When I drive a long distance with my high school senior kids in the car, it gives me time to ask what is trending and is hot with their friends. I’ve found that what happens with their generation is a very good indicator as to where businesses should be looking to build for the future. Temper that with a review with my older kid who is 25 and I get a great viewpoint of how businesses should be embracing certain new technologies and avoiding other ones that may be becoming passé.
In my most recent drive Tumblr came up several times with my kids, so I checked it out. You can view my own Tumblr page here at http://nancymccord.tumblr.com/. I call mine “Just Nancy” as it is a place for now for me to share just about anything.
This is what I have found using Tumblr and why you may want to consider using it.
1. It is actually incredibly simple to set up and actually fun to use.
2. It has a very nice smartphone integration that allows you to post photos, quick quotes, and just about anything on the go.
3. The desktop interface is cool, user-intuitive, and the smartphone app simple.
4. I love the ability to add multi-media and text simply.
5. It feels like there will be a more visual and different demographic on this platform and so may be a more energized platform than a blog for a business.
6. From my own initial testing to me this seems like this may be the place where you can merge all your online enterprises into one cohesive message.
It remains to be seen how I will use Tumblr for business, but for now, I am having plenty of fun checking it out.
What is the best way to build visibility and traffic on your website as well as to place better organically (unpaid search results)? These three issues really go hand in hand. What you do to build traffic and visibility will typically benefit your site organically.
Here are my top picks as to where you should consider spending your money to get more activity on your website.
1. For immediate traffic, but at a cost, there is simply no replacement for Google AdWords. AdWords will not only drive immediate traffic, but immediate leads. When you need quick activity, this is the place to turn first.
2. To improve visibility and improve organic placement over time, blogging is still hands down the best way to build natural links and get the attention of search engines. The big caveat is however that you need to blog well, consistently, and write shareable information. If your blog posts are simply redux of your services, all about you, and do not explain or answer a question, you will not build links and provide strong value for readers. You will not build traffic, you will not build links, and you will not get shares. It used to be that most clients blogged three times a week, but now the trend appears to be blogging once a week with longer more creative content.
3. Social media helps to build buzz and helps to pass your shareable content around the web and to drive traffic to your blogsite and website. If you are just blogging and not sharing your blog posts on social media you may never tap into the true power of the web to create the traffic that you really thought you wanted or that you needed. Great content works hand in hand with social sharing. If you don’t have the time or budget to do this, go back and read number one and just stick with that approach – paid advertising.
4. E-newsletters continue to be an excellent way to build rapport with existing customers. It is three times more expensive to get new customers than it is to continue to sell or to build a sale with an existing customer. E-newsletters keep your name in front of your clients and provide for an easy avenue to share information, soft sell new services, and to position yourself as the “go-to” person for your areas of expertise. Besides that creating an e-newsletter list has strong intrinsic value. You can sell your list if you sell your business. E-newsletters appear to have strong staying power. It is not unusual for a client to read and then re-read a newsletter and touch base with you several days to a month after you’ve sent one. But here’s the caveat, just like number 2, your content has to be great, of value, interesting, not too self-serving, and be written in an interesting manner.
If 2, 3, or 4 seem like too much trouble, you are a candidate for number one – paid advertising. It may seem hard to get started on building content and earning inbound links, but it is something that every single business should invest in as one part of their marketing program.
Make sure you fully evaluate your options before buying a new website.
As more and more clients try to understand what it takes to please Google and smartphone users there are some items that should be carefully reviewed by all website owners before they put down a deposit on a new website.
First, there is a difference between a mobile-friendly website and a responsive website.
Second, my personal preference is a responsive website.
The difference is…
Mobile friendly – typically means that the site content is being rendered for a smartphone. DudaMobile sites are a good example of this as as Wix websites. A separate website is created for the mobile audience. What is problematic is that if your webmaster does not add content updates to your mobile site or forgets to click refresh the site at DudaMobile, your mobile content may not reflect the changes to your regular website.
Responsive website – this is the preferential way to build your new website. Here a stylesheet takes one set of content and renders that same content in different ways for the device’s screen width. The only potential issue for using this approach is that you do not have content control for mobile only as you do with a mobile friendly site. That being said, more often than not, readers do want to see your full content not a stripped down mobile version that may lack the depth of content and information that your desktop site contains.
Bobbie and Nancy after a Try It Friday video session.
You can never stand still when your living is made from the Internet! So you can know what I think has use for business, here’s my short list of things that I am using and testing for my own business to see if using the service works to grow a web presence and if it is meaningful and marketable to clients as a service.
1. Simple cheeky, yet fun videos.
Check out my Try It Friday videos on YouTube, this blog or my website. I am still trying to find my footing with this one, but I think that there may be value. My concept is to take something fun and show it on video. This week we will be doing the app called Smule which is a karaoke-like music app.
2. Instagram for consultants and small businesses.
Instagram and visual media is all the rage, but how can you use it for your business when you are selling services not products. I am testing how and what to do on my own account. You can follow me at http://www.instagram.com/nancy_mccord. Right now I am working on graphics for every Monday and then other images occasionally. You will not see selfies or images of food I’m eating unless I get feedback otherwise. 🙂
3. Improved time management to save time to be creative.
As a busy and in-demand consultant and Google AdWords account manager, my big problem is time. It may be yours too. How can you grow your business if you never have time to be strategic? I am now blocking off Monday morning and Friday morning to regroup, check my strategies, plan ahead, and test new things. Don’t try to phone me during these times as they are blocked off, calendared, strategic, thinking outside the box times. Many big business want their employees to have creative time, but as a small business owner, we typically cheat ourselves in this area. With so many new apps, services, and online features surfacing monthly I felt I needed time to stay on top of my game for my clients. I take time to make sure that I evaluate new things to be able to make the best recommendations possible of what can be done and used to promote a client’s business and brand online.
What are you doing to strategically plan ahead for your business or are testing yourself? Leave me a comment and share it here.
