Facebook and WordPress offer an integrated marketing solution

There are many things that I like about WordPress, but by far, one of my favorites is how it can be setup to take care of your work for you. This means that you can do one thing  and have it tie in with other marketing venues AUTOMATICALLY!

For example, if you set things up properly, you can write a POST in your WordPress site (NOTE – This doesn’t work with WordPress PAGES, just for POSTS) and have it automatically appear on your Facebook Business Page.

The other night I was putting up a Post for a client and I didn’t need to worry about dealing with Facebook because the Facebook post was created automatically.

Another example is the ability to place a simple widget in a WordPress Sidebar and have it display your recent Facebook Posts or your most recent Twitter Tweets — all automatically.

Let me take a moment to clarify — these options work if you are using WordPress installed on your own domain. I don’t know whether they work on a free blog hosted on the WordPress.com site.

As more and more web sites are built using WordPress, there are more plugins being developed and more functionality being added. If you have a specific need, it is worth checking to see if there is a plugin yet. If there isn’t, just wait a while…

Survival Tips for your Online Business

I am very lucky! I have a number of offline coaching clients, all with offline businesses and actually, most of them have more than one business!

Because of the nature of their businesses, they all have brick and mortar locations…

I find that I learn a LOT from them, which is wonderful

Here is a tip from Client K -

When she arranged for internet access at her office, she deliberately signed up with a DIFFERENT Internet Service Provider than she has at home.

Her town was hard hit with storms last week and most of the internet service is down. At home, she can only get internet access for extremely limited periods of time, but at the office, all is going well — slower than usual but working adequately. So, with a little bit of reorganization, she is able to get her online work accomplished.

Whenever possible, try to distribute the risk… in this case, it is by having different ISPs for your internet access, or, if you work from home, knowing of a public location where you can get internet access.

In most cases with an ONLINE business, we aren’t actively working on the business all of the time, but we do need to keep in touch — whether by email or by website comments or both.

Adding social media such as Facebook and Twitter in to the mix further complicates things.

Many times, without realizing it, we rely on multiple hardware options to run our online empires

It may be that you find that you are using a combination of technology to keep in touch — bouncing between your smart phone and you computer.

Obviously, the smart phone provides redundant backup for email and social media, so you have that covered. But do keep in mind that your website may need updates or other work and your smart phone may not provide an effective way to accomplish those tasks.

Plan Your Online Redundancy

STEP 1
When you have the time, take a few minutes and list all of the online activities you are involved in over the course of a week. Then, think about everything else and see if there are any irregular tasks that may not appear on that list.
These might include tasks or circumstances that occur rarely.

STEP 2
Now, take that lists of tasks and identify your MAIN method of access — home computer or smart phone, for example.

STEP 3
Next, decide on a backup method of access — this could be office computer or internet access at the library. In the case of using your smart phone, is there a way to access those resources by way of your computer? If not, is there another smart phone — such as a family member or friend — that you could utilize in a pinch?

STEP 4
Finally, identify the information you would need to utilize those backup options… for example, if you might need to use someone else’s smart phone, how would you access YOUR email addresses?

STEP 5
Ask yourself if there is a practical way to provide yourself with secure information in a different geographical location, to add another layer of security. In my case, my sister lives about 650 miles away. It is unlikely that a weather disaster affecting me will also affect her, so storing information with her and/or providing her with access to my online backups makes sense. Even if I can’t get to the information, she can, under my supervision.

Let’s face it — life happens!

We can’t change how it affects us, but we can control how we react. Being prepared for the worst case minimizes the effect a disaster can have on us and our online businesses.

Check this out for more practical suggestions about about disaster proofing your online business.

Editing Product Images Requires the Right Editing Software

I am currently working with a very driven client.  She is, finally, working to get her offline business online. Her website is an issue that she has been circling for years, literally, and finally she has decided to buckle down.

Unfortunately, she has convinced herself that she can’t handle the technical stuff.

Now, truth be told, if I EVER had my back to the wall, she is the person I would want beside me (did I mention that she is also one of my best friends?) I KNOW she can learn all of this stuff ! Believe me, she is more than capable!

At the moment, she is struggling to learn how to edit the photos for her website and most recently we have been working on the thumbnails needed for her shopping cart products.

Product Images are Vitally Important Website Content!

As I tell my clients, product images on a web site are an extremely important element, for a number of reasons:

Product Images – Pros

For Human Visitors -

• Product Images can provide information in an efficient way. However, images are NOT an appropriate substitute for meaty, detailed, written product descriptions

• Product Images can provide appealing eye candy

For Search Engine Visitors -

• Image file names can be a powerful search engine tool

• Image alt text tags can also reinforce the appropriate product keywords and brand names when used judiciously

Product Images – Cons

For Human Visitors -

• If your pictures aren’t sized correctly, they may load slowly and your human visitors are likely to get impatient and leave your site

For Search Engine Visitors -

• Google has begun to assess websites by loading time. If your web site loads slowly, it may be penalized in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)

And with the cons, we reach the crux of the biscuit… my client has not been able to successfully and consistently handle the resizing and editing needed for these ever important Product Images.

She has been insisting on using a couple the free Microsoft Image programs that seem to come loaded on new computers. They are designed for loving grandparents and not for serious business people.

We have run into permissions issues (first time I have ever had this problem… and boy, was it hard to track down!), and resizing issues. In spite of the fact that I had her download a free solution — IrfanView — she has avoided taking the time to learn it…

As a result, she (and I) have wasted a number of hours trying to fix what shouldn’t be broken in the first place…

I was a painter in a previous life and believe me, having the proper brush for the job is non-negotiable!

I have been wracking my brains trying to figure out a way to explain this to her and have finally figured out an analogy that will have meaning for her — basically, she has been trying to knit with two crochet hooks… for those of you who are woodworkers – you can’t use a straight blade screwdriver if you need a crescent wrench!

As in every endeavor, take the time to find the right tool for the job, and then take the time to learn to use it correctly. Trust me, it will save you time and tears in the long run!

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink

Need a Website? Build it NOW!

This year (2011) has been an interesting one. For the last several years, I have had about a dozen off again, on again clients… They knew they needed to work on their sites, they wanted to work on their sites, but somehow life got in the way. ;-(

Now, I TOTALLY understand.

My niche for clients is primarily offliners who already have at least one offline business going. I have a number of clients with more than one offline business. Needless to say, they are busy people.

Suddenly at the beginning of this year, a handful of them suddenly woke up and smelled the coffee… and they went from the occasional *I need to work on my site* email to become intensely focused clients, showing up on Skype at least once a week and sometimes multiple times a week. (YIPPEE!)

They end every Skype call with a list of what THEY need to accomplish before the next Skype meeting.

They are extremely busy business people and for the most part, they are learning how to do everything themselves, so that they will have the option to do it themselves or hire and/or train someone.

They are very aware of the fact they they each know their own business better than anyone else and that they need to be making the decisions.

They are learning *hands on SEO (Search Engine Optimization)* and already they know more than many *SEO Pros* and more importantly, they are understanding HOW to apply it for their businesses.

We keep things flexible, so even if they have given themselves *Homework* to finish by the current Skype meeting, in the grand scheme of things that task may or may not be the task that is the priority come  appointment day.

I am REALLY enjoying the time I spend with such motivated and creative people, and their ability to squeeze one more *To Do List item* into already busy days.

If you don’t have a website, what do you need to know?

So after waxing lyrical here, what is the take away?

• They know that sometimes you need to *Just Do It*
• If you want results, you need to put in the work
• And, more importantly, they realize that delaying online is an easy trap to fall into

I emphasize *Finished is better than perfect*

If necessary, throw the page or product up and get it moving and come back to tweak it later. (The key here, of course, is to make sure that LATER actually happens! LOL)

You can always fix your new site or post or page… but you can’t fix a site or post or page THAT DOESN’T EXIST!

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

WordPress – Website Builder and Content Management

Today, July 4, I opened one of my WordPress Websites and discovered that they have just implemented WordPress 3.2 – the Gershwin…

The interface has changed fairly dramatically, but not in a disconcerting way. So far, I have been able to find my way around with no problem and i suspect that once I get used to it, I will like it a lot.

In the WordPress Documentation, they said:

QUOTE:

Version 3.2 is our fifteenth major release of WordPress and comes just four months after 3.1 (which coincidentally just passed the 15 million download mark this morning), reflecting the growing speed of development in the WordPress community and our dedication to getting improvements in your hands as soon as possible.

This speedy development and implementation is just one of the factors that makes WordPress a good bet for small business. and it one of the points I had been planning to make in the article I had logged in to write!

So, without further ado, and using the newest version of WP, let the article commence!

WordPress is an excellent web building solution for small business

Currently, and for the foreseeable future, WordPress is one of the best website  solutions for a functional, effective website.

It may not be appropriate for a site needing an extensive shopping cart solution or other complicated communication options.

However, for the majority of small businesses looking for a flexible solution with a fairly easy learning curve, WordPress may be IT!

WordPress ticks several boxes on my GOTTA HAVE List:

• Fairly Search Engine Optimized (SEO), right out of the metaphorical box The SEO can be easily maximized with a few tweaks and plugins

• It is OPEN SOURCE and has surely reached critcal mass in terms of devoted developers.
  This means that it is likely to continue evolving for a long, long, time. Unlike solution created by For Profit companies, where a software might be dropped with little warning

• It is extremely flexible
  There are thousands of themes available or you can have a unique one created for you.Layouts are also flexible, with 2 and 3 columns being the most common. Multiple navigation options are available, depending on the theme.

• WordPress functionality is also very flexible
  Tens of thousands of plugins (both free and premium – paid) add many options ranging from shopping carts to extensive post scheduling.

• WordPress is easily integrated with Facebook and Twitter
  This is no small matter, at this point in Web 2.0What it means is that  you can take one action and have it extend to multiple sites.For example, a POST made on a WordPress site can also appear on Twitter and Facebook, automatically, if you have everything set up correctly. This is a powerful Three For One for any small business.

• Many WordPress Themes are Mobile Ready with little to no tweakingMobile friendly is an important consideration, especially for brick and mortar business. WordPress offers a number of solutions that can be fairly easy to implement.

All in all, WordPress is a website building, content management solution that deserves careful consideration from any small business owner!

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

Check out Tink’s Work on Kindle

I finally did it! I am now putting many of my Business books on Kindle.

Check out my books for the Kindle!

Urban Knitting makes the News

I just posted this on two of the Needlework Industry business forums I belong to, and it seemed appropriate to post it here as well.

FORUM POST

The flagpole at our town library has a red white and blue sweater sheath, composed of knit and crocheted squares. I admire it on my morning walk.

Now, on a MUCH larger scale, the needlearts have hit Time Magazine!

With COOL terminology – Yarn Bombing! and an interesting personality – Madga Sayeg

This would be a good bandwagon for ANY needlearts website /blog to write about… adding content and keying into *trending* searches…

It doesn’t matter if you are a cross stitch or needlepoint site, this would be a good thing for you, both short term and ling term…for yarn sites, this really is a no-brainer!

Write a medium to long post and Search Engine Optimize the *you know what* about it… and by all means, post on your Facebook Fan Pages

Keywords to include – yarn bombing, Madga Sayeg, Knit Graffiti, Crochet Graffiti, urban knitting

Online, things have changed drastically in the last 6 months and this would be a good way to start coming to terms with the changes.

[aside]

I plan to be posting about these changes a bit later on… and offering some indepth analysis along with Q and A, because frankly, the vast majority of needlework related websites — both yarn and thread– are in severe danger of disappearing in the Search Engines as a result of these changes

[/aside]

Anyway, here is the link… look and enjoy!

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2077071_2283023,00.html?hpt=hp_bn8

Here is Madga Sayeg’s site

http://www.knittaplease.com/home.html

Here is Madga Sayeg’s blog

http://knittaporfavor.wordpress.com/http://knittaporfavor.wordpress.com/

NOTE- she is also on Facebook and Twitter (see her website for links) so be sure you Tweet about it and post about it on FB

This is a sterling opportunity to start the work needed to fend off the Google problems looming for most NW sites, no matter their focus!

Tink

Using Social Media – Facebook and Twitter – in a way that makes sense with how they work inherently

I have dual monitors so I tend to work with my current task on one and then have CNN or HuffPo or something business related on the other — ready to be read while I sit and wait for poor Freddie, my desktop, to grins along.

I was reading an interview with Candace Nelson, one of the chef/bakers behind the concept of the *Cupcakery*

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/05/17/under-wrappers-secrets-behind-a-cult-cupcake/?hpt=Sbin

It was a fascinating read… but the REAL gold was this quote:

How did you create the idea of a “whisper word?” [A word on Twitter and Facebook that is the “secret key” to daily free cupcakes.]
“Part of the idea is that we run a cupcake shop, so it needs to be fun and playful. We are fortunate that we have a good enough business that we can do stuff like that and charitable initiatives. It’s part of us following our passion versus what we were doing before, which was finance.”

The operative concept here is:

“whisper word?”  – A word on Twitter and Facebook that
is the “secret key” to daily free cupcakes.

This is an excellent example of using the inherent properties of Social Media vehicles, such as Twitter and Facebook… using them to do what they (and their millions of users) do and build on how they interact.

Certainly EVERY restaurant should be using tactics like this… but I also think that many independent brick and mortar retailers could also be using this in a similar way… not necessarily to give away or discount, but, for example, to announce new deliveries, especially on items available in limited quantities!

How can you use a *Whisper Word* in YOUR business?

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

Facebook Fan Pages – Key to Social Media Marketing

The phrase Social Media is everywhere these days, and if you are like me, you may be a bit unclear about what it actually is… the infamous phrase *I’ll know it when I see it* comes immediately to my mind!

I went looking online for a short, easy to understand definition and found this analogy…

Think of regular media as a one-way street where you can read a newspaper or listen to a report on television, however, you have very a limited ability to share your thoughts on the matter.

Social media, on the other hand, is an active two-way street that gives you the ability to communicate and respond.

As the internet develops and evolves, the various Social Media websites are also growing and changing. Several years ago, MySpace was the place to be but it is now, generally, considered to be on the wane. Likewise, on MySpace, 33% of its users are aged 17 or less.

Ravalry is a relatively new, large community based around knitting with over 1,200,000 registered users. As you would expect, its membership is primarily female and the average member age is not available.

Facebook provides this information about its users:

• More than 500 million active users (I recently saw the number 600 million, but it hasn’t been changed yet, on the Facebook site)
• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• Average user has 130 friends
• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook

As you can see, each Social Media site appeals to and has a different user base than any other site.

One of the powerful considerations about using a Social Media web site is the fact that most of them provide a level playing field when it comes to small business owners vs the big boys. For instance, you can build a Facebook Fan page for your offline business and so can a major automobile manufacturer. Within those Facebook Fan pages, both you and the multi billion dollar car maker have the same tools and resources. On Twitter, as another example, both you and the big companies are limited to 140 characters per tweet. They can’t buy more characters and blast you out of the competition.

When considering which Social Media site to use with Social Media Marketing, you should consider the site’s membership but you should also evaluate its culture and how the members interact. It is important that any Social Media site have a population whose interests are in line with your goals and, also, that it have a structure and pattern of interaction that is compatible with your objectives.

In addition, you must keep in mind that things change on the Internet, sometimes at breakneck speed. As an example, between March 2011 and May 2011, Facebook implemented some major changes which changed the whole landscape of using it for business. Suddenly, controlling the content on a business Fan Page and using product images to build a brand became game changers… for those who knew how to do it!

While a particular Social Media site may be a good fit now, be aware that it may not always be a successful marketing vehicle for you! Monitor the efficacy of any Social Media site you are using AND also keep an eye out for the next big thing!

With all of that in mind, at the current time, I consider Facebook and Twitter to be the Social Media sites most likely to be compatible with the majority of offline businesses and their needs.

In this article I am going to briefly cover Facebook, its structure as it pertains to Social Media Marketing, discuss some of the pitfalls, and propose some strategies appropriate to it.

Facebook Marketing for Small Business

Facebook’s membership has exploded and is currently greater than 500 million, according to its own website.

It originally began as a way for college students to keep in touch with fellow students. As a result of that, the basic Facebook community seems to start from an academic basis, joining students and former students with friendship circles widening out from there. If you are like me, you will be shocked at how many members from your high school class seem to appear out of nowhere!

As part of the Facebook mechanism, possible Friends are suggested to you, based on Friends that you and the other person have in common. While you can do searches, it is hard to find and befriend a person that Facebook doesn’t think you should know. On the other hand, Facebook makes suggestions that will extend your network, based simply on friends you may have in common with someone.

Another important mechanism is the Facebook Like option, which now can be extended beyond Facebook Profile pages and Facebook Fan Pages and out into the web at large.

A third and exceedingly important Facebook mechanism is the ability to link between websites, Facebook Fan Pages, and Twitter accounts. This can be done with a variety of website creation software options. At the moment, I am encouraging my clients to use the blogging software, WordPress, for non blog websites.

With WordPress as your website management system, once you have signed up for the Networked Blogs Facebook App(lication), you can set your website to show any changes on your Facebook Fan Page and your Twitter account. Your Twitter Account can be set to show Facebook Fan Page Comments along with Posts from your WordPress website. In addition, your Tweets will be displayed on your Facebook Fan Page and your website.

Now, I know that the previous paragraph was confusing so let me give you the abridged edition! In my example, you have three web presences for your business – A Facebook Fan Page, a website built with WordPress, and a Twitter account. Any Post made on one of those three sites will automatically appear on the other two sites.

This is VERY powerful and is a REAL time and energy saver IF you take the time to plan your web marketing strategies with this capacity in mind!

With the potential of getting a three to one benefit from any of your Social Networking posts, as described above, let me go a bit deeper into the opportunities afforded to an offline business by having a Facebook Fan Page.

NOTE – It is important to understand that while a Facebook Fan Page can be considered a potential web site replacement, it offers long term hazards that, in my opinion, are not worth the risk.

Building your business’s primary web presence on a third party web site is taking the time, effort, and money to build a nice new house on land that you DO NOT OWN! You might be OK in the short term, but later down the road, you may lose you house, simply because you do not own the land.

While you may decide that it is efficient to start with a Facebook Fan Page, you should also plan to build your own website ASAP! As a business owner, you should be careful to own and control as many of your business assets as possible.

With that warning out of the way, before utilizing any Social Media site for your Social Media Marketing, take the time to read the site’s ToS or Terms of Service. Do NOT assume that you know what is allowed and what is not.

As an example, you may have multiple Twitter accounts, but each account must be tied to a different email address. Any email address can have only ONE Twitter account.

With Facebook, any human is allowed ONLY ONE ACCOUNT! This means that any Facebook Fan Pages built for any businesses will be offshoots of your primary, personal Facebook account.

If for some reason, you do not want a Facebook Fan Page to be obviously tied to your personal account, you can set the Privacy setting to obscure the connection. In the case of most offline businesses, this would not be a concern. However, I have a number of online businesses, some of which I am open about and others that I have chosen to run from behind the scenes. There is nothing questionable about doing this, I just prefer to keep the connection quiet to minimize others copying my business model. However, ALL of my business Facebook Fan Pages are offshoots of my SINGLE personal Facebook account.

Part of the evolution of the Facebook Culture is that, in most instances, it is considered appropriate to ask other members to share with their Friends about your Facebook Fan Page or  your new post or any of a number of other Facebook interactions. This is markedly different from other websites and their culture, and as a business owner, it is a powerful tool.

It is perfectly OK to ask others to LIKE your Facebook Fan Page. In fact, this can be an important traffic builder for your Facebook Fan Page!

Another online marketing benefit offered by Facebook is the option to use their Pay Per Click advertising. In the Facebook universe these are known as Facebook Ads — which seems obvious, but online, things are not always obvious!

Last night, I was on a call with one of my consulting clients and she mentioned that she had just gotten a $100 voucher for Google Adwords. She wanted to know if this would be worthwhile. I said that I thought that using Facebook, creating a Facebook Fan Page for her business, and spending her limited budget on Facebook ads would be a better use of her resources, even considering her $100 Adwords voucher.

I explained it to her this way:

Google Adwords and Facebooks Ads are Pay Per Click … each ad is shown (this is called an impression) and you pay when someone actually click on the ad.

While the mechanism for figuring ad payments is the same (PPC or Pay Per Click) the basis for showing an ad differs drastically between Google Adwords and Facebook.

On the surface, the ads themselves are similar. While they may or may not have a picture included, the text or content of the ad is short and presented in plain and simple text. Ads are displayed off the side in vertical stacks or within the body of the page’s content. For the most part, these ads are subtle and unobtrusive.

However, the Ad Display Criteria is where the biggest differences lie.

In Google, Adwords are shown on the pages generated with Search Results as well as on website pages related to the Ad’s specified search term. This means that Google Adwords are displayed using a mechanism of which terms are being used in online searches. As AdWords have developed, in some instances they are also displayed according to the geographical location of the person doing the Search.

Facebook actually takes an entirely different approach — Facebook Ads are displayed in front of PEOPLE who meet the demographic requirements that you have chosen.

To simplify further, Google Adwords are displayed based on the content of the page where they are shown and Facebook Ads are shown based on the interests, and even the physical location, of the person doing the looking!

As you can see, there is a radical difference between Google Adwords and Facebook Ads.

This is one of the reasons that I feel that Facebook Ads may be far more beneficial for offline businesses.

It is also important to note that when creating a Facebook Ad, you have the choice of sending people who click either to an offsite web page or to a specific Facebook Fan Page.

All in all, I consider Facebook a strong option for offline businesses, since you have the ability to target both demographically and geographically. The potentially viral effect that is inherent in the Facebook culture is another good reason for adding Facebook in to your online advertising mix.

Finally, if you are using WordPress to build your website to blog, it is relatively easy to integrate WordPress Posts, Facebook Fan Page Posts, Twitter Tweets, and possibly even, your AutoResponder Service messages, so that each one appears on the others… AUTOMATICALLY!

Between the timesaving automation available and the three for one currently available combining WordPress, Facebook, and Twitter, spreading your company’s message across the internet has gotten MUCH easier!

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink

2011 Will be a Make It or Break It Year in How Small Business Owners Embrace Mobile Technology

We’ve all heard the phrase: “Leaving money on the table”. It means
neglecting opportunities to make as much profit as possible with products or
services you already sell.  But how does this apply to mobile websites?

Think about your mobile phone. It’s good for more than just sending Tweets while you’re out and about.

How often do you check websites on your phone?  You may be thinking “not
very much”, but it’s still probably more times than you realize.  You might use it to:

• Get directions

• Find stores or restaurants

• Play games during involuntary waits

• Connect with social media

Those examples are just a warm up…

Now that it is no longer necessary to be physically connected to a plug-in source of electricity, wireless technology has changed internet usage forever, in a big way.

People are relying on mobile devices more than ever – and less on their PCs (Personal Computers). You may not be one of them, but that makes it even more important that you realize these devices are changing and evolving all the time.

The offline business owners who take notice and position themselves at the leading edge of this unstoppable trend – by creating and utilizing mobile websites – will benefit with the lion’s share of the profits to be made.

We’re not just looking at monetary gain here.

Think about it…

If you position yourself at the  head of a new major trend and direction change, you set yourself up automatically as being one of the premier authority *go to* sites… so that when others catch up and the market quickly becomes saturated – an all-too-familiar pattern – you’ll already be firmly established at the top.

As an offline business owner, if consumers are used to using YOUR mobile website, you have a major advantage, even when you competitors (finally) get on board the mobile bandwagon!

This month, the topic here at SurviveAndConquerCoaching is Mobile Websites.

There are 7 Cheat Sheets, a Short Report (this post is the Intro from that) and a longer Special Report.

Please, login to access these Resources. If you aren’t a member, the Basic Level is free and will give you access to most of these Resources!

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink