It’s my firm belief that strategy is critical to business success.

Many small business owners approach their online business development the same way we name our pets. We buy them, live with them a while, and then decide on a name that fits the personality.

Contrast that approach to the way we name our children. We learn we are pregnant, then deliberate over family names, popular names, boy names, girl names, trendy names, names in books and come to a decision that makes sense for us.

No matter which “naming” approach we take to online business growth, a strategy that makes sense for our business must be developed and implemented to succeed. A well organized approach helps us:

• Deliver on time
• Stay in budget
• Give users what they need
• Please our clients (and ourselves)
• Rally everyone around a vision
• Build a cohesive experience
• Minimize revisions

What naming model do you follow?

Photo Credit: Alex Osterwalder
The pet/baby naming analogy deserves credit, and yet I failed to save the original post. If you know the author, please comment.

Strategy is Critical to Social Business Success
If you would like to see more articles like this, please come visit Sweet Tea and Straight Talk, where it was originally published.

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via directmarketingobservations.com

Posted via web from Bits of Orange

Web 3.0 Infograph via Marc Meyer
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A well crafted social business model builds readership over time with a well developed strategy.

A web strategy includes five critical components that are inter-connected:

• Technology – hardware, web hosting, web applications, blog software
• Information – web analytics, URL tracking, keyword research, reputation management
• Content – blogs, Facebook Pages, Twitter, multi-media (images, video, audio)
• Community – commenting, interaction, Facebook, Twitter
• Internet Marketing – search engine marketing, landing page optimization, traffic, conversion, testing

The David Armano info-graphic is one of the best representations of “inter-connectedness” I’ve seen.

Crafting a Social Business Strategy
If you would like to see more articles like this, please come visit Sweet Tea and Straight Talk, where it was originally published.

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Improve your search engine optimization (SEO) today in seven simple steps.

Image by Hobo! via Flickr

1. Find keywords.  Pick a list of words relevant to your business. Think about which words are most likely to get people to do what you want them to do (convert into leads) and focus on those words.




2. Put keywords in Page Title. The Page Title is one of the most important things that Google and other search engines evaluate to determine what is on a web page.  Put your keyword or phrase in the title, keep it short.




3. Put keywords in Page URL.  Google and other search engines also use the text of the URL of the page to determine the content of the web page.  You should use your keyword or phrase in the URL of the web page.




4. Put keywords in Meta Data.  While the page Meta Data (Page Description and Keywords) are not nearly as important as they used to be, they still count.  Take advantage of them by putting your keyword or phrase there.




5. Put keywords in your H1 text. The H1 to H6 tags are used to define HTML headings. H1 defines the largest heading and H6 defines the smallest heading. There should only be one H1 tag on your site – the name of your business or the name of the page or the name of the article. The following tags are secondary; much like the outline for a class term paper.




6. Use keywords in the page content.  Putting keyword phrases in your page content also signals to search engines that the page is actually about the keyword and should show up in search results.




7. Monitor your rank. Give the search engines some time to do their thing (couple days) and then keep checking your rank to see what happened and track your progress.

7 Simple Steps to Improve SEO
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Yesterday I participated in one of my favorite activities – sharing what I know and love about WordPress with people interested in using today’s technology to grow their business. The atmosphere was upbeat, energetic and generous.

I’m talking about the Real Estate BarCamp in Nashville which was attended by some of the best and brightest agents across the country. Everyone was an active participant and eager to share their experience with others.

Social community business marketing in action.

Take time to find an upcoming social media event near you and mark it on your calendar today!

Sharing What We Know
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Every hour thousands of new videos are uploaded online. Blog posts are written and published. Millions of tweets and other short messages are shared. To say there is a flood of content being created online now seems like a serious understatement.

With scarce time resources, users must find a way to find the most pertinent, useful, and perhaps even the most hilarious information they are seeking.

Rohit Barhgava seems to believe a “content curator” is a solution.

A Content Curator is someone who continually finds, groups, organizes and shares the best and most relevant content on a specific issue online.”

Google may have another idea.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlpTjP6h6Ms

h/t Steven Moore

How to Find Your Way in a Sea of Information
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Beth Kanter’s posts are well researched and always point me to new writers and interesting points of view. The following excerpt is only a short section of an in-depth post on audience analysis frameworks.

In designing for social participation, Adrian Chan urges us to consider user goals and needs — even interests, features, functionality, and adoption.   Best practices and popular ways of using social media guide us in our decisions.   What is also important to consider users psychological motivations and build that into your strategy.   Here’s his suggestions:

Goals and rewards – Consider the kinds of goals you might set and the rewards that may be earned by users who reach them. These might be personal goals and rewards levels, tasks, challenges, or points. Or social goals and rewards, resulting in status, ranking, visibility, lists, features and spotlighting members.

Moods and feelings – Give expressive users ways in which to communicate their moods and feelings. For example, emoticons and gifts, or icons to be used and exchanged with friends or attached to messages and content. These small gestures, while small, can be curiously compelling.

Knowledge and learning – For users interested in research, information, bookmarking, and more search and browse-related activities, provide ways to share discoveries. Capture those learned moments and make them visible — perhaps surface and validate experts and top contributors.

Giving and receiving – For users who enjoy social transactions provide gifts and a means of passing them around privately and publicly. Gifting is a highly social form of communication, and besides being kind, engages a sense of reciprocity in most of us. So it’s naturally contagious.

Helping and assisting – Some users are just naturally good at paying attention to others, and enjoy helping and assisting those with needs or questions. Design ways to surface these needs and create channels by which helpers can pitch in.

Reviewing, recommending, and rating – Users equipped with opinions and a sense of taste can make valuable reviewers and recommenders. Design ways to capture their contributions as social content. This can be designed then into lists, favorite, trends, news and more.

What do you know about the target audience you are trying to reach with your social media strategy?

Posted via web from Bits of Orange

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THROW AWAY THE BAND-AIDS!

What do Scotch Tape, Post-It Notes, and paper clips have in common? Each apparently has a different function, is made of a different material, and serves its own purpose. Oh sure, you can say they’re all office supplies – and you’d be right – but look a little deeper for their common purpose.

Scotch Tape pieces are placed along the edges and on the ends of holiday gifts – for a short period of time. Post-It Notes are stuck to documents suggesting that a signature is needed, or some action be taken. Once the action is complete, the note is discarded. Paper clips hold two or more things together for a few hours or days, and are then returned to the desk drawer.

Figured it out yet? They are all just a temporary “fix” – a momentary solution to a temporary need. They are used in “reaction” to a short-term need. They are also similar to our daily personal lives. When feelings are hurt and the tears come, we automatically reach for a Kleenex. We might, on the other hand, have taken time to determine the source of those feelings and concentrated on resolving a difference before tears were necessary.

When our children misbehave, we react with a 15-minute (or 3-day) “time-out.” We might have avoided that temporary fix by listening to their concerns and teaching appropriate behavior before the fact. Then, there are all the excuses we make, used like Band-Aids, to temporarily cover the flaws in our own behavior. Wouldn’t a more permanent solution like performing to expectations, learning from past experience, or practicing excellence be more appropriate?

Yes, we live in a very fast-paced world. Quick solutions are the order of the day, yet we must eventually realize that we continually seem to need a fresh supply of Scotch Tape, Kleenex, or paper clips. By taking more time to look ahead, it is possible to eliminate many of the situations that require those one-minute Band-Aids. Avoid future “boo-boos.” Search for, learn, and practice a more permanent and proactive life. That’s right – “No more tears!”

Make this a great week!

Throw Away the Band-Aids
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It appears I’ve been on a perpetual coffee break for weeks! And yet, it’s not so.

Many of you know I started a full-time job in mid-January — a “real” job some may say. A job teaching and using social media on a daily basis leaves me little time for staying in touch with you.

Anyway… I was fortunate to attend South by SouthWest Interactive (#SXSW) for several days as a benefit of working for Network Communications, Inc.

Nothing prepared me for seeing the internet on feet! The streets of downtown Austin were filled with people immersed in all aspects of the web. The 256-page program guide weighed 8 pounds!

• Design and Development
• Workshops and Panels
• Book Readings and Signings
• Business Applications
• Core Conversations
• Featured Speakers
• Content Strategy
• Web Psychology
• Causes for the Greater Good
• Networking and Funnel Cakes
• Interactive Lounges
• Emerging Technologies

One highlight for me was Clay Shirky’s presentation “Monkeys with Internet Access: Sharing, Human Nature, and Digital Data.”  The blogs excerpted below provide an in-depth review of the informative — and entertaining — talk.

Shirky looked at the organizing power of the internet and its disruptive force. The sudden wealth of organizing and communicating tools, he argued, have upset many comfortably established systems, generally through their ability to provide better service than the status quo.

“Abundance,” he said, “breaks more things than scarcity.” 
~ Mike Miner, The Fifth Column

Shirky argues that, in comparison to the sharing of goods or services, primates — including humans — have evolved to want to share information. “Sharing information is something we’re biased to do and to like doing.”

“Behavior is just motivation filtered through opportunity,” he said. 
~ Dr. John Grohol, The Huffington Post

Media companies are freaking out about this change, but rather than realigning to a new reality they are trying to protect the old one. He noted that businesses create workarounds to problems, but part in parcel with that is that this builds in a desire to not solve the original problem lest the solution make itself obsolete. There is no profit motive in fixing something once and for all.  ~@ Jeremy Littau

We have a word for not sharing if there’s no cost to you: That word is ’spiteful.’  ~ Liz Gannes, gigaom

Be sure to check back for an update on “How To Not Be a Douchebag” as presented by Ed Hunsinger, Violet Blue and John Adams.

Sharing, Human Nature, and Digital Data
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