Almost every person who has ever tried to market online has been told this big fat LIE about the web. And it’s the one lie that, if they believe it, kills their online business before it even opens.

It’s not just people starting out in business who get sucked in by this big fat lie, it’s…highly successful business owners too.

Take my friend Isabela. She’s Italian, married a Peruvian and the common theme of their relationship is food.

They own a handful of Peruvian restaurants, import specialty food items from Peru and wholesale them to big grocery store chains like Stop and Shop.

Isabela and her husband are smart, successful business owners and Isabela has always had this idea she’d like to sell online too.

Given they’re already importing Peruvian coffee and high end food items, selling online would be a natural extension of their business, one that could be the icing on the cake bringing in tens of thousands of dollars each month in additional income.

But here is where the big fat lie about web marketing gets in the way.

Isabela, like most people, thinks web marketing is free or practically free!

And with this in mind, she had one of her office staff, the one who processes orders for her husband’s food import business, design and build a website. Then Isabela herself has been working on trying to get the site to rank in the search engines.

Yes, it’s true, so far, Isabela hasn’t spent more than a couple hundred dollars on her web site and her online marketing, but it’s generated even less in revenue – which is a shame because she has a business that could easily be making over $200,000 a year for her online.

Let’s take a look at some basic facts about starting a business.

Isabela knows that when she opens a new restaurant, it’s a big investment. On average it takes, $494,888 to open a restaurant. Yes almost a half million dollars. Of course, within 18 months the typical restaurant is grossing $1,171,629 a year and making a profit of $91,103 – which isn’t bad at all.

How about Isabela’s online business? How much did she spend to get it up and running? Practically nothing – and no surprise it makes practically nothing.

As I mentioned before, her perception is that it doesn’t cost anything to setup an online store and get all the traffic you want to be successful – which is the same big fat lie most people believe.

Now I’ve been marketing online for 15 years and I can tell you while there are always a couple of examples that people keep talking about where someone made it big without seeming like they did anything, your chances of doing the same are about as good as winning the lottery.

The truth is making money on the web is no different than making money on main street. To generate sales online – takes time, money and expertise.

You need a plan, money to build your store or your lead funnel, and you need to market it the same way you would if you owned a restaurant. Marketing any business doesn’t happen by magic – whether it’s online or off.

The payoff is that, done right, your return for online marketing is typically greater than spending the same amount of money promoting your business with traditional methods.

But before you tell yourself the big lie that online marketing is practically free let me give you some solid numbers, based on 15 years of experience with companies of all sizes.

If you provide services locally and you’re making $300,000, you can easily double your revenue with your web marketing but it’s going to take an annual investment of $36,000.

Now I can hear you saying, “$36,000 – that’s a lot to spend!” But is it?

How else can you get an eight times return on your money every year? Certainly not in the stock market or in real estate.

Or if you market nationally and your company is making ten million a year and you want to bring in another two million a year. What would it take?

The answer is you’d need to spend around $150,000 a year!

And most people who see this number and think web marketing should be free have sticker shock. But a twelve times return on investment – do you have any other way you could get these kind of returns?

Let me repeat this in hopes you get it.

It takes time, money and expertise to open up a profitable restaurant and the same is true for setting up your online presence for growing your business online even if you’re just trying to generate qualified leads.

Just as you’d have a plan for your restaurant, you’d hire a qualified designer, builder and marketer (no you wouldn’t try and do it yourself) to be successful online you need to do the same!

Questions?

Comments?

Charlie
MarketingForSuccess

P.S. Want help with your online marketing? Let me know how I can help.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Every business owner I’ve ever talked to is like an impatient fisherman.

They want to know the best place to catch a fish. Somewhere where you don’t stand around for hours but can drop your line in and haul in a fresh one right away.

If you wanted the best place to catch a fish, you could always… drop your line in at the local fish hatchery, except for the fact that’s illegal.

Fortunately in marketing, there is one completely legal place to fish that is stocked with ideal clients, decision makers, people with money who want to buy.

What I’m talking about is LinkedIn.

With over 135 million members, chances are good that your target customers are there on LinkedIn waiting for you to connect with them. Here are some strategies for getting in touch with the people who could become your customers:

1. LinkedIn’s advance search lets you target people, groups, and companies. Here you can type in a search term [skill, certification, industry, company, etc.]. Then, check the filters [location, company size, seniority, etc.] for a more defined search. You’ll see results that include a photo, title, and connection to you—something you can’t get on any other network.

2. Check out LinkedIn’s skills section. Here you can research skills and search terms. You’ll find related terms, people and groups who best match the skill.

3. Make a list of your target companies, go directly to the company site and locate someone you’d like to connect with. Then check to see what LinkedIn groups they belong to, join one of them and send them an invitation based on your common membership. This commonality will increase the odds of your invitation being accepted.

4. It’s easy for any company to set up a LinkedIn company page, taking only about 15 minutes. Invite customers to leave recommendations on the products and services page on your LinkedIn company page.

5. Add LinkedIn’s blog application to your personal profile to pull in company blog updates. Install the SlideShare application into your personal profile. Upload a PowerPoint about your company’s services and the presentation will appear on your profile.

6. Make a list of people you want to stay in touch with and follow their updates, leaving comments, and engaging in conversation. When you send your invitations, let people know why you want to connect and thank them for their consideration. And when you accept an invitation, offer to answer questions or exchange ideas about your area of expertise. Ask them a question to get a conversation going, just as you would at a networking event.

7. You can also add value by selecting articles to share that match your area of influence. Need help finding them? Check out LinkedIn Today. It presents the top shared news by industry which you can click and share with your connections. It’s that easy.

8. Something else that makes connecting easy is the feature that allows you to ask and answer questions on LinkedIn. This handy section, located under the “more” tab, gives you insights into what people think about the topics you’re interested in. You simply select the category and send a request to people you’d like to hear from. You can use the answers to contribute to a research project, a white paper, or a blog post.

9. Answering questions (also located under the “more” tab) on LinkedIn is a proven strategy for positioning you or your business as the go-to resource in your niche. Like most marketing tactics, the more strategic your answering efforts, the better your results. Just browse the categories and select a few that you want to watch.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Frustrated with your website?

Wondering why it’s not generating as many leads and sales as you’d like?

The simple answer is that it would be easy to blame… the person who built your website. After all, you paid them.

But still, most websites don’t work and they don’t generate significant revenue. But the fact of the matter is, if your website was designed, written and marketed correctly, it could easily double your existing sales.

So let me ask you a question.

When you had your existing website built, what did you ask your webmaster, or web designer?

Obviously, I wasn’t there when you had this conversation and when you agreed to pay them to build your site, but almost every website owner I’ve ever talked to has neglected to ask the 5 key questions to answer before the webmaster or designer builds any site.

And without this information, no matter how smart your web designer is, they won’t be able to create a site that helps you attract clients and profits.

1. How Do You Generate Interest?
The key to getting people to your site is to give your prospects the information they want, not to lead with the sale. Marketing is a sequence and the first step is to get your prospect’s interest.

What’s your strategy for generating interest in your products and services?

2. How Do You Capture Leads and Get Permission To Market to Them??Once you have a prospect at your site, the objective is to get them to give you permission to continue the conversation, to share tips, ideas, and solutions. To do this you need a clear strategy that helps you capture leads so you can follow up by email.

What’s yours?

3. How Do You Educate and Build Trust?
Once a prospect has given you permission to market to them, the next step is to share a bit of your expertise with them, so they see how smart you are and get to know you and trust you. This is the key to creating a competitive advantage over all the other businesses that do the same thing you do.

Think about it. Who are your prospects going to buy from – the person who has already demonstrated an interest in them, provided helpful ideas and has proof of how great their services are, or just someone who has the standard boring web brochure?

You know the answer.

What are you doing on your website to share your expertise, educate your prospects and develop trust?

4. What Are You Doing To Convert Educated Leads Into Customers?
Once you have prospects that know you, like you and trust you – what strategies are you using to push them to make the decision to buy?

No matter how great your services and how great a prospect’s need for them, procrastination is your biggest enemy. Even when I have a filling that I know I need to see the dentist about, I tend to procrastinate.

To counter your prospect’s procrastination and get them to take action, you need a proactive strategy.

What’s yours?

5. What Do you Do to Upsell Customers?
Did you know that most customers only spend less than half of what they’d be happy to spend with you?

Why?

In most cases, without an understanding of a more comprehensive solution you offer or a bundle of products you’d be willing to sell at a better value, they don’t buy. All it takes is defining your upsell strategy. What’s yours?
——??Do you have answers to each of the above 5 questions?

If you do, you’re way ahead of most people. If not, don’t expect your web master or designer to know the answers either. But do find someone who can help you with coming up with the answers.

To your success,

Charlie
MarketingForSuccess

P.S. If you have an established business here in the U.S. or Canada and are looking to attract more clients this year, contact Lauren about scheduling a free business consultation to put your 2012 profits on track. Just hit reply and include your phone number.

P.P.S. Gotta go. We’ve been getting fresh snow almost every day here in VT and my skis need to be exercised. I’m headed out for a few runs before lunch when I’ll be back sitting in front of the fire and on the phone with clients.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

A friend of mine recently boasted to me about how many Facebook fans his local business has hundreds of fans.

“How many of those fans live in your area?” I asked.

“Uhh, about 20% of them,” he said.

“Are your fans targeted prospects or are they random people?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. Many business owners are focused on getting X amount of fans because it’s the “cool” thing to do and don’t care about getting fans that are real prospects. “Cool”, however, doesn’t translate into sales…

Your business has a Facebook page and based on the amount of fans, statuses, and comments you conclude that you are, in fact, a social media king (or queen). You are “doing” social media. However, have you ever thought about whether or not your efforts are resulting in anything meaningful (as in sales).

Your Facebook status updates are likely to get buried under your fans other posts. Furthermore, most Facebook “fans” of small businesses aren’t even local, according to Business Insider. Gathering local Facebook fans may, over time, result in fans that will convert to customers because you’ve built a relationship with them. Here’s how to make sure that that actually happens…

Build a Targeted Fan Base
The number of fans may give you an ego boost, but it means nothing if those fans don’t actually care about your business. To make targeted local fans like your Facebook page, offer something for free. For example, if you’re a contractor in Boston, give away free customized 3D renderings of home renovations to Bostonians who are looking to renovate. Advertise this free offer in local direct mail and Facebook campaigns.

Use HomeStyler to create the 3D renderings at no cost to you. You now have a fan base of people who are looking to remodel their homes in the Boston area. Of course, you can get untargeted fans, but keep in mind that 1 targeted fan is worth more than 1000 fans who have no interest in your product or service.

Don’t Be Overly Promotional
When people like something on Facebook, they expect that liked page to give them something of value in return. If you’re a celebrity or a corporation you can afford to talk as much about yourself as you want because you already have a ton of social proof.

As a small business, you don’t have that kind of luxury and should, instead, post infrequent updates that give your followers some value. For example, if you own an optometrist page, post links to articles about eye care. Occasionally, post promotional articles of your business so you won’t annoy followers who already have cluttered news feeds.

Engage in Other Forms of Marketing
Facebook may be the “cool” thing to do, but rather than being the main source of your marketing efforts, make it compliment whatever marketing you already do. Build targeted traffic to your website (through SEO or PPC) and ask those targeted visitors to like you on the social networking site.

If you run television advertisements, tell people to like you on Facebook so that they can receive a discount or freebie. Ask your employees to tell customers to like your business on Facebook and place signs in your storefront, advertising your Facebook presence.

Measure the Effectiveness of Your Facebook Efforts
Getting a fan base for your local business is likely to involve an investment in the form of discounts and giveaways, which come at a cost. You can measure the effectiveness of your Facebook campaign by having your customers fill out surveys, which ask them about their Facebook usage.

If, over time, you notice a relationship between paying customers and Facebook usage, you know your social media efforts are paying off. If there isn’t a correlation it’s most likely because you are not getting a targeted fan base.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Everyone knows the answer to attracting more clients, retaining them and increasing sales – but you’re not using it.

The simple secret to more sales is so basic that you apply it every day in your life, but hardly anyone uses it in business but they could simply by…Focusing on the one bond that keeps both your marriage intact and your customers buying from you.

What am I talking about?

It’s building and maintaining relationships and in the world of digital marketing online communities are one highly effective but mostly neglected tool that can easily make you stand out from your competition.

Here are 5 reasons to build your own.

1. You can replace printed communication. Most associations and industrial B2B organizations used to rely on printed material to communicate to their customers, supporters, distributors and vendors. This could get really expensive. Online communities will allow you to stay connected and communicate non-public information quickly and easily.

2. Easily collect market research information. An online community is a relatively engaged and captive audience. If you’ve been doing paper surveys or other cumbersome ways to collect data – you can simply ask your community questions and they will answer or you can launch online surveys to them via the community.

3. Deliver training and other information. Online communities are ideal spaces for communicating product updates and insider information. You can make training available and not only that, allow the community to help each other.

4. Stand out from the competition. Customers love online communities – it’s an added resources and if you’re part of an organization that still communicates the old fashioned way – an online community offers real competitive advantage.

5. Online communities can be a revenue generator. You can actually create special areas inside of your online community where you can charge a fee to get access to certain kinds of information or training. Another option is to sell advertising. Vendors will jump at the chance to have visibility to your targeted audience.

Which online community sites to consider
Choosing an online site a lot like choosing a house. They all do pretty much the same thing it just depends on which features you prefer and what trade-offs you’re willing to make.

Ning: Ning has been the online community of choice for a very long time. And then in 2010, they started making massive cuts and took features that were free and put them under the paid version. Ning has three paid plans. For just $2.95 per month, you can have a community of 150 people. The next plan level is $24.95 and the highest is $59.95.

Spruz: When Ning changed their revenue model lots of people fled the platform and their destination was Spruz. Spruz touts many of the same features as Ning and then some. What really sets Spruz apart from Ning is the ability to create and host a complete, functional website quickly, easily, and completely free.

Social Go: While the other sites are fairly focused on building your online community, SocialGo is more focused on building your web site and social community. SocialGo seems to be focused on a more cohesive and full experience.

BuddyPress: If you already have a WordPress blog, then you might consider BuddyPress. This is a WordPress plugin that easily integrates inside your existing WordPress web site. This only works with self-hosted WordPress installations and may require some technical tweaking.

How to choose an online community platform
The best thing to do is to make a list of features that you would like or functions you’d like your group to be able to do. Then start comparing platforms against your wants and needs. You can do a test drive with just about any platform out there for free and I would recommend that you do that.

At the end of that process, you’ll be able to make a commitment. An online community platform is a terrific first step in participating in social media without really putting yourself or your community completely out in the public eye.

An online community will increase the engagement of your audience with your organization. So expect to see more loyal customers and more profits as a result.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

A friend of mine, who wanted to grow his small business, had recently signed up with LinkedIn. He was excited to start, after hearing me go on and on about it.

But, once he logged on, not only was he overwhelmed with all of his options, but he was downright confused…With over 130 million users, LinkedIn is a vast resource of potential clients, referral partners, employers, investors and more. So how do you get your name out to everyone and establish your brand successfully? Here are six ways you can get known on LInkedIn.

1.  Posting in Group Discussions

When it comes to exposure, the bigger the group the better. Also, the closer the group profile is to your target market the better as well. Remember–you can join up to 50 groups on LinkedIn. And as you might have guessed, my recommendation is that you find 50 great groups and join them for increased exposure, search ability, and information sharing.

Some of these groups are what LinkedIn refers to as open, and thus the discussions will also be available in a Google search, so you just might pick up some exposure that way as well.

2.  Answers

Ask or answer a question here, and the whole LinkedIn world may see and hear what you have to say. You can search for questions by topic or industry and also set up an RSS to send you new questions that are posted in your area of interest.

When it comes to broad exposure, this is one of the best resources on LinkedIn. I personally answer at least five questions a day, and ask ten a month (the limit).

3.  Posting your own Company Status Updates and “liking” or “sharing” other companies’ Status Updates

Your Company Status Updates go to your company followers. I have just started getting followers to my company page. Think about the exposure Hewlett-Packard gets when they send out a Company Status Update; they have 373,000 followers who may see that update.

To get exposure, make sure you have a company page, attract followers, and make regular Status Updates. When you “like” or “share” another company’s Status Update, the update appears in the Status Update feed of your entire network, and this is another great way for you to gain exposure.

4.  Posting your own personal Status Updates and “liking” or “sharing” your connections’ Status Updates

Posts you make will go out to your first level connections in your network.  So the more connections you have, the more exposure you get. This is a great reason to be an open networker. I have almost 10,000 connections and I’m shooting for the max which is 30,000.

5.  Sharing information on applications like SlideShare, Blog Link, and Portfolio Display

When you choose to have any of these applications loaded onto your LinkedIn account, you are then directed to the actual website of the application to set up an account. Upon completion of the setup, you are then part of their site, and any presentations or information you post will be available to their users–giving you that additional exposure.
6.  ”Liking” or commenting on group discussions

This is a very easy way to gain exposure without having gone through the effort of finding the information or asking the question. Comments on group discussions appear in the discussion feed. The amount of exposure will depend on the number of members in the group.

In summary, every day you are active on LinkedIn, the more exposure you will get. My daily activity on the site has led to many opportunities for new business and creating referral partners. Set aside time every day to work on your LinkedIn exposure and you too will see results.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

The other night I decided to fix the gears on my wife’s bicycle and found something shocking that could help you with your business.

The gears had been skipping for over a month and I finally decided it was time…  to fix her bike so it shifted properly, especially because I’m hoping to get her out this weekend for a few more rides before it gets too cold and icy here in Connecticut.

I like to think that I’m smart enough to fix simple stuff around the house and being an avid cyclist, I should know a thing about bikes.

As is often the case when I start a repair, I only had a vague inkling of what I was doing, so I logged onto YouTube to get some advice. I knew that the derailleur, the thing that moves the chain back and forth on the gears wasn’t set up correctly, so I searched on what I thought was an obscure phrase, “adjusting front derailleur” and found a helpful video tutorial loaded by Santa Fe Mountain Sports.

I was a bit surprised to find a video showing me exactly what I was looking for – but I was even more surprised to see the view count. This video had been viewed – over 400,000 times and their video about adjusting the rear derailleur – over 150,000 times!

That’s over a half million times people interested in bikes, people from their target market, had been exposed to the bike shop’s expert advice and branding as a result of two videos they loaded onto YouTube for free!

Even assuming everyone watched the video twice, as I did, that’s still over 200,000 prospects.

Can you imagine if you could get the attention of over 200,000 prospects with just one marketing tactic and show them that you’re an expert in your field and keep their attention for five minutes – and that you could do it for free?

You can!

Of course not every one of the bike’s shops videos were as popular as the above two. Some only got a few thousand views. All in all, I found 33 videos posted by the bike shop totaling over 1,300,000 views for an average of 40,000 views per video.

Want to grab the attention of your target market, build loyalty and sales? Would over 1,300,000 views by your prospects help?

YouTube and social media are hot for a reason.

They’re one of the most cost effective ways to market your business and yourself and attract more prospects and sales.

Discover the easiest ways to tap social media and profit from it >>

Anyone can grow their business in this economy if they know the simple secrets of tapping social media.

To your success,

Charlie
MarketingForSuccess

P.S. In case you were wondering, yes I fixed my wife’s gears and she’s game for another couple of rides as long as it doesn’t snow.

P.P.S. Of course not everyone wants too much to do with their own social media marketing, which is why we will do it for you, if you’re interested.

Just use this form to get started >>

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Everyone knows it’s 10 times easier to generate a sale by a loyal customer than to persuade a new prospect to make a purchase. Which is why any smart business owner, allocates 80% of their marketing to increasing loyalty and repeat sales.

Just use these 9 simple steps to ramp up your repeat sales…

Over the last few weeks, several clients have asked me to consult with them on starting an online community.

Most of these inquiries come from either industrial B2B organizations or associations.

And what these organizations have in common is that…
they are people who would love to use social media, but aren’t sure that it’s exactly the right idea to share their information on open communities like Facebook, LinkedIn or even Twitter.

Another great reason to consider creating your own online community is that you participate in a super-niche that might get completely lost inside the giant social media sphere. One of my friends runs a professional embroiderers association. Their Ning group is over 20,000 people strong. That’s a terrific example of how creating an online community can turn into a rather profitable venture for both the owner and their members.

There are several sites where you can create your own online community. The most popular has been Ning but since then, there are several others you might consider, such as Social Go or Buddy Press if you have a WordPress Blog.

Building Your Community

Once you’ve decided on a platform, it’s time to get the word out about your community and start driving people there. Here are a few tips to get your community growing successfully. The biggest mistake that people make is that they treat their online community as just another email list.

This would be like deciding to have a party and just telling a few people about it and then saying nothing more. An online community is a daily get-together. It’s like having people at your house – so don’t ignore it and treat it as a real event.

1. Tell people that you’re starting a community. The first step is to start telling people that you are considering creating an online community. Build interest and ask them what they would like to see in a community that you should include.

2. Create your community. Now use that input and create your community on the platform that you’ve chosen. Be sure to include the feedback you’ve received from your community members and if the platform includes a blog – document the ideas you’ve included and who they came from.

3. Recruit some beta testers from every aspect of your business. Select a few people to become beta testers of your community. Select the kinds of people who are willing to play along, try the community out and give you feedback. You want to recruit people who are friendly to your cause. DO NOT make the mistake of thinking that you are going to convert the most oppositional person to on online community by inviting them early. Recruit people who are open to your cause and who will give you good and honest feedback as well as participate in doing what you ask them to do.

4. Specifically send your beta testers to the site daily. This is where most people fall flat. They forget to invite people to the community. This is something new and isn’t part of anyone’s schedule – so you will have to drive them there. Email is the easiest thing. I would recommend that you create a group or a list and send them an email reminder with a question or comment that includes a link to the community where you are supposed to start this discussion. You can actually automate this by creating and scheduling emails out using Outlook, your email marketing program such as Constant Contact or aWeber or if you use Gmail, try Boomerang. The idea is to simply get into the habit of using the site.

5. Start asking your beta testers to invite members to test. Once you’ve had some experience and seen the value that the community offers, you can tell your beta testers to invite other members to the site. This will slowly increase your membership and allow everyone to become fairly proficient at using the site – as well as serve as a coach or buddy to the new members in driving them into the site.

6. Launch on a specific day. Decide to have an official launch of the community for a specific day. Treat it as an event and a party and actually have the party online. You can have conversations online, upload pictures from your locations, ask questions of other community members and really put the system through its paces. This will also drive people back to the site to see those conversations that were started.

7. Send direct mail invitations. Your members will need reminders. Send a direct mail piece to your members and your audience that outlines the specifics of using the site. Create tutorials that will help them sign up for the site and keep reminding them to visit.

8. Talk about it – make it important. Make your online community the forum where most questions are answered. Keep it part of your daily conversation and keep reminding each other to join. The shear frequency of communication about the site will encourage others to join and get in on the fun.

9. Promote the community address. Put the community address in your email signatures, business cards and every piece of literature or communication that goes out from you. Challenge yourself to visit and interact on the site daily.

Rather than include this last tip as a numbered item, I’m including it as a paragraph because it’s so important.

Manage your email settings. Yes – most people register for a community and then don’t participate because they haven’t properly set their settings for their profile. Be sure to adjust your email settings so that you get a notification anytime someone sneezes on the community site. And advise your beta testers as well as any other members to do so as well.

Most people ignore these settings or turn the email notifications off because social media communities are so prolific, that you’d get hundreds of notices. In this case you want your settings turned on for every notification because you are trying to send people to your site.

And there is your quick and easy plan for building your private online community. This option isn’t for everyone, but if you participate in a specific community with unique interests and can’t find each other inside of social media communities – this is a terrific option.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Today I have looked at a desktop computer screen, cell phone screen, TV screen, business phone system screen, a touch screen on a printer, and, you guessed… an Ipod screen…

and I cannot wait to go home, sit back, and relax in front of my EReader screen.It may seem overbearing, but technology is moving at such a rapid pace that it becomes almost impossible to get away from some sort of digital screen. Businesses use these different mediums in order to remain successful (and therefore competitive), and consumers use these screens as a means of entertainment.

Although entertainment may be available in other forms, the world is slowly filling up with technologically savvy people. In other words, the latest wave of consumers and business workers has grown up with technology. As a recent graduate myself, I know that these many digital screens are going nowhere.

With that said, businesses now need to focus on how to get ready for this new multi-screen world. Marketing and advertising need to realize that consumers are using all of these different mediums to gather information. Although it may add to the workload, these departments need to learn how to utilize all these different digital mediums. Consider a few of the different screens consumers use each day and how a company can benefit:

Cell Phones

The world is becoming more mobile. Lugging around a laptop became too much of a hassle, so many are now paying extra to be connected to the Internet on their phones. If you want to optimize your website for this screen, consider doing the following:

• Only include content that is absolutely necessary and to the point.

• Create big links for those using a touch screen phone.

• Put your navigation bar at the bottom of the webpage so that it does not take up the entire top half of the cell phone screen.

• Utilize the built-in functionalities of a phone. Offer a button to call, get directions, and look up other locations if your business has several offices. These are features commonly used with a cell phone, so take advantage.

EReaders

EReaders have primarily been used to read novels, but businesses are quickly cashing in by creating their own Ebooks. Although this screen may be similar to a desktop, there are some things to keep in mind that will help you optimize your content on an EReader:

• Make sure the content is simple to understand, but feel free to add in a little bit of creativity. This screen is designed for consumers to look at for a long time, so you don’t want to bore your audience.

• Be sure to break up the copy with bullet points and subheadings for easy reading.

• An EReader book is not a place for a sales pitch. Use this screen as the place to tell a story and teach readers something about your specialty.

IPod Screens (Podcast)

IPods are primarily used for music, however many consumers are now beginning to download company podcasts and listen to them on their IPods. The size of an IPod screen is similar to a cell phone, so continue to keep the content brief, keep the navigation simple, and keep the “play” button large. Once consumers hit the play button on the podcast, the screen will be filled up with your video. It can be time consuming to create a podcast, but at least you don’t have to worry much about the screen!

In the end, this multi-screen world has proven to be a great tool for businesses. The more ways a company can get their information out to consumers, the better.

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to employee background checks. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including business credit card applications to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading B2B Directory, Business.com.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Sure you can connect with family on Facebook and reply to friends on Twitter.

But there’s only one social network that allows you to connect with both friends and family, while also meeting prospects and potential clients. 

Use these ten tips for setting yourself up to beat out your competition.

1. Find a job on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the place where you can find professionals on social media. Yes, Facebook can be great for graduates and Twitter for media but LinkedIn reaches people who haven’t got time for lots of social networks. A lawyer, banker or accountant will check their LinkedIn profile periodically but very seldom would they even have a Twitter account. So from a mere reach perspective LinkedIn is your best bet.

This means most recruiters and HR departments are using LinkedIn to find candidates already. So you can actually be found via one of their searches, or you can actively network your way to opportunities within companies. And you can of course have a look at the Jobs section to make it really easy on yourself.

2. Scan what people are saying about a company or topic
A little known feature of LinkedIn is what’s called LinkedIn Signal. It’s basically a search tool for status updates on LinkedIn. You can search for your company name, your field or location or even a combination of them all. LinkedIn will tell you who is talking about the keyword, including people up to 3 degrees away from you. Signal is located under ‘News’ in the main toolbar.

3. Stand out over your competitors
How do you stand out? By being useful to your network and by sharing interesting and valuable information; and by not selling your products and services all the time. Your network probably knows what you do and they are likely to let you know when they have a referral for you, so it’s better to get mindshare – creating daily awareness and staying visible.

4. Create a good daily LinkedIn routine
Most active LinkedIn users have a LinkedIn browser window open all day but they mainly use LinkedIn as a database. I would make a habit of sharing an interesting piece of content every day, checking out the events section for relevant networking events, engaging with other users in Groups and generally keeping an eye on the homefeed to keep my finger on the pulse. This only takes a few minutes every day. I would also answer questions every day in your field.

5. Run a successful group on LinkedIn
There are over a million groups on LinkedIn, many of these were set up by recruiters. If you look at what makes a group successful it’s all about creating a strong community. One idea is that when it’s set up, make it ‘exclusive’ in some way – graphic designers in Denver for example. This just makes more of them want to join. Assign a team to run the group and to seed conversation, moderate discussions and share interesting content.

The number one gripe people have with groups is that they get too much spam emails so make sure you vet all members, only send relevant email updates and do not tolerate any blatant promotions from members.

6. Use your company page to attract customers
The LinkedIn company page is your company’s number one branding tool on LinkedIn. There are lots of things you can do here such as write up a description of the company, add contact details, insert your Twitter feed, link your blog posts to the page, add your products and services, ask for company recommendations and check out the visitor statistics. Prospects are likely to check out your company page so make sure it represents your brand fully.

7. Include the essentials on your profile
There are four essentials on an individual’s LinkedIn profile; they are your picture, headline, summary and keywords.

Your picture should look professional and reflect your brand. People like dealing with faces as opposed to just text – studies show you get 30% more clicks in search results when you have a picture.

The headline (along with your name and picture) is what comes up in search results and based on this the user will decide whether to click on you or the competitor. Make sure the headline talks about what you do and not who you are. ‘Logistics expert’ works better than Owner, ABC Company.

Your summary is where people go to see what you are all about and what your track record in the industry is. If you get someone to take time to check this out you will want to add contact details at the end and not leave them hanging.

Finally, you have to get the right keywords on your profile or you will not come up in any searches. Yes, you might come up in searches for your name but let’s face it if someone already knows your name you already have a foot in the door. It’s better to come up in the search for “logistics” or “graphic design.”

8. Connect with people outside of your network
There are lots of ways of connecting with people outside of your network. You can join the same group as this person which allows you to connect directly most of the time. You can do an introduction through a common connection. This can take a bit of time but usually works. If you have a premium account you can send an inMail or you can actually buy inMail credits in a free account for $10 each.

The best way to connect is actually outside of LinkedIn. Set up a call and pick up the phone and call the person, or if you don’t have the number you can probably guess the email address and try that. It’s all about being creative and just because you found someone on LinkedIn doesn’t mean you have to approach them through LinkedIn.

9. Upgrade your account when you are ready
This depends on how you are using LinkedIn. Many people don’t use inMails, Profile organizer or require additional search results. If you do pay for an account make sure you make the most of it. I have the premium account and I find it’s worth it.

10. Use applications to attract business
You can use SlideShare to share presentations of your company or about specials or promotions you have on at the moment. You can use the Amazon Reading list to show off your extra-curricular interests.

Use TripIt if you travel a lot and actually want people to contact you to have a coffee in various locations. You can use Google Docs to get video on your profile and if you blog you should definitely integrate the Blog Link application. Remember that every time you make any changes to your application, your network gets notified which is usually a good thing.

LinkedIn can help you achieve all your professional goals. If you need assistance, please get in touch with me about my one-on-one training, seminars and webinars.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..