BLOGGING AS A WAY TO DISSEMINATE NEWS AND INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS OR SERVICE

Your customers are looking for news about your business and/or your products on the web. Are you providing them with the information they want, or are your competitors?

To continue my Blogging Basics series, I wanted to share this video that gives a graphical and simplified view and explanation of how a blog can help your business.

If you don’t have a blog, your competitors are probably feeding your clients and customers and drawing them away from your business. That’s why it is critical that you understand this concept.

As the video states, there have been over 70 million blog sites created since 2003. Blogging has become the standard way to share information “news-style” for businesses, organizations, clubs, and groups.

But let me remind you, the greatest benefit for creating and maintaining a blog is the search engine optimization (SEO) power. You’re not just going to benefit by keeping news and information about your business on the web, but you will increase your chances of landing on the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) when potential clients are searching for info about your products or services.

When a local client is searching for your product, the chances that person picks your business are far greater if you are on the first page of the results that pop up on the screen. It is rare that searchers ever go past page 2 or 3 when drilling down through the results, unless there are no direct matches for what they are looking for.

Google’s search engine loves blogs, because they constantly feed in new information, unlike static web pages. That’s why it is time for you to take serious consideration on starting your business blog in the near future.

Stay tuned for the next post which will showcase my favorite free blog services. Meanwhile, if you have a question on business blogging, feel free to ask your questions in the comments section and I’ll do my best to help you see the light!

Carlton Flowers
Business Blogging Consultant

Hit this link to subscribe to my RSS feed right now —> http://feeds.feedburner.com/carltonzone/yZXF

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TWITTER LIST BUILDING – TAKE THE DIRTY SHORTCUTS, OR BUILD NATURALLY?

In today’s podcast presentation we’ll talk about building your following on Twitter. Do you prefer to ramp-up the speed of your follower list growth artificially, or do you prefer “organic” follower building methods? With artificial Twitter follower list building, people hire consultants to handle the grunt work of collecting masses of new followers. Others pay an outright fee for a bulk amount of followers. But with organic building, these Twitter citizens prefer to meet and connect with others based on common interest and 1-on-1 interaction.

We will discuss the difference between the two methods, along with the following topics:

• When Twitter becomes nothing more than the Chicago phone book
• What happens when cheaters, scammers, and con artists all get together in one community
• The advantages to organic Twitter follower list building
• Why trust is vital to Twitter marketing for businesses
• The “Instant Rock Star Bait-and-Switch” dirty Twitter tactic

As always, feel free to post your comments and questions below, or call our Google Voice line at (636) 377-0006 and leave a short message to voice your opinion!

Play Now:

 Dirty Twitter Follower List Building Tactics [9:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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UPS VIDEO – SEIZING SOCIAL MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES

This video by Adam Ostrow via the Mashable blog comes from the “Seizing Opportunities” video series produced by the UPS company. Adam gives a straight-forward explanation of why you should monitor the social media activity in your industry and create your own social media marketing plan.

We all realize by now that business marketing is making a serious shift to social media sites. The three most important social media platforms today are Facebook, Twitter, and blogging in general. If you are just getting started in “web 2.0″ marketing, this would make a great foundation, and you don’t have to create anything elaborate. Getting involved and interacting with people should be your main goal.

Adam explains that it is vital to keep track of what is going on in your industry. A good way to do this is to follow industry leaders on social media websites. For example, I pay close attention to Fox Television’s Clayton Morris on Twitter to stay on the edge of social media strategy consulting. A useful site that you can use for searching out industry leaders is Twellow.

Next, you will want to decide on what management software platforms that you will use in order to stay up on the information that industry leaders are putting out on the web. For example, desktop applications for Twitter such as Tweetdeck or Twihrl will allow you to organize the way that you keep up with this information. There are also numerous cell phone applications that allow you to track Tweets. You can even sign up for social media alerts which will email you any time your business name (or one that you are tracking) has been posted to a social media forum.

Overall, I consider it a “best practice” to stay connected with industry leaders and your clientele via social media websites in order to maximize your exposure and marketing potential. Enjoy the video!

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IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE METRICS OF “STONEHENGE MEDIA” ADVERTISING WITH WEB 2.0 LEVERAGE

How do you currently measure the success of your “Stonehenge” media advertisements? What type of feedback or response do you use to gauge the effectiveness or success of a newspaper ad, radio spot, tv commercial or billboard? In today’s podcast, we’ll talk about traditional performance metrics for Stonehenge media and how you can leverage your response rate with the addition of social media marketing.

Additionally, we’ll discuss “click tracking” as a method of evaluating effectiveness, and whether or not this is a dependable indicator. Listen to the podcast and post your questions and responses below!

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 Measuring the Effectiveness of Traditional Media Advertising [11:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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BUILDING A MASSIVE TWITTER FOLLOWING – IS THIS THE BEST WAY TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS?

In today’s podcast, the topic of discussion centers around Twitter marketing. Is it really advantageous to spend time building a huge Twitter following for business exposure? We’ll discuss the pros and cons of Twitter “list building”, and whether or not you are really getting the most bang out of your buck. Also up for discussion: paid list building services and what you really get for your money.

We are now seeing everything from website sales pages to even eBay auctions promising to add a certain number of followers to a Twitter account for a certain fee. Some are even charging an exorbitant amount of money for their service, but what do you end up with? What is the quality of the list that you have paid your hard-earned money for? And who’s to say that the list sellers aren’t pulling a scam on their customers?

As easy as it is to create fake Twitter accounts, I would be cautious about the validity of purchasing guaranteed followers. Even with real accounts, there’s still no way to qualify the list members. I caution any sales professional or business owner to seriously think about delving into list purchasing before wasting their money. Many Twitter community members now frown on others who participate in artificial list building. In the end, you may not be able to “buy” your online reputation back if your fast-track idea turns sour.

Last but not least, I give my insight on what metric you really SHOULD be tracking instead of the size of your Twitter following or the number of clicks you generate from your link posting. Most marketers gauge success by the number of clicks they receive for an online advertisement or pitch. However, there is one metric that goes far beyond click counting. What is it, you ask? You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out!

Click the podcast icon below to listen in and then share your thoughts, questions and comments on the blog!

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 The Truth About Twitter List Building For Business [9:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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THE CARLTON ZONE NOW PLAYING AT PODCAST ALLEY!

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-f6f20280f5817da071b7d354248d4b86}

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A WORKABLE TWITTER STRATEGY FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS

I’ve seen this many a time… a local business owner signs up for Twitter to begin a new media marketing campaign with dreams of instant stardom, only to struggle with it for a month or two and then quit. What makes business owners give up on their Twitter efforts so easily? Lack of feedback. When the Twittering fails to bring people in the door who buy their stuff, they see it as a waste of time. However, armed with the right strategy and realistic expectations, Twitter marketing for local business owners can prove to be fruitful.

In today’s podcast, I give a step-by-step strategy for business marketing on Twitter that can lead to results, and even be multiplied exponentially by merging new media marketing efforts with traditional media advertising that not many people currently are pursuing. If done correctly, this marketing strategy will not only produce results, but it can actually be tracked and evaluated down to the detail.

Listen to the audio podcast and post your questions below, or chime in with your very own social media marketing tips that you have found to work for your small business or sales career!

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 Local Small Business Twitter Marketing Strategy [7:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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TODAY’S TOPIC – PAYPAL SHOPPING CART, REAL ESTATE MARKETING, & GOOGLE WAVE

Hi folks,

For the October 5th, 2009 podcast, I talk about Paypal Shopping Cart abandonment issues, the big marketing mistake that I often see real estate agents making in Twitter marketing, and an introduction to Google Wave. The podcast is only 9 minutes long and straight to the point. You can make comments about these issues right here on the blog, and feel free to ask questions. I’m also open for topics that you would like to see me cover in the future. Enjoy today’s information, and don’t forget to drop your comments and suggestions below!

Play Now:

 New Media Marketing Podcast 10-5-09 [8:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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THE CARLTON ZONE SOCIAL MEDIA PODCAST IS NOW AVAILABLE!

I’m very excited about starting my first official podcast series! The main topic of my shows will center around social media marketing and strategy, but I will also be reporting on general communication strategy, industry market trends, and communications technology. Each show will be 5 to 10 minutes in length, and I will encourage listeners to participate via Twitter (send comments to @carltonf) and possibly Google phone. This will be a great resource for sales professionals, business owners, managers, and those who work in community organizations. Get ready to learn and have loads of fun along the way!

Play Now:

 Social Media Podcast by Carlton Flowers [5:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Could One of Our Oldest Habits Be Close to Extinction?

Times are changing, and technology is blazing forward at an astronomical pace. So fast, that our behavior as a society is changing along with it quite rapidly. One of our country’s oldest reference manuals could be headed for the mothball treatment… the Yellow Book.

The big fat Yellow Book has been the mainstay of our soiciety. When we wanted pizza, we dug out the Yellow Book. It stayed in the kitchen, close to the phone. Back in the days of my youth, all phones came from the telephone company. It was a monopoly. Telephone brands and variety did not exist. You had 2 choices… a wall-mounted phone, or a table-top version. About the only exiting thing that came along for a while was the advent of the “extra-long” cord. With this great invention, teens could go around the corner and take their private conversations into the next room without everyone in the kitchen or family room hearing any of the juicy details. But with this “tethered” phone, we also had a tethered Yellow Book. My mother used to attach a string to the book, and tape it to the phone so it wouldn’t be misplaced.

Years later, after the arrival of cordless phones and even “cellular” phones, the Yellow Book was still the staple for searching out local stores for needed goods and services. It’s hard to believe that the internet didn’t even jump on the scene until 1994, which was four years after I graduated college. This marked the beginning for numbering the days of the Yellow Book’s livelyhood.

What shocks me is the fact that it took another fourteen or so years for yet another innovation (other than the Internet itself) to seriously challenge and threaten the kingmanship of the Yellow Book. What was it, you ask? It was Google Local Search.

What took so long for the Internet to threaten the Yellow Book? Simple… typing in a search for “pizza” in Jefferson City, Missouri, would bring results for restaurants in Cleveland Ohio. Even if you typed “pizza” along with your home town and state, the results were still shoddy. This made searching out local services on the net just about worthless… until Google Local Search came along, that is!

The brainy nerds at Google headquarters spent years working on this problem, and came up with the local search system. Even if I type in “pizza” without “Jefferson City Missouri”, I will STILL get a section on page one that is labeled “Local business results for pizza near Jefferson City, MO”. Under that heading, about 10 pizza places are shown ranked by letters “a, b, c, d, e…” along with the business name, phone number, and even a corresponding map to the left side with a pinpoint of each letter to match the result!

What does this mean for the Yellow Book? It means it’s time to get the mothballs out and retire them. With this search feature, why even go to yellowbook.com to search for businesses when you can get them straight from Google with this degree of accuracy? There isn’t. Add to that the fact that we as a society have turned the name “Google” into a verb, which means “to search out on the internet”, and you can just about hang it up! Children, teens, and  adults are using the verb “Google” almost unconsciously now. You even see it on TV, and hear it on the radio… “just Google us for directions to our store, and for our website!” they say. It represents one of the finest examples of branding and name recognition ever created. When your brand name becomes a commonly used verb, you are guaranteed to be a smashing success.

All this spells trouble for the Yellow Book and the Yellow Pages, who both charge some fairly pricey fees for local businesses to advertise in them. Soon, the big thick newsprint version of the Yellow books will turn into a “Stonehenge” of sorts, for advertising media anyway. But what will be most interesting to watch will be the length of time it takes for the big law firms and car dealerships to figure out that people are “Googling” their competitors instead of finding their own companies in the ancient Stonehenge media guide.

Time will only tell.

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