbound Marketing Methodology, sitting in on as many webinars as I could and reading their blog on a daily basis. Hubspot continues to evolve with the needs of their clients and now has an Inbound Marketing Service Directory for prospects or clients needing help or advice with Inbound Marketing – its basically a list of the who’s who in Inbound Marketing Services, giving business owners and marketers an easy to find solution for making the move to inbound marketing.
If you provide a marketing service and would like to add ‘inbound marketing’ strategies to your list of services, Hubspot is your answer.  This is a unique opportunity to stay up to date with latest in website, search engine and social media marketing.  The bonus is, once you’re certified you’ll receive qualified leads, prospects who are looking and needing your professional marketing service.  Since the directory started I’ve received leads on a regular basis all of which have converted into paying customers. It’s a win/win/win situation for everyone involved.
If you’re interested to learn more about Hubspot, Im both a client and Hubspot Partner and would be more than happy to answer any of your questions.
Where do you see Marketing heading in 2010? What are your thoughts on the Hubspot Service Directory for Inbound Marketing?
I look forward to your comments.

We can clearly conclude that the trend is more time using social media, and less time watching TV, listening to the radio or reading a newspaper.  To a traditional marketer this would mean a shift in where you advertise or promote your product and services. And this is what many marketers are doing. The last point I mentioned above is the key to successful social media marketing…

Listening First, Selling Second!

The trend towards social media means that people are now communicating your message not you! People are talking about your company or industry regardless of what you’re doing.  So what should you do?
The new marketer, the Inbound Marketing marketer listens, responds and builds relationships before selling or promoting. They take the time to understand how social media, has changed marketing psychology. The successful marketer of the new decade uses social media to:

1. Listen to what consumers’ needs and frustrations are.
2. Respond to the questions, problems, issues and unhappy customers personally.
3. Build relationships , trust and respect with their audience. So when they promote their product or service it is of interest and value to their audience.
If you’re thinking your product is too niche, your target audience isn’t using social media or your business is too small. Check out the link to the Social Media Revolution again and look at the growth of social media. How long will it take for your target audience to start using social media, 1 year or 5 years? 

“Social media isn’t a fad it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.” Erik Qualman

What are your thoughts on social media marketing? Have you started? Are you having success?  Please share your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you for reading.

From the recent webinars and research Ive been involved with, 2010 appears to be the year of the website redesign. If you’re planning on a new website or a redesign in 2010 it’s important to think about why? What are your objectives, what do you hope to achieve? Don’t lose site of the fact that you’re in business to make money, not to have the best looking website. Research shows that a good looking website doesn’t equate to more traffic or more leads.

A web expert who understands optimization for business goals and how to convert visitors to leads will ask about your business and offer training or ongoing support for search engine optimization. Here are the 12 key things you should discuss before hiring a web expert:

1. Who is your target audience?

2. How do you solve a problem or meet a need?

3. Why would prospects buy from you?

4. What are your business goals?

5. How do they decide on the best keywords to target?

6. Ask them to explain the optimization process. What is done initially and what is done on an ongoing basis.

7. Do they know how to set up a landing page designed to convert?

8. Will they provide training or ongoing support?

9. If they provide a link-building strategy, how do they do it?

10. Are they conducting a competitor analysis?

11. What analytics are they measuring and why?

12. Blogs should be a part of your optimization process. Can you post blogs on your website? Do they offer any training or support for blogging best practices?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies such as blogging and link building are ongoing.  If you’re getting a price to start this know what the ongoing cost is going to be. If you’re going to be trained to do it yourself make sure you’re clear on how much time it will take versus paying a professional to handle it for you.

In conclusion, make sure the web expert you decide to employ takes the time to learn about your business.

If this is overwhelming, confusing or you have some questions. Please feel free to post them in the comments or contact Inbound Marketing Solutions directly to discuss the best Website Marketing and Search Engine Optimization strategies for your business.

The average website conversion is 1 percent to 2 percent. Proper search engine optimization could double your traffic and an effective call to action can boost conversion to 4 percent to 5 percent.

Optimization is a key component for driving qualified traffic to your site, therefore it must be done correctly. Because search engine optimization (SEO) is something most people don’t fully understand, it overwhelms them and so they trust the SEO “experts.” What’s concerning is that I see many websites that have been “optimized” by an “expert,” when in fact they haven’t. The first thing to remember when it comes to SEO is that this isn’t something just done once – it’s ongoing and needs to have an ongoing strategy (and training if needed).

CHOOSING THE ‘RIGHT’ KEYWORD PHRASES

In order to determine the “right” keyword phrases for your business, you need to know (not guess) what keywords your prospects use when searching online for the products and services your company offers. You need to know why they are searching for your product or service, and what their need or problem is. Knowing the answers to these questions will help determine the right keywords that will increase the chances that your visitors will convert to leads. Choosing obvious keywords that have a high monthly search volume can be extremely competitive and almost impossible to rank. Often keyword phrases that have a low monthly search volume are highly targeted and will attract your target audience, giving you a better chance of converting them to a lead. Just getting visitors to your site that don’t convert to leads means nothing to your business. Focusing on quality rather than quantity will yield a better result for your business.

KEYWORD PLACEMENT

Each page has its own URL, title, meta description and header, and all of these need to be optimized with the keywords for that page. Keywords need to be used not only on your website but as part of an ongoing marketing campaign. Keywords should be used in e-mails, blogs, online articles, press releases and social media with links to relevant pages on your website. Keywords that are used in other online content (not your website) that include links to pages on your website are called inbound links or back links.

INBOUND LINKS (OR BACK LINKS)

These are hyperlinked words that link to your website and are a major influence when it comes to search engine rankings. A link building strategy should be part of your ongoing marketing, implemented by someone who understands how to develop and implement a link-building strategy. There are obvious ways to get inbound links, such as listing your company with online directories. However, there are other clever ways to encourage links through blogs, press releases and other online activities. Purchasing links and doing link swaps may negatively affect your search rankings so make sure that if you’re paying someone to develop a link-building strategy you understand how they are doing it.

THE LANDING PAGE

This is the page that the visitor lands on after clicking an inbound link to your site. The keyword used in this link needs to be prominent on the page they land on. You have three seconds to provide this visitor with the information they’re looking for, or you may lose them forever. In order to have this visitor convert to a lead you should have some understanding where this visitor is in the purchase life cycle. If they’re at the research (information gathering) phase, make sure this is what’s available on the page they land on. Provide a call to action that would encourage the visitor to sign up for more information such as a free e-book or subscription to your blog or e-newsletter. If your visitor has clicked on a keyword that indicates they’re ready to speak directly with a salesperson -in other words they’re a little further along in the purchase cycle – make sure your call to action offers something along the lines of a “free consultation with a sales representative” or “free tool, to test your product/service.” When choosing an expert to develop your website and search engine optimization, make sure they understand your business and marketing objectives. Specifically inbound marketing and how optimizing your site will do more than just drive traffic to your business, but increase conversions that have a direct impact on your bottom line.

Does this information help you? What other questions do you have about your website and attracting prospects and converting them to leads?

If you found this blog article helpful please share with your online social network, thank you.

Many businesses are still yet to hear the term “Inbound Marketing”. Understand how to use their website as a lead generation strategy rather than an online brochure. Know how to rank organically for the ‘right’ keywords for their business. And appreciate the scope that social media can bring to their business to achieve their business goals for 2010!

I’ve written several blogs on Inbound Marketing but I decided to do some research to see what the experts are saying about Inbound Marketing for 2010.

Below is a list of 5 valuable articles that explain Inbound Marketing and its value to business. I believe every business regardless of size and budget should be learning and applying Inbound Marketing (to some degree) in 2010, so I wanted to share what I found.

1. Why doesn’t social media work for traditional B2B marketers?
2. Evolving with the marketplace. Do you face extinction?
3. 2010: The year Inbound Marketing crosses the chasm
4. How a solid Inbound Marketing vision can help your website redesign in 2010.
5. Inbound Marketing and the next phase of marketing on the web.

If you found this blog post insightful and helpful don’t keep it to yourself, please share it with your network on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any other social media outlet you use.
What are your thoughts or questions on Inbound Marketing for your business? I would love to hear from you.

… the customer! Not YOU, not your company, not your brand, not your product nor your service.

It’s about marketing to your prospects when they want to hear from you, how they want to hear from you and what they want to know.

It’s about building relationships.

It’s about listening their needs.

It’s about giving your prospects an option to receive your emails and status updates.

It’s about having a web presence when and where your prospects search online.

It’s about offering information that is of value to your prospects.

It’s about making the conversion process clear, painless and quick.

It’s not about emailing your social media connections to push your product or service to, with relentless monotony.  If you want to use your social media connections for marketing take the time to find out what they need, and offer valuable information sparingly. You’ll get a better result!

And as for search engine rank don’t try and take any short cuts with promises of front page rankings. This isn’t sustainable marketing for long term success. Take the time to do the research on your market and competitors, and identify the ‘right’ keywords for your business.  Integrate search engine optimization (seo) into your marketing mix so that you start to rank organically for your keywords. This is a long term strategy that generates better quality leads and is extremely cost effective as there is no additional expense involved in paying for your search rank.

In my opinion, Inbound Marketing  isn’t a numbers game… its about quality and relevance.

What do you think?

Inbound Marketing Book

We’re living in a revolution and Inbound Marketing is at the forefront of this revolution, says David Meerman-Scott in his Foreward of the new book Inbound Marketing Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs. He goes as far to say that traditional marketers need to unlearn what they’ve been taught, in order to learn the new rules of Inbound Marketing and continues with saying that the outbound marketing era, also known as interruptive or push marketing is over. 

I love this quote…

“Direct Mail is what you send as a marketer. Junk mail is what you receive as a consumer.”

We can’t deny that the internet, websites and social media are changing consumer behavior and the way we do business.  Based on current growth stats of internet usage and social media sites, any rooky could surmise that marketing is changing. So I tend to agree with David, a new era in marketing is dawning and Inbound Marketing is leading the way.  The internet has leveled the playing field for business, no longer can large corporations gain market dominance because of their large advertising budget.  It doesn’t matter what size your company is or how much you have available for marketing, at this point in the game it is just a matter of starting.

So where do you start, what are the new rules, what do you need to do, when, how and why?

The Inbound Marketing Book does more than just explain terms such as: search engine optimization, blogging and social media, or how to use; Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  At the end of this book you’ll understand the value and purpose that Google, search engine optimization, your website, blogging and social media bring to your business. How they serve as the tools to achieve your business goals such as; lead generation, brand awareness, market research, competitor analysis, public relations and customer relations.  Plus you’ll know what you need to be measuring to identify your return on investment (ROI), cost per lead and cost per acquisition (customer), which are crucial to any business success. The authors Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah explain what can be complicated technical jargon to many business owners and marketers, in simple business terms with practical examples, case studies and an action plan to get you started.

If marketing your business is about creating awareness, getting ahead of the competition, generating leads, knowing how to nurture those leads until they’re sales ready and how to test and measure results and ROI, then The Inbound Marketing Book, available through Amazon, is the business reference guide for you.

If you know someone in marketing or business please let them know about the Inbound Marketing Book.   And if you’re using social media  please Tweet, Digg or use whatever your social media site of preference is to share this article to marketers and business owners around the globe.

What are your thoughts on Inbound Marketing? Are you planning on reading the book? Why or why not?

The idea of having a business coach for many business owners is admitting that you need help. But why?

If you look at every successful sports person they all have a coach. Their coach works with them to set goals and inspires and motivates them to push on, stay focused and achieve their goals.  So why is business coaching any different?  

Last week I decided to attend a 90 Day Planning workshop a local business coach was offering to business owners. To me this seemed like a great idea, taking ½ day out from my business to sit down and plan out what my goals are for the next quarter, and I must say I was impressed.  I gained so much more that I had expected.

Firstly there were 14 different business owners there, from a variety of different industries and it was great to just talk about the struggles and successes different owners were experiencing.  It was equally beneficial to hear how well their respective businesses are doing after coaching , plus they seemed to have much more control of their personal life. It seems that a good business coach doesn’t just focus on the business but the business owner, so making sure there is a balance with health, leisure, family, friends and fitness are all part of the goal setting.

For many, being a business owner can be quite lonely, even if you’re flat out busy looking after customers and your team, it’s the lack of peers to bounce ideas off and talk to that can be lonely. What I really liked about this group of business owners that showed up for the 90 day plan was their support of each other, and eagerness to share, listen and learn from each other. I soon learnt that many of them attend a weekly group coaching session called Profit Club, it’s like a business owners community where they work together through the many different aspects of running a business.

The bonus, it appears, is the resource material available, and the training and motivation that goes with having a business coach plus peers that support you.

I walked away inspired and pumped with a clear plan for my goals for the next quarter.  The step by step process  made it easy to identify where I needed to be spending my efforts for the next quarter to achieve my short and long term business goals.

So now I’m wondering why doesn’t every business owner have a coach?  What are your thoughts or experiences?