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Search Engine Guide : Small Business Search Marketing

Search engine marketing news and information you can use to grow your business.

Six Lessons from a Wooden Boy: Lesson Three: Don't be a Social Media JackassJanuary 6

by Jennifer Laycock

There's just something about the anonymity of sitting behind a computer screen that makes people do stupid things. Few but the boldest sales person would walk into a class reunion and try to close a sale with the alumni at their table, even fewer would walk up to a stranger's table at a restaurant to start shilling their offerings. Nonetheless this very thing happens every single day in the realm of social media. People walk smack dab into the middle of conversations and start hocking their wares without a second thought.

That brings me to the third lesson in this series: Don't be a social media jackass.

In this six part series, I'll be exploring six valuable lessons you can learn from the classic story of Pinocchio and offering up some input on how to apply it to your own marketing plans. If you are just joining the series, catch up on past articles:

Six Lessons from a Wooden Boy: Part One: Search Engines Want to be Real Boys
Six Lessons from a Wooden Boy: Part Two: Online Reputation Means Straight Talk

Life Has Rules and So Does Social Media

It's Not Just About Twitter... and How I Bought a Kodak Camera.January 2

by Paul Jahn

So, Twitter happens to be huge right now. There are a ton of articles, Blog posts, and even PDF books on how to use it correctly for different industries. I don't think there's one definitive answer on how to use Twitter, although I can safely say it's important to not forget about other social media options. The whole mix is what can build consumer relationships.

Around nine months ago, I started a Blog project at work that had me looking for different office supply manufacturers who utilize social media options such as Blogs, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

I wound up finding Kodak. Only a small part of their product lines involve office supplies, and that's fine. I even wound up buying a Kodak camera because of it (more on that below).

They do have a few Twitter accounts, including one for Kodak's Chief Blogger, Jenny Cisney at http://twitter.com/kodakCB. This is great, but they also utilize other forms of social media. They have their own YouTube channel which they consistently keep up to date. Their public Facebook page is equally as active. Since Kodak sells cameras, it also makes sense that they would have a Flickr photostream.

Jenny also runs a Kodak blog and I was in awe of a panor

Compound Return on Social Media MarketingDecember 25 2008

by Eric Brown

The Great Debate; What is the ROI (Return on Investment) on your Social Media Marketing. Perhaps a better question is this; Are your Social Media Marketing efforts performing. I am not so convinced that businesses know as much about what piece and part of their traditional marketing approach works well, let alone what part of Social Media works. But, maybe, as with lots of things it isn't all that complicated either, tell me what you think about this;

Collateral Material
Our small business, like most, require certain types of marketing material that we term as collateral material. We were running low at some properties (we have a boutique apartment property management business) on our marketing materials that we hand out to prospects when they come in looking for an apartment. It was time for some fresh changes, and we really wanted to introduce photos of real people in our models to invoke the prospects emotions, and add some fun and sense of community, as opposed to just highlighting the various apartment features.  We hired a third party firm to photograph live models, in one of our furnished apartments, with the intent on shooting scenes of folks gathering about and enjoying themselves.  The photo shoot turned out really well and cost us $3,500. We had the new collateral material made

Beginner's Guide to SEO: Quickie Dos and Don'tsDecember 18 2008

by Stoney deGeyter

Many SEO newbies, or new businesses starting out online, come to SEO blogs such as this looking for some quick and easy solution that will vault them to the top in the results. Unfortunately, there are very few hard and fast rules in SEO, and no step by step solutions that, if implemented, guarantees you top search engine rankings. If there were, then it would quickly become obsolete because everybody would be doing it.

Instead, SEO is more of a set of guidelines that can be implemented in a way that allows for individual site customization. Most of it is fluid based on each site's needs for their audience. However within that there are also some basic dos and don'ts that need to be adhered to.

SEO Dos:

• Customize your title tags. Each page should have a title unique to that page alone.
• Research your keywords thoroughly. You really cannot start optimizing until you have researched out your keywords and know how the optimization will play out.
• Use keyword relevant filenames for each web page. If the page is about women's brown boots then your file name should be womens-brown-boots.xxx. Such as: yourdoman.com/womens-brown-boots.html.

Six Keys to a Viral Message that Sticks - Part Six: Tell a StoryDecember 17 2008

by Jennifer Laycock

I've spent the last month offering up a series of posts based on Chip and Dan Heath's book about viral marketing. In the last article of the series I'll be examining the craft of telling a story. The idea of using a story to make a point stick is an ancient one, going back to Biblical times when parables were used to explain spiritual principles.

Of all the keys to creating a sticky message, I have to admit this one is my absolute favorite. Anyone who has seen me speak knows I'm a story teller. I'm one of those people who teaches and explains best via analogy or example and I've been told time and time again by people in my sessions that those stories really help drive home the point.

The nice thing about story telling is it's not just for teaching, it's a compelling way to get someone to both remember and talk about your point.

(I've pulled these six components from Chip and Dan Heath's Made to Stick and put my own spin on them.)

Part One: The Need for Simplicity
Part Two: Deliver the Unexpected
Part Three: Be Concrete
Part Four: Carry Credibility
Part Five: Tap into Emotions

We're Conditioned to Recall Stories

Stories are nothing new, in fact, they're one of the earliest ways we are taught things as children. We hear nursery rhymes and fairy tales and learn life's lessons in the form of short stories. "The Tortoise and the Hare" teaches us the value of perseverance and "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" teaches us not to lie. Most of us only need to hear these stories once before we remember them well enough to repeat them.

We're able to digest the message from the story because we're so easily able to relate to the story. We can internalize the fear of being attacked by wolves in the story of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" and we can relate to the frustration and eventual abandonment by the people in town who were repeatedly tricked. We can place ourselves inside the story, therefore, we can digest its points.

Stories can Help us Address Challenging Topics

Companies that sell products that are difficult to talk about often have a hard time relying on emotions and passion points to spark something viral. Insurance is a perfect example of this. After all, who wants to focus on buying something they hope they'll never need?

That's part of why I've always been a fan of Nationwide Insurance company's "Life Comes at You Fast" campaign. Rather than tout the low cost or excellent service of their agents, the team at Nationwide has turned to storytelling as a way to offer a subtle, yet memorable reminder of just how important your choice of insurance companies is. They do this by reminding us that just because we don't plan on having any accidents doesn't mean we won't.

The team at Nationwide describes the shift from agent selling to story telling this way:

"...just because everyone knows life can change in an instant, it doesn't mean they want to talk about it."

If you've never seen the commercials, here's my favorite: