Blog Call: Combining Real Life and Online Marketing

Today's number is 464. That's how many articles I have in my Google Reader and how many articles I will shuffle through to make sure you get some interesting articles on stuff that might appeal to you. The theme: combining marketing strategies of online and real life. This will come in especially handy for you folks working in less technology savvy industries:

1. How to Make Your Offline Presence Work for You Online - Some great tips on what to do to integrate your online and offline campaigns. Any size business can take advantage of SEOmoz's wisdom here.
2. 4 Real Offline Uses for Twitter - A great way to look at Twitter from a real-life perspective. These are easy and implementable strategies that will encourage people who are interested in your brand to want to know more about you.
3. The Conversion Attribution Problem - There's always a gap between tracking your online and offline conversions. This esteemed firm has an interesting discussion that deals with ways to attribute credit where credit was due. Complete with lined-paper pencil drawings.
   

Tracking Offline Campaigns in the Google Analytics section of Google Support also provides a helpful reference to take time to see how effective your campaigns are.

How do you track your online and offline campaigns?

3 Ways to Maximize the Journey AND the Destination

I'd say that my biggest weakness is my drive to get to the finish line. I can't imagine that I'm alone here.

It's often said, "it's the journey, not the destination". Despite the cliche nature of this statement, when you stop to really look at it, it's got a pretty darn good point. In the web project management adventures I've taken on, it's the knowledge I've accumulated over time that has increased my value as human capital.

So, today I'm playing the role of the hand-holding, gypsy skirt wearing, uber-positive therapist who likes to speak in proverbs. Here are three things that will help all of us get the most out of every part of every project we tackle:

1. Be in the now. It's easy to get lost in the military march towards the end product, but your most effective learning will come from the process. In most cases, the knowledge gathered from the actual DOING of the project will far outweigh the end result.
   
2. Read the directions. In most cases, what you're doing has been done before. If you read the directions, you can bypass the most common and time consuming mistakes and start making new and exciting mistakes (!) that will shorten your learning curve. I like skipping to advanced mistakes, myself.
   
3. Treasure the learning stage. I know it's tempting to want to rush through this time to get to the "good stuff". But this is your opportunity to study your project in a more academic way. Take this time to understand your project's history, present and future. This is a sure-fire way to reduce errors in the long term.
   

Attention Awesome Unemployed Folks!

I'm an A-player employee lost in the noise.

I have fantastic references, am active in my industry and using my down time to better my skills, create pro-bono projects that keep my mind active and learn new things.

I edit my resume to reflect the core values of the company I'm applying to. My cover letters are witty and intelligent while highlighting my shiniest skills.

How is possible that I could be unemployed after 2.5 months of active searching, impassioned networking and 4 interviews?

After clicking on a link in Seth Godin's blog that lead me to the article "Why Hiring is Paradoxically Harder in a Downturn Market", I started to feel better. Maybe if you're having trouble, it might help you too?

So now you've read this article... What now? How do we stand out without making a spectacle of ourselves? Do we need to start sending sheet cakes to the companies we're interested in with our resumes on them? Do we need to send pinatas with our resume and the hiring manager's favorite candy to stand out?

And at what point do we start to looking like a parody of ourselves? Where is the fine line between standing out and looking like a jig-dancing fool wearing a rainbow ball cap with a propeller on top and wearing our resumes as a sandwich board?

Employers, I'd love a perspective on this one.

URL Shorteners, cont.

For those of your who read my blog article about URL shorteners last week (Why Stripmine Your Web Address? Isn't the Earth Enough?) and enjoyed it, you might be interested to read this more in-depth discussion on the subject written by the folks at ShoeStringVentures titled, A Long Discussion of URL Shorteners.

I thought it offered a good definition, web address shortening products, and a few pro/cons. A little long, but worth the read.

Just thought I'd pass it along!

Why Stripmine Your Web Address? Isn't the Earth Enough?

I think TinyURL undermines your marketing efforts.

I'm not really talking about sharing an eBay treasure with a buddy across the country. I'm really talking about the removal of all keywords and brand names from the link you're trying to promote.

Brand names promote trust in many cases, right? So why, for all that is holy, would you strip it out of URL? I know that when I scan web addresses the first thing I look for is if the carpet matches the curtains. Get your mind out of the gutter. I mean if the title of the articles/page/etc matches the web address. For me, when I see a title like "Bacon Flavored Chocolate Bunnies" and the link is http://www.candystore.com/bacon_flavored_choclate_bunnies.html it establishes a distinct connection I find is critical for me to click on your link. Candy store. Chocolate. I will not, however, think twice about passing you by when I see a sterile URL like http://tinyurl.com/chlqw9, do you?

I realize that the brevity demanded by Twitter and status updates that character real estate is critical. But, and this is the old fuddy duddy in me, maybe being quick and to the point isn't always the right thing. Maybe there's value to being able to tell the whole story. Maybe allowing people to connect our brand name with our product needs more than 140 characters.

I Heart Google

I've always felt like it would take a God-like interference to smite a company like Google. They seem to bring a lot of good will into the world and I think their karma is pretty solid. So when I read a recent article "Google Stumbles but Refuses to Fall" where Frank Reed takes on the recent drop in Google's profits I was pleased that he and I are in cahoots on our overall view of this 300-pound Gorilla (with pretty Google-colored bows in it's hair).

I realize that, like most people, I've fallen prey to their goody-two-shoes image generated by their sparse yet intentional marketing, not to mention all of the free goodies they give away. Keeping my distinct bias in mind, I feel a bit like a proud mama watching her baby graduate from college. Except, I'm not the mama. And Google's not graduating from college. And I really had nothing to do with their success. But aside from all of that, I was pretty excited for them.

I think the biggest thing is that it gives me hope that companies who are generally doing the right thing can succeed. They treat their employees well, they offer up value-add tools that people really use. They have this innate sensibility about how to generate trust and revenue, from their simple but effective search pages to their seemingly honest SERPs.

I guess it just serves as a a little bit of good news right now in a time where even in Real Simple magazine (a personal favorite of mine because of the simple designs and paper cut outs that start their magazine sections, so shiny!) is offering up job searching tips.

So, yay! Yay for you Google! I know I don't have to thank you for being cool because your revenue streams are doing that for me. YAY!

The Simpsons, Moms, Quilts, and Lemons

Warning: This post may read like an episode of the Simpsons.

This weekend we celebrated a milestone birthday for my mother. I made her a king size quilt called "tides" and although she loved it and I was proud to give it to her, I vowed never to make another king size quilt again. But as I came to think about the time I got to spend with my mother-in-law, father-in-law and husband to finish this herculean project it dawned on me that I wouldn't have been able to even attempt this had I been working full-time. In fact, I wouldn't be able to do a lot of things that I've been able to do since I've been unemployed.

Hubby and I have been attentive to our finances and we've come up with various solutions that will allow us to live the life we've become accustomed to. Which then lead me to start thinking about my long-term goals and our long term goals as a couple. I've started considering that I can make a living, and pursue my dreams, I just need to switch it up a bit. I need to rearrange my expectations. It started to dawn on me that maybe I could make lemonade out of this great big pile of lemons I feel like I've been handed.

Maybe this is the right path for me and maybe it isn't, maybe I'll get a phone call tomorrow offering me my dream position. If that happens great, if not, that's okay too. All I really know is that I was trying to see through the lemons life has handed to me. I learned that lemons aren't translucent. Maybe I'll start making lemonade, pour a big glass and see if I can see the world that way.

Blog Call: Marketing Info Worth Bookmarking

Welcome to Blog Call! As we speak I have 567 entries in my Google Reader. I'm going through them so you don't have to. I've compiled a short list of "keeper articles" that are bits of information you can apply today to your marketing plan, in my humble opinion (or IMHO, for those who don't remember English).

• Social Voting Madness - Houston Search Engine Marketing remarks on popularity of polls, why they're helpful and which models are most popular.
• Twitter-Based Business - Maybe it's time to delve into new marketing. SWOM has a few samples of people who are making money off of rapidly growing Twitter.
• 3 Reasons Social Media Fails at Companies - More SWOM, three essential reasons worth reading.
  
• Importance of Twitter for the Over-40s - Check it out people, it's time.
  

Can't Get Evangelism Outta Mah Head

The idea of finding ten people to evangelize your idea (as I referenced in Friday's post regarding First, Ten) has been haunting me.

It's so attainable, tangible even. Such a viral (yet decidedly benign) way to share ideas has to be a winner. I am so compelled.

Companies that have impressed me in regards to evangelism are Google, Apple, Fluevog Shoes and Ben & Jerry's (I'm a bit of a loudmouth about companies I love).

Google offers fantastic value-add tools for people like me: portable documents, shareable web-based calendars, simple, uncluttered, and effective search. I've easily turned ten people on to these products.

Apple, although I'm not a huge fan, is a marketing genius. People who are fans are die-hard. They try to convert everyone they know. They brag about the shininess of their white computers and they have even cultivated somewhat of an superiority complex based on the machine they use. Now THAT'S evangelism.

Fluevog Shoes is another favorite of mine. I don't know if it's hip to tell the world about a brand of shoes I love, but I do. I get stopped on the street constantly about my crazy shoes and I get to tell them all about my favorite hand-made shoes. They're not cheap and the service isn't always the best, but O THE SHOES.

Ben & Jerry's makes "remarkable" products as well. Their crazily named ice creams, as well as their reputation for standing up for the environment, and their animals (no matter how greenwashed that statement is) make them a company you want to tell people about.

What companies do you tell the world about? Whose product excites you enough to share it with friends?

Godin, Evangelizing, and Spiritual Business Acumen

A Seth Godin entry popped into my reader yesterday that struck me. He basically says find ten people who love you, your product, your idea and you're bound to have gradually built success. He says this is preferable to the big rush upon launch and then a petering out over time.

Unbeknowst to us, this has been the approach that a friend of mine and I have with a new project we're working on. But I had never had it put into words before.

So, thinking about your business strategy, what ten people love you, your product, your idea and are willing to evangelize for you? Do you have a collection of dedicated followers that will spread your your word to the masses?

And why is this starting to sound like a religious mission? Are we taking business acumen from the days of Yore (Yore, a lovely time for bronze). They had a shareable, spreadable idea that could be considered the most successful idea yet. AND they started small and let the idea grow at a slow steady rate (with the exception of a few crusades).

5 Questions I ask my Web Design Clients

Here are some basic questions I ask my web design clients before we get started. I thought you might find it handy if you're thinking of having a website created for you or you're creating websites for others.

1. What is the goal of your new website?
   Are you selling something? Are you letting the world know about your business? your hobby? Are you offering your clients a tool that makes their job easier? Their lives easier?
   
   By sorting this out right up front you can steer all decisions towards this goal as well as get a jump start on the marketing (if that's your job as well, I tend to do everything from start to finish)
   
   
2. What can I do for you?
   Do you need web design only or do you want me to develop your site as well? Do you need a domain name (www.awesomeninjamonkey.com)? How about hosting your email? If you're selling things, do you need credit card transaction services? Do you need pictures taken?
   
   Hosting the site yourself, as a web designer, tends to make things easier when it comes to developing the site.
   
   
3. What do you want your site to look like?
   I usually work with my clients to come up with a list of websites they like the look of, as well as a few of their competitors websites. This way I can understand their overall market better, improve our site versus their competitor and make the look and feel fall in line with their tastes.
   
   
4. What do you expect of your website?
   This is where we work out which keywords they want to work hardest for them as well as some overall marketing goals. Do they want to focus on low cost methods such as search engine optimization and social networking or do they want to take it a step further with pay per click marketing, and other types of paid advertising.
   
   
5. Who maintains your site after it's done?
   I use http://www.cushycms.com for my clients' content management needs. It seems to work pretty well, it's very easy to install and incredibly easy to use. So far so good. You can even brand it for your design business for a fee. It allows the client to edit all of the content, and images as dictated by the designer. Any major design changes are still done by the designer and the integrity of the structure of the site stays intact.
   
   Or some clients bring their site editing in-house. And in that case, it's pretty easy to hand it all over.
   

Enjoy the New Client Questionnaire DOC in all of its glory.