Archive for April, 2008
Where do your customers find their information online?
Today’s posting is borrowed from The Pursuit Group – loved it so wanted to share it.
“Sure, you know that more and more business executives are turning to online sources as their primary information resource. But what type of online resources do they rely on most? The answers can help you identify important marketing and sales strategies.
A recent study by Bredin Business Information offers insight for companies that serve the small business marketplace. When asked to identify the online resources they use frequently or occasionally to manage or grow their business, here’s how execs at companies with fewer than 500 employees responded:
1. 51% — e-mail newsletters
2. 43% — interactive tools such as online calculators and surveys
3. 28% — community forums
4. 23% — webcasts or webinars
5. 21% — wikis
6. 20% — social networking sites
7. 16% — blogs
8. 14% — RSS feeds
9. 12% — podcasts
Further, when asked where they are most likely to start looking online, 48% said on a search engine, 33% said on “sites I know have good resources” and 19% said on the Web sites of their current vendors.”
CHeck out The Pursuit Group – they have some great articles.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Tips
SEO is a topic that I often get asked about so today’s posting comes courtesy of Lisa A. Riley, web & graphic designer, who lays out 6 tips for effective SEO.
1. Keywords: Fine tune the keywords you will be utilizing throughout your website. Places like Wordtracker.com will help to fine tune what keywords are the most searched and the amount of competition. Click on this link – it’s a good one for providing keyword ideas.
Make sure the keyword generator you use pulls data from the major search engines: Google, Yahoo & Windows Live.
2. Titles/Meta Description: Use keywords in the content of your pages and most important the Title of the web pages on your site. The search engines pull & display the Titles in the search results. Also make sure keywords are in the Meta Description of each page. When the search engines display the search results they also display the first few lines of your Meta Description.
3. Links On Your Site: When the search engines crawl the web, they not only evaluate your site, they also evaluate the links you may have on your site, determining how useful the site and links will be to viewers. Have links to other sites that might be heavily visited. It’s almost like the crawlers not only check to see how popular you are, but who you hang out with.
4. Popularity Contest: Search engines evaluate whether your site will be listed on the first few search results pages, based on how much traffic has been at your site. The more hits, the better chance of having your site bumped up to a higher ranking.
5. Fresh Content: Search engines love “fresh” content. They re-crawl the web every 30 days. That is why it is important to revise content on your site regularly. Upload articles or have a blog sitting on your website.
6. Get Your URL Out There: Having a link to your site in as many places as you can help to draw more traffic to your site. See if you can get your website link on other companies’ sites, articles, directories, listings, online communities (linkedin, facebook, etc), e-newsletters, press releases, and entries on other people’s blogs.
Women of Substance – Lindsey Horvath
On a recent trip to LA, I had the pleasure of meeting Lindsey Horvath, who is a ball of fire. In her mid-twenties, she is already Vice President of Theatrical Print for bpg Advertising Agency in Los Angeles, where she develops creative marketing and advertising campaigns for theatrical film releases.
She also is heavily invested in her community, holding many leadership roles in various organizations. She is the President of the Hollywood Chapter of NOW, as well as the Vice President of Young Feminism for California NOW. She is the Vice President of Outreach for National Women’s Political Caucus – LA Westside. The City of West Hollywood’s City Council unanimously appointed her to the Women’s Advisory Board, which serves the needs and interests of the women of West Hollywood. She is on the Board for the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, as well as the YWCA of Glendale. She is a Community Events Producer for the two-week Until the Violence Stops Los Angeles Festival, a project of the VDAY organization working to stop violence against women and girls. Lindsey also co-founded OBJECT, a women’s Conversation organization.
At the age of 25, you have accomplished a lot in a short time – what drives you?
I learned at an early age to go after what I wanted. I never let being female or other people’s limited thinking derail me from going after my goals. My passion is about making an impact and the work that I do in advertising and in the public arena is focused on creating education, support and network opportunities for women. It is about making an impact on the way women are portrayed and positioned in our society, about opening more opportunities for them.
What would you say is the most important skill for women to master to be successful?
Communication skills – it is not just what you say but how you say it. Your words and actions speak volumes. The people I admire the most lead a daily life of action. Be proud of who you are and speak with confidence. Communicate clearly what you want and expect from yourself and from others. Overcome your fears and go after what you want.
An extraordinary young woman, Lindsey is fiercely committed to making a lasting impact. To do this, she plans to run for elected office. Keep an eye on her – she will be a future president of the United States!
Keep Sales Up In Looming Storm
My column in this month’s edition of Make it Business talks about 6 ways to improve your sales machine so you keep attracting customers in good times or bad.
1. Set aside a few hours right now and create a strategic plan for the next 12 months.
2. Create effective sales and marketing messages.
3. Focus your efforts.
4. Build strong relationships with your customers.
5. Follow up on your leads.
6. Build strong sales skills.
Going Big
On Saturday I had the honour and pleasure of speaking at the Beyond Pink Conference to 225 delegates – what a great conference! Lots of energy and good information shared, great connections made. This conference is the launching pad for a brand new organization – Young Women In Business
This group is the brainchild of a group of extremely bright and talented university students who spotted an opportunity in the market and in four months, launched the group, organized the conference, got major corporate sponsorship and sold out the conference.
This is a great example of thinking big. Instead of thinking of all the things that could go wrong or might now work, this group just went out and did it! Keep an eye on them, everyone, because they are going to be very big indeed.
