Adventures with Blogging 101 - Part 2

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I recently took a webinar on blogging for business with Social Media Magic. It was taught by Dave Barnhart. It was great. I learned things I wish I hadn't and other things I'm glad I did. My previous post was about things didn't want to hear about... ('cause they mean more work for me!)

And now I thought I'd mention some of the cool things I was happy to discover. Here are some:

1. Blog posts can be short and sweet. Its actually good to have long and short blog posts - so posting weekly or even twice weekly doesn't have to be a burden (phew!)
   
2. What to blog about? This was especially helpful in terms of building a brand. There are four topics Dave suggested you blog about;
   

• Aspects of your business you're passionate about (I've done virtually no blogging on that - oops!)
• Industry trends (I think I've done a fair amount of blogging on that...)
• Behind the scenes of your business (one might consider this blog post in that category.)
• And personal stuff. He recommends between 5-15% of your posts fall into this category (I've done many blog posts related to my passion for social activism - not sure if that counts as personal...) And it seems from what Dave's saying, I could mention something about my love of animals and the many rescue efforts we've engaged in (for instance, last year we drove 6 injured pigeons three hours upstate to a sanctuary, after having nursed one pigeon back to health for a year. - I know.)

I'm also a fine artist and painter when the spirit moves me. Did I mention my pet portrait website? (No. I thought that would be confusing. Now I may choose to mention it within the context of sharing something "personal".) Sneaky huh?

It had been my strategy, up until now, simply to experiment with blogging; find out how much time it takes, see if I enjoy it and determine if I'm really willing to commit to it. Learning about advanced tactics and strategy at this juncture is perfect timing. I followed what he was talking about easily because it wasn't theoretical, I had already been blogging.

My next step then, as a business, is to articulate a revised strategy based on what I've learned and go forward from there.

All and all it was a great webinar. Those are some of the highlights. I hope it helps you as you think about blogging for your situation.

Humane Society Partners with Ad Council to Help Animals

I was thrilled to learn tonight a client of mine, The Advertising Council, will be creating a major PSA campaign to support the efforts of Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

I just came back from a town hall meeting with Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the HSUS. He is a personal hero of mine. I was so impressed with their response to hurricane Katrina and have been a dedicated member ever since. The HSUS has been fighting successfully for animals suffering all forms of cruelty; factory farms, puppy mills, the barbaric seal hunt in Canada to name only afew. Their growth in membership, the passage of significant pieces of legislation, the raising of public awareness has helped hundreds of thousands of animals over the years. Much of this is attributed to Wayne's leadership.

It was so satisfying to be there and get personally updated. I hope to get trained in animal rescue so I can be of use during natural disasters. Alas, the curse of enthusiasm strikes again!

Adventures with Blogging 101 - Part 1

I was talking with a women the other day about possibly re-designing her website.  She spoke about being overwhelmed by all the technology that comes with being on the internet as a business. I could only empathize. I do this for a living, and I find the amount of information there is to process and learn about an ongoing challenge. And in other ways, I'm completely excited by it all. The possibilities are really quite amazing. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with it all.

Today I took a webinar on blogging for business with Social Media Magic. It was taught by Dave Barnhart. It was great overall. I learned things I wish I hadn't and other things I'm glad I did. Here's what I didn't want to hear... (Did I mention I have a love hate relationship?)

1. The minimum one should blog is once a week. Posting twice a week is even better. And anything beyond that is "prolific". I've been blogging sporadically about twice a month. And why, you may ask must you blog more? The frequency of posts makes your blog more likely to be found by Google. And that's a good thing.
2. Blogger is not the best platform to be blogging on. (shhhhh - don't tell blogger!) Wordpress.org and Typepad are preferred. Well I already knew that, now I know why. They both have trackback features and technorati tags and blogger doesn't. Those are fancy things that help you track and gauge your efforts. Sort of important wouldn't you agree?

The reason I'm unhappy to learn these things is it means more work for me, like writing more blog posts, and moving over to WordPress. As a small business owner, more work is never good news. Sigh...

There were also things I learned that I was happy to discover. However, to find out what they were, you'll have to come back and visit my blog next time. (This is part of my strategy to start posting once or twice a week. See how it works??)

To be continued....

How did Ford save 35 million going green?

How did Ford save 35 million going green?
Answer: by following the design concept developed by architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart  called Cradle to Cradle or Waste = Food. Watch the video and be very inspired.

At its most basic it is about including the concept of composting or re-use of materials right into the manufacturing process at the design stage. Or as they put it, producing goods that can be re-used either by the biosphere or the technosphere, thus eliminating the problems of waste entirely. Get it??  I hope so, 'cause its pretty exciting!! No waste. No landfill. No problem.

As a designer, I know about the idea of  sustainable forestry. The concept was once explained to me this way. If everyone in the world agreed to use only recycled paper/wood products tomorrow, we would run out of recycled materials in one week. Ultimately recycling isn't the answer to our waste problem, because its not actually sustainable. That's where sustainable forestry comes in. Trees are planted and cut down for their use. And more trees are planted upon harvesting to keep the forest flourishing. That's the simplified, nutshell version. However, the concept of Cradle to Cradle is even more exciting to me. As Michael Braungart put it, "sustainable is the bear minimum".

So let me get back to the Cradle to Cradle idea and Ford for one moment.

Here are specific examples of one aspect of what Cradle to Cradle meant to Ford when they set out to re-tool one of their plants. Water run off was filtered by their "green" rooftops (designed to be a meadow for birds and bees). This rooftop saves Ford money on maintenance (there is less degradation on such rooftops). The meadow rooftop helps better regulate heat and cooling within the building iteslf, thus saving on heating and air conditioning costs. It saved a bundle of money by eliminating the need for a water purification process. Nature does the job by purifying the runoff water on the roof before returning it to the land. And it so happens that humans enjoy working in plants designed with these concepts in mind because such buildings require more natural light and natural airflow to achieve some of the other cost savings. The fact that the building is a pleasure to work in saves money on sick days, and employee turn-over. Bottom line, Ford saved 35 million dollars by redesigning their plant with Cradle to Cradle thinking. Now that's exciting! And if you watch the video, and I hope you do - you'll see that Ford isn't the only business taking notice.

Reduce, reuse, recycle – sustainable forestry, Cradle to Cradle – Waste = Food. Some provocative ideas to consider for your business and the future of the planet.

Crazy fun with Social Media - FaceBook for business?? Really?

This post is about using FaceBook (FB) for business. It's more about logistics than strategy. I thought I'd share some of my decision making process/experimentation here because I know other multi-talented business owners are also grappling with questions of how to manage online identities and how to use FB for business.

I've just set up two business "pages" for my businesses. I did that because I decided I really want to use FB mostly for keeping in touch with friends and family. Now when business contacts ask to be my friend on FB, I can say, "please become a "fan" of my business, I'm using FB for staying in touch with friends and family".

However, I may live to regret my choice! Keeping up with two profiles will be twice the work. I'm also an artist with a separate website for my pet portraits - so now three times the work. You see the problem!

First of all, FB was designed for you to stay in touch with friends and family. That is how FB wants you to use their service. If you solicit business directly, this will probably cause you to violate FB's terms of use, and they may well delete your profile - no questions asked, no warnings given. So keep that in mind. That being said, there are some recommended best practices about how to use FB for business. (In fact, let me give a shout out to Social Media Magic University (SMMU) and Jennifer Shaheen who teach this stuff).

Now, some people want to use FB exclusively for business. That means they use it for business networking. Their profile is more professionally focused. They aren't soliciting business directly as much as they are building relationships, demonstrating expertise and sharing information of value. For those who don't want to use facebook for keeping up with friends and family, the choice is pretty easy.

The issue that many people face howerver is - what if I want to do both - keep up with family, and also connect around business?? Like myself. Well here are some of our choices:

1. Use a single profile to represent yourself and your business. Intermingle business, family and friends and just determine in advance how you want to balance both and post to your wall with that in mind. You can use the privacy settings to help control what is seen on your wall and by whom. This option is recommended by many experts simply because managing a number of different profiles - one for personal and one for business can be hard to keep up with.
2. The next option is to use your personal profile for friends and family and set up a FB "page" to represent your business. Here are both of my pages for examples Carol Hillson Creative on FB and Carol's Pet Portraits on FB. To set up a business "page" click on the "advertising" link at the very bottom of the page, and then click on the "pages" link at the top of that page. (They don't make it easy!) This approach is actually what FB wants you to do with business. A "page" is a lot like a personal profile, except you invite "fans" rather than "friends" and it has analytics to help you measure the impact of your posts and or marketing efforts.
3. You can also start a group for your business - however, groups are meant more for facilitating discussions and there are no analytics. 

I'll keep you posted if I think I made the right choice. The jury is certainly out for now.

To be continued...

Dr. Riane Eisler speaking at the UN Sept 16, 2009

I saw Dr. Eisler speak in D.C., she was truly inspiring. I couldn't find a link with the information about her upcoming engagement in NYC, so I'm using my blog as a place to host the info and spread the word. If you can attend, you will be happy you did.

The Real Wealth of Nations: From Global Warming to Global partnerships
Sponsored by Grenada
In preparation for the One Day Summit on Climate Change

September 16th
1:15-2:45pm
Conference Room 1
United Nations Headquarters

Dr. Riane Eisler
World Renowned Speaker and Author

Dr. Riane Eislers’s newest book, The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics – hailed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as “a template for the better world we have been so urgently seeking,” by Peter Senge as “desperately needed,” and by Jane Goodall as “a call for action” – proposes a new approach to economics that gives visibility and value to the most essential human work: the work of caring for people and planet.

Please contact  Derek Nelson for registration at dnelson5@stu.edu or at 305-890-9349 (email preferred)

The dark (and bright) side to Social Media...

I met with a colleague the other day and we talked about Social Media Marketing (SMM). It is on everyone's minds these days. It promises great opportunity and also some peril. I'll give an example of each and suggest some tools I found that might help you manage some of the risk.

Here is an example of the opportunity:

Universal Orlando Resorts was launching a new Harry Potter theme park. They had an unlimited budget for getting the word out. But instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars on conventional marketing, the person heading the team invited 7 of the most popular bloggers to a private webcast at midnight and told them the news. Within 24 hours 350 million people knew about the theme park launch.
source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4mwdMtlEM

Moral of the story:

1. Clearly, it helps to have the world's most famous wizard at your disposal!
2. SMM has a crazy powerful exponential factor that can work for large and small companies alike and save you a bundle.
3. SMM is built on word of mouth, which is so much more trusted and therefore powerful than "paid" advertising.

But as I said, there are some perils (and a few horror stories too!) Here's an example of one of the perils:

The colleague I visited told me a story about a well known construction company in NYC that had a fine reputation among the general public for years. Though among other construction professionals, their work was not known for being of the highest quality. This company was early in their industry to embrace SMM, and perhaps it was a bit easier back then to manage and even remove negative publicity if and when it did surface. So their reputation, among the general public, remained intact. Well, as SMM has grown since then, it's become harder to manipulate reviews posted online. Apparently, not too long ago, a few negative posts from the general public began to surface about this company. Today they are facing an avalanche of bad posts and their reputation is getting slammed.

Moral of the story:

1. Most important – provide quality products and services!
2. Deal with complaints proactively
3. Make sure part of your ongoing SMM strategy includes the ability to monitor and manage your reputation online

And as I promised, here are some tools to help you do that.

Google alerts - lots of people use this and its pretty simple, straight forward and free. You can enter a phrase for it to search, and when the phrase shows up in Google, you get an alert in your email. However, I tested it and it failed to track a twitter post in real time, so I decided looked at some other tools. However, there is a great article here that helps you determine which keywords you might want to track. The principles apply whichever tool you choose to use.

http://steprep.myfrontsteps.com - I LOVE this tool! What I love about it it's free, easy to use and very robust - you can REALLY manage your reputation, not just monitor it. I also love how I found it – I didn't! It found me. I tweeted about some of the other reputation management tools I had looked at, and StepRep tweeted me and invited me to check them out. Now that's SMM at its best! I investigated and I'm really happy I did. It's a GREAT tool. Go and see for yourself!

http://www.trackur.com - they have range of price points that's quite reasonable for small businesses and nonprofits. Using them is pretty simple and they have a 60 second tutorial. Also they rate the posts on the internet (about your company) as good, bad and neutral. This helps you see at a glance if there's anything to deal with.

http://www.buzzaround.us - this is a very cool, easy to use tool. Not a lot of bells and whistles, but you can add it to your tool bar and see who's talking about you very easily. And its free. Always nice!

So don't be afraid of SMM (its too late for that anyway - it is already here!) Do some research, take it in small steps and learn what you can to be prepared. Then go and have fun!

Who's your audience - humans or spiders? SEO tips.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - everyone with a website wants it - but do you know what is it? Or how to get started? Below are some tips that I hope will help demystify the process.

Why SEO?

The goal of SEO is that when someone does a search on a product or service you offer, your website appears in the results of that search. And ideally it comes up on the first page of Google. (The reason you want to come up in the first page is because few people click beyond that.)

What is SEO?

SEO is to websites, a little like what Public Relations (PR) is to print marketing. SEO is often referred to as "organic" marketing, meaning you don't "pay" to advertise your site per se. And Google searches sites using "spiders - or bots" (short for robots) using a certain algorithm meant to encourage the best sites to rise to the top and other sites, well... not so much.

How can you make your content more Search Engine Friendly?
First and foremost, make your content meaningful and interesting to your human audience. They are your PRIMARY audience. The spiders are not your audience, they are how you reach your audience. That's key. Then, beyond that, there are some tips below. 1 through 4 are ones you should be able to do yourself, assuming you have a website you can edit.

1. keywords in page titles: that's considered one of the most important place to put keywords, in the page title. Here's an article about this with some more detail and how to.
2. keywords in head lines: And also consider your headlines - its a great idea to start those out with a couple of keywords, so that's a bit different than writing for humans.
3. keyword frequency on a page: There is no set standard for how frequently to use key words within text - though unlike ordinary writing - repetition of keywords is a good idea. Some experts recommend 4 or 5 keywords within each 100 words of text. Others suggest using keywords or key phrases at least twice for every 400.
   
4. text length: And a well optimized site should have between 250-500 words of text per page. Though be mindful, robots like text and humans like pictures. If you're trying to attract both types of visitors, you need a design that balances both well.
   
5. keywords in domain names, site folders (for html sites), meta tags and links: These are tasks that will more likely have to be done by your web designer.
   

What should you expect from your SEO efforts?

1. Using good SEO techniques should help you increase your web traffic.
   
2. SEO doesn't guarantee you a top page ranking on Google, (which is usually the allure. ironic eh?)
   
3. SEO is an ongoing process not a one shot deal.
   
4. The one-time-only part would be more properly described as making your site Search Engine Ready. That means your web designer did few of those special things mentioned above. But the internet is an ever evolving beast. Key words can be fluid things, what got heavily searched last month, may be less relevant this month. Or perhaps the key word you're hoping to be searched on has too much competition to be effective. Or perhaps you've got a new product or service to introduce, and new key words to go with it... The point is, SEO is something you need to keep up with if you want results.
   
5. Making your site Search Engine Ready is an important function website design. And keeping it Search Engine Optimized - is actually a function of - marketing.
   

Can you do it yourself?

Sure. Do you want to? That depends on your resources, technical curiosity and patience.

Many people suggest that paying a company to do SEO for you is a waste of money. I'm not so sure. Whether you do it, or you hire someone to do it, it takes some time and effort. For some small business owners, its a great hands-on way to learn more about your audience, how to improve your website and how better to serve your target market. For other business owners, its time sapping activity and ultimately a poor allocation of resources. A few business owners I know who "did it themselves" found out first hand just how much time and effort it can take. That's because its not magic, its marketing.

In case you want to try, or just better educate yourself on it... here a few good articles to get you started

1. About creating a key word strategy
2. And the importance of link building
3. See what's really involved in terms of time and money

A few FREE Keyword Resources

1. Google’s Keyword Tool
The Keyword Tool provides keywords suggestions similar to the terms you entered. You can also see the local and global search size on Google. And you can check out what your competition is expected to pay for cost-per-click (CPC)

2. SEMrush

Type in some key words or key phrases and see who how many people search on that phrase and also what your competition is paying for CPC.

3. Key Word Density tool - this tool analyzes key word density of your site

My best advice:
Design a web site keeping the focus on your human audience (and us some of the principles mentioned). Then create and implement a smart targeted marketing strategy and the robots will naturally find you. As your business grows, begin investing in some mix of SEO, SEM and/or Social Media Marketing (SMM) using a professional designer to help you really reach your audience. Then begin to shape your brand.

Twitter comes with instructions

My toothpaste still comes with instructions:

"for best results squeeze the tube from the bottom and flatten as you go up"

One of my great annoyances with new technology (sometimes a tad more complicated than a tube of tooth paste) is how few new gizmos seem to have any instructions at all!

Well, apparently that is a marketing niche opportunity for many. If you don't yet know how to work with twitter... guess what, someone has come up with some instructions. http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

And if you already "drank the koolaid" but still feel like a newbie - here's how to customize your twitter background http://mashable.com/2009/05/23/twitter-backgrounds/

As with all products...

"For best results, read and use sparingly.
Warning: Social Media can be highly addictive!"

Is Facebook using YOUR photos in other people's ADs?

Facebook has agreed to let 3rd party advertisers use your posted photos without your explicit permission. If you want to avoid this, click on SETTINGS (located on top of page in blue bar, next to logout); select PRIVACY SETTINGS; select NEWS FEED and WALL; select the TAB that reads Facebook Ads. There will be a drop down box; Select NO ONE!

This tip came to me via several different people - it has the viral vibe! Thanks Internet!

Peace poster appears in Washington Post

Great "product placement"

An article in the Washington Post features a photo of Congressman Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress and the first African American to represent Minnesota in his office. Just behind him to the left is a poster I designed for the Peace Alliance, promoting the campaign calling for a federally funded Department of Peace in the U.S. government.

Now that's gratifying!

Here is the poster. If you are inspired, you can purchase one here. All the proceeds will support the campaign for a Department of Peace.

Blood diamonds? Conflict electronics? What we don't know can kill others.

I saw the film Blood Diamond the other night on TV. I highly, highly recommend it. It was riveting and inspiring. Yes, horrifying and violent too, but absolutely worth watching. Not only because it depicts an issue of great importance, but also because its a really well-done film. (I worked in film editing for 11 years).

I already knew something of the issue of diamond mining fueling conflict and human rights abuses in Liberia and Sierra Leone. And I knew enough to feel very relieved that diamonds weren't things I ever cared to purchase. (Instead of buying my engagement ring, my husband "purchased" the ring that had belonged to my grandmother from me - by making a donation to a favorite charity. The ring then became his to give.) And that was back in 2000, before the issue of blood diamonds became something the US public was aware of. In fact, it wasn't until 2003 that the Kimberly certification process went into effect - a process that enabled consumers to certify they were purchasing diamonds that were indeed conflict free.

By November 2002, negotiations between governments, the international diamond industry and civil society organizations resulted in the creation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). The KPCS document sets out the requirements for controlling rough diamond production and trade. The KPCS entered into force in 2003, when participating countries started to implement its rules. read more

However, computer electronics... That's a different matter. When I heard that other minerals were essential to building our electronics - I was deeply troubled. I have TONS of electronics!! And honestly, I want more, and I want them cheap! But I certainly don't want them to cost other people their very existence.

So I wanted to know more. And specifically - what could I do as a citizen to shop and live responsibly? Fortune had a great article on the matter. I recommend it to anyone interested in the subject. The bottom line is, its true;

"The consumer electronics industry is the largest end user of the minerals that are fueling the fighting in eastern Congo," says John Norris, executive director of the Enough Project, an Africa-focused advocacy group and leader of the coalition. "These companies have an obligation to ensure they are not financing armed groups by demanding more information and better behavior from their suppliers."

And there is already some efforts underway to address the matter.

In Congress, Sen. Sam Brownback is partnering with Sen. Russ Feingold and Sen. Dick Durbin to revise legislation that Brownback introduced last year addressing the issue. Set to be introduced by April 4, the new bill would require companies that use minerals mined in the region to disclose sourcing to the SEC. previously cited

And;

Some companies already have policies on minerals from DR Congo. Motorola (MOT, Fortune 500), Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), HP (HPQ, Fortune 500), Nokia (NOK) and RIM (RIMM) bar suppliers from selling them Congolese coltan. "Mining activities that fuel conflict are unacceptable," Motorola wrote in response to Enough's request.
HP also said it would work on the issue. "We take very seriously the issue of the social and environmental conditions associated with our electronics industry supply chain," says Judy Glazer, director of HP's global social and environmental responsibility operations.
But even if the companies want to help, it's not easy. There's no certification system for minerals from the region. "Short of banning all minerals coming from the Eastern Congo or coming from Central Africa, it's going to be very difficult to set up a system on the ground that will be able to distinguish between good and bad minerals," says Jason Stearns, a former UN DR Congo investigator....previously sited

It seems this is an issue to keep an eye on. I'm thrilled that Apple has some policies in place and will track to see what more evolves. I'm hoping these beginning efforts become stronger over time and that more businesses step up voluntarily, or feel the pressure, to adopt and publicize similar policies. And as consumers we can take responsibility as well.

There are several simple things we can each do:

1. Call our congress members and ask them to support S891 the bill before Congress. (Search on bill no. S891 to read the text.) Use Congress.org to find your Congress Members' contact information. Just type in your zip code in and click GO. Contact your Senators and Representative, give them your address so they know you are a constituent, then ask them to co-sponsor this bill.
   
2. Make a donation to nonprofits like the Enough Project.
   
3. Research electronic companies before making purchases to make sure your purchases are as conflict free as possible.
4. Talk about this issue with people you know.
   

...........

Previous efforts to clean up supply chains have had mixed results. The Kimberley Process, a joint government, industry and nonprofit initiative that certifies shipments of rough diamonds as "conflict-free," was largely successful, now covering most of the world's diamonds. But the chocolate industry's response to criticism over child labor on cocoa farms in West Africa, a voluntary protocol by which companies would wean themselves from child labor, then certify as much, hasn't significantly changed practices in Ivory Coast and elsewhere. previously sited

Entrenched situations such as these don't change overnight and our efforts may never "seem" like they are enough. The reality is 5 minutes of action, can go a long way when enough people join together. As consumers, we play a vital role in helping shape this issue and others like it. And we have far more power than we realize.

SEO - the basics and a few tips and tools

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the fine art of getting your website ranked high enough by search engines like Google, so that when people do a search on your keywords, your site comes up on the first page. Sounds great. Though its not such a simple goal to achieve. The bottom line is that the search engines want the content and actual popularity of your site to be the determining factor of your rank, and they are always trying to adjust their methodology to encourage and ensure that.

Still a few basics to consider which can likely help you:

1. Page titles that start with and include keywords
2. Multiple folders (If your site is built in html) and the folders are named with key words - this helps
   
3. Text rich pages concentrated with keywords (but not so much that it turns off humans - they are in fact your primary audience!)
4. Use links with keywords when possible
   
5. Get as many people to (legitimately) link to your site - when your write an article online, or set up a blog - include your web link.
   
6. Link to other people - again keep it legit.
7. Keep the content on your home page fresh and new - this keeps the spiders (and the humans) coming back for more.
8. Of course meta tags and descriptions should also have keywords added.

If you have a great product or service, and great content which you make available for your audience, overtime your ranking will organically improve. If you want to give it a big boost, be prepared to pay - either in time or money.

SEO is a growing industry. You can pay companies to run SEO campaigns. Its often an ongoing process that takes time, frequent monitoring, trial and error, focus and patience. Web designers can incorporate some basic tactics to help boost your ranking, but this is making a site Search Engine Ready and not the same as SEO, which includes ongoing monitoring of results and tweaking the site until you have the results you want. You can do this yourself, but it takes time.

You can also consider SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and pay for a service like City Search, Reach Local or Context Web to run a targeted marketing campaign. Many of these services start at $400 p/m commitment level and that doesn't include the designing of the ads themselves.

Whether or not you're ready for such a marketing commitment, or not, be aware, the search engines are always changing their algorythms to thwart people trying to get their pages ranked higher through tricks. (Adding key words in tiny type that matches the background is one such trick.) These kind of shannanagans can get your site black listed and set your marketing back.

So what's a business to do?

Keep working on marketing your business and your site. Be mindful of SEO, but never loose site of your actual business. Content is what matters - to humans and spiders.

Below are a few tools that can help you

http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/ check out what key words get the most hits online in a particular category.

http://www.trackur.com/ Andy Beal is an ethical expert on SEO, and founded this company to help you track and monitor your brand and its reputation online. Check out his article on SEO (note: its a bit dated, but the content still quite applicable).

http://www.alexa.com/ - this site allows you to see who's searching your wesbite and which keywords they used to find you.

5 tools that help your business run better

I've been working over the past few months to systematize some of my operations. As a solo-entreprenuer, one of the best resources available to help increase my "free" time, are all the cool programs available online. So many to choose from! I thought I'd share some of the favorites I found, and hopefully save you some of the many hours I spent researching. I'm pretty sure most of the tools below come with a 30 day free trial - check the links to be sure. Enjoy!


1. PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS
Hands down, I love Viewpath the best. Wrike.com comes in a close second. Also, I have a wiki - pbwiki.com - now called PBworks.com
What I was looking for:

• Accessible online
• Under $20 p/m
• Gantt chart with dependencies
• Could get a project set up in minutes (without having to read instructions)
• Could assign other people to tasks (without them having to sign up for the software)
• Could prioritize tasks
• Could enter a time estimates for tasks
• Could download the info in XLS as well as PDF
• Unlimited projects & tasks
• Integrated calendar

What each one does:

• Viewpath does it all and more - it is FREE!!! And it has tons of video and text tutorials. The calendar is not as integrated as I would have liked, but after further research - I think its the best choice for me. I don't need to collaborate with others so much. I use it mostly for internal purposes.
• Wrike.com was cool - but not cool enough. It was 20-30 p/m. I could assign people tasks, but it forced them to become wrike members. The cool feature, and I were collaborating on a big unwieldy project, this would sway me - is the intelligent email. You put the project name in your email subject lines, cc wrike.com on all your emails about a given project and presto - it automatically assigns it to the right folder. That was AWESOME. But like I say, I don't really need to collaborate. And no integrated calendar that was a deal breaker for me.
• PBWiki.com - I use this to track tons of information. Its like an intranet. I keep the login information for the gazillion accounts I have (each one wants something different, no letters, only numbers, 4-6 letters, 6-8 letters - so having one password is out the window). I take notes on projects and clients and keep it all there. I also track tons of personal stuff, vet visits with my animals for instance, a travel budget for an upcoming trip. Whatever you need to track, you can search the whole site so even if the organizational vision gets lost, you can still track important information easily. And you can invite specific people to look at or even collaborate on certain parts of of the site and not others. It wouldn't replace viewpath or wrike. I use it along with either one. Personal accounts are free.
  

2. INVOICING, ESTIMATES AND TIME TRACKING
cashboard.com won me over... though I might be reconsidering... or trying to really learn how to use it! I used to use BlinkSale - they don't have enough of the features I want,ed it was too simple. I wanted it to:

• be accessible online
• create estimates
• create duplicate estimates
  
• track time against them
• turn them into invoices
• branded estimates and invoices
  
• a time tracking widget
• time sheets both daily and weekly
• ability to pull various reports

I tried a few others, but this one had more of the features I wanted for a good price - $10 p/m.

3. PERSONAL FINANCE TRACKING
What I wanted:

• accessible online
• under $20 p/m
  
• syncs with all accounts
• provides a snapshot of all your finances
• provides a snapshot of networth
• has investment tracking
  
• could pull various reports for tax prep
• creates a budget
• tracks the budget against reality

Yodlee does it all - for FREE!!! Its perfect for our personal finances - my husband and I can both find all the info we need in one secure place. you can track EVERYTHING - mortgage payments, home value, investments, rewards, bank accounts, debts - you name it. Print reports, pay bills and more. We keep all the notes about our mortgage there, along with details of our insurance plans. And there is Mint.com, which is beautiful, though not nearly as robust. Its also FREE and perfect for a small nonprofit I chair. But it doesn't have enough power for our complex personal finances. Mvelopes was one I used for a year had high hopes for, but ultimately it just wasn't user friendly enough. And its NOT FREE!

4. REMOTE BACKUP
Jungledisk is perfect, especially if you're on a mac. I set it up in less than 5 minutes (UNPRESIDENTED!!) You can use it to drag and drop files while you work, have it back you up automatically on the schedule of your choice, and also access all your files from ANYWHERE. Great for people who work at multiple locations. And its VERY reasonably priced - just $2 p/m and 15 cents p/gig - no minimums, no maximums.

5. ENEWS LETTER
My favorite is still Constant Contact. Best bang for your buck.

THE MAGIC OF THE WEB - a marketing follow up

Earlier I talked about the magic of the web and the need to market your site if you're expecting visitors in volume. (Don't forget, when you meet someone in person, hand them your business card and brochure with your website prominently featured and tell them to visit your website. That's a solid marketing strategy, though not necessarily intended for high volume).

When it comes to online marketing, there are many ways you can go about it. And it all depends on your business goals and marketing strategies as to which way you go. For small business owners and smaller nonprofits, here are three basic ways to consider getting started.

1. Send out an enewsletter (I use constant contact)
2. Write a blog (I'm using blogger.com)
3. Advertise online (I don't do this, but I hear good things about google adwords)

One of the best ways ways to begin is by writing an enewsletter. You can send something as simple as a weekly or monthly tip, a case study, or something as complex as a complete old fashioned newsletter, with articles, interviews, and special offerings. They're a pretty simple, inexpensive, and effective tool. It allows you to stay in touch with contacts you already have and remind them of your products and services on a regular basis. Constant Contact is reasonably priced to meet any size organization's needs and has lots of reporting features, so you can see whose opening your emails and what they're interested in. You can use it to help drive traffic to your site on a regular basis or when you're running a special offer.

Another tool is a blog. You'll still have to drive traffic to the blog - but its way to position yourself as an expert in your field and give your prospects something for free. This gives them a chance to get to know you better and trust you more. One thing to consider, is that it takes time to write a blog. Make sure you're willing and able to spend the time doing it.

And the last marketing tip is to pay for online advertising. This can be very effective in terms of reach, and it can be expensive if you're expecting volume. You can run a banner ad campaigns and buy up targeted ad space. This will mean hiring a designer to design the ad, and then paying monthly to run the campaign. Alternatively you can pay a set amount each month to something like google ad words and slowly increase your traffic over time. Again, it depends on your expectations, needs and your available resources.

These are only a few examples of some of the least expensive and effective ways to start marketing on the web. So remember, first get clear on;

1. your business goals
2. the purpose of your website
   
3. and your ovearall marketing strategy
   

Then choose the online (and print) marketing tools that fit your needs and your available resources.

What's in a name? And the power of repetition...

I'm taking a momentary break from a website I'm designing for a client. I'm encountering something I encounter a lot with small businesses and nonprofits - inconsistent naming conventions. What do I mean and why does it matter? Let me put it this way, when I worked full time at an ad agency, one of the things we were trained to do AS we worked, was make sure things were always referred to by the same name wherever they appeared. For designers its an aspect of branding 101. It meant if "Wonderous Widgets" appeared 3 times on a page, 10 times in a brochure or 100 times in a website, it appeared as "Wonderous Widgets" in every single instance, in each and every format throughout a given campaign. Not sometimes as "WW" or other times as "Fancy Widgets", or occasionally as "Great Gadgets", but ALWAYS as "Wonderous Widgets".

Its a bit like the opposite of writing, where you try never to use the same word twice. In writing its assumed everybody understands the meaning of common words and for artistic reasons you want variety. When it comes to specific services, products or campaigns you are promoting that are unique to your business - using the same word or phrase to describe them each and every time will help your customers know what you're talking about. Otherwise you run the risk of confusing or distracting them [with thoughts like, "are Wonderous Widgets the same as Fancy Widgets? Is one better than the other? I definitely want the best Widget. I better wait until I'm sure I'm getting the best Widget possible. Maybe I'll try another site].

Of course what stands in the way of small businesses and nonprofits being able to do this successfully, is time and energy. It can be very time consuming to keep all the naming conventions square. But what's WAY more time consuming, is when you don't have any...

It takes a little planning ahead, a system and some discipline. Make yourself a cheat sheet - or as we call it in design, a "style guide". It will help you remember what your naming conventions are. And if you decide to change the way you name something, then remember, you want to change it EVERYWHERE it appears. And if you're working with a designer, you'll save yourself a bundle of cash if you make these decisions before they start working on your creative campaigns. :-)

If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter - T.S Eliot

As a designer, small business owner (and former film editor), I struggle with this concept constantly. It’s a big part of what separates good design from not so good design. How do you pack the essence of a company or organization into a tiny symbol that will translate in a nanosecond their audience – that’s the very point of logo design. And by extension, really, all kinds of design.

Reducing things to their essence takes way longer than you think. It’s all about trial and error. It’s often a bit of a meditative process for me. I play around with different ideas, let them marinade for a few days, come back with fresh eyes and reconsider them.

Reducing things to their essence it’s critical. Why? Because otherwise you distract and confuse your audience from their main purpose – being inspired by what you have to offer. And ultimately you loose them.

I’ve had many clients over the years struggle with this. I see them wanting to pack in ALL the information onto – whatever it is – their web page, their brochure, their newsletter, their business card. Their desire is that people will have all the information. The reality is, though, people just don’t absorb information that way. We have a very limited attentions span. By giving someone ALL the information, you’ve making it next to impossible to retain ANY of the information. Its rather counter-intuitive.

For any design or advertising campaign, choose one or two points to address - max. Highlight them. Any additional information you want to pack in there, keep it in small text or better still, leave it off for the next campaign. while first impressions matter, you’re building a relationship. You don’t need to, nor should you expect to, sell someone in the first introduction. Studies show that takes about 7 times before people will buy a product or service. That means they need to hear about you 7 times before they are sold. And that includes being sold on an idea if you’re a not-for-profit. Use that information to your advantage. Pace yourself and think strategically about your campaigns.

I’ll end it there for now. You get the idea. Less is more. That was our mantra back when I was at RISD. Make it yours in all your promotions. When you have something to say, a lot to say, give yourself the time you need to reduce it the essence. Remember, you may have other opportunities to say more another time – does it really belong in this piece now? Ask friends and colleagues for feedback (especially if you know a designer). And practice restraint. Your audience with thank you – by actually getting your message.

The Magic of the Web

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

– Arthur C. Clarke

I've had several clients over the years come to me and ask about designing a website. In many cases, there was often one fundamental misconception; that if they built it, business will come. And while I believe in today's technology-driven climate, every person in business needs a website - websites, by themselves, aren't magic. They are a powerful marketing tool, arguably one of the most power ones available. However, they are still only a tool. And to be effective, they need to be part of an overall marketing strategy.

Let me give you an example. My website http://www.carol@carolhillson.com. Is what would be called in the industry, a brochure on the web. What that means is, I have no interest nor expectations in generating new leads through my website or through search engines. And I have done absolutely nothing about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Online Marketing for my website. Why? Because my marketing strategy doesn't call for it. My strategy is primarily word of mouth. I want to do business with contacts I already have or will be introduced to through mutual friends and colleagues. When I get referrals, I send them to my website. That's how its intended to function. Like handing them a brochure.

If you want your website to sell products or generate leads, or create buzz, then building the site is only half the battle. You still have to market your website if you want people to come and purchase.

So when you're ready to build or revamp your website, be very clear about your business goals, your marketing strategy and the purpose of your website. Then find someone who will tailor your site to meet your needs and not waste money on features you don't need and won't ever use. And conversely, if you're expecting business to magically appear after building your site, make sure your online marketing plan - 1. exists and 2. is designed to accomplish your goals. And then be sure to invest the necessary time and money on it so that you'll be successful.

I'll talk in another post about some marketing options for websites.