For the Inattentive Site Owner

The first thing to consider is the time you have to devote to adding content. If you pick a very “bloggy” style for your site, push out your first three articles, then never touch it again as your day-to-day work catches up with you, you’ll do your business a disservice.  If thinking about adding content to your site leaves you cold and you’re not prepared to hire someone to do the work for you, you will want to minimize the parts of the website dedicated to articles or blog posts or news releases. As big fans of Woo Themes you should be considering those labeled as “Business” themes, like Empire, as that’s exactly what they do.

For the Highly Visual Product

Some businesses have a visually intense product or service where pictures really sell.  Photographers and graphic designers are the obvious examples, but kitchen remodelers, landscapers, event planners, and car dealerships are all going to benefit from a lot of pictures. Seeking out a theme that is dominated by images will serve such business best, though those images should allow visitors to click through to landing pages with text so you still get the benefits of search engine optimization. Looking again to Woo Themes, consider the “Portfolio” themes, like Aperture, when looking to create a high impact, visually compelling site.

For the Subject Matter Expert

Are you a public speaker, author, consultant, agent, broker, or other professional that’s basically selling access to your big brain? If you can share that expertise, you’ll show off your smarts rather than just tell people about it. It takes a commitment to producing new content on a regular basis, though you’d be surprised how well a non-expert can monitor relevant news and write on your behalf. (At Heatherstone, yes, we do that.) To really highlight your knowledge and build credibility, an article-driven theme is just what you need. Woo Themes offers “Magazine” and “Personal” themes, like Gazette, that can be perfect for that kind of marketing.

Dig Deeper, Learn More

Over the next few weeks, we’ll dig in deeper on this subject and take a closer look at each of the above general classifications of themes, discussing the benefits and features of each and how they apply to the right business.

We’re also happy to have a discussion with you directly about your specific circumstances, so email Aaron Overton at overton@heatherstone.com or call him at 425.301.2423 and get some thoughtful insight and clear suggestions on what you can do to build your bottom line, online.

Feeling frustrated that your work is taking up more time and getting more disorganized? Online tools can greatly improve your productivity. Let Heatherstone teach you with our Online Tools slideshow!

Need more help? Contact yvette@heatherstone.com or call 888.716.1521

Are you website analytics showing website visitors without giving any results? Learn how to turn random online travelers into loyal customers with our slideshow.

Need more help? Contact yvette@heatherstone.com or call 888.716.1521

What kind of theme should my WordPress use? What can WordPress plugins do and do I need them? What types of widgets are available for WordPress? How should content be posted on WordPress? Want to know the answers? See our slideshow.

Need more help? Contact yvette@heatherstone.com or call 888.716.1521

How can you turn random online travelers into loyal customers? What keywords should you target? Is your message clear? Know how to network to success? Want to know the answers? See our slideshow.

Need more help? Contact us at consult@heatherstone.com or 888.716.1521

Your by-the-numbers approach to marketing online. What is it worth to convert a visitor? How will you achieve conversion? How will you get visitors to your site? Want to know the answers? See our slideshow.

Need more help? Contact us at consult@heatherstone.com or 888.716.1521

Social media is taking over traditional areas of campaigns, from fundraising to media to volunteer recruitment and more. Some now argue that social media is the most influential part of a campaign. Its effect is difficult to measure, however, because it encompasses so many parts of a campaign.

Fundraising, perhaps the most important aspect of a political campaign, can be extremely lucrative online. Ron Paul raised over $1 million within 24 hours online. A recent study of the California governor’s race found that the results of “social listening” closely correlated with polling and focus groups. Simply paying attention to social media – which is almost all virtually free – could save a campaign thousands of dollars otherwise spent on polling.

48% of 18 to 34 year olds check Facebook when they wake up in the morning. 65% of adults under age 30 cite the internet as their primary source for news, almost doubling since 2007. A full 34% of people ages 50 to 64 also rely on the internet for news. Twitter has become a better source for breaking news than any other news source.

A January survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 21% of adults accessing the Internet use social media for political purposes, such as to find information on candidates, sign up for a cause or campaign, or find out who their friends are supporting. More Republicans than Democrats fall into this category, putting Republicans ahead of Democrats for using social media. This is a reversal from 2008, when Obama held a 15-point advantage over John McCain among adults using social media. The change is due to an increase in older voters and Tea Party activists using the internet.

Fewer people are watching cable news and broadcast network news, and campaign ads are losing their importance due to the prevalence of DVR which allows fast-forwarding over commercials. Traditional media is not only transforming, it is disappearing. Maryland news site The Rockville Central became a Facebook-only news organization in March.

Social media is a highly effective way to get information quickly to journalists. A poll of journalists found that 40 percent use Twitter to source stories, and 35 percent use Facebook. Social media also allows for more control over the message. “Twitter and Facebook and the web can hold the media accountable,” says Alex Conant, a spokesman for Tim Pawlenty. “And if anyone ever does misquote [Pawlenty], [social media] are a quick way to respond to our supporters.”

Chandler City Councilman Jeff Weninger of Arizona, a prolific user of Twitter, has a response for politicians who complain about Twitter and their lack of followers. He tells them that 70 followers on Twitter is still 70 people who you can get a message out to once a day; that is more people than most politicians and candidates can get to show up at a meeting. Additionally, many people use Twitter for searches, making it irrelevant how many followers someone has.

Even if social media does not seem particularly effective, perception is important. A politician who is actively engaged on social media seems more credible and in tune with his constituents than one who neglects it. The media is watching and reporting on which politicians are using social media effectively and which ones are not.

Social media is expanding to wireless phones. Social media author and guru Ralph Benko predicts that after our current Web 2.0 era of social media, the internet will transform to Web 3.0 on mobile phones. One percent of adults have contributed money by text message to a candidate or cause connected to an election. More than one quarter of adults used their wireless phones to learn about or participate in the 2010 election cycle. Email is still important, but since people are so deluged with emails, it cannot be the only online method of communication.

Campaigns can no longer dismissively relegate social media to volunteers. Volunteers are pulled in many directions in today’s Web 2.0 era, where every campaign is online. They cannot possibly devote enough time to the needs of a moderately-sized political campaign. Social media encompasses too many parts of a campaign to expect volunteers to master all areas. Republicans learned a lesson in the 2008 presidential election. If they repeat that mistake, they may as well change their symbol from an elephant to a dinosaur.

Source: http://townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2011/05/24/political_candidates_ignore_social_media_at_their_peril/page/2

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Christina resides in Rockville, Maryland with her husband and two sons.  Mendelson was born in New York City and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in finance and marketing from The  University of Maryland, College Park. After college she conducted bank examinations for The Federal Reserve. A little over a year-and-a-half ago Mendelson joined forces with a friend to work at Marketing Incentives.

Heatherstone: Christina, as a full-server web development company, we become marketers for our clients, but almost entirely in the online world. Tell us a little about how marketing works in the physical world.

Christina Mendelson: That’s where we at Market Incentives fit into the picture. We create physical objects that help bring out the personality of our clients in a sticky way that keeps the client in the minds of their prospects and customers.

H: Sticky? How do you mean?

CM: “Sticky” here means that the person that receives the item will be continually reminded of our client because the item tends to hang around for a long time, delivering the relevant message over and over.

H: Ah, gotcha. So, you try to match the personality of your client. Could you give an example?

CM: Sure. Let’s say you have a company that produces technology solutions which reduces energy use, a “green technology” company.  We’ll look for items that are themselves made from recycled materials and, ideally, have some useful function that is environment friendly.  For example, we might pick a hand-cranked flashlight or a mouse-pad made from recycled tire rubber.

H: OK, so tell us more about the “relevant message” part.

CM: The relevant message is a combination of brand identity and a few words that help tie the item to the company and highlight benefits of working with our client.

H: Benefits! Excellent, we talk to our clients about the importance of highlighting benefits over features all the time.

CM: Yes.  The features of the item, like a utilitarian item such as a USB flash drive, help connect our client to good stuff.  When you are happy being able to store files in a readily transportable manner, it makes you feel positive about the person or company that gave it to you.  But the benefits can be harder to get across.  That’s why the type of item is so important.  I wouldn’t suggest a flash drive to a car detailer, but I might suggest a bottle of a high-end leather polish.  Then, the benefit “makes the leather in my car look great” gets connected to the detailer.

H: How about someone who is doing both online and “real world” marketing.  How do these tie together?

CM: These two actually work better together.  We routinely include a website address on our items.  When the client has good control over their own website, they will create a specific page on their site tied to the item-based promotion.  Then, the client can better track results of their promotion because the visits to that page are known to have come from our promotional item.

H: We get that.  We call it a landing page and that’s exactly how we track results of online advertising.

CM: Yes, and the website landing page gives our client a way to extend their message beyond what will fit on the item, which is often fairly short.

H: That’s great.  So, the name of the company is Market Incentives.  Where does the “Incentives” part come from?

CM: We actually have two sides to our company. I’m directly involved in the side of the business that provides promotional items.  We also have a side of the business that can develop an incentives or rewards program for an organization, whether that’s for employees or customers.  Think of programs where people earn points, then can come spend those points on products.  We can build those out and customize them to our clients – including providing the shopping experience, products, and fulfillment, a real turn-key solution.

H: Is there anything you might be able to offer our readers, something they can get for mentioning this interview?

CM: Sure, mention this interview and we’ll give them a great deal on our Air Tight pocket boxes. Make your sales pitch “Air Tight”, by offering this as your next promotional giveaway.  No minimums and Free set-up!  Features are water resistant, break away lanyard, and 1 1/8” thick container with locking latch.  Colors are  blue, red, yellow and white.  One color imprint included.  250 – $1.50 each; 500 – $1.25 each.

H: Fantastic. Christina, thanks for taking the time to talk to us about this.

CM: It’s my pleasure.  Here, have a flash drive.

H: Awesome possum.  You’re the best.

We’d like to send a special thanks to Christina for taking her time to talk with us and for helping to enlighten us about the physical world of marketing. Please be sure to check out the Marketing Incentives website to see the truly great work they do, and the great deals they offer.

You know you’ve seen them: “Hey, Bob! Check out this funny picture of a cat stuck all the way through both sides of a bird cage while a parakeet rests on his back!”

The Dangers
The thing is, forwarding email can have some dangers such as verifying your email address to spammers or the more obvious time sinks they can cause as the recipient browses around looking for more of the same or a snopes.com debunking of the included stories. You may not want to particpate, especially at work, but how do you tell your friend or family member you don’t want to without hurting feelings or even ruining a relationship?

“I Believe I’d Be Helping Spammers”
The first way is to tell the forwarder you are concerned about the aid this gives to spammers. Including the link from CNN I gave above might be helpful. That’s a particularly compelling reason, since everyone hates spammers. I bet even spammers hate other spammers. (I wonder if a spammer has ever been irritated after receiving his own spam in an email.)

You might want to start such an email with something like, “Thanks for sending this on to me. I’m happy to find out you were thinking of me.” Of course, one problem is that by sending a chronic email forwarder this message and including a link to why it’s a danger could result in the initiation of another long forwarded chain message as the email forwarder tells everyone he knows that forwarding emails is dangerous! And it’ll have your email address embedded therein. Oops.

Give a “Play” Email Address
Another great approach, especially if fighting spam at the risk of your friendships isn’t worth it to you, is to ask the email forwarder to use your “play” email address instead of your “work” email address. That play address could easily be one you set up for this express purpose for free on Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo. Hotmail might be a great choice, since it seems to attract lots of spam even if no one knows it.

Then, you can decide whether or not you ever actually check that play address. Maybe you never do. Replying to forwarded emails is usually not necessary and it’s rare that an email forwarder ever asks you, “Hey, what did you think of that email I forwarded? The one with the monkey and the squid?”

Never Yell at the Forwarder
You can really mess up a friendship or business relationship if you blast the email forwarder for sending you the email. Remember, he sent it to you because he likes you and wanted to share. That you aren’t all that interested in that particular activity is something he probably just hasn’t learned yet and he undoubtedly figures that simply clicking Delete is so easy that he’s not really bothering you anyway. His intentions matter. Be generous with your opinion of him and show you value the relationship far more than whether or not you get a few emails you didn’t really want.

Or, Ignore It
Of course, I simply ignore most forwards. I’m not an email forwarder, so the chain ends when it reaches me. I admit I’ve had an occasional chuckle out of something I’ve received. Most people that forward stuff to me eventually stop when I don’t forward stuff of my own or reply, but I don’t know of anyone that’s been offended by my silence.

That means I haven’t tried the “play”address technique. I’m guessing. I’d be very interested to find out from someone that tries it whether the play address starts getting spam. Now there’s something I’d be happy to have forwarded to me!

To answer his question, we created a thumbnail write-up of how SEO, or search engine optimization, works. I’ve removed the names of the parties involved, but otherwise, here’s the advice I gave our client:

{“Advanced Membership”} is something I would recommend staying away from. Early SEO efforts revealed that lots of links could improve search engine page rankings. This led to the creation of “link farms,” or sites that had no content other than line after line of links.  You could pay to include your site, thus driving up your relevancy calculation.

Of course, the search engine algorithms change over time. The development teams at Google, Yahoo, MSN, and the like realized that people were using link farms to skew relevancy, so they accounted for it. Link farms became at best useless and at worst a way to get your site black-listed or devalued.  This kind of gaming the system is called “black hat” SEO because it tries to find gimmicks to increase search engine placement. The search engine companies frown on such things and do their best to block each new gimmick.

The best kind of SEO is to use “white hat” techniques. Relevant articles are the best of these, although that means investing time and effort. Quality content added frequently leads to quality visitors and enhanced reputation for your site and your business.

When thinking about SEO, the golden rule is that search engines attempt to model as closely as possible what the person using the search engine will actually want to see. Figure out what your visitors want to see, what will get them to pick up the phone and call (or whatever your goal might be), and that’s what should be on your site.

Will random visitors be drawn to become customers of yours because of a page filled with automatically generated links to pages you’ve never looked at? It seems highly unlikely. I would save my time and money for more worthwhile alternatives. It’s important to remember that your website has a goal beyond attracting visitors, namely visitor conversion.