IV
Strategy Time! Now is the time to plan for the fourth quarter
Traffic
SEO
Fulfillment
Mobile
Social M edia Content
Blogging Customer Service Local
Algorithm Updates
Letter From The Editor
Dear Readers,
I can hardly believe it. Here we are nearing the middle of summer and half of 2012 is gone. Everyone knows summer can be a slow time for both b2b and b2c businesses. That means now is the best time to get things in place to maximize third and fourth quarter sales. Enclosed in this issue of “The Net Effect is just what you need to make that happen. Judy Whalen has an excellent article that will help you get ready by showing you how to come up with a strategic plan. You can use that plan with the fourth part of Lee Collins, “How to Get Free Targeted Traffic”. The articles on blogging and social media planning will be the extra cherry on top in putting together what you will need to have a productive second half of 2012. The TNE staff writers have done a great job giving some informative tidbits in the Consultant Corner and eCommerce Tip of the month. You will also find a new monthly feature in this issue: “Glossary of Terms”. We use so many terms in the internet marketing world we thought it would be fun to start including a Glossary each month to keep us abreast of the new (and old) lingo. There are new terms being added all the time is this industry so hopefully this will help you keep on top of all the current buzz words. I encourage all of you to take a moment and look at what you have accomplished so far this year. Celebrate each success, and then take a look at what you want to accomplish with the remaining part of the year. Start by making that strategic plan and then start working your plan each and every work day. Make sure that you balance all of that work with some downtime with family and friends. We know that summer slips away quickly, so live each day to the fullest.
Happy Reading, Renee Corbett Managing Editor of The Net Effect
Page 4
How To get Directed Traffic Fast, Part Three By Lee Collins
Page 11
Social Media, Where When Why By TNE Staff Writer
Page 16
Building Blocks For Better Business By Judy Whalen
Page 22
eCommerce Tip Of The Month
Page 24
Why You Should Be Blogging By TNE Staff Writer
Page 29
Consultant Corner
Page 32
Glossary Of Terms
Page 34
This Action Items
How To Get Directed Traffic Fast, Part 4 By Lee Collins
Getting free targeted traffic is absolutely meaningless if you don't do one thing. That one thing can mean the difference between profits and complete failure. Once you understand what the marketing veterans do you can easily apply this simple strategy to your own business. Welcome to Part IV of our 5-part "How to Get Free Targeted Traffic" series. Alright let's jump right into it shall we? If you've ever stayed up late and watched TV then I'm sure you have seen the "Late Night TV Gurus" selling the "secrets" to getting unbelievably rich. No matter what you think about what these guys are offering... What they DO flat out works! Here's what I mean... You have to understand that the $39.95 money-making packages make the creators of these packages NO MONEY. They are created for ONE reason and that's to get you to raise your hand and identify yourself as a prospect who's willing to spend money. That's why they are cleverly called a "hand-raiser". I know, genius right? Anyway, once you buy this initial "money-making" package you'll get a few followup calls with special offers to buy products that do make it's creator some money. You sometimes even get a pitch to buy a higher priced product while you're ordering their hand-raiser. Here's how you can apply the formula yourself...
Step 1 - Create a hand raiser or "borrow" one The mistake most people make when they want to make money is to go for the BIG sale up-front. While this does work when done correctly most people do it wrong and you miss out on the "little" sales along the way.
You need a hand-raiser. (Some people call it a lead generator.) If you're not sure what to use for a hand raiser, a simple report works or a short eBook works just fine. In a previous article titled... "An Easy Way To Get Free Advertising" I revealed a simple way to get a hand raiser without creating it from scratch. One hand raiser I use is an eBook called "13 Deadly Marketing Mistakes". The hand raiser sends people to my site to buy my low-cost front end product and puts me in a position to sell higher priced products to the people who have already identified themselves as interested in a certain area/niche/market/etc. The eBook brings people in for free and gives them information on getting traffic which directly ties into the free advertising course I sell. You don't always have to sell the product you're using to generate leads with. Just use it to get people to respond to your low-cost offer.
You can even make your eBooks rebrandable (like I did) so people can get paid a commission when they share the eBook with their audience since it has THEIR affiliate link inside. And of course collect email addresses (with permission) before you give people your report and then follow the next step... Step 2 - Follow-up with products related to your hand raiser Once you've gotten prospects to identify themselves and identify themselves as a potential customer you want to keep in contact with and offer these people related products and services. Design your hand raiser to promote a specific product, then follow-up with related products and/or services. Two-Steps. Simple. That's It. The Late Night TV Gurus don't always create the products they recommend you buy after you buy their initial low-cost product. Usually they work out deals with people who have already created products just like you can with affiliate programs. They just generate leads and follow-up with those leads to offer related products and services. The point I'm trying to get across is to not only do what the successful marketers say, but also do what they do. Always keep yourself open to new ideas and try to see the bigger picture. I used late night TV as an example of what's successfully being done, but if you look closely many of the people that are making money online use the two steps I just gave you above and nothing more. 1) Generate Leads 2) Follow-up with products related to your hand raiser And repeat...
Oh, and something else interesting also happens once you get into the TV gur u' s inco me stream that you may or may not be aware of. You'll not only get other offers from them, but you'll also probably get offers from other marketers because your name and address has been added to an "Opportunity Seeker" list and sold.
Opportunity
Yep. It's true. I know, shocking right? You're going to be a good little marketer though and build your list with the hand raiser you create so that you can Joint Venture with people who create products you want to sell to your list. (Although there is some REALLY good money in renting your list. Just saying.) The money is in the list, WHEN you have back-end products. I had a customer complaining about the leads she was generating who were NOT buying her product(s). I told her that it didn't matter if those people bought HER product or not because they WILL buy something. Generate the leads first and "worry" about what to sell them later. If nothing else you can always ASK what types of products and services they want. Then you would either create this product or find someone who has already done the work for you and strike up a deal to sell their product to your list.
The point is this: be willing to look any and everywhere for ideas and strategies that are working. It costs money to advertise on television so the fact that you see the same pitches over and over again for the same "money-making" products means that someone somewhere is making money. Your next "breakthrough" idea may come from the most unlikely places. Keep your eyes open.
Lee Collins brings over 15 years of mid and senior level leadership experience to StomperNet. With several successful businesses in his own portfolio, plus strong foundations in systematizing business processes and maximizing team efficiencies, Lee not only brings with him his marketing skills but also the mindset of a business owner to help build StomperNet stronger than ever before.
Where When Why By TNE Staff Writer
It is no secret that social media is an important part of marketing a business. Knowing that you need social media is the easy part, deciding what platforms you should be using is the hard part. Being smart with your time and marketing dollars is of the utmost importance, so how do you choose what social media is best? Not to worry with a little time and research you can make the most out of your time and money. Here are some helpful tips on how to make those choices. Your very first order of business is to know who your clients are. I know you have heard this before, but you need to make sure you truly know who you are marketing to. This means not only knowing the demographics of your audience, but also their emotional triggers. Why do they want your product or service? What motivates them to buy? When you are able to answer these questions, then you will be able to write copy that sells better as well as know where to find your audience on the internet. Many entrepreneurs find defining their customer avatar very difficult. Selling to your audience is easier if you can “see” what your customer looks like. Here are some questions and suggestions that can help you create your customer avatar: Are your customers male, female or both What is their typical age Where do they live… you can break this down by country and region of that country. What kind of jobs do they hold Do they rent or buy their homes Are they political and if so what parties do they identify with Are they religious or spiritual How do they spend their free time What problems do they have How much money do they make What is the best way for you to communicate with them What ways do they communicate with one another
This is just a very short list of the possible questions you should ask when creating your customer avatar. Creating this avatar is time consuming and tedious for some, and many business owners skip right over this exercise. Don’t!!!! Skipping this exercise is a mistake. The answers to these questions will create a clear picture of your potential clients. It also helps you to figure out where your clients are spending their time in the social media space. Not all social media sites are created equal! Simply put, not all social media sites are for all people. For example, if I had a restaurant I might use twitter several times a day to interact with my customers. I could let them know of the daily soups, entrees and desserts. I could tweet and let them know of the featured item of the day. I could also tweet out when the fresh catch of the day had arrived. There are many ways I could use Twitter each day to interact with my customers. I could use Facebook too in the manner as Twitter. I would need to do my research and find out what platform my customers used more. That doesn’t mean I would abandon other platforms, I would use the one they are on most of the time. This is the place where I will put more of my time and effort. I would not send 20 tweets a day to my customers if they are not responding to them and it doesn’t help them or my business. As a restaurant owner I may be in Linkedin, but my presence there would be more for professional networking, not getting new customers into my restaurant. While the networking is important, I won’t spend as much time here as I would spend getting people into my restaurant. The same would apply to the time I spend on my website and blog. I need the website to give people information about my restaurant, but I might find that the social media side of marketing draws more people into the restaurant, thus more of my time should be spent in that part of marketing.
Conversely, if I was a real estate agent, my clients may be more likely to engage me on my blog or website. So I would put more time each day into blog post than Twitter and Facebook. In the real estate profession, I would want to use video and YouTube to help me sell more houses, so I would spend time there each week. Pinterest would be another place I might be able to attract new clients with inforgraphics about home buying and even a few boards about home design ideas. Again I would need to gauge and see if the time I am putting into each place is getting my business. So you can see that If I owned a restaurant or was a real estate agent I would want more business, but the social media places that I would use would be different. I would need to determine which social media places work best for my business. This also doesn’t mean that I spend time on the social media platforms I like the best. I may enjoy Twitter, but if that is not where my clients hang out, it is not worth my time being there. You will also need to determine how many times a day to use each social media platform. Are 20 tweets a day helping you to reach your clients and getting new ones? Or are you tweeting that much because that is what you heard you should do? You will need to track and see what formula works best for your niche. No one ever said marketing was going to be easy. It will take some time to determine where you should be spending your time in the social media world. But when you find the right balance your bottom line will be bigger because of your efforts.
So just how do you determine where and how much time? Research and Test! The good news is that there are many places on the web were you can find white papers and case studies. Hubspot.com has a nice study available on where to market online. Mashable.com is another great place to get some very helpful case studies. Do a Google search for your industry to see what you can find. If I was looking for restaurant information, my search query might be “restaurant industry market research�. Secondly, I would create my accounts in the social media platforms I thought I would be using and I would begin posting a few times a day to each for several weeks. After a few weeks I would begin tweaking the time of day and the amount of post I am making to each place and try to find the right amount of each. I may find that posting on Facebook early in the morning and early evening are getting more likes that post in everything in the middle of the day. My tweets maybe retweeted more when posted mid-day as opposed to the once I do in the evenings. Then I would check my traffic on my site and see if the changes I am making in my social media marketing are getting my site more traffic. I would love to say do the posts on Facebook at this time every day, but every niche is different and you need to research and test to see what works best for you. There is no way to avoid social media; it is an important part of your marketing plan. Taking the time to find your right social media mix will pay off in bigger earnings at the end of the day. So get started today.
The focus of this series of articles is building a sustainable business. So far, we have explored the benefits of: Creating your game plan for 2012 Embracing sound business principles Building a strong foundation Using strategic thinking Conducting market research
This article focuses on: Identifying the key strategic issues facing your business Understanding the various facets of each key strategic issue Determining the root cause Developing your overall strategy Creating detailed action plans Staying focused on your strategy as day-to-day pressures tug at your time and attention Identifying the Key Strategic Issues Key Strategic Issues (KSI) are those issues or factors that must be addressed in order to reach the vision you have for your business. (If you haven’t already developed the vision for your business, see the previous article Build a Strong Foundation to Create a Sustainable Business for tips on developing a vision statement.)
Identifying key strategic issues can be part of a formal strategic planning process. Or, it can be the sole focus of a strategic thinking session. Or, KSIs can surface anytime you are doing a project/program evaluation. The trick is recognizing a KSI from an operational, program/product issue that needs to be resolved to improve effectiveness, profitability or impact. Remember, addressing a KSI moves your business towards its vision.
A KSI can have a short-term or longterm focus. Draw upon insights from your market research. Are there trends in your market that are causing a KSI to develop? Consider your SWOT analysis. What insights do you gain when a nalyzing your business’ Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Keep in mind that strengths and weaknesses are typically internal to the business while opportunities and threats are typically external factors. You want to build on your strengths, take advantage of opportunities, resolve your weaknesses and neutralize your threats. Brainstorm a list of possible KSIs. Once you have a “laundry list,” examine it and determine if: Any of the items are critical – If you have issues on your “laundry list” that are absolutely critical to staying in business address them immediately. These can be handled separately outside the KSI process. Determine if any of the items on your list are related or components of a larger issue. If so, group them together. Prioritize the key strategic issues. Try to reduce your list so it contains only one to five key strategic issues. It is very difficult to stay focused and implement a detailed set of action plans for more than five KSIs. If you still have a long list, review it again and determine if there are any issues that can be consolidated or are really operational/program/project/ product issues.
If not, bite the bullet and force yourself to select the one to five most significant issues to address. Keep in mind, while addressing these issues, you still need to keep the operational part of your business going. So be selective. You don’t want to end up creating a new key strategic issue by not being able to keep your operations working effectively because you are focusing on an overabundance of KSIs. Remember, balance is important. Focus on moving towards the future while also sustaining the business of the here and now. Understanding the Key Strategic Issues Once you have zeroed in on the selected KSIs, it is time to spend time understanding the various facets of each issue. This involves further discussion, thought and possibly more research. Ask yourself and your team incisive questions such as, “Why is this a key strategic issue for our business?” “What impact is this having (or will have) on our business?” “If we don’t address it, what will happen?” “How will our position in the marketplace change?” Then determine if the KSI is the root cause or a symptom. Is it merely a symptom of a larger or more serious issue? You want to be sure you are addressing the root cause and not a symptom. If you spend time addressing a symptom, chances are incredibly high that a new symptom will surface and you will spend additional resources addressing the next symptom. Get to the root cause. A simple tool to help you zero in on the root cause is to use a Fishbone Diagram. See http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_03.htm for more information. Develop Your Strategy Once you know the root cause of your KSIs, you are ready to develop your overall strategy. Strategy is: A plan of action To achieve a specific goal Supported by tactics Demonstrates a profound understanding of customers and competitors Allocates resources to carry out those plans
Considering your selected KSIs and how they interact and affect your business, develop your overall strategy. There are a variety of overall strategies you could choose, such as: Survival Market domination Visionary Daring growth Innovation Becoming a winning organization with exceptional people Differentiation in the marketplace Market disruption Sustainable corporate growth
Create the Action Plan When you are very clear on your overall strategy, develop the action plans to address each of the KSIs. This includes: 1. Write a goal statement. 2. Write objectives. (You might need to write multiple objectives to address the different facets o f the KSI.) 3. Develop detailed action steps to achieve each objective. Include: a. A description of the action step b. A champion for the issue who will make sure the issue is addressed, has resources, meets deadlines, etc. c. Who needs to be involved d. Resources required e. Start and end dates f. Performance measurement g. Comments
If you would like an electronic spreadsheet for developing your action plans, email me at judy@c4sc.com. You can drop your information directly into it or use it as a template to create your own form. Staying Focused One of the hardest tasks to sustain is staying focused on addressing the key strategic issues in the midst of the ongoing day-to-day pressures of running the business. It often feels like two full-time jobs – one to keep the business going; the other to address the key strategic issues. A technique to help you stay focused is to build the KSIs into regular staff meetings, TO DO lists, quarterly measurements, etc. Incorporating progress on KSIs into existing systems and procedures helps to keep them “front and center” along with “how many products/services are we selling.” Take Action Now 1. Brainstorm your list of Key Strategic Issues. 2. Determine if any are critical issues that need immediate attention. Address those separately. 3. Consolidate issues that are similar or are facets of a larger issue. 4. Choose one to five KSIs to address. 5. Determine the overall strategy that will lead the business towards its vision. 6. Develop detailed action plans to address each KSI. 7. Stay focused amidst the pressures of day-to-day business. If you need any help, just give me a call or send an email (judy@c4sc.com.) I’ll be happy to answer your questions.
Judy Whalen is founder and CEO of the Center for Strategic Change, LLC - a consulting firm that challenges leaders to think and act strategically by helping them get clarity, maintain focus, and take action to achieve strategic change. Since 1992, she has been advising CEOs, Boards of Directors and Senior Leadership Teams in the areas of strategy, market research and
The mCommerce Movement Many large online retailers are making substantial investments in their mobile presence this year. The reason being is because of the increasing amount of traffic that is now coming from smart phones. According to the E-Tailing Group Inc., 26% of retailers get 10 of their online traffic from mobile devices. Many of these sales are coming from tablets. A recent survey of retailers stated that their conversion rate was higher from tablet shoppers than pc shoppers. What does all this mean to you? If you are not doing anything with mcommerce right now, keep it on your very short list of future upgrades.
Time To Consider Bing ? For years the online world has talked about ranking well in the Google rankings and rarely talks about ranking well in other search engines, but now it may be time to consider Bing as well. In a report put out by Experian Hitwise, it shows that in a four week period ending on June 2, 2012, Bing powered searches ( Bing 12.29% and Yahoo 14.50%) were 26.79% of the searches made. Google still reigns as king, they had 68.11%, but Bing picked up 5% over the last year.
If you haven’t been looking at your rankings in Bing and Yahoo, it may time to take a look. Bing has a Webmaster Center Blog and also has page on Search Engine Optimization so that you can see what people are looking for. The best advice I can give you is to always think about first off, what is best for your site’s visitors and SEO second. If you are seeing your Bing Traffic increase let us know. Send an email to Renee Corbett at rcorbett@stompernet. We want to hear from you.
Blog Blog Blog Blog Blog Blog
Why You Should Be Blogging By TNE Staff Writer
The birth of the blog as we know it today was around 2004, although it had been around for a long time before. (I’m not going to get into a word war over who started it and when). There was even a time in the last few years when the blog was the supreme king and the absolute ‘must have’ in the online world. But many things have changed since 2004. We’ve seen updates like Panda and Penguin, mobile devices with their multitude of apps, Facebook and Twitter just to name a few. With the speed of change you have to ask the questions, is a blog still relevant? The simple answer is Yes, and here are just a couple reasons why.
First let’s start with the simplest of reasons: Content is King. Period. What better way to be constantly pushing new content to your site than a freshly updated blog. This is especially nice for those of you with ecommerce sites. Sometimes when you have a lull in new products you can turn to blogging about past ideas, testimonials or Grandma’s banana bread. Generally I say posting 5 days a week is best, but many folks are only able to blog 2-3 times a week. If you can only blog twice a week, that is fine, but make sure that you are consistent and you are faithfully blogging twice a week. Personally I get disgusted visiting what I consider to be an updated site only to find the last blog post was from 2007.
On the most part your blog posts need to be useful to your audience and material that is not found in other places on your site. Sure a quirky topic every now and then that will catch a reader’s eye, but always make sure it circles back around to you, your products or your business in one way or another. The Google Panda algorithms were created to make sure good, useful and relevant information was served up in the search results, so that is the kind of blog post you should be writing. Given the choice of putting a useless post or no post, choose none. The same thing applies to a blog post with the same content in them. If there isn’t new or updated material, then there is no need to add a new post. There is no magic word count that each post should have, but I would stay away from too many short blog posts and include as many 500 + word posts as possible.
Blogging is a form of social media marketing strategy. A blog gives you more space to express your thoughts then say Facebook and especially Twitter. So you can write your blog post and then use your other social media platforms to announce your latest blog post. The blog also allows your audience to find out more about you and your business. Make sure that you include some great material on your site to keep them there and to keep them coming back.
Having a blog helps you to establish yourself as an expert. Many people think that this is only relevant to internet marketers, not true. If you have a business that promotes a service then blog about all aspects of that business and those closely related to it. You can keep your audience informed of all the changes in the industry. If your sales goods you can post about their uses, how to maintain them, and anything else that relates to the product.
Becoming an expert will also help you in another ways too. You still need to get backlinks and a great way is to guest post on other blogs. When you become an expert in your field, then you will be more likely to have more people accept or want to post your guest post.
When considering guest post you want to make sure the blog is ranked well and that is relevant to your business. The same thing applies to blog commenting. Blog commenting can do two things, it not only gives you backlinks, it also helps to get and maintain your expert status. The more people who see your name, the more familiarity they get with your name and they feel like they know you. This brings about more trust and the more they trust you, the more likely they are to buy from you.
Another benefit of blogging is traffic. A report was done several years ago that stated, “when you blogged 5 times in 7 days your traffic increased by 6.9%.” There is no reason to think that this does not apply.
The design and appearance of your blog is extremely important. It is very easy to make your blog look professional. There are many template companies like Woo Themes and Template Monster available, as well as training on how to use WordPress. Having your site look good and one that is easy for your visitors to use is even more important since the Panda Updates. Bounce rate is now part of Google’s algorithm, so the better looks, the less likely people are to bounce, the better the rankings. Since blogging is now a social tool you want to make sure you engage your audience. You can ask questions or conduct a survey. Don’t be afraid to link to other people’s content. You can do the same thing on your blog that you would do in any other social media platform. So get out there, get blogging and start growing your site and your business too.
Consultant Corner Helping Others Grow Their Business
Mobile Advertising Spends Increase Would you want to be in a business that a volume of 784 million dollars in 2012 and a projected volume of 5.01 billion dollars in 2016? If the answer is yes than you need to be part of the local ad dollars for mobile. As a consultant you know that local business is always looking for the best way to promote their business and mobile just might be one way to do that. Studies have shown that people who use their mobile device to search often have a local intent. Si it is important for local business’s to be able to accommodate mobile searches. The Interactive Advertising Bureau is even suggesting that consumes will search more on mobile that pc by 2015.
More Mobile News It is hard to believe in this day and age that there is still small businesses that don’t see the value of a website. It is even harder to convince small business that they need a mobile site. According to a study done by Deloitte Digital 61% of smartphone owners who use their devices to shop have done so while shopping at the store. This same study sites that 48% of smartphone owners that they surveyed say their phones have influenced their decision to purchase an item in a store. If this is happening in retail, then more than likely it is happening in the services market as well. Even if your clients aren’t ready to go mobile make sure that you have this conversation with them. That way when they are ready, you will be the first one they turn to have the project completed. This is a great item to include in your monthly newsletter to your clients and potential clients. It shows that you are keeping current in the industry.
Affiliate When you become an affiliate with a specific company, or affiliate program, you are awarded for every visitor, subscriber and/or customer that you provide to the company. Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular forms of business on the web, and an effective way to promote businesses and products. The basic set up, from the affiliate’s side, goes as follows: You (the Affiliate) find a company or product that you would like to promote. You join the “affiliate program” of the company and receive the tools by which you can send customers to the company’s website. This most often includes a special URL link, which will let the company know that the customer has come from you. You will get credit when people visit the companies website. Details can vary, but in most cases you receive a percentage of the revenue from sales that customers make from following your link. Blog A periodically updated journal, typically formatted in reverse chronological order. Many blogs not only archive and categorize information, but also provide a feed and allow simple user interaction like leaving comments on the posts. Blogs are generally quite authoritative with heavy link equity because they give people a reason to frequently come back to their site, read their content, and link to whatever they think is interesting. The most popular blog platforms are Wordpress and Blogger, Moveable Type and Typepad Customer Avatar A customer avatar is all of the attributes, pain points, emotional triggers and language that your customers are mostly likely to have. You give the customer avatar a name, this will help you identify better when you are writing copy for your audience. eBook An electronic book is a publication in digital form, that may contain text, images, or both. It can be read on computers or other electronic devices. Like tablets and eReaders such as a Kindle or Nook. Fresh Content Content which is dynamic in nature and gives people a reason to keep paying attention to your website.
Joint Venture (JV) A joint venture is a business move that is made by two or more entities to the mutual advantage of each. In the Internet world, this process can take one of many forms. -Person A can offer Person B’s product on Person A’s mailing list. This is done when Person B has a great product, but few means of distribution. Person A will normally receive a percentage of the profit from sales made on the mailing list. -Person A and Person B collaborate to create a brand new product or service. Both parties will promote the product on their mailing lists. This normally happens with information products, and can include 3 or more collaborators. -Person A can interview Person B for an article, short report or audio program. Person B will get promotion for their current product, and Person A gets exclusive information that they can use to sell Person B’s product as an affiliate. Joint Ventures are a driving force in the Internet marketing world, and savvy marketers find ways to make JV deals part of their long-term success strategies.
mCommerce Mobile Commerce (mCommerce) is the term given to any transaction that involves the selling of goods or services on a mobile device which might include a mobile phone a PDA (personal Digital Assistant) or tablet. SEO Search engine optimization is the art and science of publishing information and marketing it in a manner that helps search engines understand your information is relevant to relevant search queries. Search Engine A tool or device used to find relevant information. Search engines consist of a spider, index, relevancy algorithms and search results. Social Media Websites which allow users to create the valuable content and share it with others. The best social media sites allow others to pass it along to their circle of friends.
This Issue’s Action Items! How To Get Directed Traffic Fast Create a hand–raiser Follow-up with products related to you hand-raiser Social Media Where, When Why Create your customer avatar Determine where your audience hangs out in the social media world Test various social media platforms Test different posting times Test different amount of daily postings Building Blocks For Better Business Brainstorm your list of Key Strategic IssuesTest your mission statement to 5 people
Determine if any are critical issues that need immediate attention. Address those separately
Consolidate issues that are similar or are facets of a larger issue Choose one to five KSIs to address Determine the overall strategy that will lead the business towards its vision
Develop detailed action plans to address each KSI Stay focused amidst the pressures of day-to-day business
Why You Should Be Blogging Blog at least 2– 3 times a week, 5 times is optimal Blog to create ne content on your site Create blogs that let your audience know more about your business Blog to become the expert in your niche Seek out blogs to guest post on Make sure your blog has an updated design that is easy for your visitor's to use