MaineBusiness.com

Five Secrets to Promoting Your Business Blog

Blogs can be a powerful marketing tool, but not if they remain hidden. Here are 5 simple tricks all business bloggers should do to promote their blog and reach new customers.

1. Create keyword-rich content on a regular basis. No matter what else you do on this list, if you're not regularly posting content to your blog, it will be difficult to attract regular readers.
2. Comment on other influential blogs in your niche. Leaving comments on other blogs will create a link from their blog to yours. Leaving inane comments will get your comments deleted, and possibly get you banned. So, leave intelligent comments.
3. Link from your Web site to your blog. Especially at the beginning when your Web site has more trust built up at the search engines and your blog has none.
4. Ping the news aggregators to let them know when you've updated your blog. I use Pingoat; every time I finish a blog post I immediately go to Pingoat and ping dozens of news services in one step.
5. Link to other blogs in your niche (and click on those links.) Whether in a blogroll or in an individual post, link to other bloggers and then click on those links to, a) confirm the links are right, and b) to show up as a referrer on their traffic reports. This should get their attention and maybe they'll end up linking back to you!

There are of course dozens if not hundreds of other things you can do to leverage the power of your business blog, but if there's anything on this list you aren't doing now, I recommend starting right away.

Do you have any techniques that have gotten you more traffic at your blog?

Rich Brooks
Small Business Blogger

Technorati Profile

Search Engine Tips: Improve Your Intrasite Links

Click here. Learn more. Read more. What do these phrases have in common?

They're all missed opportunities when it comes to creating links on your site.

Search engines use the words in hyperlinks in their rankings. It gives them a hint of what's on the following page. So by using "Click Here" as your link, you're telling the search engine the next page is about "Click Here."

Not very helpful, is it?

Instead, you should use targeted keywords when you link from one page on your site to another. Here are some examples (underlines are for demonstration only, they're not links):

• Learn how to train your dog in just five minutes a day.
• Download our new article, "Sixteen Secrets Your Accountant Doesn't Want You to Know."
• Watch our video on baking a cake for the novice.
• Find out why one dentist out of five recommended sugar gum for his patients who chew gum.

The "following" pages (that you're linking to) need to follow up on the keywords you used. The title, the header and the body content should all be about training your dog in just five minutes a day, or whatever the appropriate topic is.

Your to-do? Review your Web site and update all the intra-site links that are specific to the topic you're linking to.

Your outcome? This will help the search engines understand what your site is all about, and should raise your profile in the search results.

Rich Brooks
Search Engine Marketing for Small Business

Email Marketing Advice: Increase Your Subscriber Base

This month's issue of our email newsletter flyte log is entitled, How I Increased My Email Signup Rate by 5,000%...and How You Can, Too.

Hmmm...you're thinking. I know Rich is terrible with math, so he probably moved a decimal point too far to the right. Or, maybe you're thinking, I know Rich is a marketer, but I think this time he stretched the truth past the breaking point.

Well, math isn't my strong suit, that's true. And, I am a marketer and, according to Seth Godin, All Marketers Are Liars.

Yet, as far as my rudimentary math skills can tell, it's true. We averaged 2 - 3 new subscribers a month before I tried the process I lay out in this month's issue, and now we average 125 new subscribers a month. (Actually, it's more. I was counting total subscriber base over a 12 month period, but that includes unsubscribes. Our new subscriber rate is even higher.)

But let's be honest, you don't care about my success rate, you want to know how to increase the number of subscribers to your email newsletter. If your email newsletter signup offers nothing more than "Join Our Mailing List," this month's flyte log is for you.

To avoid missing any future issues, be sure to sign up now!

Online Video and the Entrepreneur

I have a pile on my desk. You know the kind. The kind where you put important but not urgent material. Of course, over time those items become more and more urgent...and then irrelevant.

I could tell how long it had been since I sorted through my "important but not urgent" pile because I found an article from the Wall St. Journal I had printed up on 12/26/07. It was called "Lights! Camera! Sales! How to use video to expand your business in a YouTube world." (Since this link was up as of today, I'm hoping it'll be around for a while.)

It's a great article by Raymund Flandez who profiles a number of entrepreneurs and small businesses talking about how they've used video to enhance their marketing and sales. From individual artists to an all natural soda company located in my home town of Scarborough, Maine, to a blender manufacturer, companies are creating videos that are driving demand for their products.

We've seen some success with our own clients who are posting videos online. Eli Newberger has posted both his tuba performances and his speaking gigs at the White House on the YouTube channel we created for him. He has 20 subscribers and has gotten over 5,800 channel views as of this post. That's driving a lot of additional traffic to his Web site.

Sabre Yachts and Newcastle Square Realty have also recently launched YouTube channels as well.

Keyword rich content may help with search engine rankings, but video engages customers in a way that text by itself rarely can.

Rich Brooks
As Seen on YouTube

Tourism's New Math: What Maine's Tourist Economy Needs Now

There's a front page article in the PPH today about a new method of calculating tourism's impact on the Maine economy, and a lot of people aren't happy about it. It's hard to know what the impact will be, but as the article notes,

If tourism promotion doesn't appear to be generating as much
bang for the buck as previously thought, [Vaughn Stinson, chief executive officer of the
Maine Tourism Association] said,
lawmakers could be less supportive of continued funding. His
concern is heightened by the state's budget shortfall.

The bottom line is that companies involved in the tourist industry here in Maine may be getting less support from the MTA, because there's less money to be spent on tourism marketing. This impacts ski resorts, hotels, B&B's, snow mobile rentals, restaurants, and a thousand other businesses that are part of or support the tourist industry.

If I were in tourism I would be planning ahead. Hopefully the funding will still be there, but the possible slack must be picked up by individual businesses. No surprise, but I'd be blogging, developing one or more email newsletters, budgeting money for search engine optimization, and reviewing my Web site based on my analytics. I'd be creating a presence on Facebook and MySpace. In short, I'd be preparing for the worst.

Even if the funding comes in at last year's levels, businesses that are marketing themselves--especially in a recession--will be in a better position to take advantage of it.

Rich Brooks
Web Marketing for Maine Businesses

What is Mobile Marketing?

This afternoon I attended a fascinating seminar put on by the Maine Marketing Association on mobile marketing. Specifically, Andrew Newman of TextMoreInfo.com talked about how businesses can reach out and connect with people through SMS (short message service) on their cell phones. Although I've heard horror stories about how Starbucks will text you as you stand in front of a competitor's coffee shop (too Orwellian for me to even fathom), that wasn't the discussion today.

We focused on the type of approach you might see on American Idol or ESPN, when you text "WINNER" to 12345, or something like that. I definitely don't see this as a model that will work for all businesses...really, does anyone want to text flyte to get a message back on our SEO specials of the day?

However, any business that does some other type of advertising, such as tv or radio ads, outdoor signage, etc., could provide additional information to prospective consumers by providing an SMS code. I could certainly imagine For Sale signs with "Text 31MainSt to 12345" to get more information on a house that someone passes. Or texting a restaurant to find out what the daily special was.

I've cleaned up my notes from the meeting below, but you'll find them "as is." If you have any questions, I'd hop over to TextMoreInfo.com and talk to those guys. Even though Andrew said he was as much student as teacher, he definitely seem to have a grasp on the potential and pitfalls of mobile marketing.

Mobile Marketing: Why is this important?

• Millions have chosen cell phones, specifically text messaging, as preferred communication

What is SMS (short message service)?

• Allows short messages (160 max characters) from one cell to another
• aka "text messaging"
• now cells can communicate w/internet
• sometimes can include files such as images, ringtones, mp3s
• short codes: 5-6 #s; long codes 10 #s

How does it work?

• User initiates relationship by sending text message to short or long code #
• Cell carrier delivers message to aggregator (aggregators are required to convert cell message (SMS) to ones and zeroes of computer language)
• Aggregator delivers message to server
• Server takes the appropriate action based on program
• Back to aggregator > Back to carrier > Back to user
• Server can also take other actions, such as sending an email, deliver a file, etc.

Premium vs. Non-premium services

• Premium charges users for service
• Non-premium has no charge from provider, only carrier charges apply

Ethical sms?

• Should it be opt-in or opt-out?
• What's industry standard right now? (Still being developed; carriers keep on top of providers)
• There is a type of double opt-in; message back can include a request to opt-in further

Possible uses of SMS:

• Raffle: Text to 12345 and get a chance at $20K
• Voting
• Text to retrieve file (i.e., ringtone)
• Info updates (text flight # to 12345 and get gate and flight status)
• Subscription style updates: text to subscribe
• Event updates: ebay bid
• Product or service info (good if people are on the road, i.e., real estate?)
• Promotional updates on demand: text soup01 to 12345 and you'll receive text message w/soup of the day
• Delayed autoresponder
• Promotional updates by subscription
• Recruiting

Pros & Cons

• Pros:
  • Cost: after implementation cost of operating a program are low relative to other mediums
  • Costs include code leasing, aggregator costs, cost/message ($.10 - $.20)
  • Quality of impressions
  • Speed w/which message can be updated
  • Less spam, not like email
• Cons:
  • Fear of being spammed
  • Development of program if not using 3rd part can be significant
  • Implementation time: development is followed by provisioning (permission to access their network; this tends to be a royal pain in the ass)

Where is this going?

• Consumer
  • More people will be comfortable w/the medium
  • Confidence will build among users that the are secure from unwanted content
• Technology
  • Cell phones continue to evolve, adding new technology
  • There will be standards (eventually) as we see in video, HD
• Standards will result in widespread use of multimedia
  • The market
  • Will explode
  • 5% - 12% of budgets dedicated to alt. media will shit to mobile in 2008
  • spending will increase

Notes on Cost and ROI:

• Random short code: $500/mo
• Chosen short code: $1,000/mo
• Can you resell codes? (He thinks not.)
• What is the ROI? (No numbers yet…he provides some feedback on how many people call.)
• What other costs are there?
• What happens when someone texts a "wrong message" to a code? (404 error message)

Rich Brooks
Mobile Marketing Neophyte

Is Search Advertising Right for You?

Here's my dirty little secret: as a company, we haven't done a whole lot with search engine advertising, aka pay-per-click advertising, aka PPC. We've never done it for our own services (in large part because our organic listings at Google, Yahoo and other search engines keep us busy enough,) and we've only done it a handful of times for clients.

However, after reading How to Gain Instant Exposure with Search Advertising, I can't wait for the next opportunity. We're hopefully launching a few e-products this year, and it sounds like PPC is one of the right tools to generate tons of leads.

If you're having trouble ranking well organically, whether because you're a new site, your site isn't very search engine friendly, you rely too much on Flash, or you don't have enough content, PPC may be a cost-effective way of driving qualified leads to your site. However, you still need to keep on top of your ad buys and make sure they stay cost effective.

Rich Brooks
Web Marketing for Small Business

What is Your Web Site Doing for You?

• What drives more traffic to your Web site, search engine optimization or an ad in the local paper?
• How much business did your email newsletter generate for you last year?
• How much did each Web lead cost you last year? What was each one worth?

If you're like most business owners out there, you have no idea. And yet, chances are the answers are at your fingertips.

Almost all hosting companies offer some sort of traffic reports, no matter how rudimentary. If you're unsatisfied with your reports you can have your Web person install Google Analytics, a free traffic reports application that provides an unbelievable amount of detail in a user-friendly layout.

<shameless plug>

If you'd like to learn more about Google Analytics and how to read some of its most important reports, I'll be leading a workshop on Wednesday morning in Portland, Maine called Google Analytics for Online Success. We limit these workshops to just 10 people, so registration is required. The cost is $50 and we feed you, too!

</shameless plug>

Hope to see you there.

Rich Brooks
Analytics Retentive

Google Analytics: Web Marketing Seminar in Portland, Maine

In flyte's Holistic Web Marketing model the four components are:

• Attraction (driving traffic to your site)
• Retention (staying in communication w/customers even when they're not at your site)
• Conversion (getting visitors to take a desired step towards the sale) and
• Measurement (determining how effective different campaigns really are).

It's the last component, measurement, that we'll be talking about at our upcoming workshop, Google Analytics for Online Success.

Web marketing without measurement is like archery without a target. You don't know how well you're doing.

Traffic report programs such as Google Analytics help small business
owners and entrepreneurs understand which online marketing campaigns
are working and which ones should be dropped.

Google Analytics is an incredibly powerful analytics program that
can answer all of these questions and more. Best of all, the price of
the software can't be beat: $0.

Attendees will learn:

• How to setup and get the most out of Google Analytics.
• How to read and understand reports, and which reports are essential to your success.
• How to set up Goals so you can track which traffic streams are worth the most to your business.
• How to analyze these reports to make changes to your Web site and improve your conversion rates.

Date: Wednesday, 1/16/2008

Time: 8am - 9:30am

Place: flyte's offices (directions)

Cost: $50, includes coffee & danish type edibles

Registration is required, and the workshop is limited to just 10 people, so REGISTER NOW!

Rich Brooks
flyte school instructor

Mobile Marketing Lunch & Learn

Mobile marketing is a growing field as almost everyone carries cell phones, GPS devices, and other mobile tools...heck, even the new iPod touch as Internet capabilities.

I'm not sure what the future will bring, but I plan on learning more at All You Need to Know About Mobile Marketing: The Good, The Bad and Everything In Between, a lunch and learn put on by Maine Marketing Association.

Date: Wednesday, 1/23/08
Time: 11:30 - 1pm
Place: Chamber of Commerce, 60 Pearl St., Portland
Cost: $15 for members, $25 for non-members, $10 for students

Hope to see you there!

Rich Brooks
Going Mobile

12 Web Marketing Ideas to Jump Start Your Business

You know those "new" episodes of your favorite TV show when a character gets hit by a car, and then all their friends gather by their bed side and retell their favorite stories through a series of clips?

Welcome to my clip show.

Here's a quick list of the 12 articles we published in flyte log, our monthly Web marketing ezine:

• Your 2008 Web Marketing Plan
• How to Use Social Media to Reach New Customers
• Business Blog Success: 10 Tips for a Profitable Blog
• Increase Your Search Engine Visibility: Three Things You Can Do Today
• Nine Indispensable Online Tools for Your Web-Based Business
• Four Tips to Maximize Your Email Marketing Results
• The Secret to a Web Site That Sells
• Six Blogging Myths That Are Holding You Back
• The Dangers of Relying on Google for Business
• Holistic Web Marketing: An Integrated Approach to Online Success
• Tracking Conversions: Does Your Web Site Turn Suspects into Prospects?
• Informational Products: Selling Your Knowledge Online

There's oodles of ideas in these articles that you can use to jump start your business and build it over the next year. If you'd rather not miss any new articles, please subscribe to flyte log in the box below.

Rich Brooks
Greatest Hits

Your 2008 Web Marketing Plan

There's light fluffy snowflakes falling outside my window this morning as I polish off another issue of flyte log, our Web marketing email newsletter...the last for 2007.

Rather than look back on 2007--as good as it was--it's time to look forward to 2008 and start making plans. Web marketing plans, that is.

Today's issue of flyte log is Your 2008 Web Marketing Plan, a month-by-month, itemized list of what you need to do to succeed in 2008.

Your Web marketing plan includes ideas on search engine optimization, blogging, social media, Webinars and more.

Why not take the first step in improving your chances for success in 2008 by signing up for flyte log now, so you never miss another issue?

How to Promote Your Event on the Web

How do you leverage a the Web and Internet marketing to promote your upcoming event? There are so many channels of distribution, the possibilities are almost endless. Here's a checklist of what I did to promote an upcoming workshop I'm teaching at flyte called "How to Plan, Build and Promote a Business Blog."

• Published the event on the Web Marketing Seminars page on my Web site. This is a no-brainer and the first, essential step.
• Added the event information (including a link to the online registration) on Facebook, both on my page and as part of the Portland, ME network so that other local people could find it.
• Sent out an email alert to the people who have signed up for my Web Marketing Alerts email newsletter. (You can sign up for this when you sign up for flyte log, our free, monthly email newsletter.)
• Added it as an event on MaineToday.com, the online presence for the Blethen newspapers.
• Added it as a class through Craig's list.
• Added it at MaineBiz's event calendar.
• Submitted to Maine Public Broadcasting Network's event calendar.
• Posted it to my Internet Marketing 101 blog at MaineToday.com (at least twice.)
• Posted it to my flyte blog: web marketing for small business blog (again, at least twice.)
• Posted to Eventful.com, which sends to several other sites including Podbot, Google Calendar, del.icio.us/events, Ping-o-Matic, Technorati, and Upcoming. Several of these sites extend that reach even further through their own network. (Found through Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound, through Denise Wakeman tip.
• I also learned about EventCrazy.com that way.

I also plan on submitting this event to the print versions of MaineBiz and the Portland Press Herald.

Will I do this for every event? Probably not, but I will try and track which channel is bringing me attendees, by asking everyone at the event.

Your Turn: What tools do you use to promote your events in this 2.0 world? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below.

Rich Brooks
Business Blog Expert

Get Your Blog On: 12/12/07

After a few months off because of summer break and a busy speaking-filled fall, we're bringing back our Working Lunch Seminars here at flyte. But this time, with a twist. It's during breakfast.

I tried to come up with something clever along the lines of Lunch & Learn, but as you can see, nothing clicked.

• Nosh & Know
• Munch & Master
• Lox & Learn
• Bagel & Become Able

So, I went back to my list of flyte-related puns and brought back "flyte school." (Jonathan also suggested this to me at one point, but I have documentation...somewhere...that proves I came up w/it first.)

So what's the first class of flyte school?

How to Plan, Build and Promote a Business Blog

Entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes are realizing the benefits
of a business blog to establish their credibility and expertise,
increase their search engine visibility and connect with prospects,
clients and the media.

In this workshop you'll learn:

• How to get started in blogging
• How a blog can attract search engine traffic
• How a blog can deliver leads to your business
• How to promote your blog and attract prospects and connect with customers

This workshop is limited to just 10 participants!

Date: Wednesday, 12/12/2007

Time: 8am - 9:30am

Place: flyte's offices (directions)

Cost: $50, includes coffee & danish type edibles

Register Now!

How about doing this as a Webinar, Rich?

I've heard this question several times recently, and I am planning on offering Webinars in January. (Hopefully.) Just need to work out some details. Stay tuned!

Rich Brooks
Business Blog Speaker

Web Marketing for Public Relations

I'll be part of an all-day conference for the Maine Public Relations Council this Wednesday, October 17. The annual conference's theme is "The Art and Science of Communication," and goes from 8:30 - 3:30 at the Sheraton Hotel in South Portland.

My topic will be Web Marketing for Public Relations. This is a new lens from which to view Web marketing, at least for me. However, in putting together the presentation I was just blown away by the tools that today's PR professional has at his or her disposal. I mean, I got really excited. I was pacing around the kitchen table as I was creating my slides. And the future looks even more exciting.

If you're a public relations professional, or you're just looking for ways to gain more visibility for your company you can't afford to miss the MPRC's annual conference. Admission is $100 for members, $140 for non-members. Details and registration information can be found on their events page.

Rich Brooks
Web Marketing for PR

Last Nag Chance for Web Marketing Course at USM

Just a quick reminder that Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses starts this Thursday night at 6pm.

It's a four week course I'm teaching over at USM for small business owners and entrepreneurs who want a better understanding of how to utilize Web marketing to improve their online business. We'll tackle:

• search engine optimization
• email marketing
• blogging
• web traffic reports
• building a Web site that sells
• and much, much more!

Well, not that much more. After all, it's only eight hours total. For more info and to register visit the USM Web site.

Rich Brooks
Edjamacator

Building a Web Site with Search Engines in Mind

While it's never too late to optimize your site for search engine visibility, the best time to do it is before you build it (or rebuild it.)

Why? For the same reason it's better to plan the electrical system before you build your house; it's less expensive to build the electrical system into the house rather than tear down walls to install the wiring.

At the most recent Search Engine Strategies seminar in San Jose, there was a session entitled Search Engine Friendly Design with a panel made up of Shari Thurow, Founder & SEO, Omni Marketing Interactive and Maine's own Anne Kennedy, Managing Partner, Beyond Ink.

The entire session has been documented and can be found at the SE Round Table Web site at Search Engine Friendly Design.

Rich Brooks
Maine Search Engine Marketing

How to Show Your Google Ads Only in Portland, or Bangor, or Lewiston...

There a good post on How to Geotarget Your Google Ads to a Specific City over at SE Round Table.

Why would you want to geotarget your Google Ads? The real question is why wouldn't you? Since every time someone clicks on one of your Google Adwords Ads you pay Google money, you want to make sure that it's a qualified lead. If you're a Bangor dentist, a click from a Portland Web site visitor--no matter how poor her teeth--probably won't land you a new client.

While in the past you could only limit which state the searcher was for, now you can control by city, region and more. If you're going to spend you ad dollars on Google Adwords, spend them wisely.

Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs: 4 Week Class at University of Southern Maine

The third time's a charm.

I'll be teaching Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses at the University of Southern Maine's Center for Continuing Education this fall. The classes will be Thursday evenings from 6pm - 8pm, September 20th - October 11th.

To crib from their site (which I think I wrote originally, anyway):

Your Web site is the hub of your marketing universe. In this four-class
course, you will learn how to build an effective Web site that will
attract qualified prospects and convert them into customers and
clients. You will learn how to optimize your site for the search
engines, utilize e-mail marketing, plan, build, and promote a business
blog, and use other Web marketing techniques to attract clients to your
business. Time will be spent each class reviewing Web sites and
providing feedback on students' Web sites and Web practices.

The cost is $205, there's 8 contact hours (no touching--don't worry) and you can earn .8 CEUs. To learn more and register be sure to visit the Web Marketing course page at the USM site.

Can't make it? Be sure to check out the Web Marketing Seminars section of our Web site.

Rich Brooks
Web Marketer

Adding an RSS Feed to Your Blog or Web Site

We'll be launching a Web site and blog for a new client in the next couple of weeks. One of the things the client wanted was to keep their home page fresh by feeding snippets from their blog on a regular basis.

In doing some research into this, it seems there's a number of ways to accomplish this feat, including javascript, PHP, ASP and other solutions. In fact, I found a whole slew of ideas from the ever helpful Robin Good and his post RSS To HTML - How To Convert RSS Feeds Into Published Web Pages - A Mini-Guide.

As Good points out, javascript is perhaps the easiest method to implement an RSS feed on one's Web site, but comes with one caveat: since the javascript code you add doesn't actually include the text from the feed, the search bots don't pick up that content, just the visitor to your page. However, if you're the author of the blog and Web site, I don't see this as a major problem, since your blog is there to warm leads and feed them to your site for conversion.

Good offers a number of free and paid services in his post, and is worth checking out if you're still mulling your options.

We chose Feedburner's BuzzBoost, which is free for all Feedburner accounts, which is also free. Every day I'm more impressed with Feedburner's offerings, and my only concern is that I'm becoming too dependent on them, from their great feed options, their email signups, their feed options, their stats program and more. They were recently purchased by Google, however, so I guess they're not going anywhere.

Using BuzzBoost was easy. A couple of clicks on some configuration items and the javascript was generated. I just need to add the following to any Web page:

<script src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/FlyteWhatWorksOnline?format=sigpro" type="text/javascript" ></script><noscript><p>Subscribe to RSS headline updates from: <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/FlyteWhatWorksOnline"></a><br/>Powered by FeedBurner</p> </noscript>

And away we go:

If you're looking for a way to drive more traffic to your blog from your Web site or to keep your home page fresh with info, BuzzBoost or one of the other RSS to HTML options is just what you're looking for.

Rich Brooks
Feed Me, Seymour, Feed Me!

5 Ways to Track Your Online Spending for Maximum Results

Wouldn't it be great to know exactly which Web marketing campaigns were generating sales for you, instead of just site traffic?

If you could easily determine whether it was your blog, or organic search results at AOL, or a paid ad you took out on an email newsletter, that was getting the cash register to ring, would you be interested in finding that out?

Of course you would; if not, you'd be reading Catching Flies, Catching Fish. (And more power to you, BTW!)

By installing and utilizing a free copy of Google Analytics, you can. GA (Google Analytics) allows you to track your incoming links in a number of different ways, allowing you to quickly determine which campaigns are contributing to your bottom line. GA tracks campaigns using a combination of five marketing "dimensions":

1. Source: where the traffic comes from; i.e., Google, Yahoo, an email newsletter, another Web site.
2. Medium: qualifying the source; i.e., organic search results v. paid search placement.
3. Term: the word a person types into the search engine.
4. Content: the version of the ad. Best used in content a/b testing; i.e., which version of the ad a person clicked on.
5. Campaign: to qualify which campaign the link came from; i.e., "Hot Summer Specials"  v. "Back To School Specials."

In a completely unrelated aside, I'll be leading a Working Lunch Seminar entitled "Google Analytics for Online Success" this Wednesday from noon - 1:30 at flyte's offices in Portland, Maine.

Lunch in included, seating is limited, so register online now. (Or just learn more.)

Google Analytics: How Does Your Web Site Grow?

In our Holistic Web Marketing model, there are four aspects of an integrated approach to online marketing:

• Attraction (driving quality traffic to your site)
• Retention (staying in touch with prospects, getting return visits)
• Conversion (getting them to buy or take the next step in the buying process), and
• Measurement.

It's the measurement that we'll be focusing on at our next Working Lunch Seminar called Google Analytics for Online Success!

Why is analytics so important to your Web marketing success?

• What search engines are sending you the best quality traffic?
• What
  search terms are most likely to lead to sales on your Web site?
• Did
  that recent spike in traffic lead to anyone filling out your contact
  form or signing up for your email newsletter?

Google Analytics is an incredibly powerful analytics program that
can answer all of these questions and more. Best of all, the price of
the software can't be beat: $0.

Attendees will learn:

• How to setup Google Analytics.
• How to navigate the new interface of Google Analytics.
• How to read reports, and which reports are essential to your success.
• How to set up Goals so you can track which traffic is converting at your site.
• How to have your reports emailed to you.

Lunch is included for all attendees and we offer a 100% money-back guarantee if you're not satisfied.

Seating is limited to just 10 attendees, so learn more and register now!

Date: Wednesday, July 11th, 2007
Time: Noon - 1:30pm
Place: flyte's offices, Portland, Maine (directions)

Rich Brooks
Analyize This

Give Viagra Away so There’s No Profit in Selling It

That was one of the more creative ideas for how to reduce spam and fight spammers at the "Penalty Box Summit" at the Search Marketing Expo 2007 in Seattle.

Most of the session was about how to get out of a search engine's penalty box once you've gotten in for "bad behavior," as well as better ways of reporting spam that you find yourself.

For a more complete run down of this session, check out Penalty Box Summit at Search Engine Roundtable.

For some additional advice on how to rank higher than your competition at Google and Yahoo, check out our upcoming seminar on Search Engine Optimization: How to Drive Qualified Traffic to Your Web Site. It's being held Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 in our offices in Portland, Maine. Seating is limited, so reserve your space now.

Rich Brooks
SEO Seminars

Web Site Video: Which Format is Right for You?

As high-speed bandwidth becomes more popular and the cost of storage goes down, it's not surprising that more and more Web site owners are looking to add audio and video to their Web sites.

The question we often get is what format should a site owner use? QuickTime? Windows Media? Real Player? Right now I'd argue that Flash is the way to go for most people. It's got 97% market penetration, the quality is good enough (I've seen better QuickTime movies and Windows Media videos) and it's easy to set up.

Even if you don't own Flash, or don't feel comfortable working with it, there are some nice 3rd party applications that will create the movies for you. I've been playing around with Video2SWF which works for the Mac and the PC.

For the purpose of this experiment I recorded myself using my MacBook Pro's built-in video camera and Conference Recorder 2 by eCamm. I then dragged-and-dropped the file Conference Recorder created into a Video2SWF window, made a couple of changes to the default settings, and hit "export." It created the Flash movie and the html page (which gave me the code I needed to put it in the blog post.)

In any case, I'd love to hear some feedback on the quality of the video, or if you have some other options for both Flash conversion or alternatives to Flash you feel work better.

Free Web 2.0 Handouts to Download

Yesterday I spoke at the Maine Marketing Association's Web 2.0 Conference; my topic was Web Sites for Action! Anne Kennedy of Beyond Ink spoke about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Aileen Cahill talked on Online and On Target which talked about the benefits of a Web 2.0 Web site and how to get your customers participating.

It was a great turnout--I'm guessing over 80 people--and there were a lot of good questions for all three presenters. Whether you were able to attend or not, the Maine Marketing Association has posted all three presentations up at their Web site for anyone to download.

PowerPoint handouts (or in my case, Apple's Keynote) are pretty hard to understand if you weren't there for the presentation, so if you review the handouts and still have questions on Maine Web Design or Internet Marketing, please feel free to ask.

What is Web 2.0 Anyway?

If you've been looking for information on Web 2.0 and how you can use it to turbo-charge your Internet marketing, I've got some good news.

The Maine Marketing Association will be putting on Web 2.0 - Internet Strategies for Power Marketing on Monday, May 21st, 2007.

There will be three workshops in this all-morning event:

• Online and On Target - Strategies for One to One Marketing at the Speed of Light by Aileen Cahill, author of Internet Marketing: Building Advantage in a Networked Economy
• Web Design for Action! by Rich Brooks (that's me!)
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by Anne Kennedy of Beyond Ink

The festivities begin at 8:30am and will be held at the Ambromson Center in the new Hannaford Hall building.

Registration is $35 for members and students, $45 for everyone else. Pre-registration is appreciated.

Rich Brooks
That's Me!

Email Open Rates: Best and Worst

Tara Robinson of Zugunruhe Coaching forwarded me a link to a study at MailChimp, an email service provider, that listed the subject lines of the best and worst open rates for clients using their service. The results were very surprising based on my experience. Here are the top 5 for each side:

THE BEST (60% - 87%):

1. [COMPANYNAME] Sales & Marketing Newsletter
2. Eye on the [COMPANYNAME] Update (Oct 31 - Nov 4)
   
3. [COMPANYNAME] Staff Shirts & Photos
   
4. [COMPANYNAME] May 2005 News Bulletin!
   
5. [COMPANYNAME] Newsletter - February 2006

THE WORST (1% - 14%):

1. Last Minute Gift - We Have The Answer
   
2. Valentines - Shop Early & Save 10%
   
3. Give a Gift Certificate this Holiday
   
4. Valentine's Day Salon and Spa Specials!
   
5. Gift Certificates - Easy & Elegant Giving - Let Them Choose
   

At first glance, it would appear that boring, generic, subject lines with company names listed beat out Valentine's day gift lines every time. In fact, MailChimp says:

On the "best" side, you'll notice the subject lines are pretty
straightforward. They're not very "salesy" or "pushy" at all. Heck,
some people might even say they're "boring." On the "worst" side
however, notice how the subject lines read like headlines from advertisements you'd see in the Sunday paper. They might look more "creative," but their open rates are horrible.

However, there are a couple of variables NOT mentioned here that might make all the difference in the world.

First off is the size of these lists. I've seen it reported before, and I've certainly noticed it from anecdotal evidence, that the larger your list, the lower your open rate. Now, obviously a 1% open rate is abysmal, no matter your list size. Maybe this is because over time subscribers become less likely to open your email newsletters. Generally, they know what you have to say, and they may be so busy that they don't have time to read another article on Web marketing, or they already bought their Valentine's day gifts.

Secondly, the spamminess/deliverability of the messages. If the "worst" ranked subject lines were coming from companies that used words and phrases that set off junk filters, that would definitely reduce the deliverability and thus open rates of these email missives.

Thirdly, many of the "best" messages appear to be intra-office messages. If companies are using this email service provider to send messages to staff, (i.e., [COMPANYNAME] Staff Shirts & Photos, ATTENTION [COMPANYNAME] Staff! and ATTENTION [COMPANYNAME] West Staff!!) then it's likely that the staff needs to read these emails.

Fourthly, what appears in the "from" line. Other studies have shown that the "from" line has the biggest impact on open rates, even more than subject lines.

Fifthly (is that even a word?), how these companies got their list. I'm assuming that MailChimp is a legitimate email service provider (ESP), so they have rules on how you can generate a list. For example, most ESP's won't let you import a purchased list. In fact, Constant Contact will call you if you import a list that's big enough to raise a red flag to ask how you developed your list.

Lastly, the companies behind these emails. Now, I'm not sure if the following email subject lines are related to the MailChimp brand, but look at these subject lines from the "worst" list:

1. [COMPANYNAME] Pioneers in Banana Technology
2. Technology Company Works with [COMPANYNAME] on Bananas Efforts
   
3. Now Offering Banana Services!
   
4. True automation of your Banana Research
   

I'm guessing these banana missives are all coming from the same company, and perhaps they've already proven that their email newsletters provide no value to their readers.

And even though I've already used the word "lastly" already, how about the time of day these emails are delivered, or their frequency, or whether they deliver on the promise when people first subscribed to them?

There's a number of reasons why an email may fall on the "best" and "worst" list, and subject line is just one variable.

MailChimp sums up by saying:

So what's our advice for email subject lines? This is going to sound
"stupid simple" to a lot of people, but here goes: Your subject line
should (drum roll please): Describe the subject of your email. Yep, that's it.

When it comes to email marketing, the best subject lines tell what's inside, and the worst subject lines sell what's inside.

I'm not sure that this is what I took away from their list. There are a lot of email subject lines in the worst list that describes what's in the body of the email, i.e. "Valentines - Shop Early and Save 10%." And, I'm not sure that "[COMPANYNAME] Newsletter - February 2006" from the best list is very descriptive.

I will agree with one of the findings of MailChimp, however:

Always set your subscribers' expectations during the opt-in process
about what kinds of emails they'll be receiving. Don't confuse
newsletters with promotions.

You can see the full list of best and worst performing email subject lines here.

If you'd like to learn more on how to build your email subscriber base, and get your emails delivered and read, be sure to check out our Working Lunch Seminar, How to Use Email Marketing to Build Your Business, this Wednesday, May 9th in our offices in Portland, Maine.

Is Your Business Sustainable?

If you're like me, you want your business to succeed over the long run. You're also six feet tall, have brown hair and blue eyes, and like playing video games...but I digress. You'd like to be more profitable, but you also want to run a business that is environmentally sound and socially responsible.

Is this even possible?

I'd argue that it's not only possible, but it's inevitable. Every business magazine I read, from BusinessWeek to Fast Company to Inc. to Business 2.0 to Entrepreneur to Wired, has cover story after cover story on how businesses are succeeding by "going green", or offering more flexibility to employees, or reducing waste. (Yes, I read a lot!)

So how can your Maine business benefit?

I'm on the board of MEBSR, Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility. We're putting on a full day conference on how to create and run a sustainable business called "From Awareness to Action." We've got a couple of great keynote speakers and a host of workshops that you might be interested in. Everything from "brand positioning" to "global climate change" to "improving workplace productivity" to "holistic Web marketing," which I'll be putting on.

Whether you already run a successful business and are looking for ideas and tools to improve your bottom line, or you're a start up looking to build a sustainable business, this is a conference you can't afford to miss.

I hope you'll join me on Thursday, May 10th, from 8am - 5pm at the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport.

The cost is $150 for members, $175 for non-members. If you are unable to attend, please consider sending someone else from your organization. It could be the best investment you make in your company this year.

For more information and to register, call 207.338.8908 or visit http://www.mebsr.org. The direct link to the registration form can be found here: http://fcw.mebsr.org/mebsr_events/I009CC16F

Rich Brooks
Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility

What Is "Ethical" Search Engine Optimization?

Brian Ortiz--no relation to Big Papi as far as I know--has a great article in this week's MarketingProfs called Ethical Search Engine Optimization Meets the Consistent Value Proposition. Ortiz states:

There are two main schools within the search engine optimization
(SEO) world. The first is to work against the search engines (and your
clients) with trickery, smoke and mirrors, unrealistic expectations,
and short-term thinking.

The second is to work in tandem with the search engines and your
clients who have reasonable expectations, by following the rules the
search engines put forth to create a quality, user friendly, relevant,
unique, valuable, engaging, sticky, thought-provoking, fresh, and
intuitive website.

This is another way of discussing the division between "white hat" SEO and "black hat" SEO. If your SEO company guaranteed you page one results, chances are they're working against the search engines. If they guaranteed you quick top ten results, chances are they're working against the search engines.

Ortiz says, "Ask yourself: Are my SEO's actions setting me up for now or the future?" It's a good question to ask yourself about SEO, as well as every other aspect of your business.

Take 5 minutes out of your day and check out Ethical Search Engine Optimization.

Attend Flyte's Working Lunch Seminar: How to Use Email Marketing to Grow Your Business - 5/9/07

Blogging Myths That Are Holding You Back

By the Hammer of Thor there's a lot of blogging myths out there!

Chances are, if you have been holding off on starting your own blog, you're buying into at least one of them. Perhaps you don't think you have enough time? Or that blogging is just for navel-gazing teenagers who want to discuss American Idol? Or perhaps you think, "this, too, will pass?"

You've got more excuses than Hercules had labors!

Listen, it's time to debunk those myths and get to business. A blog can help your company rank higher at the search engines, establish your expertise, and drive more qualified leads to your Web site. What's not to like?

Blogging doesn't have to be a Sisyphean challenge!

If you know that blogging can help you better market your business, but you just haven't gotten around to it yet, or you've been using excuses to get going, or you honestly believe that your users don't read blogs, then check out Six Blogging Myths That Are Holding You Back, this month's issue of flyte log.

(And don't forget, if you're too lazy to read, you can always listen to the simul-podcast.)

Attend Flyte's Working Lunch Seminar: How to Use Email Marketing to Grow Your Business - 5/9/07

Last Minute Reminder for Maine Innkeepers

If you're an innkeeper and looking for new ways to better market your business online, there's still time (barely!) to registrer for the New Innovations in Hospitality Technology Seminar, put on by the Maine Innkeepers Association.

I'll be talking about how blogs can help attract more traffic and keep your rooms filled. In addition, David Boggs will be speaking on search engine marketing
and advertising, and Mary Skinner from InnLink will be talking about
online bookings and social marketing.

It's tomorrow, Thursday 4/26, from 10am - 4:30pm for just $49.

For more info or to register, call Gregory Dugal at 207.865.6100.

An Uninspired Approach to Email Marketing

Here's an uninspiring come-on line I see all the time on Web sites:

Join Our Mailing List

followed by the obligatory signup box.

I can't imagine too many people giving up their email address at a Web site they've just discovered based on a value proposition like that. It's basically the dating equivalent of opening with "give me your number." This approach will definitely turn off your best prospects, and you'll only get numbers from the most desperate people out there. (In case you're confused, I'm arguing that this is a bad thing.)

If you want to get subscribers to your email newsletter, you need to give them something in return. In fact, you should position the email newsletter as a value-added item that complements the free white paper, raffle entry or other giveaway you're offering.

If you'd like some concrete examples of how you can build your subscriber base, as well as how to get your emails delivered, opened and read, be sure to check out our email marketing seminar, How to Use Email Marketing to Grow Your Business, on Wednesday, 5/9/07, in Portland, Maine.

Rich Brooks
Email Marketing Seminar in Maine

Web Site Copywriting: 10 Tips for a More Effective Site

What's the most under appreciated element of a successful site? The copy. Nothing is more important to the success of your Web site--yet more overlooked--than the words on the page.

Writing for the Web is a completely different exercise than writing for printed material. You never know where people are going to start (depends where the search engine drops them), what order they'll read your copy (due to all the links), or how the pages will look (thanks, non-compliant browsers! I'm looking at you, Internet Explorer.) Unfortunately, most Web site owners don't realize this until the 2nd or 3rd iteration of their Web site, if at all.

Thankfully, Susannah Ross has written a great article for old hands and newbies alike called 10 Tips for Building a Better Web Site.
From breaking up your information (#2) to using more verbs (#8) to
anticipating users' questions (#5), she shines a light on issues you
may have overlooked the last time you wrote copy for your site.

If you're Web site isn't delivering the traffic or business you think it should, be sure to check out 10 Tips for Building a Better Web Site. If you need an expert opinion, maybe you need a Web site audit.

Rich Brooks
Maine Web Site Design

Sustainable Business Conference in Maine

If you're looking for ideas and inspirations for creating a sustainable business, I've got the ticket.

MEBSR is putting on its Spring 2007 conference with two keynote speakers and one very handsome workshop leader. (At least my mom says so.)

I'll be speaking on Holistic Web Marketing: An Integrated Approach to Online Success. If you've been looking to leverage the Internet to generate more leads, convert more visitors into customers, and connect with your customer base, this is the workshop to attend.

So what to do when you're not learning how to drive qualified leads to your Web site and convert them? Well, Paul Farrow, former CEO of Moss, Inc. will be one of the keynotes speaking on "Sustainable Business: It's Not If, But When & How." I've had the pleasure of getting to know Paul over the past few months; he's a great speaker, filled with great ideas, and worth the price of admission alone.

Brian Kuehl, partner at Clark Associates and Harvard Koeb Fellow will be the other keynote, speaking about "Turning the Ship: Environmental Transformation of the U.S. Economy."

Other workshops include:

• Business Problem-Solving Roundables
• Are You Ready? Crisis Planning & PR in the Trenches
• Global Climate Change: Local Knowledge, Action & Solutions
• Brand Positioning: The Good, Bad & Risky of Incorporating Environmental Sustainability
• Tapping a Valuable Labor Source: Employing Individuals with Disabilities
• The Trash You Generate: Recycling Opportunities in a New Light
• Holistic Web Marketing: An Integrated Approach to Online Success (that's me!)
• Strategies for Improving Workplace Productivity
• Community-Owned Department Stores: The Powell Mercantile Success Story

In short, something for everyone.

The conference is Thursday, May 10th at the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport, Maine.

• Members before 4/30: $100
• Members after 4/30: $150
• Non-members before 4/30: $125
• Non-members after 4/30: $175

Through some weird loophole, if you actually pay on 4/30 it's free.

To make your life even easier, I've attached the registration form. It also includes information on MEBSR's June 7th Leadership Forum at the Mariners Church in Portland, Maine. That one I'm especially excited about, as Bo Burlingham, editor-at-large of Inc. Magazine and author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, will be the speaker.

Hope to see you there!

Rich Brooks
Sustainable Web Design

What Do Search Engines and Love Have in Common?

They're both blind.

Search engines can read text, but they can't "see" images. So, if a lot of the "words" on your home page are actually images and not HTML text, search engines may not be able to determine what your site is about.

How is Google going to rank you on page one if it can't read what you have to say about your products, your company, or who you work with? And how can you tell what Google or Yahoo is able to read from one of your Web pages? For that, we turn to a tool called SEO Browser.

Let's take a look at a search I ran this morning on maine construction company. The first result is from Wright-Ryan Construction's Web site. (This may seem biased because they're a client of flyte's, but I swear that was just happenstance.)

The result was not actually Wright-Ryan's home page, but rather an internal page on the Merriconeag Waldorf School in Freeport. (Remember: every page of your site is an opportunity to rank well.) To see this page as the search engines see it, we turn to SEO Browser.

This is what the page looks like through the eyes of a search engine. Although this page is short on copy, there's still quite a bit of content for the search engines to grab onto. The fact that the page title includes the word "Maine Construction Company" is a big help as well.

The second result is from Ryder Construction who is not a client of ours. (See, you can rank well on your own if you know what you're doing!) Here's what their pages look like from Google's perspective.

The next three results are a little off topic, so if you're a Maine construction company looking to drive more traffic through the search engines, opportunity is knocking!

What can you do to improve your own ranking at the search engines? Put yourself in the shoes of these search engines by checking out your site at SEO Browser. If what you see is confusing, or doesn't do a good job of explaining what you offer, or doesn't include any of the words you'd like to rank well for, rewrite your copy.

Make sure you get that new, keyword-rich copy where it can do the most good:

• titles,
• headers,
• body copy and
• intra-site links.

Then just sit back and get ready for more qualified leads at your Web site.

The Dangers of Relying on Google for Business

It was a dark and stormy night. The hunchbacked innkeeper shuffled into the gothic entranceway towards the four travelers who had been mysteriously drawn to the mansion on the hill.

The light from the fireplace flickered eerily on his face as he informed them that the main road--the only road--to the nearby town had been washed away. They would be stranded here for quite some time; no traffic could come in or out for the foreseeable future.

I know what you're thinking: woe to the innkeeper! How can he continue to run his business now that the only path to the outside world lies in ruin...destroyed by forces outside his control?

Take a lesson from the unfortunate innkeeper: don't rely too heavily on any one method for online lead generation...even if that method is Google. In fact, especially if it's Google.

If you'd like to find out effective ways to diversify your portfolio of incoming links and increase the traffic coming to your Web site, be sure to check out our newest issue of flyte log: The Dangers of Relying on Google for Business.

Photo by Karl Randay

Rich Brooks
Gothic Search Engine Marketing

Why Can't Search Engine Companies Guarantee Results?

Who doesn't like a guarantee?

Many Web site owners are intrigued by offers that guarantee page one placement at the search engines. After all, no one wants to spend a lot of money and find that they aren't ranking any higher than they did before.

But think about if you owned a bed and breakfast. You can guarantee your visitors clean sheets, a view of the ocean, and a fine dining experience. What you can't guarantee them is that they'll have a good time. Or that it will be in their top 10 weekends of all time.

It may be that they have a lot of great weekends. It may be that it rains. It may be that they get sick, or hungover, or they have a terrible fight with their significant other. There are just too many variables out there.

Likewise, psychologists can't guarantee you complete happiness, plastic surgeons can't guarantee that the object of your affection will fall in love with you, and a career counselor can't guarantee you'll have your next job for life.

The same is true with any legitimate search engine optimization company. They can guarantee that they'll be professional, that they'll do the appropriate research, that they'll make recommendations based on previous experience and success, but they can't guarantee you'll be on page one.

Maybe you have too much competition. Maybe the keyword phrases you're targeting are too broad or off-target. Maybe you're unwilling to add the necessary content to your image-heavy home page. Maybe Google or Yahoo changes their algorithm next week. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

So how do companies that guarantee you page one placement get away with it?

1. They use pay-per-click ads that appear on page one. Nothing wrong with this approach, except it could be expensive. Also, if they're leading you to believe this is natural search results at work, that's misleading.
2. They're using underhanded, black hat SEO tricks that probably will rocket you into the top 10 results...and then get you banned just as quick. Many fly-by-night search engine firms use this slash-and-burn technique, and then you'll spend a LOT more money with a legitimate SEO company trying to get back into Google's good graces.
3. They're lying.

I know you want to rank on page one at Google. But so does all of your competition. The best long-term, sustainable approach to search engine success is to continually add quality content that your customers are interested in and organize and present it in a way that the search engines can also understand.

Three Questions To Guide Your Online Success

Before starting on a new Web site or a revamp of your current site, you need to answer the following three questions. How important are these questions? They're some of the first questions we ask prospective clients after, "that's a pretty name...how do you spell that?"

Who's Your Audience?
Remember, your Web site isn't about you, it's about your customers. Knowing who your clients are will help you write your copy addressing their needs and concerns, not what you want to sell them. We ask clients to give us their top three audiences and to focus on them.

What Are Your Business Goals?
The point of building a Web site should be more than just having one, it should be to build your business. What features, pages and elements go onto the Web site should all support your business goals. Again, we ask our clients to prioritize their business goals and provide us with their top three.

What Do Your Visitors Want to Accomplish at Your Web Site?
This will vary from Web site to Web site. Do visitors want to see examples of your work? Do they want to learn who you've done business with? Do they need more information so they can make an informed decision? Do they want to purchase something online? Do they want to contact you quickly and easily?

Put yourself in your prospects' shoes and try and determine what they want to do at your site. Once again, we ask our clients to prioritize their list and provide us with the top three visitor goals.

Once you feel confident you've answered these three questions, write the nine answers at the top of every document you use while developing your site...these core answers will help guide you as you build a Web site that will attract qualified traffic, convert prospects into customers, and grow your business.

Drive More Traffic To Your Web Site

Would you like to drive more traffic to your Web site? Rank higher at the search engines? Understand how a blog or podcast could attract more prospects and customers? Would you like to know about new forms of Web marketing, like social bookmarking and tagging?

Well, we have just two spots left for this Wednesday's Working Lunch Seminar at flyte: Building Traffic at Your Web Site.

The session goes from noon - 1:30 and includes lunch. For details, directions, and to register for one of the last two remaining spots, be sure to check out our Web Marketing Seminars page.

How to Build a B2B Web Site

If you're audience is other businesses, you need to have a B2B approach for your Web site. Galen De Young provides a lot of helpful advice in an article entitled B2B Search Engine Optimization: Driving Conversion.

This is the 2nd article in a series, and this one focuses primarily on different incentives you might offer at your Web site to build trust and establish your expertise with prospective buyers. She covers newsletters, white papers, podcasts, case studies and more.

While not all of the elements might be right for your business, it's about testing out different campaigns to see what works, and using analytics to measure success and failure.

Sounds pretty holistic to me.

What Is Holistic Web Marketing?

Too often Web site owners focus all of their attention on ranking well at the search engines at the expense of building a Web site that will convert this traffic into business. Or, they spend a lot of money on a Web site design, but never sink dime one into promoting their site. Or they build up a big email subscriber base, but don't know how to get these subscribers to take action.

The problem is that these site owners are focusing on just one element of their Web marketing, instead of viewing their Web marketing as a whole.

Web marketing these days takes an integrated, multi-faceted approach if you want to succeed. To better explain how to create a more effective online marketing plan, flyte has created a model called Holistic Web Marketing.

You can learn more about Holistic Web Marketing at flyte's blog.

MySpace Tips for Marketers

Whether you're targeting teenagers, their parents or a "five-foot-tall divorced mom [who listens to Metallica] five miles from your home, MySpace might be a channel worth investigating.

Luke J. Bodley has written MySpace Marketing Tips, Tricks and Hints in this week's issue of MarketingProfs. He's been marketing on MySpace for a couple of years and has some great advice for anyone looking to connect on this social networking Web site.

He tells some funny horror stories, as well as some inspiring success stories as well. He also points out that if you're a B2B there's no bigger waste of your time or money than MySpace.

However, if you're planning an event, or have an interesting consumer-oriented product or service, this article is a must read.

Digg: A Guide for Web Marketers

What is Digg?

Digg is a Web 2.0 news Web site powered by it's readers. Articles, news stories, videos and now podcasts are submitted to the site by users (members of the community.) Other members can then vote on anything submitted, either "digging it" (a thumbs up) or "burying it" (a thumbs down.) As items become more popular they can be voted onto the home page where they'll get more views. There's a heavy technology theme at the site, but more recently they seem to be branching out to a wider variety of topics.

Why should you care?

Digg is a hugely popular Web site and getting an article from your Web site to appear on the home page can drown you in traffic...reports of 10K - 50K page views from a popular Digg article are not unheard of. In fact, many sites mention the down side of being "dugg," that their servers can handle the load!

What's the downside?

Well, there's the chance your server may crash. (This is a long shot.) It's also not easy to get into Digg, as a lot of other Web site owners and Internet marketers would like to drive that kind of traffic to their own site. If your articles aren't about technology you may be fighting an uphill battle.

There's also a lot of talk from people who have been dugg several times that there's very little conversion from Digg.com visitors. In other words, they come, they see, and they leave. They don't sign up for email newsletters, they don't click on ads, and they don't leave comments on your blog. In fact, they often journey back to Digg to leave their comments. It would be like if hundreds of tour buses unloaded their passengers in front of your store, but almost everybody just window shopped.

Of course, YMMV. (Also, maybe this is a savvy plan by folks who have been dugg to keep you from repeating their success.)

How do you Digg something?

Join the Digg community. It's free and takes just a few seconds. Once you login there will be a "Submit a News Story" link on the home page. It takes you to a guidelines page that asks you to make sure the story is interesting and unique (that it isn't already in the Digg database.) Then you'll be asked to provide the URL of the story, a title for the story (be clear and creative to get people to learn more) and a description that will compell people to click on the link. You'll also be asked to put the story into the right category.

The process is about the same for submitting videos or podcasts. And yes, you can submit your own stuff.

How do you get Dugg?

Many sites, especially blogs, include "Digg It" links at the bottom of each post or page. Like the tip jar at the local ice cream parlor, this gets people who are familiar with Digg thinking about submitting your post.

Make sure you have a compelling title that will get people to click on your link, but make sure it's accurate! If people feel fooled your article will get buried. I've noticed that many of the most popular posts aren't afraid of hyperbole. Examples include all cap words like "FINALLY," "Yes, this is REAL!!," and "MIRACULOUS!!!"

If you can tie your article or other item into a current event (like the release of the iPhone, a celebrity mishap or something else) you'll probably have a better chance getting dugg.

You might get a few other savvy friends to digg your story. The people behind Digg know this is going on and don't mind it, if it's just a few people. Just don't abuse it.

BTW, like this story? Then Digg it!

What's The Right Domain Name for You?

To .com or .biz, that is the question.

Choosing a domain name for a new Web site is often a daunting task. Unless you're company name is Flz37kaharj Inc., you may find your first few choices taken.

Then there's the whole .com, .net, .biz question. That's the question I got asked the other day. A company we're talking to was having internal discussions on the best possible top-level domain to go with. Specifically, were there any surveys that had been done.

Since I didn't know of any, I came up with a quick 3 question survey myself called Business Top-Level Domain Survey. If you've got, say 30 seconds, would you mind taking it?

I'll follow up with results in a couple/few days.

Space Available for Wed. Web Stats Seminar

I made a mistake and find I have an extra space for Wednesday's Understanding Web Site Traffic Reports. (Ignore the sold out sign.)

If you are available at lunch and want to know how to read your traffic reports and understand what they're telling you, fill out our contact form or call me during work hours at 871.7921.

If the space is still available it's yours! First come, first served.

Time: Noon - 1ish
Place: flyte's offices
Cost: $50

Does Your Startup Need a Web Site?

I mean, can your business survive without one?

I do a lot of business with people who don't have Web sites. I don't believe our pediatrician, the guy who plows our driveway or any of the general contractors we interviewed about the work we need to do on our basement have a site. I even know a couple of graphic designers who don't have Web sites, which blows my mind. They stay busy most of the time, but that's probably because they had steady clients from the mid-nineties.

My friend across the street has been teasing me for six years about needing a Web site, but never seems to sit down long enough to build one. Yet, he's always busy and runs a successful business designing and building kitchen cabinetry.

Yet my gut tells me that these are the exceptions to the rule. (Of course I'm biased.) If one of those general contractors had pointed us to a Web site where we could have seen before and after photos of jobs they had completed, they may have gotten our business.

Entrepreneurs need to watch costs. When I started my business almost 10 years ago I designed my own business cards and had them printed at the local print shop. I sent out my first print newsletters by using my dad's home copier. I had a dial-up connection to the Internet and a painfully slow Mac Performa. I couldn't afford better those days.

So recently, when a couple of friends asked me if they really needed a Web site for their nascent kitchen remodeling business, I had to think about it. Why would they need a Web site?

Most new businesses are competing against established competitors. Because so much of business is who you know, you're fighting an uphill battle for market share, no matter how much better your product or service is. By developing a search engine friendly site, you can immediately start to take business away from your competitors who don't have effective Web sites. A certain percentage of customers won't ask friends and family for recommendations, they'll just ask Google or Yahoo. Some of those customers may just keep the lights on your first year.

People want to work with experienced professionals. Most Web sites can benefit from a portfolio section. If you can show examples of your work, whether it's before and after shots of a kitchen, or a reduced employee turnover report, or testimonials letters, you can convince people who say "show me."

It's cheaper than another employee. A Web site will generate sales leads for you, bringing in new business from search engines, directories and other Web sites. This sales rep works 24/7, and doesn't stop for lunch or vacation.

Does your prospect want to review your information during their work day or after the kids have been put to sleep? No problem. Do they need the information at work or on the laptop in their kitchen? Doesn't matter. This sales rep is tireless, and would even meet with them in their pajamas eating a midnight snack.

Now that's a solid return on investment.

Web Marketing Survey @ SurveyMonkey

I'd like your help with a Web Marketing Survey I put together on Survey Monkey.

I've been playing around a bit with Survey Monkey, an online tool that allows anyone to create an online survey without knowing any HTML. There's a free trial that I've been playing around with that has limited features and only allows you to collect 100 survey results per month. There's a fully functioning version at $19.99/month which seems reasonable given all the options Survey Monkey offers.

Creating a survey is extremely easy. You can put all of your questions on one page or create multi-page surveys. You can name both your survey and each page, as well as including descriptive text.

You can choose from different types of questions. Do you want people to choose just one option or multiple ones? Open ended questions? No problem. You can also upload images or charts to your surveys.

Paid subscribers get some cool extra features like:

• Conditional logic - hiding or showing certain questions based on previous answers.
• Randomize answer choices - prevents "order bias" for more accurate results.
• Create custom themes - I don't know if this completely answers my branding concerns, but it's a step in the right direction.
• Require answers - don't let lazy survey takers off the hook!

Survey Monkey also has some nice tools for analyzing your data, but I haven't had a chance to explore it yet. Which is why I'm requesting your help. I'll follow up this post with another one on what the results look like.

If you need an easy-to-use survey building tool, Survey Monkey is certainly worth looking at. As a Web designer I wish there was more flexibility in making the
surveys look like my pages, but that may not be a concern to many users.

To see what the surveys can look like and to take a quick four-question survey, please visit our Web marketing survey.

What Are Your Traffic Reports Telling You?

Due to overwhelming demand (no, seriously!) we're repeating our Understanding Web Site Traffic Reports class on Wednesday, January 31st, 2007. As I said in my last email,

"A person who reads tea leaves can predict the future, but a person who can read their traffic reports can make the future."

Title: Understanding Web Site Traffic Reports
Date: 1/31/07
Time: Noon - 1pm
Place: flyte's offices @ 136 Commercial St., Ste.201, Portland, ME
Cost: $50, lunch included

Again, the last class sold out the first day I formally announced it and I've already set aside 4 of the 10 seats for the people who were on the waiting list.

For more information and to register online, please visit our Web Marketing Seminars page.

BTW, if you'd like to be informed of other upcoming classes, sign up for our free email newsletter and be sure to check off the box that says: "Alerts for Web Marketing Related Webinars, Classes, Events, Etc." on the confirmation page.

Hope to see you there.

12 Web Marketing Articles to Read Right Now

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know I'm a big fan of email newsletters. They're very cost effective, they keep you in front of your best prospects and customers, and they help you establish your expertise.

The only downside is that once they're sent, they're gone. If you're producing a content-rich newsletter you should archive these newsletters on your Web site. This helps you with the search engines as well as providing this content for people who have just discovered you.

To that end, here's a quick list of the twelve flyte log newsletters flyte published in 2006. Enjoy! More can be found here: http://www.flyte.biz/resources/newsletters/

• New Year's Resolutions for Your Web Site
• Use Your Blog to Attract the Long Tail of Search
• 37 Calls to Action to Get People to Read, Click and Buy at Your Web Site
• PayPal: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
• Blog Marketing: How Blogs Can Increase Your Reach and Deliver New Customers
• Boost Your Search Engine Rank: Proven Methods to Increase Incoming Links
• Search Engine Optimization: Stop Guessing and Start Researching
• Keyword Research: Five Ways Your Prospects Search for You
• Lead Generation Online: Is Your Web Site a Leaky Bucket?
• The Secret to Great Search Engine Rank
• Broken Windows, Broken Web Sites: Why Your Web Site is Underperforming
• Search Engine Success Through Article Marketing

As always, you can subscribe at our Web site.

Understanding Your Web Site Traffic Reports

Would you like to get more information out of your traffic reports? Would you like to better understand how people are finding your site, where they're coming from, and what search terms they're using at the search engines?

Are you curious to know how much time they're spending at your site, or how many pages they visit before leaving?

Would you like to know which pages interest them, or which pages drive them to your competition? How about where in the world they live? Or how cost effective your pay-per-click ad campaign is?

Would you like to take this information and use it to drive more qualified traffic to your site, generate more leads and make more money online?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, have I got the workshop for you. (If you answered no to all of these questions you're in the wrong place.)

Flyte's starting a new program called the Working Lunch Seminar Series. The first seminar will be Understanding Web Site Traffic Reports: How to Improve Your Web Site and Get More Business Online.

We'll be looking at how to get important information from of your traffic reports and how to put it to use to improve your site.

We'll use Google Analytics
as our traffic reporting software. Attendees may choose to setup a free
Google Analytics account for their own site before the course begins, but it's not required. What you learn in class will work for most other traffic reporting software packages as well.
(If you'd like flyte to set this up for you you can request that now or after you've signed up for the class.)            

Lunch is included for all attendees.          

Seating is limited to just 10 attendees! (News Flash! Only 9 8 seats left!)

Date: Wed., 1/17/07
Time: 12 noon - 1pm
Place: flyte's learning lab, 136 Commercial St., Ste 201, Portland, ME
Cost: $50

Learn more or register now for the first Working Lunch Seminar: Understanding Your Web Site Traffic Reports.

(We also have another Working Lunch Seminar schedule for February 21st: How to Plan, Build and Promote Your Business Blog.)

New Year's Resolutions for Your Web Site

Imagine it's the end of 2007, not 2006.

As you look back over the past year, what happened to your business? Did you start a Web marketing program? Did you send out monthly or even weekly email newsletters to clients?

Did you do a keyword analysis to determine what your prospects were looking for online, and then rewrite your page titles, headers, body copy and intra-site links to take advantage of this information?

Did you start a blog or a podcast to attract the interest of like-minded customers? Did you at least start reading blogs in your industry, or check out some podcasts so you'd know what your competition is doing?

Did you try putting a company video on YouTube? Did you set up a MySpace page (assuming your customers are there)? Did you update your LinkedIn profile to better network?

Did you attend some MESDA or MEBSR events, or go to a Maine Marketing Association Back Lot tour?

Did you generate leads at your Web site or sell more product online? Did you increase your site traffic or convert more visitors into buyers?

If your vision of 2007 is unclear, and you're not sure how to get your online business to where it needs to be, please check out New Year's Resolutions for Your Web Site, our most recent issue of flyte log, our free email newsletter.

And let's all look back on 2007 as our best year ever.

Web Marketing for Socially Responsible Businesses

Are you looking to market your business on the Internet, but your concerned about being labeled as a spammer? Or you're not sure how you can compete against companies that may hire "black hat" search engine optimizers to rank artificially higher at Google?

Are you interested in finding ways in reaching out to like-minded consumers who value social-responsibility in a company?

This Friday (December 1st, 2006) I'll be putting on a workshop called Internet Marketing for Values-Based Businesses. It's part of the all-day Fall Leadership Conference put on by MEBSR (Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility).

The theme for this year is "Practical Tools for Business Success." Now that's something everyone can get behind, no matter how socially responsible you may be...or how far you have to go.

Besides my workshop, there will be two keynote speakers, Kevin Hancock of Hancock Lumber and John Warner, the Director of the Center for Green Chemistry at UMass Lowell.

Date: 12/1/06
Time: 8am - 5pm
Place: University of Maine, Hutchinson Center, Belfast (Directions)
Cost: $150 members, $175 non-members, $35 students, $0 if you sneak in the back.

Just kidding about that sneak in the back part. That wouldn't be very socially responsible of you now.

You can call 207.338.8908 or download the conference PDF.

Hope to see you there!

Internet Marketing for Values-Based Businesses

I'll be running "Internet Marketing for Values-Based Businesses," a workshop at the MEBSR Annual Fall Sustainable Business Conference.

MEBSR--Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility--hosts this event every year...which is why they call it their Annual Fall Conference. The theme of this year's fall conference is "Practical Tools for Business Success."

How does an ethical business succeed on the Internet where email spam, click-fraud and search engine schemes seem to rule the day?

By enabling a long-term solution that engages the Four Pillars of Internet Marketing. Learn how to use search engine optimization, permission-based email marketing, blogs, podcasts and non-malevolent viral marketing to engage like-minded customers and prospects, drive more qualified traffic to your site and convert that traffic into business.

Besides my workshop, there will be two keynote speakers, Kevin Hancock of Hancock Lumber and John Warner, the Director of the Center for Green Chemistry at UMass Lowell.

Date: Friday, December 1st, 2006
Time: 8am - 5pm
Place: University of Maine Hutchinson Center, Belfast, ME (Map & Directions)
Cost:

• $100 MEBSR members ($150 after Nov. 10th)
• $150 non-members ($175 after Nov. 10th)
• $15 students ($35 after November 10th)

I know the 10th is coming up soon, so please register now! You can call 207.338.8908 or download the conference PDF.

Using Chopsticks to Drive Traffic to Your Blog

Google "chopstick instructions" and the flyte blog comes up third. Until a few days ago, we were number one, and still are if you include the quote marks.

What does this mean for you? It shows how you can drive traffic to your blog (or Web site). And, if you were a Chinese restaurant or sold Asian cooking implements, the power of driving qualified traffic to your blog.

It was a few Friday afternoons ago and I was a little fried. I read the miserable translation of the chopstick instructions on the chopstick wrapper ("Chinese glonous history?") and found it funny. So I scanned in the wrapper and blogged about it.

I purposefully wrote a post title--which would become my page title--that should capture the interest of anyone wanting to learn how to use chopsticks, "Chopstick Instructions: How to Use Chopsticks."

Within about two days I was number one for "chopstick instructions" and I find that I get a few people every day who come to my blog looking for chopstick instructions.

Now of course, I can't take advantage of this audience. If any of them are interested in Web design and Internet marketing it would be a random occurance; certainly not worth the time of scanning in the wrapper and blogging about it.

However, it shows that there are people out there looking for help in certain areas of their life or business. What instruction manual or how-to can you post to your own blog to drive qualified traffic?

You need to get inside the head of your best customer or prospect, determine what she wants, and help her achieve it.

And, unlike your Web site that may have a certain structure, you can
easily throw in how-to articles on your blog on anything you like, just to test the
reaction. You can also write articles that might take advantage of
current events, such as "How to Vote Twice on Election Day" or "What to Wear to Get Arrested While Protesting TABOR."

What are your best prospects looking to achieve? Now you have your writing assignment.

How to Increase Sales at Your Web Site

Would you like to increase sales or generate more leads on your Web site? Then read on....

One of the biggest reasons Web sites fail to generate more business for their owners is that the message, or the delivery of that message, is too complex.

As people try to navigate the data smog they're exposed to each day they are constantly attracted to a simplified message. The more complex the message or the delivery, the more chance they'll feel overwhelmed and want to leave the site.

Nick Usborne, author of Net Words: Creating High-Impact Online Copy, has written an article called Six Ways to Keep Your Web Pages Simple and Increase Sales over at MarketingProfs.com.

Nick recommends simplifying your message and offer, and reducing your use of graphics. Ironically, he also recommends using fewer columns, but the page the article resides on has three columns, two with graphics and calls-to-action to take you off page.

Regardless, this article is essential for any site owner who wanted to throw "just one more thing" on his or her home page.

Getting Your Message Across on the Web (and Beyond)

Are you staying on message? Are you delivering a compelling story to your clients?

I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel today for the Maine Marketing Association's Fall Seminar called "Right On! Staying on Message No Matter What." The keynote speaker was Roy Heffley of Bob Moomey Communications, and I was joined on the panel by Paula Mahony of Words@Work and Scott Stone of Schiavi Home Builders.

I talked about how blogs are the perfect tool to tell a compelling story to your audience. Paula and Scott talked about how they changed the message the Schiavi was telling their customers about the homes they built.

Roy spoke about how can we cut through the clutter that is modern day culture. He had a number of good points and illustrations, but two of the points that really resonated with me were:

1. Your message must focus on and appeal to your audience
2. Your message must differentiate yourself from your competition (otherwise you're competing on price.)

Whether the medium is a podcast, a blog, a Web site, a banner ad, an email newsletter, a printed newsletter, a TV advertisement, a radio advertisement, a newspaper ad, direct mail, or a telegraph, it doesn't matter. What matters is the message.

Be clear, be consistent.

Now, go check your Web site and see if your prospects are interested in what you have to say on your home page.

Internet Marketing Seminars in Maine

For those of you with a desire to learn more about Internet Marketing and a burning desire to meet me in person, next week is your Mardi Gras.

Monday, October 16: I'll be presenting "How to Plan, Build and Promote a Business Blog" for MESDA from 6pm - 8pm at their offices in Westbrook, Maine. Entrance is free, but they ask you to register for a door prize. (Directions.)

Tuesday, October 17: I'll be part of a panel put on by the Maine Marketing Association called "Right On! Staying on Message No Matter What: Crafting and Communicating Effective Messages That Will Break Through the Clutter." It's from 9 - 11:30am at the Glickman Family Library on the USM campus in Portland. Roy Heffley is the keynote speaker.  The cost is $35 for members, $45 for non-members, and $15 for students or anyone with a fake student ID. You can register via email or just show up. (Directions.)

Wednesday, October 18: Is the first class of the Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses at the University of Southern Maine's Center for Continuing Ed. The classes continue each Wed. evening (10/25, 11/1 & 11/8) from 6:30 - 8:30pm. The cost is $195 and you can learn more and register here.

Thursday, October 19: I'll be taping a segment for WCSH's evening news magazine 207. Topic and broadcast date TBD.

Whether I get any real work done next week is also TBD.

Senator Collins and Net Neutrality

Meeting with Senator Susan Collins in her offices in Lewiston yesterday was an interesting experience. I went there with Jon Bartholomew of Common Cause Maine, Fletcher Kittredge of GWI, Lance Duston of mainecoastdesign and world-famous blogger of the Maine Web Report, and Assistant Professor Michael J. Socolow of the University of Maine Orono.

Senator Collins was very welcoming, and listened to us all as we went around the room and explained why we felt Net Neutrality was good for Maine and the Maine economy. She asked some good questions at the end and we had a chance to respond.

I don't envy the job of the senator. It's either got to be the most interesting or exhausting job to listen to group after group of people come in and explain why their cause is just and how we need your vote on this very important issue. God knows I wouldn't have the patience.

One thing that should be made clear is that this is not and should not be a partisan battle. Lance and I have very different opinions politically, but we're both for Net Neutrality. The stronger language that we're arguing for was brought to the Senate by Maine's own Senator Olympia Snowe, republican, and Senator Byron Dorgan, democrat.

I know I talked about it the other day, but I thought I'd share the notes I made for myself to prepare for the meeting. I know that not everyone agrees with me, and that's good. That's democracy and freedom of speech at work. I'd hate to lose that.

• Net neutrality is good for small businesses by allowing us to compete on a level playing field where we can succeed or fail based on the quality of our products, services and ideas and how well we run our business, not by our ability to partner with or pay giant tariffs to telcoms and cable companies.
• With 95% of businesses in Maine having less than 50 employees, that means that Net Neutrality is good for Maine and the Maine economy
• There are small businesses with disruptive ideas and new technologies that are competing against the very quasi-monopolies that can impede our access to our prospects once Net Neutrality is gone for good.
• The growth of Web-based applications that can help small businesses cut costs and increase sales will be stymied as the startup companies that create them won't be able to afford access to the "fast lane" of tiered service.
• I've recently chosen a VoIP solution for our telecommunication needs; now Verizon could choose to slow or even stop access to my VoIP phones because VoIP competes with their phone services.
• I've recently begun conversations with an Australian company to provide services for them. Previously I would have been unable to work with them because the phone calls were prohibitively expensive. With Skype I can now use my existing Internet access and talk to them for no additional fees.
• It's in these quasi-monopolies best interest to give preferential treatment to themselves and their partners; the language in the telecommunications bill needs to be strong enough so that these companies can't do what's in the nature, in the name of "increasing shareholder value."
• With 95% of small businesses failing within 5 years, and small businesses providing more new jobs to the US economy, should we really be making it more difficult for entrepreneurs to start new business, add to the economy and hire new employees?

Discuss.

Is Net Neutrality Important to Your Business?

I'll be part of a group meeting with Senator Susan Collins on Thursday to talk about Net Neutrality and how we need the government to reinstate this basic premise of the Internet.

This has become a highly divisive issue recently, with the telcoms and cable providers on one side (Verizon, TimeWarner,) saying they need the ability to create a tiered Internet where businesses could pay more to get their content delivered faster.

On the other side are content providers (Google, Amazon,) and groups like Common Cause that feel it's important to keep the Internet as a level playing field.

I find myself firmly on the side of net neutrality's defenders. Although I understand that giant video files are beginning to clog network pipes, allowing a tiered system for the Internet goes against some of the basic premises of the Internet and harms small businesses in the process.

What is Net Neutrality?
Net Neutrality is the idea that all content sent over the Internet (in this case) should be treated equally.

Why is Net Neutrality important to small businesses?
The Internet has been an amazing tool for small businesses, and I'm not talking about Silicon Valley startups that sell out to Google or Yahoo for a billion dollars.

Small businesses, many based here in Maine, have the same opportunity of reaching prospects and clients as giant companies do, if they know how to leverage their Web site and Internet marketing.

What the telcom's would like to do is offer tiered service: businesses could pay to become partners of Verizon or AT&T and have their content get preferential treatment. Their content would be delivered faster than that of their rivals. Consumers wouldn't really know why a competitor's site was taking for ever to download, but they wouldn't care. They'd just move on to another site.

Every day I do searches at Google. If a site on the results page takes more than a few seconds to come up, I often choose the next result. I'm guessing you've done that a few times yourself.

Well, imagine if the reason why that site is taking so long to download is because they couldn't afford or refused to pay an additional fee to the telcoms? They may have a better product, or a better service, but they've been boxed out by the duopoly that is held by the telcoms and cable providers.

Although many opponents of Net Neutrality claim that we don't need any more government regulation, it was actually recent regulation that CHANGED the laws.

Net neutrality is critical to Maine businesses. We need to keep the playing field level so that  businesses can succeed or fail based on the quality of their products and services.

We live in an incredibly exciting time right now, with the Internet as a major disruptor of the way things used to be. Eliminating Net Neutrality will have a negative impact on businesses, freedom of expression and marketplace competition.

Examples of how a lack of Net Neutrality have stymied businesses outside of America are on display in this article from Inc. magazine called One Internet, Indivisible.

If you'd like to learn more about Net Neutrality be sure to check out Maine Internet Freedom's blog.

Can Your Web Site Close the Sale?

Web sites have been heralded by businesses as a sales force that works 24/7. However, does your Web site know how to ask for the sale?

Too many sites are nothing more than online brochures, never asking the visitor to make a buying decision or leading him or her down the sales funnel.

Every page on your site needs at least one call to action, a compelling question or phrase that gets your site visitor to interact, click, call, contact or buy from your site.

Unfortunately, many site owner's idea of a compelling call to action is "click here" or "learn more." Besides the lost search engine optimization opportunity (more on that another time), these phrases are dull and unhelpful.

I've compiled a list of 37 Calls to Action to Get People to Read, Click and Buy at Your Web Site to get your creative juices flowing. Once you've completed the article, please visit this post on my [other] blog and leave your best call to action (real or made up) in the comments.

The best call to action will get a link from my [other] blog (PageRank 7) and a mention in next month's flyte log, our email newsletter.

Oh, that's right. 37 Calls is the title of this month's flyte log. Should you subscribe? Well, would you like to drive more qualified traffic to your site and convert that traffic into business?

Now that's a call to action.

Web Marketing Course at USM

If you enjoy the subject matter of this blog, but you'd prefer a little more interaction and perhaps specifics on how YOU can implement some of these ideas on your own Web site, blog or email newsletter, I've got good news.

I'll be teaching a course called Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Small Business at the University of Southern Maine this month as part of their Center for Continuing Education.

We'll be talking search engine optimization, email marketing, blogs, podcasts, viral marketing, e-commerce, home page strategies and more. Last time we got into wikis.

The course will be Wednesday evenings from 6:30 - 8:30pm, October 18th - November 8th. For more information and to register online check out the Web marketing course page on the USM Web site.

Not sure if this class will help? Here's an unsolicited thank you email I received:

Rich,

Thanks to applying what I learned from you to my new site, in the last month I have zoomed up in the Search rankings (when any part of my name or ‘Maine’ is included with key terms, I get at least three listings on first page), increased the amount of time people are spending on the site, increased my new visitors to 25% of my traffic and tripled the rate of new subscribers to the ezine. 

Chris Trout

OK, enough self-love. Hope to see you there.

Traffic Reports Lead to Better Web Sites

Do you have access to your Web site traffic reports? Do you read them?

Recently we've picked up a couple of clients who currently have Web sites but either don't have traffic reports or don't know how to access them. One of the first things I recommend is that we set up traffic reports for them immediately. This helps benchmark the success (or lack thereof) of the new site.

By continually reviewing the traffic reports we can make changes, add new content or articles, create more links to important but under visited sections of the site and more.

Traffic reports are required reading for anyone who cares about the success of their Web site.

Good traffic reports tell you:

• how many people visited your site
• where they came from (another Web site, a search engine, a bookmark, etc.)
• what search engine they used
• what search terms they used
• how long they spent at your site
• how many pages they viewed at your site
• the first and last pages they visited at your site
• and more.

While most decent Web site hosting companies include traffic reports, lately I've been enjoying the stats generated by Google Analytics (formerly Urchin.) The reports are free, and it's a hosted solution (meaning you don't have to do anything on your own server.) Also, if you do use Google Adwords for your pay-per-click advertising, you can more deeply track all of your ads' ROI.

You'll need a Google account (free) to get going, and ability to add some code into your Web pages, or hire a professional to do it for you. The whole process should take 2 - 3 hours depending on the size of your site and your comfort level.

The reports you receive are incredibly revealing. The home page will greet you with a 20,000' foot view of how your site is doing.

There are dozens of different reports you can run, as well as target specific dates or ranges of dates to see how a newspaper or TV ad may have impacted your traffic.

One report I always review is the referrers report; this tells me where my traffic is coming from.

One report that I just discovered is very interesting. It shows a working version of any page in your Web site, along with graphs next to each link to show what percentage of traffic clicked on each link.

The tan bars appear under each link and the blue bar shows visually the percentage. By clicking on each bar you can get more details. From this page you can see that during the past week 12.42% of my home page visitors clicked on the link to download 10 Questions to Ask Before Setting Up a Web Site.

If I was trying to drive more traffic to a specific part of the site, this would help me determine if I needed to promote it more heavily on a given page.

The only shortcoming of this is that Google Analytics can't tell which link the visitor clicked on, just how many people clicked a link that went to a given page. In other words, was it the image that caught their attention or the text link?

Still, if you're looking for help on how to drive more qualified traffic to your site and how to get your site visitors to take the appropriate steps to close the sale, reviewing your traffic reports is an essential first step.

What Does a Small Business Need to Succeed Online?

If you're running a small business or startup, and have been wondering what you need to get going and be successful online, turn on your TV.

Tonight I'll be talking about Web sites and Web marketing for small businesses on WCSH Channel 6's evening news program 207.

We'll talk (briefly!) about search engine optimization, email marketing, blogs, podcasts and more. Watch me try and cram 8 hours of seminars into 5 minutes without my head exploding!

The show begins at 7pm tonight, 9/21/06.

If you need more than five minutes of information, be sure to check out the continuing ed course I'll be teaching over at the University of Southern Maine: Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses. It's offered over 4 Wednesdays, 10/18 - 11/8, 6:30pm - 8:30pm.

Find Your Customers Online

If I told you that you could listen unobtrusively to your best prospects talk about their biggest problems, hurdles and concerns would you be interested?

That at any time you could join the conversation and offer helpful advice, establishing yourself as an expert in the eyes of your target audience.

That by providing this help you could also increase the number of incoming links to your Web site and help raise your search engine rank.

It's all possible. Your best prospects are sharing their concerns with each other all over the Web in discussion forums, also known as bulletin board systems (BBS).

The first step is find these discussion groups. A quick Google on your target audience + BBS or discussion forum should bring up a list of these sites. For example, are you targeting dog owners? Parents of twins or multiples? Entrepreneurs? All these groups and more are talking online.

The second step is to listen. Coming on too strong or having a marketing message that's too overt can alienate the very people you want to start talking to. Read over previous posts and see what the tone of the conversation is.

The third step is to respond accordingly. After you've been trolling for a while you may read some questions or requests for help where you can be of help. You'll come off as especially helpful if your answer isn't "buy my stuff and that will clear right up." However, if you give them a helpful answer and then provide a link (maybe even to your own Web site) for additional information, you'll start to prove yourself as a resource and perhaps even an expert.

In your posts you'll usually be able to include a signature file with a link back to your Web site, and perhaps even with a call to action. Some discussion forums don't let you link to your site, but you can still include a non-clickable URL (Web site address).

For example, when I've read the posts of small business owners who I work with, my posts end:

Rich Brooks
flyte new media
Web design and Internet Marketing
http://www.flyte.biz
http://www.flyteblog.com

If I've provided good info, people who read my post are likely to click through to my Web site or blog to see what else I might have to say.

So, spend a few minutes this weekend and check out what your prospects are talking about. You might get some great ideas for your next product or service as well.

Tagging, Web 2.0 and Internet Marketing

You may have heard of the term "Web 2.0" in the mainstream media this year, or noticed it floating near the most popular blog topics at Technorati. While what Web 2.0 is exactly may be debatable, one of its more popular tenets is the concept of tagging.

Tagging is a new way of organizing data on the Internet. Tagging is adding labels to specific items, such as photos, music, Web pages or blog posts. For example, you can upload your photos to Flickr and tag them with different labels. A photo of Market St. Eat's front door might be tagged, "Portland, ME", "Restaurant," or "Bacon." (Mmmmm...bacon.)

For an example, here's a Flickr page for the tag "Portland, Maine."

Why is this important to you as an Internet marketer?

Because tagging is a very social way of organizing information. If you're blogging, you should be tagging your posts. For instance, you may already have categories for your blog posts. This blog has categories on Business Blog Marketing, Email Marketing and Search Engine Marketing. Categories are types of tags.

However, you may blog about an item that's part of the zeitgeist, but doesn't quite rate a category. For example, I might create a post about a marketing lesson I learned from the New England Patriots home opener. I'm not going to be blogging about the Pats often enough to create a category for them, but I can take advantage of that post by tagging it with Patriots, football, or Deion Branch.

How does this help? Well, it helps both traditional search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) and blog search engines (Technorati, Ice Rocket, etc.) understand what your post is about and rank it appropriately. It also creates more links into your post and drives more traffic to it.

Now, I don't know that many people searching for Deion Branch will be looking for Internet Marketing advice, but it's possible.

For a better example of how you can harness popular searches to drive qualified traffic to your site, and how to create these tags, please read "Tagging Your Posts in TypePad." (Aside: TypePad has made it easier to add tags of late.)

I haven't bothered tagging Internet Marketing 101's posts because of the registration this site requires. However, for the sake of showing you an example, here goes.

Tags: Web 2.0 | Tags | lonelygirl15

(That last tag may give you an idea of the downside of tagging...it's easily abused. As more people tag "inappropriately" to rank artificially high or drive unqualified traffic to their site, tagging may become devalued as a way of finding relevant material.)