Following are a few ways to get your content in front of search engines:

1. Bookmarking - submit your new posts or pages to bookmark sites.  Don’t spam the bookmark sites with only pages to your site or you may get blocked.
2. Sitemaps – create a sitemap page on your site that includes a link to all your internal pages.  This will help search engines crawl and find your pages quicker.
   
3. Google XML site maps – create a Google XML sitemap that includes all your pages and submit it through Google Webmaster Tools.
4. Backlinks – work on getting other relevant sites, blogs, etc. to link to you and your pages.
5. Submit to feed directories - create an RSS feed that includes your latest pages/posts and submit the feed to feed directories.

Ways to get in front of users:

1. Social networks – join social networks such as Twitter and Facebook and share your latest posts, news, etc. in your Twitter stream or your Facebook page.  You don’t want to flood your followers with only your stuff because they may run away.  Share other relevant useful information too.  And only follow or friend people that you feel will be interested in what you are sharing.
2. Post ads on classified sites - if you sell products or offer services, posting ads to classified sites can be a great way to place your product and services in front of thousands of web users.
3. Tell people – if you have great content that can be useful or beneficial, don’t be afraid to talk to people about it.  If the opportunity comes up and you can pitch your site naturally in a conversation, do it.

So, if you have great content, that’s a good start. Remember, though, that your content won’t be “king” unless you distribute it around the web for others to find!

We are excited about 2010, as we have no plans of slowing down! We will be launching even more valuable services soon, but here’s a quick look at a few notable milestones from 2009:

• EmailFlyerAds has grown to 21,600 members. Over 17,000 email flyers have been sent totaling 45,307,716 real estate emails!
• ClassifiedFlyerAds now has 23,800 members who sent out 120,000 ads in 2009!
• RentShout was launched in June this year, and since then has grown to 1,300 members who have sent out over 1,500 ads!
• RealShout is our latest reveal, launching earlier this month. This service will use Geo-targeted technology and proven Go Smart marketing systems to deliver leads to real estate brokers, MLS’s, and mortgage brokers.
• TwitBacks was a fun side project that took on a life of its own in 2009. With more than 152,000 members and 166,700 Twitter backgrounds created, TwitBacks was a fun success!

We hope your year has been as great as ours, and wish everyone the very best for 2010!

Read our newsletter for a more in-depth look at 2009.

Photo credit: Optical Illusion

Improving Real Estate Search On Google Maps

On July 6th, 2009, Google announced that real estate listings would now display within a map with a one-box that would take you to real estate listings when users search for property related queries.

Google Retires The “One at a Time” Feature

On July 30th, 2009, Google announced that they would no longer allow manually entered single listings.  Maybe I read into it wrong, but at the time of the announcement I translated that into Google wanting to target the large data providers.

Place Pages for Google Maps

In September, 2009, Google launched Place Pages.  There are Place Pages for businesses, points of interest, transit stations, neighborhoods, landmarks, and cities all over the world.

More Real Estate in Google Maps

On October 29th, Google announced some changes to Google Maps that would make it easier for you to find listings. “First of all, we’ve made it easier to find real estate listings. Now, you can simply select “Real Estate” from the ‘More’ button on the top right of any Google Map to discover listings.”

Integration of real estate listings with Place Pages

On November 19th, Google mentioned the integration of real estate listings with Place Pages, saying “Now clicking the “more info” link next to a listing takes you to a faster, easier-to-read page that gives you all of the information we have about a listing: photos, inspection times, videos, details, a Street View preview and nearby public transit information if available, allowing you to quickly find the listing you want and click through to the sources of the listing.”

Google to Acquire Yelp?

On December 17th, 2009, rumors were flying around that Google was in discussions to acquire Yelp.  Acquiring Yelp, in my opinion, would allow Google to enhance its real estate portal with ratings and other localized information.

Google to Acquire Trulia?

On December 18th, 2009, rumors surfaced that Google is in discussions to acquire Trulia.  “According to sources close to the situation, along with its pending bid for Yelp, Google has been in on-again, off-again acquisition talks with Trulia”.

Is it just me here or does this look like a pattern? I personally feel that if Google purchases Yelp and Trulia, this will be another game changer in the Real Estate space.  What will this do to the MLS?  Will the many MLS’s be as important or will Google eventually be the main source for real estate search and data?  After all, the MLS’s don’t have all the listing data.  They don’t have FSBO listings, foreclosures, or other listings from Agents that don’t belong to the MLS.

Are basic conversations you have on Twitter going to take away from your conversion?

A basic @reply tweet like, “Hey thanks for drinks tonight”, or something similar, may show up in a Google search when potential clients are searching for your brand.  Does your brand, service or product have anything to do with going out for drinks?  If not, what will your clients and customers think? Is this really the first impression you want to leave them with?

Are links you post sending your potential clients AWAY from you?

Now this is a big one, and one that I am trying to evaluate for myself as well.  I post links all the time on Twitter to other resources/websites.  These tweets with links now have the potential to show up in the top of Google when searching for your brand/name.  Think of what could possibly happen if a user, searching for your brand, see’s your tweets at the top of the search results and clicks on the link you tweeted.  You just may lose that client because they now clicked on a link that is associated with your name but actually takes them to a page that has nothing to do with your company.

Are your non-business tweets hurting you?

Again, another one I struggle with, since I tweet both about business related stuff and non-business related stuff.  While the non-business related stuff is always clean and friendly, it is not targeted to my brand and I am pretty sure if a potential client searches Google for my brand and sees these types of tweets at the top of the results, they will be completely confused.

Following is a screen shot of a search on one of our brand names that illustrates some of these concerns.

Tweets showing up in Google

While I have no concerns of my conversation with Kathy and I think she has built a solid Twitter presence for herself, I have to think about how a potential client would respond when seeing this in Google search results for my business.  Will they click Kathy’s name and be taken to her Twitter account?  That would be great for Kathy, but could the potential client misunderstand that Kathy’s Twitter account is the Go Smart account?  Now imagine if a conversation you have with someone who doesn’t have a solid or professional Twitter profile shows up in Google for your brand.  Imagine if the potential client clicks on that person’s name and see’s some not-so-appealing stuff.

Now let’s look at the second example.  Again, a tweet that I have no concerns of and one that actually links to a very valuable blog post.  BUT again, as a business owner, I have to consider how this may confuse a potential client or send them AWAY from our company and services.  A potential client will most likely click on this link and be taken to a page that has nothing to do with Go Smart Solutions or our services.  Can we say “confusion”?

You have to remember that you and I and whoever else is reading this is probably aware of and understand these latest changes, but your everyday person (clients, consumers) are in a completely different world and have no idea about this stuff.  All they know is, all of a sudden, these scrolling results are now sometimes showing at the top of their searches.

See my other posts about similar topics

• Is Real Time Search REALLY a Good Idea?
• Are You Ready For Google Search Changes
• Google Search Sidebar
• Twitter is Important For SEO
• This is for all of those long-tail SEO skeptics
• Have you seen Google’s new search options?

Rae Hoffman, CEO and Co-Founder of Outspoken Media, began playing with the new feature and discovered some alarming results.  Watch this video and you will see that this is a major issue.  The thing that scares me the most is when Rae touched on safety concerns for children online.  Please spread this video so it gets the attention of the search engines and hopefully they either remove the Twitter real time stream or they fix/filter the junk.

See my other posts about similar topics

• Are You Ready For Google Search Changes
• Google Search Sidebar
• Twitter is Important For SEO
• This is for all of those long-tail SEO skeptics
• Have you seen Google’s new search options?

Google’s real-time results are also pulling in other data, which includes latest updates from blogs, videos, news sites, and even images. The screen shot below shows a search on “Tiger Woods” and how some of these sources are mixed directly in on the first page of Google’s search results.

If you are an internet marketer, you need to be aware of these changes and create videos, optimize images in your content, participate in blogging, and participate in real-time social networks if you want to stay on top.

See my other posts about similar topics

• Google Search Sidebar
• Twitter is Important For SEO
• This is for all of those long-tail SEO skeptics
• Have you seen Google’s new search options?

This new sidebar will be placed as a permanent fixture in the Google search engine.  This means more people will click these options.  If someone is doing an organic search for your niche, Google is making it even easier for them to search other verticals such as videos and blogs.

So how can you prepare for this?

• Create videos around your niche and post those videos to YouTube and other popular video portals.
• Optimize your images (image name, alt tag) for the page you place them in.
• If you don’t already have a blog, it’s time to get one.  Focus your blog around your niche.
• Submit press releases for product launches or announcements.
• Participate in industry specific forums.  Don’t spam, but participate.

1. Deliver On Your Promise - Whether someone has landed on your page from a PPC campaign or an organic search, your title tags and PPC titles have given them an expectation of what to find when they click through. Make sure your landing page is targeted and relevant to that visitor.
2. Above The Fold – This term has been brought over from the print world when it referred to making sure that important messages and headlines appeared above the newspaper fold. This is also true with landing pages; your important messages and “call to action” should appear “above the fold”. A visitor shouldn’t have to scroll down the page to get what they’re looking for; most times they won’t.
3. No Flash Messages – If your landing page has important selling points that rotate, there’s a good chance your visitor will never see the message you want them to (they won’t wait). Use a static image or bold text headline to convey the message clearly and instantly.
4.  Simple is Better – This point echoes the first, but refers more to the layout and design of the page. If there is too much information (text, images, video, forms, etc.) on your page, visitors may become overwhelmed and click out. Instead, take advantage of whitespace on the page and have only the elements that are absolutely necessary to the visitor. For example, a landing page with one title, one image, one paragraph, and one form (or other “call to action”) will convert much better than the “information overload” page.
5. Test, Test, Test – This is something the landing page experts could not stress enough. Every business is different and has customers with different preferences on how and when to take action. To truly make landing pages the most effective they can be, you must continually test them against other versions.

While these tips are not absolute truths for every business and every industry, they are a starting point for creating landing pages with great post-click conversions. With continual testing (research “A/B Testing” and “Multivariate Testing” for landing pages), you’ll be on your way to carving out landing pages that convert.

1. Analytics
   - Don’t rely solely on keywords that are already driving traffic; seek out other possibilities for new insights.
   - Go through your 404’s (people that have incorrectly typed domains in a search bar) to see what people are looking for (but not finding) on your site. This will shed light on what the user expectation is when they visit your website.
2. Ask
   - Don’t assume that real people understand industry jargon and buzzwords. You understand it; they may not.
   - Ask non-industry people about your product or service. Take note of the terms and phrases they use to describe things and incorporate those into your keyword lists.
3. Brainstorm
   - Invite people from throughout your organization to brainstorm on how they would search on the internet for your product or service. Their fresh perspective may reveal valuable insights.
4. Crunch your numbers, Cull your lists, and Create your keyword lists.
   - Once your research has yielded workable lists, it is imperative to evaluate which keywords and phrases are yielding the desired conversions.
   - Pull keywords that are not productive and focus on ones that are.
   - After honing in on the keywords and phrases that work best for your site, you should be able to build and nurture very effective keyword lists.

By no means do these “ABC’s” cover all that is important with SEO. They do, however, bring to light methods that oftentimes don’t immediately come to mind.

Running PPC to find long-tail keywords
Running short lived PPC’s on a competitive search phrase can shed some light on what long-tail search phrases people are using around that competitive short tail.  For example running a PPC on “Dallas Homes” will most likely bring in traffic for a ton of more specific searches such as “3 bedroom Dallas homes”, “Dallas homes with a pool”, etc.  If you have analytics installed on your site, you can see which of these are converting and decide from there which searches you should optimize your landing pages for.

Running PPC to determine which keywords convert
Have you ever spent tons of time and effort optimizing your site for a search phrase and after you finally get it to rank organically, you find out it just doesn’t convert into paying customers? Running a short lived, low budget PPC campaign on a search phrase will help you determine how well that search phrase converts.  If it converts well, then it is most likely a good idea to spend the time and effort in organic SEO.  If it doesn’t convert well, you can decide to change your landing pages and content, or may even decide to target something else.

Running PPC on multiple landing pages
Running a short lived PPC campaign pointing to individual landing pages can help you determine how that landing page converts.  A high conversion will tell you that your landing page is setup well.  A low conversion may be an indication your landing page needs some work, or show that you could be targeting the wrong keywords for that landing page.

So, even if you don’t have the budget to run ongoing PPC campaigns, it can still be a great short-term tool for discovering the best (paying) keywords and phrases for your site.

Following are a few reasons why I am such a big fan of long tail

• Specific multi-word search phrases are much easier to rank in search engines than generic single keyword or short keyword phrases.
• Long tail, from our experience, has higher sales conversions because the visitors find exactly what they are looking for.
• Google loves content.  Creating lots of different pages targeting many different long tail keywords gives Google and other search engines more pages to index.
• Easier to rank + higher conversion + lots of indexed pages = increased bottom line.

Note: make sure your targeted pages are not duplicate content and are very specific to the long tail you are targeting.  Your targeted pages should be useful to the visitors that land on them and give them exactly what they are looking.

With a central focus on the agent, Cammarosano spoke of the HomeGain model that has content designed to connect buyers to agents, as well as forms which capture leads. “I don’t think you’re going to hear anyone saying that they closed major sales or sold homes from anwsering questions on a website”, he said, taking a stab at one of the main features on the Trulia site.

In quick defense of Trulia Voices, Inkinen argued, “The mindset of the consumer is moving towards [research] behavior, as they are really doing their homework before making a decision on who to use for services”. He recounted a story that was told to him from an agent who uses Trulia Voices who has received “tons of business” from using the forum.

Both, however, seemed to agree that syndicating real estate listings is a highly effective method. In an open question to the hundreds of real estate professionals in attendance, Inkinen asked how many agents do not syndicate their listings. With only about 1/4 of the room raising their hands, there was a strong indication of how popular and successful this method is for real estate advertising.

Near the end of this intelligent debate, moderator, Brian Boero, Partner at 1000Watt Consulting, asked a thought-provoking question to the combatants when he mused, “How do we get these two models (buyer-centric and agent-centric) to work together?” Suggesting the name “TrueGain” for this merging of models, Boero seemed convinced that this all-encompassing approach could deliver the most powerful real estate marketing of all.

Photo credit: Randy Son Of Robert

When you sign up for a service, look for an option that allows you to add your RSS feed.  When you see this option, you should always take advantage of it.  For example, Facebook  and FriendFeed allow you to add a feed.  The feed content (from your blog, website, Twitter, etc.) is then added to your Facebook and FriendFeed network.  ClassifiedFlyerAds also allows you to add a feed to your profile, which is then picked up by search engines.  So where can you get your own feed?  Let’s start with Twitter.  Located at the bottom right of your Twitter profile is a feed that contains your Twitter stream.

You can place this feed in other online resources that accept feeds, making your Twitter stream content appear in those places too.

Wordpress also has feeds built right in.  If you have a Wordpress blog you will have a feed that contains your blog posts and your comments. Grab your Wordpress blog feed and place that anywhere that accepts a feed.

Okay, so now you know how to get a feed.  Now let me give you some resources where you can share your feed.  I have personally submitted feeds to all of these and as of this date they are all active resources.  I will add and remove from this list as time goes on and I come across other resources. Get out there and spread your content out across the web!

Feed Specific Directories

http://www.feedage.com
http://www.millionrss.com
http://www.icerocket.com
http://www.feedest.com
http://www.rss-spider.com
http://www.feedlisting.com
http://www.feedgy.com
http://www.Feedraider.com
http://www.feedbees.com
http://www.feedagg.com
http://rssmountain.com
http://www.feedsee.com
http://feedfury.com
http://www.rssmicro.com
http://www.feedbase.net
http://outpost-earth.com
http://www.azfeeds.com
http://www.goldenfeed.com

Blog Specific Directories

http://technorati.com
http://www.blogged.com
http://blogville.us
http://www.bloglisting.net
http://www.bloglines.com
http://www.genwi.com

As the rental market becomes saturated with vacant homes and more renters turn to the internet to search for apartments and condos, RentShout launches its online rental marketing service as a cost-effective option for property managers. The service allows property managers to create full-page online advertisements for their rental listings, which are then syndicated across the web to leading rental sites and search directories such as TenantPlus.com, SimpleRent, GoogleBase, and Oodle.

View Full RentShout Press Release

Searching for the perfect candidate is a difficult task when there are plenty of prospects on the market. The problem with multiple opportunities is in separating the wheat from the chafe. Today, because of the increase in the unemployment ranks, Job seekers apply for a variety of positions even if the skill set they currently have is off the mark from the description listed in an employment ad. The tight market has made job seekers think about future employment in a more open minded manner. The old confines and constraints that a position would normally hold in a fast paced employment market (i.e. travel, salary, benefits) have become secondary to job seekers. Job seekers who have been out of work for awhile or who have immediate financial constraints are willing to forgo their desires for the immediate need of employment today.

How does an employer sift through applications to find their “glass slippered” candidate? Here are the top three ways to find the employee that fits your employment ad.

1. Circulate

Get back to networking at its most fundamental level. Networking among peers for recommendations is still a top notch way to find qualified prospects for the employment ad you’re looking to fill. Don’t stop with immediate business associates who you come into physical contact with daily or even once in a while. Network online using business social networking sites. LinkedIn allows you to connect with employees, employers and contractors in a social atmosphere. Join groups that cater to your specialties and interests and you will soon be networking with like-minded business professionals. Use the keyword search tool to find contractors and job seekers in the network and peruse their business profiles and recommendations. Post questions to other business owners on how they found top candidates online and put their recommendations to use.

Extend your reach even further by purchasing a premium account so that you can reach out to recruiters and send direct “inmails” (emails) with the normal free account restraints.

2. Permeate

All of a company’s online advertising efforts need to filter through every branch of opportunity. Spread your roots and extend the reach of your employment ad by using simple syndication. The best syndication is the “set it and forget it”, low maintenance approach. Create a branded employment ad with a detailed description of your job specifications and requirements. Go for the gusto. You need to be succinct and to the point without cutting away too quickly from the details. Include your expectations and some of your wish list too. This will help to filter out the meat and potato prospects from the garnish on your application plate.

Choose a cost effective solution that will syndicate your employment ad and do the heavy lifting for you.  Job seekers aren’t just on Monster.com or HotJobs, they are reaching out across niches, job boards and social networks across the Web 2.0 space.  Online advertising companies who continuously ad new websites to their syndication list will provide you with the reach you need for your employment ad.

3. Infiltrate

Who you know is important.  Getting to know the connections of who you know is just as important.  Take some time to create a well with a link to your company and clear contact information.  Invite people you know to connect with you on Twitter and advertise your Twitter account on your website and employment opportunities page.  Seek out potential candidates by using a simple search function of twitter or a more advanced search application created for twitter.

Talk about your company- its perks, its searches, its qualities, its products, its likes, its and dislikes by microblogging online. By using a platform like Twitter to microblog and in 140 characters or less, you can build a branding history behind your company. Who you know will connect you with people whom you might like to know. Associate with these people and they can connect you with even more people.

Suddenly who you know becomes an expansive and endless opportunity for you to find candidates who are ready, willing and able for employers to find them online

Maybe you blog on multiple blog platforms such as Wordpress. Are you keeping track of leads you get from those platforms and in addition to how many of those leads are converting? Maybe you post videos to different video platforms or syndicate your listings to multiple directories. Maybe you use Twitter or Facebook or focus heavily on your own website. Are you tracking the leads and conversions you receive from all of these sources?

If not, you may be spending valuable time in places that are not giving you a return on your investment. Sure, maybe some of these resources are free but your time is not free; it is an investment. Maybe it’s time to take a closer look at which resources have the highest conversion.

At the bottom of this post is a spreadsheet that can help track your conversions. It includes two sheets; one for keeping track of your daily activity (DailyLog) and the other (MonthlyStats) calculates profit/loss based on your daily log. Feel free to download for your own use. Google spreadsheet is good to use because it allows you to update the spreadsheet on the fly, from the web wherever you are.

Populate this information and you will soon see “how much money” you are actually spending and which platforms have a good return on investment (ROI). If the ROI is negative month after month, you may want to consider dropping that tool and try something else or focusing more on the tools that have a better ROI. I suggest giving a resource at least three months as it is hard to truly evaluate a resource with only a couple weeks of data.

Creating an online profile that’s engaging is a key component of an essential online marketing strategy. The goal in creating a meaningful profile is to engage your prospects. Online shoppers are likely to review several service providers before making a decision. Your business profile needs to be remarkable in order to capture your prospects’ attention within 3-5 seconds or less.

If you are transparent and thorough, prospects will contact you after reading your profile because you have given them enough information openly and honestly for
them to know, like, and trust you.

Here are five easy steps to create a head-turning profile.

Bedazzle with a great photo

A logo is a standard feature on most business profiles. While logos are essential for branding, a photo will add a humanistic quality to your profile. Online shoppers like to know who they are buying a product from and who the face is behind the services they will be receiving. A head shot or full length photo in a casual setting could be just the right touch. Investing money in a professional head shot could make the difference in zero to hero.

A simple photo could be the reason why a consumer chooses your services over a competitor’s.

Make Your Background Visible

Stand out from the crowd. Don’t let your background take a back seat on your profile.
It should appear front and center. Try to stay away from “mechanical copy” that reads more like a robotic resume than an impressive reflection of your skills and expertise. If you have examples of your past work online don’t hesitate to link to it. Consumers and Business Professionals want the play by play highlights.

Sell Your Services with Style

What is it that you REALLY do? Don’t make online shoppers read between the lines.
Provide a detailed bulleted list of your services. Don’t make assumptions. Your online visitors may never visit your website, so make sure you present every service you represent on your profile. Link out to photos you have of services you have completed or products you sell. If you add services to your business make sure to update your profile.

Oftentimes, people do not list services/products that they don’t perform even though they
can provide a referral to another service provider. Create a small section within your profile that list services your can cover with your own little black book of reputable service providers. The power of referrals can come back to you in spades.

Allow Your Personality to Percolate

Your personality should drip through like our morning coffee brew. Let’s go back to “know, like, and trust”. You can maintain a professional tone and allow your personality to permeate your profile by using a more conversational tone. Consumers and business professionals should be able to read your profile and get a sense of who they will be talking to or buying from, so don’t be shy about including your personal interests and hobbies.

How do you create a conversational profile? Have someone ask you questions and then respond verbally. Record this interview session, then replay and transcribe the words without editing. Once you have laid down this initial track go back and edit for grammar and cohesive writing, but keep the tone of the conversation intact.

Keep Your Contact Points Simple

Don’t confuse consumers. Provide one answer for each point of contact.

You only need to display one phone number, one email address and one website. If you have a blog that is separate from your website and is related to your business
you can include that website address. Also if you micro blog on a platform like Twitter and communicate using @replies and Direct Messages, make sure to include your Twitter Handle (user name).

Use these five steps to create an engaging online profile that makes prospects want to pick up the phone and work with you.

In a sea of competing businesses online marketing gives small businesses branding
opportunities. Solopreuners, small to mid-size business owners and even large
corporations are replacing traditional marketing venues like direct marketing
by use of newspaper advertising, bulletin boards, magazine ads, postcards, and
cold calling, for the newly improved internet methods found in web 2.0 offerings.
It’s no wonder with the number of warm handshakes these businesses receive from
their consumers online that small business owners wouldn’t migrate to online offerings.

Now with all generations active online it makes good use of business cents and
is business common sense to create online marketing strategies. The recent statistics
provided by The Pew Internet and American Life Project Study Survey- December
2008 prove that online advertising is integral to a business’s marketing plan
regardless of the age of your target market.

Here is the breakdown of the generations online noted in the study,

• 93%- 12-17 Year Olds
• 89%- 18-24 Year Olds
• 85%- 25-29 Year Olds
• 87%- 30-34 Year Olds
• 85%- 35-39 Year Olds
• 83%- 40-44 Year Olds
• 80% 45-49 Year Olds
• 78% 50-54 Year Olds
• 71%-55-59 Year Olds
• 62%-60-64 Year Olds

Clearly when it comes to online usage age IS nothing but a number.

Three Effective Methods of Social Media Marketing

Each business should develop an online marketing mix that suits its current goals
and objectives. Small businesses who take internet marketing seriously develop
strategic media marketing strategies that incorporate several facets of interactive
(web 2.0) online marketing or sometimes only a few based on the individual business’s
needs.

Here are three examples of effective Social Media Marketing mediums.

Blogging

You don’t have to be a penned wordsmith to be a good blogger . Blogging comes
in many formats and the key is that blogging is conversational. You can try traditionally
penned blogs. You can record audio tracks which is known as podcasting. A third
method is microblogging and a popular platform for this is twitter. In 140 characters
or less microblogging allows you to engage prospects and carry out easy conversations.

Blogging is a critical component of social media marketing because it allows businesses
to provide information through the use of fresh, relevant content. Incorporating
blogging as par of a company’s internet marketing strategy provides the company
with a good opportunity to be found in the search engines for the company’s desired
markets.

Social Networking

One of the most popular and highly addictive web 2.0 mediums for online consumers
are the social networks. Social networks allow consumers and business professionals
to network among friends, strangers, acquaintances, and professionals all in
one place. If small businesses keep an open mind and keep their networks open
they have the potential to grow their networks exponentially by allowing other
consumers into their fold.

Social networks also allow businesses to update the public on new improvement
in product lines, what an average day is like at xyz company. Social networks
are varied in purpose and the amount of social networks can be mind numbing,
but the most popular platforms determined by marketing research about consumer
online behavior are currently Linked In, Twitter, and Facebook.

Syndication

Social networks and blog platforms are relatively low on cost investment, but
they are far from maintenance free marketing endeavors. To blog and create viable
weekly online content the time commitment involved is a minimum of 5-10 hours
a week. How can you effectively communicate online through providing fresh and
relevant information AND then market that information to all of your contacts
across all of the social networks? The answer is syndication.

Syndicating content allows your message and your information to be reached across
the worldwide web. You can syndicate your content by using an online social service
that will broadcast your updates across the social networks. You can also use
listing syndication for your marketing collateral by using a service that will syndicate
your ads across social networks.

There’s No Time Like the Present Online

The thing most online traveler’s love about the internet is the ability
to peruse stores and services as well as to interact with people online anytime.
More importantly, anytime means on their time in online marketing. If your business
has not yet engaged heavily in online marketing there is no time like the present
to get started. The reach small businesses have online is global and timeless.

1. Strategy is Paramount.

When running a business, it is smart to continually educate yourself on the latest trends and techniques that are being used in your sphere and beyond. However, this should not be confused with chasing after every new application or fad that comes along. Just because all the popular kids (aka. the “gurus” and “experts”) are playing with it, doesn’t mean that it’s right for your business. Before investing time and effort into this social network or that marketing technique, think for a minute about the old adage that wisely reminds us “time is money”. Research, establish goals, and define a strategy. Follow through with things that makes sense for your business and “eliminate all things that don’t contribute to progress”. See more on this topic at The Lean Startup Blog and here on Twitter.

2. Sales in Web 2.0 is Okay.

With the gospel of transparency and open communication spreading across the social web like wildfire, sales seem to have taken a back seat. Without a doubt, integrity, honesty, and conversation are important in business. But what about actually doing business? In the session, “S Factor: Why Sales Shouldn’t Be a Dirty Word in Web 2.0“, Alastair Mitchell from Huddle.net explains that Web 2.0 has not replaced the need for a sales force, saying, “Web 2.0 can be used to more quickly build your user base, but not to replace a sales presence”. Perhaps this means separating your social networking efforts from your sales efforts, perhaps not. Whichever is the case for your business, sales need not be something you’re ashamed of. See the whole recap on this topic at the Huddle Blog.

3. Metrics are Vital for Success.

With a session title of “Become a Web 2.0 Metrics Jedi” and an opening slide photo of Yoda in pirate gear, it’s a wonder that anyone attended any other track that hour, and it did not disappoint. Do you create targeted landing pages, optimize your website for search engine success, and design your site for optimal attraction and conversion? If so, you’re on the right track… maybe. You can’t know for certain unless you have set goals and are analyzing the data on a regular basis. How many site visitors are clicking the “sign up” button on the main page compared with the one on the FAQ page? How many visitors are converting to paid customers? At which point in the process are they doing that? Is there a page on your website that has a much higher bounce rate than the rest? These questions will help you understand why you may or may not be reaching your goals, and having the systems in place to answer them is vital. Visit the 500 Hats Blog for a detailed slideshow and recap.

4. Online Advertising is Not Dead.

It is no secret that online advertising is becoming increasingly important as more people are searching and shopping online everyday. The argument lies in which type of advertising is most effective to online consumers and profitable to advertisers. With “ad blindness” affecting most online searchers (a term which describes the tendency of internet searchers to instinctively ignore banner and display ads), it was no surprise to hear that search type advertising is trending way up, just as CPM and CPC advertising is trending way down (JP Morgan 2008 Internet Investment Guide). This was music to our ears, since our ClassifiedFlyerAds service provides targeted search ads that are syndicated across the web. The session (titled “From AD-versity Comes Opportunity”) also predicted that a new type of advertising would surface in 2009-10 that would “fill the gap” between dispay ads and search ads. We’ll stay tuned.

5. More is Not Always Better.

With a theme of “The Power of Less”, the Web 2.0 Expo aimed to convince internet users that more apps, more features, more blog posts, more pictures, more video, more anything, is not always better. Don’t launch a new feature just to launch a new feature; make sure it adds value and solves a problem. On that note, the Lean Startup Session suggested that we ask ourselves these two questions before adding “more”: 1) “What problem are we solving for the customer?”, and 2) “How are we solving it?”. If you cannot answer these questions, perhaps it is not time to add that great new thing after all.

With courses covering four days and eight different topics, there was certainly no shortage of valuable information for businesses at the San Francisco Web 2.0 Expo, much more in fact, than we were able to take in on our own. Check out the recap page, twitter stream, and follow-up news coverage for all of the mind dizzying Web 2.0 advice you can handle.