Notes from the Hive

Why Should I?

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-09-02T14:20:59Z

Aren’t you just exhausted from the bombardment of messages like join me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, connect with me on Linkedin, sign up for my newsletter or blog, and - my favorite - visit my website.

I think something is missing don’t you? Maybe if I was told why, what is in it for me and will you respect my time, well then I might consider some or maybe even all of these options.

I have gotten invitations that told me flat out that they were trying to reach a goal of followers and so please help them reach that goal. While I appreciate their honesty and understand that it might even be a cutesy attempt at awareness marketing, a serious buyer might not be so inclined to indulge.

Whenever you create a call to action or an invitation to sign up or join in, take it a step further. Some questions you might want to address are:

1. What can they expect if they call?
2. How often are you going to message them?
3. What kind of messages are you going to be sending?
4. What is the value of these messages for them?
5. Are you going to sell their email address or share with others?

The point is that if you want a response then you need to satisfy two basic needs. The first is making them feel safe and secure. The second is that there is something in it for them – and what that is. So please take a few moments and revisit your marketing emails, mailers and your website to see if you have answered these questions. Once you do, check your traffic and crowd stats to see if it has had a positive impact. I think you will be pleased.

Panic Marketing

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-08-14T16:35:37Z

I am not an economist, but as an entrepreneur relying on the spend of other entrepreneurs I would have to say that faith in the economy has not yet arrived. Everyone I speak with says things are great ‘considering’ and yet I watch as they hesitate to hire, market or invest in their companies. A few cocktails later and I might hear just how much their business has fallen off.

I also receive email, tweet and snail mail marketing pieces that I refer to as Panic Pieces. They are emails screaming PLEASE BUY FROM ME or offering GREAT VALUE FOR LOW PRICES. The language used in these marketing campaigns smell of panic. As a potential customer I immediately pull back with a vision of a wild animal trapped, wounded and who would certainly bite a helping hand.

I believe that if one sees a company willing to sell off its inventory at reduced prices, one might jump in and reap the savings. If however, someone is offering lower prices for their time and expertise, then the value is immediately questioned.

We are becoming smarter shoppers and bargain hunters for tangible items. Service however remains one of those areas where you might shop price and use that market information to negotiate, however when it comes to making a buy decision, cost is often not the deciding factor.

Service is something customers are unwilling to compromise. Restaurant week in NYC is a perfect example when throngs of diners set out to experience the epicurean delights of the city’s best restaurants at a fraction of the price. These diners knowing full well that they were getting a great discount still would not tolerate any slight in either table service or food quality.

So why would business owners result to panic marketing? Struggling firms are doing what they believe is ‘what ever it takes’ to generate cash flow. But I question the judgment of pursuing cash flow that eats into profitability. It might prolong the death throws but will certainly bury you just the same, and maybe even deeper.

This type of economy separates business owners from entrepreneurs.

Tough times call for tough choices. Cutting costs and eliminating expenses are prudent acts of sound business practice, just as increasing sales and marketing are. Actually, these are prudent practices even in a strong economy.

Business owners selling below cost to keep the cash flowing might be executing a really bad idea. If your marketing looks like, sounds like and smells like panic, you invite vultures not clients into your business. If these are not your best customers then it might not be a good idea to send these types of marketing messages.

An entrepreneur might take a different approach. A hard analysis of their business model and recalculate or even reinvent offerings. Maybe survey customers to uncover unmet needs, discover problems they face and create solutions. If not surveys, then calculated informal interviews to uncover opportunities.

Make it a point to meet once a week with your sales and service teams, mentors, friends and even customers to brainstorm new revenue streams or new models for efficiencies to deliver your current goods and services.

Now is the time to dream, not scream!

...then give us a call - we won’t put together Panic Pieces but rather craft creative messaging that will help your audience realize your value.

Bad Marketing and a Pet Peeve of Mine

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-07-30T12:55:15Z

Most days I am out during the day running to and from appointments. I doubt that my day-to-day life differs from anyone else’s. I rely on my Blackberry to deliver my email so that I can respond and stay in touch with staff, clients and prospects.

No matter if you are a Blackberry or iPhone user, my guess is that you have your email sent to your phone. This is a standard must-have feature today. That being said, what gets my goat faster than someone cutting me off on the road? An email that is one giant image.

Let’s examine what happens.

You want to invite me or inform me of something you think is important. You hire a designer or use one of the DIY (do it yourself) packages and create some image with all the information and hype to grab my attention. You spend time and money to create this image, struggle with the wording, the colors, and the imagery and then spend more time looking it over and over and over again to be certain it will knock my socks off.

You then load that image into an email and blast it out.

We get your email probably first on our mobile phone.

We can’t see the image because it is too large or too time consuming to download to our phone and so we don’t see any of the information contained in that invite or message.

We probably just delete it, I usually do. Maybe we save it for when we get back to the office with our grown up computers, and maybe we remember to go back and look at what you sent, or maybe your email just slips into the aging emails with newer emails piling up and burying your email even deeper down the inbox to not be seen again until we find the time to do some inbox clean up.

Now, what was it that you wanted me to know about?

That’s right. Stop putting all of your time, effort and money in to how your email looks and start putting your time into how your message is experienced. If your message is really important, then make sure we can see it!

If pretty is important then consider giving me the details or at least enough information to encourage me to hold on to the message and click through to a landing page. This way I get the information I need to decide if I am at least interested and you get the data from the click through and gather valuable metrics as to how many people were actually interested enough to learn more.

Why is this a pet peeve you ask? It bothers me when I think about how much time and money a company might spend, possibly with a ‘professional’ and does it in a way that pretty much limits or guarantees failure. I realize that sometimes marketing is more art than science, but industry best practices can usually make up for inexperience or bad judgment. Try sending your email with no images at all and see if you get better results. Then find a happy medium between pretty and practical.

Inspire

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-07-28T16:18:24Z

A seemingly simple concept, to inspire, and yet one of the more elusive qualities among leaders, entrepreneurs, CEOs and managers. Why?

Great question! Why? Not just ‘why’ is it an elusive quality but ‘why’ in the first place?

Last night I was privileged to hear Simon Sinek speak. Simon Sinek’s book is Start with Why, How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.

Simon offered a unique business perspective backed up by biology, and did so with clarity and honesty that made it seem like a ‘duh’ moment for many in the audience and yet so many of us were still unable to articulate our own ‘why’.

We weren’t made to feel bad as he explained that the ‘why’ is generated in the part of the brain void of language and only able to process emotion, so the fact that so many are unable to articulate their ‘why’ is to be expected.

However, for the few that were able to articulate the why – these were the people who built great companies or became world-renowned leaders with legacies that outlived their mortal lives.

What is the why and what does that have to do with business?

Simon demonstrates how most marketing, corporate missions and management are built on the language of ‘how’ and ‘what’. This becomes a features and benefits dialogue but this approach offers no emotional reason why you would identify, trust or follow them. The features and benefits discussion can't answer 'so what?' any more than it can trigger the emotional connection for an employee or customer.

Loyalty comes from trust, and trust is an emotion that comes from that part of the brain that has no language. What a challenge this becomes. To inspire trust and loyalty then requires words that trigger the emotions first, the logic or justification will follow.

He demonstrated this with the example of ‘why do you love your wife’ question that no man can answer without struggling and then of course coming up with justifications. The fact that you love your wife is that you just do – and the reasons come from that part of the brain once again that is void of language so if you stumble to answer that or a similar question, relax, this is normal.

The second part of this equation is consistency and integrity to the ‘why’. Everyone in your organization, every product and service must remain true to the ‘why’.

Ok – have I completely lost you in the why, what, how? Allow me to share an example that he uses to demonstrate.

Sinek asks ‘Have you ever wondered why would people be so adamant, loyal and devoted to a substandard product? Why would they be willing to pay as much as double for it and stand in line for hours waiting for the next release?’

The answer is that from the onset, Apple defined the ‘why’ they are in business being to challenge the status quo. This resonated wildly among those who consider themselves rebels, creative’s and independent thinkers.

To this day hundreds of thousands, if not millions, remain true to that ‘why’ and Apple continues to remain true to their ‘why’ delivering products that challenge the status quo represented by behemoth industry giants in the realm of computers, telephones and the music industry. And the fans they raised in the early years remain as loyal today as the new wave of loyal consumers in each generation that follows. This mass of consumers don’t question the price any more than they question a company that builds obsolesce and incompatibility into their products – practices that would not be tolerated in any other circumstance.

Hmmm, is this making sense now? I do recommend picking up Simon’s book ‘Start with Why’ and visit his website http://www.startwithwhy.com/

My why is the belief that everyone deserves a chance to be successful and since I began my company in 1993 I have been on a crusade for my clients to help level the playing field so that they can experience that chance. The how is through leveraging affordable technology for websites and now social media, and the what is the marketing creativity and strategy along with the coaching, teaching and training that we provide. This belief of is also the root of why I volunteer with some organizations as well as give my time freely to other organizations that exist to help entrepreneurs. And I volunteer at hospitals with my dog as a Pet Parnter Team helping others be successful in their healing.

What’s your why?

Generating Leads Through Linkedin

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-07-22T10:40:56Z

What I find interesting is just how under estimated Linkedin is. The more popular Facebook, Twitter, Youtube get all the hype and attention while this gold mine quietly sits and grows and grows. My guess is that because it is a professional networking site it doesn’t have the universal sex appeal of the others, but a savvy sales and marketing executive knows – or should know the power of Linkedin.

Generating more business is everyone’s job at a company no matter what your position. Everyone should not only be a brand ambassador but should also be a lead magnet. Linkedin is primo for the B2B market and even for B2C companies. When one conjures thoughts of vendors, strategic alliances, investors, allies, partners, employees, consultants and prospects, START with Linkedin.

Market research reveals that it is the first place HR checks when either looking for or vetting a candidate. Statistics reveal that the education and earning levels of members is one of the highest of all the social media properties, with the exception maybe of practice specific sites for lawyers, accountants and the like. Becoming successful is not a result of hard work and smarts alone, it often boils down to ‘not what you know, it is who you know’ and Linkedin will help you get those valuable connections.

So what can Linkedin do for you and how can you start generating leads?

Before I venture into some of the lead generating activity suggestions, please spend some time on your profile and settings. Make sure that your profile is complete, that you are incorporating keywords in your titles and descriptions, and above all, make sure that you describe yourself in a way that clearly delivers the value in knowing you!

1. Grow your network: Linkedin has tools that connect directly with Outlook and has the ability to search other email accounts to see who you know already on Linkedin. If you don’t connect your email program, at least perform a monthly check for new contacts in your database for who is on Linkedin.
Tip: Every time you go to an event carry a small envelope with the date and name of the event. Place all the cards you collect into that envelope and when you get back to your office start reaching out to those people to connect and use a personalized message such as ‘it was great meeting you yesterday at the EVENT, I would love to stay in touch and see how we might be of service to one another.”

2. Updates: there is a feature much like Twitter and Facebook that allows you to post an update that will show up on your profile and in network updates to your connections. Use it wisely.

3. Introductions: Give them, ask for them. The idea of 6 degrees of separation is made apparent on Linkedin. If there is a contact at a particular company you seek, by searching on Linkedin you will discover who you already know that knows who you want to know. Introductions make a cold call a warm call and a faster track to closing a sale.

4. Get Visible: Linkedin provides updates to members you are connected with. Some people adjust their updates to daily, some weekly but the point is that delivered to your connection’s inbox are updates and you should find ways to have your name show up in those updates. Read on for some suggestions on how to accomplish this.

5. Referrals: say thanks to someone – a vendor, partner, even a customer – for a job well done or just acknowledging some special talent or skill that had a positive impact. Chances are they will reciprocate. And don’t be shy about asking customers to write a recommendation but be careful to ask only those who have actually worked with you and can speak to your professional brilliance.

6. Groups: join groups that are relevant to your business and interests and that you can contribute to meaningfully. Groups where your prospects participate are a good place to start. Much like real life, hanging out with the right people is a solid step toward successful connections.

7. Books: Linkedin provides the opportunity to mention what you are reading or have read with a short blurb regarding the book. I could write volumes on why this is a pivotal tool but for now just let me say that sharing this information is a really good idea.

8. Events: the events feature on Linkedin lets you browse what is happening and in some cases, people will actually make notation that they are attending. You might just find that the person you are trying to meet will be at an event in your area.

9. Slideshare: has expanded to not just power point decks but now includes video and other documents. This is a great way to show off some of that industry specific knowledge that no one knows you have.

10. Blogs: Linkedin can automatically pull in your blog posts. If you would like to grow your reader base, or just keep your contacts in the know with the great material you are providing through your blog, don’t forget to activate this feature.

11. Twitter: ugh. Yes, Linkedin will allow you to stream your tweets into your profile. I say ugh because I caution you as this can become annoying. I am not a fan of this feature as I find it clutters the page as most tweets are inane at best and often times out of context and offer no real value. Each person is different and it might work for you but I would exercise caution here.

12. Saved Search: if you want to keep tabs on a company you are interested in, conduct a search on that company and save it so that any changes with the people in that company will be in your updates. Are they letting more people go then hiring? Did someone get a promotion? Did they hire someone you know?

The take away: Linkedin is a professional networking platform where the information is rich and powerful and the opportunity to break barriers of entry exists. A lot of searches are done on Linkedin and this is another opportunity to get found by the people you want to find you. Link your way to success!

It’s Sales and Marketing

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-07-22T10:01:29Z

I recently had some discussions with a local association director and then a SEO specialist on the topic of Social Media. No wonder as I am a rather passionate evangelist in case you hadn’t noticed. Anyway, what I found interesting is the language surrounding how Social Media is defined and classified.

Social Media is Technology. Well my view on that is Social Media is NOT technology, it is Sales and Marketing. Technology might be behind the development and deployment of Social Media but it is in itself not technology. Actually, in my humble opinion it has humanized technology. The amazing technology behind these social sites is really transparent. There is no barrier to entry. No financial investment is needed if you have a computer and Internet access and to use these sites, maybe not well but use them nonetheless, no training or special education is required.

As a personal tool, these sites are wonderful for keeping us in touch with one another as well as reconnecting with those one has fallen out of touch with over the years. Our lives are too hectic, fast paced, full of demands, delights and challenges for taking time to leisurely chat on the phone or make visits.

As a business tool, the use of these sites allow us to be more prepared with information and data, make connections beyond our physical reach and maintain contact in our pressure cooker environments. Social Media actually puts our sales and marketing efforts on steroids and what company doesn’t need that?

Referring to Social Media as a technology creates a mental barrier for many executives to buy into the use of Social Media. I think it also creates the risk of assigning the task to the wrong department. Social Media should include the IT departments but it is by no means an IT task. Maybe some of these executives and entrepreneurs are technophobes and feel that they would lose control or maybe they feel it opens the door to too many risks. Either way, social media is on the fast track to the norm and as it evolves those who have not staked out their territory stand to be shut out all together before too long. The warning that if you aren’t engaged now you won’t exist later has a lot of merit.

The second challenge is the language of SEO, SEM and SMM. Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing and Social Media Marketing. I believe here again that the acronyms have been so confusing that this creates another barrier. SEO has had one of the biggest shifts since its inception. With local and real time search taking front and center as the key factors in search rankings, social media is now a primary driver for search engines to decide which sites come first. SEM is advertising on the Internet such as PPC (pay per click) and banner ads, while SEO and SMM are just plain and simple Sales and Marketing tools.

My recommendation is to set aside what ever misconceptions or views you might have regarding Social Media and if you are not committed to investing the time and talent into this channel for generating sales, then prepare yourselves for extinction. Ouch, harsh words? Yes but then reality is usually harsher than the hope of better times or the good old days.

Care to comment?

Temper Tantrums Open The Door to Creative Problem Solving

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-07-12T15:29:00Z

The past several decades stand witness to my bookcases filling with a wide variety of books. One shelf appears to support my belief in the power of positive thinking. I do believe that any challenge you face can be overcome.

Yes, I am one of those people.

There are many books that have inspired, motivated, educated and opened my mind to new ideas and lessons. Some of these books are new age; some old world and some are fiction rich with great story telling and imagination.

I recently read Wishcraft by Barbara Sher, recommended by a successful woman and I wanted to know what she knew.

I was skeptical at first. If it weren’t for the name of the book and the hot pink cover I might have taken this book more seriously earlier. This book is about the art of wishing – or goal discovery and the craft of making it happen through strategic thinking, planning and execution.

While reading I experienced moments when I was unsure this was worth my time.

Then I read, “Depression is an energy crisis, and negativity is energy – pure, ornery, high-octane energy.” She struck a chord.

As a believer in the power of positive thinking, I continue to train my mind to think positive thoughts. Sometimes being positive just takes work and determination. Barbara Sher kicked popularized positive thinking in the can and went so far as to encourage temper tantrums – full-out toddler style temper tantrums. One caveat is that she offers advice as to where and how to have these tantrums so that you don’t get locked up or damage relationships, but it all made sense.

Okay, so now I am sucked in. I like this lady and my secret desire to throw a tantrum now seems to be surfacing and it feels good. She makes sense. Good old fashioned common sense. She moves you from uncovering your real goals – the ones buried long ago, and maps out brainstorming and barn raising problem solving techniques toward achieving those goals.

This is not to say that positive thinking doesn’t have value. What Sher offers is that if you practice positive thinking without goals, plans, deadlines, structure, community and strong problem solving techniques, all you end up with are happy thoughts.

This is an interesting read for anyone at anytime. There are wonderful nuggets of understanding, great tips on developing problem solving processes and goal achievement plans. If you are stuck for any reason in your business or personal development, then this is a good book to pick up and read.

And if you are listless, unmotivated or depressed, then by all means, get this book to find out how to have a really great toddler style feel good temper tantrum to get energized and get those creative juices flowing.

Care to share one of your tantrums? Would love to hear about a fit you threw and how it changed things for you!

Transparency – A Leadership Trait

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-07-05T14:49:18Z

When I think about those in business I want to learn from and admire most, I realize it isn’t about how big their company is or what they created or discovered. The common traits that catch my attention are generosity and humility as characteristics I find most appealing.

Great thinkers and determined innovators are certainly worth paying attention to but they may not whom I admire.

The internet has changed the world in so many ways that I dare not attempt to cover them all in this post but what I do want to point out is how it has changed marketing and movie stars.

I lump these two very different entities into one sentence because there is almost no difference today. For the first time in our history, there is a wide range of CEOs, from large companies and small, that have as much star power if not more than most movie stars.

You may have read about a CEO in the business section of a newspaper in the past but more than likely you saw a movie star bigger than life across the silver screen acting in some role that either you identified with or romanticized about. Today, CEOs can take on that same power and build their brands through digital stardom.

Between Youtube, Digital News, blogging and micro blogging, news travels fast and everyone is fair game for exploration and exploitation. The bottom line is that your life is revealed on line with or without you.

As I speak with clients, prospects and audiences about reputation management and social media marketing, sometimes it rings a bell with them and some run for cover. And just so you know, with the Internet in play, there is no cover.

Only revealing the polished version is what holds respect and admiration is a bygone belief. Allow me to share two examples of individuals I consider well worth admiring.

Last week I ran into two individuals at the New York Enterprise Best Advisors Awards event.

Norm Brodsky is not only a successful business man, he is also a best selling author of The Knack and a regular contributor to Inc. magazine with his column Street Smarts. Just before he got up to address the audience at WIBO’s Annual Awards Event, a cap on one of his front teeth fell out. He could have feigned illness and left quickly but instead he chose to stand up and make the best of it. My admiration for this man quickly magnified. He not only shared his challenge but wove it beautifully into demonstrating the meaning in his speech and sprinkled in humor fueled by humility. This made him more lovable to the audience and was a picture perfect example of Grace Under Fire. I was never more motivated than I was that evening. I knew right then and there that what was important to this man was not how he was perceived but what he contributed. This is someone I want to learn from – this is someone I admire and could trust.

A little later that same evening I ran into another individual whom I admire and respect, Matt Weiss. Matt is a successful lawyer who has embraced social media. I believe initially he engaged social media to grow his business, and as a leader in EO (Entrepreneurs Organization) to connect, share, and learn. Matt blogs regularly and some of his posts were inspired by being a father (getting to movies like Toy Story 3 and making the connection to best business practices) and a more controversial post on getting a colonoscopy. Both posts demonstrate fresh thinking and a commitment to being true to himself.

A lawyer discussing a child’s movie and a medical procedure might seem unprofessional to some, but these posts earn him greater respect and admiration. When you decide on who you would want as your lawyer, having someone who communicates that they are in touch with the same world we live in and is open to share challenges in a positive light, well this would be my lawyer of choice.

Why? He demonstrates two key characteristics through his blog posts. First he ‘gets it’ and isn’t that nine-tenths the challenge when we want to communicate an issue or concern and second he reveals himself with honor and integrity.

Now, if only I needed a lawyer.

If you are a CEO or entrepreneur who is in hiding from the world or keeps their company under the digital radar, the only question that comes to mind is just what are you hiding? Are your services or products sub par? Is your company being run poorly? Are you the type of person only your mother could love?

No company is perfect and no human beyond reproach. So if you are committed to being a good business citizen and have some redeeming qualities, you might want to share those so that when there is a mistake or a problem you have a platform to move through it and earn back what ever you may have lost or are at risk of losing.

Get on board, be real, be transparent and lead the way.

Bing Starting to Matter More

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-06-28T10:52:47Z

Bing’s impact in the ‘getting found’ factor will grow in importance as they continue to gain search share with their improvements and enhancements. Bing will challenge Google, although Facebook believes that they can eliminate email, Google, Youtube, Flickr and any other internet property in their quest for world dominance, it is still worth your time and effort to pay attention to Bing for search optimization.

When Bing first came out I enjoyed their airfare search results. I found the process for finding economical airfares on Bing much easier and robust than Google. They continue to introduce enhancements that will win over Internet surfers and searchers and will continue to grow in importance.

Bing is delivering Facebook search results and reportedly will soon be powering Yahoo searches. They are putting an emphasis on entertainment and recently rolled out nearly 100 games that you can play on line rather than risk downloading to your computer. They are adding song lyrics and streaming music along with much more in the entertainment sector. The point is, Bing is rolling out new features and enhancements as well as forging critical strategic alliances so that they will certainly take their place in the ‘it matters’ SEO world sooner than later.

That being said, it is a good time to begin some SEO with Bing. You don’t even have to hire an expert to take care of these simple steps.

The first step is make sure that Bing even knows that your website exists. You can submit your website for indexing at BingSubmit. Simple enough.

Next, submit your sitemap to Bing to get your site and all its pages indexed. Hopefully you have prepared (or had your web person prepare) an xml site map that you submitted to Google. Now submit that same xml site map to Bing. Just copy and paste the following entire URL into the address bar of your browser, edit the ‘yourwebaddress.com’ with your real web address and enter.

http://www.bing.com/webmaster/ping.aspx?sitemap=www.YourWebAddress.com/sitemap.xml

As a follow up, mark your calendar for at least a week or more to go back and review the results. You can see what pages Bing has indexed by going to the Bing search bar and type site:yourwebaddress.com to see the results. Oh, do I have to mention again to change the ‘yourwebaddress’ to your actual web address? Nah, I didn’t think so but just in case.

You can use this same site: tool in Google’s search bar to explore what Google has indexed. It is a good idea to check on these results to ensure that you are continuing to be indexed and if you have dynamic pages such as those generated from a blog or library, you will want to check that these are getting picked up as well in the indexing. If they aren’t, look at your source code to see what the instructions are to the robots – and if that is completely Greek then call your web person to find out what is preventing these pages from getting indexed in a timely fashion.

There is no cost and so little time associated with these steps that there is simply no reason not to get started with Bing search. Even if I am wrong in my thinking that Bing’s market share will grow, what ever share it does have or will gain – ask yourself if it is better to be found on Bing than not?

How Many Pages Should A Website Have?

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-06-22T11:49:01Z

Preparing for a workshop next week that I am giving with colleague Richard Weltman, Esq. on How to Buy and Manage a Website Project, I began thinking about page count when planning a website.

The cost of a site used to have a direct relation to how many pages were being built. Today I think that this is less the case with CSS automating format and CMS systems that auto-generate pages, the time spent per standard page is reduced. What will impact the budget with more pages is if you are paying a writer to create content for each page, but I digress.

The topic is search engine optimization (SEO), and so my suggestion is the more pages the better.
More (web pages) is better for a couple of reasons. With Mayday (see June 13th post) and Local Search now effecting results, web developer’s focus should turn toward how to best organize and optimize each page to actual search terms. This technique is referred to as Silo Information Architecture. Top tier navigation and second and third tier navigation should be a logical flow top to bottom per topic or keyword. Your website’s organization can reflect your corporate structure or for improved optimization create a silo structure.

When we think website and rankings, what often gets lost in the sauce is the need to recognize each and every page as a potential landing page for search results. Spiders and robots read pages. Your home page of course being the most critical but it should not be the only page where you invest focus, time and effort.

If you serve multiple communities – geographic and demographic, then organizing around these categories and having a page for each would be a good move. This becomes a challenge in creating content for each page – and so thinking about hiring a professional writer might be a good idea.

Google, Yahoo and Bing like websites with a lot of pages, another reason to consider more pages rather than less. The search engines look upon these sites with favor, equating a lot of pages with a higher chance of relevant content. How much weight the page count is given is unknown, but it weighs in nonetheless. The caveat however is relevant and quality page content.

As you think about developing and organizing your website, think about how you serve your community – better yet, think about how your community seeks your service. One of the rants you will hear should you attend one of my sessions is to take out the I, Me, My, We, Our and rethink and recreate around You and Your - People get online and ask who, what, when, where, how or why – Be the answer to their question! No matter how many pages it takes.

Soft 404 Pages Now A Bad Idea And Other Breaking Google Search News

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-06-13T14:36:50Z

As web design and developers we feel that an important part of our work is to make sure that visitors to our client’s sites have the best possible experience and one feature we built into these sites were customized 404 pages.

What that means is that if someone types a url incorrectly or a page that no longer exists they are directed to a page that says ‘Page Not Found’ that is branded and gives the visitor a link back to the site home page so that they have an opportunity to find what they are looking for on your site. A much nicer experience than getting one of those ugly pages that has the giant 404 error message and a lot of computer gobbly gook leaving the visitor frustrated and with no immediate remedy other than to start over. This was one of those extra things that we did that was really nice.

Matt Cutts from Google recently announced that they now consider these ‘soft 404 pages’ as taking up space and is suggesting that they be removed. Shucks, do we remove these pages to make Google happy and reduce the quality of the visitor’s experience or leave them and risk ticking Google off? I am not certain as to how much damage these pages have on ranking just yet but am looking into this a bit more. I think that the best place to start is to look at the site’s analytics to evaluate how often that page is hit. It would be a good guess that if you have recently redone your website and either the page names have changed or some pages no longer exist it might actually pay to keep it for awhile and then remove it as the hits to that ‘soft 404’ page subsides.

Other breaking news from Google is their focus, or craving for video content, so much so in fact that they have now suggested video site maps be generated. Because video is hot, really hot and Google is on the hunt for video they recently added to their web master tools video site map information and guides to help web masters generate video site maps to help them find this content. If you are using video you will want to make certain that you – or your web person - create a video site map. If you aren’t using video you are missing out on a golden opportunity that will help you in the search rankings.

Another important change is the ‘mayday’ algorithmic adjustment to rankings. Mayday is a nickname that web site developers and owners have given to this change in ranking. This change reflects Google’s focus on relevant and quality search results being provided and the SEO (search engine optimization) techniques being effected are ‘long tail keywords’ – keywords with more than 2 or 3 words – as well as content farms and auto generated pages. Bruce Clay, SEO and Interactive Marketing Agency, has the experience that the long tail keyword impact is effecting ‘accidental long tail’ such as long tail keywords found in blogs and forums. Clay feels that staying focused on long tail keywords in site content is still valid.

If you would like to watch the interview video of Matt Cutts and Bruce Clay by WebProNews, follow this link.

I'm B2B So Social Media Isn't For Me

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-06-09T13:45:30Z

Because I spend my days working with social media I sometimes forget that the rest of the world isn’t seeing what I see and so I am always brought back to reality when I hear “I’m B2B so social media isn’t for me.”

I believe that most people in business are aware of the value of social media to engage consumers but haven’t made the leap to understanding the value to business clients. I say ‘leap to understanding’ because as a B2B business (business-to-business) we think of our companies as a body of products or services as it relates to the value of another company. This is where the shift and leap occurs as social media brings B2B into P2P (People to People). Social media puts us in the right places to begin building relationships with the people at those companies that are either making the buying decision or influencing the purchasing process. These people are our consumers.

So, let’s take a quick look at how social media does in fact play a role in the B2B market.

Recently Mashable posted a great blog giving 5 examples of B2B companies that have had great success using social media. These companies range from aviation maintenance, equine dentistry, commercial paper supplier and a paint manufacturer and are successfully using platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Not the sexy stuff you are used to seeing in headline news is it? Your business doesn’t have to have sex appeal to have social media success. You also don’t have to go for hundreds of thousands of friends, followers and fans to be successful – you just have to get the attention of the eyeballs of those that matter.

This is where strategy becomes important in gaining some traction and success using social media to generate leads and grow your business. Not sales and marketing strategy but engagement strategy.

A client of ours who is in the B2B service industry has been experiencing success getting in-person appointments with key decision makers by first connecting and engaging on Twitter, as well as using video creatively to break down the barriers and getting him invitations into accounts where in the past they never had success. Their activity on Facebook and Twitter as well as video blogging helps to keep their web site at first or second place in Google searches, which in turn generates leads.

Still not convinced?

Recent Hubspot studies support companies that use Twitter have greater success with their blogs, and companies that blog regularly have better results with search engines and those that use video do even better. The power of Linkedin is often times under rated by companies and underused.

There is no silver bullet and no single activity or platform that will bring instant success. It takes time and effort, and like any other form of communications and marketing, the quality of your message and your presence will be the final kiss of glory or death. These are tools – and in the right hands are quite powerful. The better you understand each platform, the better you are at using them, the better you know the audience, the better your chance of engaging with them to earn their attention and their trust, which increases your rate of success.

So get out there and blog, vlog, tweet, post, comment, friend, follow, like, digg, and link and we’ll see you at the top.

Back Link Your Way To The Top

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-06-03T14:27:36Z

Backlinks are often overlooked as a critical part of getting your website to rank well organically. Search engines use a multitude of factors when rating a page for relevancy in response to a search query and backlinks are one of those factors – a rather critical one actually.

Search engines often use the number of backlinks that a website has for determining that website's search engine ranking. Google's description of their PageRank system notes “Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B.”

With this bit of awareness, a zillion gurus and companies emerged promising to deliver tons of links back to your website for a monthly fee. Seems simple enough. Lay your money down and sit back and wait for inbound links and SERP success. Well as soon as these internet wheeler-dealers figure something out Google is already 10 steps ahead of them. So before you plunk your money down, investigate thoroughly what you are going to get for your hard earned cash. Google does not like link spam.

What Google wants to know is: Are the links relevant to your business? Are the sites that are linking to you reputable? What you need to know is: will a rapid linking campaign trigger a negative message to Google that you are buying credibility rather than earning it?

I am not a backlink guru and I don’t offer backlink acquisition as part of our business model. I do study the topic and stay abreast of the trends in order to offer my clients some best practice advice and assistance. So I am pleased to share with you some suggestions and information.

First, I recommend that you check your backlinks on a regular basis. There are a few websites that offer a free backlink checking service and here are two that I use.
http://www.iwebtool.com/backlink_checker
http://www.backlinkwatch.com/

A neat feature of iwebtool is that it also gives you the page rank for the site that is linking back to you. I find that backlinkwatch often provides more linking data than iwebtool.

Another way to check your backlinks – free of charge – is to use Google. Google can be searched using link:yourdomainname.com but Google only shows a small number of links pointing to a site even though it credits more backlinks than it shows. You can use this same feature “link:__” on Yahoo as well. There are some sophisticated paid services but for starting out these free sites should do just fine.

Obtaining valued and authoritative links should be part of your ongoing marketing efforts. What determines the value of a backlink? When both sites have content geared toward the keyword topic the backlink is considered relevant and believed to have strong influence on the search engine rankings of the webpage granted the backlink. Search engines consider this an editorial vote. An example would be if your website content and keywords are centered around “software solutions” and you have a backlink from “softwarestandards.org” (I am making this up) then that is both a valued link and has higher credibility as a result of its standing as a “.org” site.

Even more impressive to a search engine is anchor text backlink. Anchor text is the descriptive labeling of the hyperlink as it appears on a webpage. Search engine bots (i.e., spiders, crawlers, etc.) examine the anchor text to evaluate how relevant it is to the content on a webpage. So if we go back to our example above and on the make believe site softwarestands.org there is a paragraph that uses the term ‘software solutions’ and that is a hyper link back to your site, well you have just earned yourself big points with the search engine-rating machine.

Other sources of valued backlinks are professional associations, respected media with press releases, business directories such as chambers and the BBB and even some Internet directories.

One directory that had an excellent reputation is DMOZ, or the "Open Directory". There is a lot of controversy with DMOZ and its value, but that aside, it is still worth submitting your site. Be patient as it takes a long time to get listed. Best of the Web (BOW) is another valued site to list your website with and don’t forget the Google and Yahoo directories.

Most are free, many are not, and some require membership so factor these expenses into your budgeting.

Another way to build backlinks is to use Social Bookmarking sites. Some examples are StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.

Also pay attention to Rating sites such as Yelp – these not only offer backlinks, but as a business you will want to pay attention to any positive or negative feedback and respond quickly. To viewers this will reflect positively on you, and besides it’s just good customer service.

Backlinks are easier than ever now to obtain by engaging on social media sites and blogging, so be sure to incorporate these into your overall marketing strategy. What is important to note, using social media plays a strong factor as search engines are now rating real time search and recency of a link with more weight.

So if you are going to invest in on line marketing you might want to consider this as a higher priority than obtaining oodles of irrelevant links from link farms.

Let me know your thoughts and feel free to share some of your linking strategies and successes.

That's Interesting

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-05-26T13:41:34Z

No, I have not changed my career path from design and marketing to arm chair therapy, and bearing my soul isn’t something I do easily, and revealing my weaknesses is something I am even less likely to share. But alas, as I continue to learn my lessons, some not for the first time, I have to believe that I am not alone in the ongoing journey for continuous improvement. My business can’t get better unless I get better or get out of the way when I am not at my best.

I have had some incidents in the last few months that brought this all to light and although they were weaknesses or flaws I thought I had overcome years ago I forgot to keep working on them and so they grew back like ugly warts.

EGO. We all have one. Some of us have a little one that lurks in the background, some of us have monster sized egos that run in front of us like body guards on steroids, and others have ones that are napping, waiting for a moment when you are weak to awaken and get back in charge.

I started off with the monster-sized ego and over the years trained it to be a napping or lurking ego. I got lulled into believing that I had my ego in check. Unfortunately, without realizing it my ego quietly woke up and started out pacing my common sense. Why is that a problem? Well when you react emotionally in a situation all you stand to win is the argument, at least in your mind. You lose everything else – including the prospect, a happy client or a chance at moving forward. I’m right can only mean that they are wrong and as Kierkegaard so brilliantly observed, “you can only change someone’s mind from their point of view.”

FEAR AND ANXIETY. We all have moments or phases where we are running on fear and living with anxiety. This is another one of those areas where I know it is a force of human nature and I don’t believe anyone lives without some mixture of the two. The key is what you do with that emotional baggage. If your decisions, or lack of decisions come from fear then chances are they are not good decisions. If your fear and anxiety are motivating you to move forward and using that energy in a positive way then this could be a good thing.

However, sitting and stewing with your fear and anxiety makes for muddled communications with clients and prospects. I avoid confrontation as a general rule as it makes me uncomfortable that I might not react rationally or be smart about my responses. So of late I began sitting on some issues and what resulted were some emails that should have never been written, words that were out of context and tone that was misinterpreted. By allowing the anxiety to grow it became out of proportion and the best way to address issues got lost in the ego monster’s animalistic survival rather than the rational, proactive, compassionate and positive communication. I have pissed off some people and now have to fix that.

What? Like you have none of these challenges? I am fortunate enough to have a dear friend and colleague that I can run things by to get a read or simply get the coaching I need to save me from myself. But at times I forget to check in or feel guilty about using up his valuable time. I am putting other stopgap measures in place now. For one – I am remembering what a wise coach once taught me; always respond with “that’s interesting”. That was some of the greatest advice I ever got. This response does so many things. First it gives you some time and space to sort out your thoughts versus your ego’s reactions. Second it opens the topic to a conversation first avoiding judgment and second avoiding a challenge to the other party. The third thing it does is preface moving forward with an opportunity to ask questions rather than state facts and issues – just in case you are completely off base. And that in of itself is critical because, well isn’t it interesting that when we ‘assume’ what the issue is, we make an ass – out of – u – and me.

And so now I go back to work, and with old lessons relearned – some the hard way – I have another day and another chance to do it better the next time and even better than that the time after. Learning to think and act differently isn’t something you learn and becomes a natural skill even though some people appear to have these naturally, it really does take consistent work, continually evaluating your behaviors and actions and finding ways to improve each and every time.

And so if I continue to improve, my business will continue to improve. My staff will be happier, my clients more satisfied, my prospects more willing to move forward, my vendors more anxious to serve and what can be better than that?

Web Site Search Engine Results: Keywords and Location

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — 2010-05-20T13:24:31Z

We continue to obsess with getting our web sites to rank well as it is no secret that our business hopes and dreams are to have our websites be money making machines. Some websites remain mere digital brochures, but I love it when an entrepreneur says ‘my site ranks number one on Google’ or a web design team boasts ‘our sites always rank number one on Google’. Hmmm I wonder, for how long and for what keyword string do they rank number one?

And so the race continues to get our websites popping up on top when searches for our keywords are made. Unfortunately once there, how do you hold your position and scarier yet, are you ranking well for what people are actually searching for?

We recently ran some analytics on getting a client ranked using the keyword, then the name of the city and the keyword, and then the keyword and the name of the city. The only thing that changed was the order. This assumes that we even had the right keyword. The results were radically different, jaw droppingly different, so we ran some experiments with other key words and geographic qualifiers. This is not a scientific result but what we found brought us to the conclusion that people tend to search the item or service first and the geographic qualifier second. I began watching my own search methods and found that instinctively I do the same thing.

Now, I am compelled to make a comment on keywords. Think like a layman. We get so caught up in our own industry jargon and incorporate these as our common every day words, but are you sure that prospects speak your lingo? Do they even know that the keyword you are using is the answer to their quest? I would suggest that on a routine basis you informally or formally question your clients and prospects and listen carefully as they tell you how they define your business. We spend time and money on our tag lines and elevator pitches but rarely do I see an all out effort to learn to speak the language of the prospect. Your keywords should be THEIR keywords.

Now once you are there, how do you keep and hold your position? This is not like the military where once promoted to General, you hold the title and position for life. Search results are based on so many factors that you can’t be sure you will hold your position. There are dozens of marketing strategies to help you gain and maintain but it really boils down to two key issues. Relevant and authoritative links back to your web site and fresh and relevant content – keyword rich content – continually added to your site. How you accomplish that is the strategy and the tools range from press releases, blogging, tweeting, facebooking, and so on.

The moral of this post…. Verify your keywords and concentrate on links and content. How you do that should be a matter of what your resources and your story are like. The real point is, once you have launched or re-launched your site, the work has just begun. Care to comment? Would love to hear your take on the topic.