Recently, one of my favorite clients– a meticulous and dedicated carpet cleaner–called with a worrisome story.

He had been at a job site cleaning rooms on the first floor of  a building undergoing renovations. The second story was ringed with a deck and my client kept hearing workers going from inside the rooms to the deck. Equipment revved up and quieted.   Although something crashed outside the room where he was working, he kept to the job until it was finished.

This client is a collector of vintage trucks.  He’s careful to have his company logo stenciled on the side in tastetful script.  The bed is surrounded with a period-appropriate wooden  _______________________.   After finishing the job, he went outside and found a large dent in the fender of his truck.  He determined that a piece of equipment had fallen from the upper balcony.

Resigned, but figuring it’s just a truck that can be repaired and accidents happen, he called the company responsible for the construction upstairs.  The company owner was incredibly rude, refusing to accept responsibility.  Having knonwn Jean Paul and his accepting and easy-going nature for 10 years, I believe his version of events.

For the other 90% of the world that has yet to be invited to sit with the “cool kids” here’s the 411 on what Google+ is and how you can join:

Who: You. Everyone knows that to stay ahead in this crazy thing we call the Internet, you need to be constantly updating yourself on where the new trends are, what old trends are yesterday’s news and what you can do to stay ahead of your competition.

What: Google+. Google was smart to (try to) join the ranks of Facebook and Twitter, by creating their own social network: the Google+ Project.

What makes Google+ different from other social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter is that when you post those pictures from last weekend — pictures probably even your closest friends shouldn’t see, let alone your grandmother — you can choose who has the capability to see them. Unlike Facebook, where you constantly have to think about who has access to your photos, wall, status updates and the like, with Google+, there are “Circle” that allow you to determine how much you share with friends (a lot), family (less), and your boss (little to none).

But it doesn’t stop there, with “Sparks,” “Hangouts,” and “Huddles” Google+ is connecting your online life with real life. Sparks acts like a hybrid between Facebook and Google Alerts, in which you can add interests so you’ll have things to watch, read and share when you’re bored — but someone with a life as exciting as yours probably doesn’t have a lot of spare time…right?

Hangouts melds Skype and the real world together. You can video chat with people and let them know that you’re “hanging out” and that you’re available to hangout face to face.

Huddles make getting groups together easier. Instead of having to text everyone one-by-one to arrange rides to the beach — or anywhere/anything else for that matter — you can mass-text select people (which will — should — eliminate any coordination problems).

Where: All over the internet.

When: Hopefully, sometime in the near future. Currently, only a select few have received invitations to this new and — seemingly — amazing new social network. So, BE AWARE and weary of scammers after your information. There have been reports of people selling their “invitations” on eBay and Craigslist — invitations that don’t really exist. While you might be too smart (or just not care enough) to try to buy an invitation to Google+, don’t fall prey to Facebook scammers. There are numerous Facebook pages that ask you to post your email on their wall in exchange for a Google+ invite.  While hundreds of people have already posted their information, it’s important to remember that when you post your email on something as public as an open Facebook wall, the whole world will have access to it. That means spammers, hackers and everything in between now have your email address and you’re at their mercy.

At the same time, if Google+ doesn’t decide to open the flood gates sometime soon, they could be at risk for extinction. Right now, there’s a lot of hype and buzz about the new networking site, but for those not on it, it’s become frustrating, and for those already on it — it’s only as cool as the number of friends you know also on it. After I was invited to Google+, I was stoked at  being one of the few, the priviledged…and soon not so stoked to be one of the lonely few. While Google+ has capitalized on their exclusivity (much like Facebook and Gmail — originally), a social networking site isn’t fun, if you’re the only one.

Why: When it comes to new technology, it seems that it’s almost human nature to want the latest and greatest (read: few people use a Walkman by choice these days…). But let’s be honest, the reason you’re reading this is to find out how it can help your business.*

With the different circles, you can have one for clients/customers and one for staff/employees. This way you can post sales, and updated information to your customers and accost someone on staff for drinking the last cup of coffee and not making a new pot.

Also, depending on how close you are to your staff, you can use Hangouts and Huddles to fix any communication/coordination problems (you mean it was my turn to bring bagels to the staff meeting? I had no idea).

On a more technical SEO level, it’s likely the more involved you are on Google+, the better it’ll do for your search rankings. On Facebook, having a million+ fans won’t give you a higher ranking on Google. Youtube (owned by Google) on the other hand, gives videos with more views a higher priority on the massive-global search engine.

Facebook may be the king of social networks, but Google is the empire of the internet. Google isn’t just a search engine. It’s also Youtube, Maps, Gmail, Chrome, Analytics, Blogger, Android…the list goes on and on. Lesson: whether you like it or not, Google “owns” the internet, which means it also “owns” your online marketing.

How: Click Here

Effective internet marketing requires knowledge drawn from ALL of these fields!  Please please get RSS feeds from each going to your Google Reader and just “graze” or browse from time to time.

Stick your toe in—the water’s fun!

Conversion Optimization: Bryan Eisenberg, author, speaker, internet marketing pioneer

Because many web designers come from a background in art, their goal can be the look of the website rather than its effectiveness (how many visitors take action while visiting).

While a gorgeous website does convey a sense of professionalism, it can cost a lot and even overshoot.  After all, how many of us can differentiate between cyan and teal?

True internet marketing effectiveness is measured in “conversions,” or how many site viewers take the action the site owner intended. In other words, how many:

1. Sign up for a newsletter;
2. Fill out a “contact us” form;
3. Call;
4. Click to a product page;
5. Make a purchase;
6. Register for a webinar;
7. Register for blog feed.

These actions depend upon more than a lovely interface.  They depend on the value of the offer, the site navigation, the credibility of the owner and more.

Bryan Eisenberg, along with his brother, operates Bryan & Jeffrey Eisenberg & Associates.  They are “professional speakers,” “best-selling authors” and “online marketing pioneers.”

While bragging runs rampant on the internet, in this case, the enthusiasm is warranted.  Bryan Eisenberg has written three internet marketing books in the past decade, all of which have made the business book best-seller status on the charts of publications like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In 1997, he also founded internet marketing company Future Now, Inc. in 1997, one of the very first of its kind.   

In 2011, Eisenberg sold Future Now, Inc. to focus on public speaking and his boutique internet marketing practice.  Full disclosure:  I took Eisenberg’s Conversion Optimization course through Market Motive. Eisenberg was dedicated to delivering the most effective and actionable information per hour than any other internet marketing “expert” out there. If anyone “eats his own dog food,” it’s Eisenberg.

Free stuff from this Guru:  www.grokdotcom.com

Google Analytics: Avinash Kaushik of Market Motive

Okay business owners, every blog post and landing page can and should be monitored through the magic of Google Analytics.

This FREE online interface lets website owners see how many unique visitors came to the site, where they came from, most popular pages, most effective keywords and so much more.

One long-time Intuit marketing techie loved Google Analytics so much after using it at work, he bailed from his job to become a Google’s Analytics Evangelist.  Avinash Kaushik wrote two best-sellers:  Web Analytics; An Hour A Day and Web Analytics 2.0 and went on to start Market Motive, the nation’s most respected internet marketing training platform.  At Market Motive, Kaushik orchestrates and runs the Google Analytics master course and presents many free webinars for potential students.

The cool thing about Kaushik is that he encourages large and small business owners to be skeptical of hired “experts,” which he has acroynmed (disdain-intended), “HIPPOS” for “Highest Paid Person’s Opinion.”

One view of an Avinash Kaushik webinar will reveal the disdain he has for these self-styled experts who spin out opinions that haven’t been supported by data. With data so easily gained these days (through Google Analytics), there is no reason a business should rely on anything but what’s actually happening on their sites.  To get started with Google Analytics, hit up the

Brilliant is so common in the internet world these days, that to hook that word to Kaushik that is no big deal.  It’s his energy and enthusiasm that set him apart.  He turns the most dull statistics and data into a romp. Watch one of his videos and you’ll find yourself reading his blog posts in his charming accent in your head.

Free stuff from this Guru:

Watch many of his videos free at www.marketmotive.com

Read his blog at www.kaushik.net/avinash/

Facebook Marketing: Mari Smith

Coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day and The Relationship Age, you might be surprised to find Mari Smith started out as a secretary.  Now she speaks in the United States and overseas about social marketing strategy and has been slated along with Tony Robbins, Dr. Stephen R. Covey and more.

Even cooler, she gives away so much on her website, buying her book seems redundant and unnecessary.  Here are some of her most recent extremely useful topics:

*          How to Contact Facebook:  120 Forms (thanks for doing all the legwork, Mari!)

*          Facebook 101 for Business: Your Complete Guide

*          21 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Fans

[Note:  the  awkward phrasing of the last title most likely stems from the fact that Mari is using search-engine-optimization tactics in her titles.  In other words, many people are typing in “Increase Your Facebook Fans”  rather than the more grammatically correct, “Increase You Facebook Fan Base.”  I know; I know--snore.  Indulge this former writer/English teacher!]

With 45,000 Facebook fans and 111,000 Twitter followers, she’s gotta be doing something right!

Free stuff-a-go-go from this Guru:

Website:  www.marismith.com/

Of course, her Facebook page is one of the most tricked out you’re going to find: www.facebook.com/marismith

Search Engine Optimization:  Rand Fishkin and the team at SEOMoz

There are many SEO experts out there that blog and Danny Sullivan almost became my #1 (such honesty!), but Rand Fishkin seems so determined to deliver so much on the www.seomoz.org/blog that I had to stick with this 33-year-old (!).  His heart and mind are truly in sharing the best practices of search engine optimization.

Just some of his extensive credentials include founding SEOMoz, the largest provider of SEOSoftware out there, making BusinessWeek’s “30 Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs Under 30” and more.

I bet he’ll be going onto the next stage of tech supremacy soon: philanthropist.

Free Stuff from this Guru: www.seomoz.org/blog

Have a tried and true San Diego internet marketing  specialist you’d like to recommend?  Would you like to recommend a San Diego conversion optimization, Facebook, Google Analytics or search engine optimization expert?  Feel free to do so in the comments below!

However, as that generation grew up and slowly phased out Myspace for its more mature replacement (read: Facebook), the mentality of accumulating excessive numbers of friends was also phased out and replaced with a generational distain for “being friends with people you don’t even know.” A similar sentiment can be applied to the fans that “like” your Facebook page. While it might be awesome that you have a huge fan base on Facebook (the more fans you have the more Facebook walls your content will reach), if those fans aren’t interested or relevant to your company, they won’t do you much good.

If you’re a real estate company with 1,000 fans, but they’re all your 15 year-old daughter’s friends — unless they’re also friends with their parents, aunts, uncles and teachers — having thousands of fans won’t do your business much good.

When it comes to Facebook marketing, reaching your target audience is just as important on social media as on your actual website. Similar to a real website, it won’t matter if a Joe the Plumber (this one goes out to you John McCain) receives 5,000 hits a day on his site if none of them are homeowners or relevant to his business. Sure it might look good to say that you have 1,000+ fans on Facebook, but when it comes to the bottom line, if those fans aren’t bringing in business, they’re not ultimately helping your company — and that’s what counts.

So, what’s the lesson to be learned here?

1)     There’s a difference between having tons of Facebook fans and tons of Facebook fans that are relevant/potential customers to your company.

2)     Don’t waste your time targeting irrelevant “fans” for the sake of building a greater following via social media. Quality, not quantity is what counts here.

3)     Remember, that while social media is a great way to help your company, nothing happens over night (except maybe realizing that you shouldn’t have eaten that fourth donut). So, be patient. Keep updating your Facebook and be on the hunt for fans that matter — preferably not ones that still ask for an allowance.

When it comes to social media, it appears the general consensus is to use these tools to direct potential customers to either a company’s actual website or to a physical location. However, now, some of the smartest companies also direct their clients from their physical locations back to their Facebooks and Twitters.

While your eyes might glaze over the dozens of “FIND US ON FACEBOOK” signs as you’re scanning the wine aisle for Chocolate Wine, next time you’re out and about — not buying Rebecca Black’s new CD — take a second to notice just how many companies are coming full-circle by advertising their social media IRL (in real life). Companies like Rubios and Chevron have that recognizable Facebook “F” posted on windows and at gas pumps. And while nearly every industry seems to be on board with the social media run-around, they do so for vastly different reasons:

A company like Rubios — or any restaurant, that might want to pawn off chicken-tasting fish tacos as “authentic Mexican” — uses social media to encourage repeat customers and reward those “faithful” enough to add them on Facebook. For them, Facebook is a brilliant tool to reward repeat “offenders” with coupons and discounts (because let’s be honest, unless it’s your birthday, you’re probably not going to subscribe to the Rubios’ email list any time soon).

Chevron, on the other hand, isn’t about to offer 50% off your next visit to the pump, or a free gallon of gas on your birthday for being their Facebook fan — but a girl can dream, can’t she? (She can also dream that washboard abs are the norm, not the exception.) For the political science geeks and the newsy nerds, more ‘controversial’ companies like oil companies or fast food chains that often get a bad rap, direct people to their social media sites for the sake of mellowing — or in layman’s terms: good PR. While you might think that Chevron is a big scary oil company that has Americans by the neck — and while you might be right — one trip to their Facebook site could convince you otherwise: Chevron gets “behind the development of renewable energy” and “supports the communities [it’s] apart of.” Even if their poor grammar choice (choosing to end a sentence with a preposition) isn’t enough to sway you, the collage of ethnically diverse people smiling has to count for something…right? (Although, the old white guy kissing the little Asian kid on the cheek is pretty damn creepy.)

All in all, there’s a lesson to be learned here: In today’s fast-paced world, you have to keep running to stay in the race. It’s simply, no longer enough to use Facebook and Twitter to bring customers to your site, you also have to direct them back to your social media sites — even if that means shamelessly plugging yourself on every window, wall and gas pump.

Will it be worth it for YOUR business?

The Exciting Stats!  (that make you want to jump on tonight)

1. As of today, May 20, 2011, 668  million people worldwide have Facebook accounts;  that’s 1 out of 13 people IN THE WORLD (would that include include SOME eskimos, Siberian llama farmers and monks of Tibet?  Amazing).  (Source:  Nick Gonzalez, TechCrunch writer and www.checkfacebook.com curator/creator).
2. Anaylsts project $30 billion in GLOBAL Facebook store commerce by 2015, up from $0 last year (2010).  At 14 billion,  the U.S. take will be responsible for almost ½ of that spend (Source:  Booz & Company Turning “Like” to “Buy” : Social Media Emerges as a Commerce Channel February 2011) To put it in context, consider that Americans spend 51 billion per year on pet food, health and supplies and 8 – 10 billion on cosmetics.
3. Social Media is now the #1 internet activity for the average computer user (not search).
4. Social Media engagement grew 48% over the last year, tripling the time spent during 2008
5. Users spend 4X as much time on social networks as they do on email.

(Source for 3, 4, 5: Nielsen Netview 2010)

6.   In the United States, Facebook participants are evenly divided among the generations, a fact which surprises many:

8.8% of all FB users are 14-17 for a total of 13.6 million

30% % of all FB users 18-24 year olds for a total of 47 million

22.4% % of all FB users 25-34 year olds for a total of 35 million

15.4%  % of all FB users 35-44 year olds for a total of 24 million

11.5% % of all FB users 45-54 year olds for a total of 18 million

7% % of all FB users 55-64 year olds for a total of 11 million

4.2% % of all FB users 65-74 year olds for a total of  6.5 million

Facebook is not just an under 30 phenomenon.

(Source: www.checkfacebook.com)

7.  90 % of all purchases are subject to social influence

8.  How to get somma that:  (the three biggest prompts that make Facebook Users fan a page:

Brand Invitation or Ad:  75%

(This means taking out an advertisement on Facebook, promoting in store, on a website or even on your printed materials.  “Become a Fan and get _________________________________.”  People always want free stuff.

Friend Suggestion:  59%

Search:  49%  (After typing their needs into a search engine, your Facebook post came up.  From your FB post, they found your FB page and fanned you, so as not to miss out!)

(Source:  Hubspot/Webtrends 5 Key Tools for Effective Facebook Marketing,May, 2011)

9.  They are looking for:

84% of Fans are existing customers (relatively easy to reach; they’re already sold on your products).

83% of those report they fanned the page in order to get access to exclusive offers and benefits.  So when you’re writing, you have to say, “For John’s Widgets’ Facebook Fans Only!”

They like to be in a position of influence, delivering good deals and insider info to their friends.  These friends are prime marketing targets for the average business.

10.  Good news/Bad news: A big 36% (or ”only 36%,” depending on your perspective) buy more after becoming a fan.  If you have fans in the thousands, this could translate to significantly more revenue.

Watch as we APPLY . . .  the Jaundiced Eye!

Informed Web Content - always on guard for unwarranted hype

1. Sure there are a lot of people on Facebook, but they’re mostly on there to catch up with friends.  Their intent is socializing, not shopping.  People that want to shop start shopping with Search Engines.  In fact, 58% of all consumers start their product research with a search engine.  24% go to a specific company website and only 18% start on social media.  (Source:  GroupM and comScore:  “The Virtuous Circle: The Role of Search and Social Media in the Purchase Pathway.”

The people that start shopping with search engines will be farther along in the buying cycle than those who just stumble on a brand on Facebook. Therefore, it makes sense that Facebook’s ad click through rates are far lower than Google Adwords click through rates.  Further, it’s also far lower than the average website conversion rate (2%).

2.  Take a look at some ad click through rates on Facebook. They’re pretty frightening.  Remember, this is just a click the Facebook ad wins, not even a guaranteed sale.

a.  health care industry has the lowest click through rate at .011% (.011 percent really means .00011/100 or 1.1 per 1,000,000

b.  tabloids and blogs: (the highest of all industry click through rates):  0.165%or .00165 per 100;  1.65 per 100,000 (1 real person!);  16.5 per million.     (Hubspot/Webtrends 5 Key Tools for Effective Facebook Marketing,May, 2011)

3.  Most people do not return to a brand page after they’ve fanned it! People want the initial free swag offered, but then do a good job of shutting your brand’s messages out of their news feed. Facebook users can block your posts without your knowledge.

4.  Facebook changes so much so quickly, it’s not worth the time keeping up with changes and new features, according to veteran internet marketer Jennifer Laycock of Sugar Spun Marketing.  She doesn’t even recommend investing in the creation of customized tabs and feeds at this time.   (FB does offer documentation about every change, however.)

Thoughts and Analysis

Social Media is more of a demand generator where Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization  (PPC ads, websites, organic search) is a demand fulfillment device. Facebook users have different initial intent than search engine users.  Facebook users don’t yet KNOW they need one of John’s widgets.

Facebook  is SOCIAL.  People are on there to connect with friends, be diverted and entertained.  That said, the more your business’ name rotates up into their feed, the more your brand name gets in front of current customers and maybe their friends.  If you have a blog, announcing posts and other news doesn’t take too much time.

Further, Facebook has advantages that aren’t quite measurable as yet.  A brand page can engender a sense of belonging among fans as they keep up with industry news, helpful tips and related links that make their lives easier.  And we don’t always  know where Facebook interest generation translates in to measurable sales.  If not direct purchases, it could inspire in store or website purchases.  Of course one can always watch Google Analytics to see how many come to the website from Facebook.

The Bottom Line: Small business owners and marketers need more time to try out various Facebook strategies before best practices on the medium become crystal clear.  In the meantime, diving into Facebook with shortened descriptions of each blog topic and a link to the blog can prove a starting place for your Facebook marketing strategy.  Once the best monetizing approaches become clear, you’ll have the practice and experience to run a sweepstakes, start a community or distribute coupons as fast as you can put them together.

Anyone create great business sales from Facebook?  Share it here!

Where a few simple Legos . . .

. . . build a limited, static house,

All-in-one or free/limited hosting/website design companies are like a simple Lego set depicted above: limited, static, dull.  These include: Vista Print, Homestead’s Sitebuilder, GoDaddy’s all-in-one package and more.

Thousands of crazy Legos can . . .

. . . create a unique, expandable, constantly changing site no one ever tires of.

Paying for your own hosting through a hosting service like Bluehost or Dreamhost and then creating a website with a WordPress or Drupal developer affords you much more flexibility and expandability.

“But I only WANT a simple website,” you say. “That’s all I can handle!”

I get it.  And these $5 per month sites are ideal for certain businesses.  But keep in mind . . .

There’s no such thing as a FREE website, no matter how many hits come up saying there are a million.  There are free 30-day TRIALS, after which business owners have invested hours and hours building a site they don’t want to lose.

Then again, after that 30 days, the fee for the site and hosting is only $5/month, which, heck, is as close to free as anything gets these days. After all, for that $5, you get the unique domain name (free of any annoying extensions like “.wordpress.com” or “.blogspot.com”), hosting and web templates.  And support!  Support is great.  How can you go wrong?

Here’s who IWC puts up on a Homestead or Vista Print site:  a handyman who is sure he will never write or sell anything there and a carpet cleaner who just wants to show up in search results and have an anchor for all of his local search efforts.  We’re happy to help with the conversion-optimized- and search-engine-optimized copy writing and uploading of files, photos, etc.

Both of these guys just want photos of their bright and shiny faces and a phone number.  They want a home page (that maybe a PPC ad could land on), a services page, about page and a contact page.  Maybe a client testimonials page.  That could be all they need.

Without much content, however, they won’t rise very high in the search engine results.  IWC makes this very clear to them at the get go.   By working with PPC, however, they could get sufficient traffic to their site.  The carpet cleaner has a big surfing hobby, after all, that must be maintained.   Both guys are local and sole proprietors, so there’s only so much work they can even accept.

Most of all: can you imagine the ROI (return on investment) of a $5 monthly outlay?  In the future, if either of these clients wants to go bigger, creating a whole new site won’t involve demolishing an expensive blog- and ecommerce-enabled website that cost thousands to erect.  These types of businesses have nothing to lose with these limited website platforms.

However,  businesses that:

- want a fighting chance in the search engine results;

- want to use a blog to connect with clients;

- want to use Social Media tools like Facebook and Twitter to promote their website, products and services;

- sell ANYTHING;

- have a newsletter going out to a client list;

- would like their website to be more than 5 pages;

should pay the extra $4 per month for a dedicated hosting site and then use a wordpress or drupal developer to create a template-enabled website ($1,000 – $1,800).  Or pay $4,000 – $200,000 to a website design firm to do a gorgeous, utterly original version.

Does the $1,000 up front throw you?  Expanding from Vista Print’s basic 5-page package entails a leap from $5 to$13 to $30 monthly.  It includes all kinds of “add ins” that you can get for free for your self-hosted (Bluehost, Dreamhost) wordpress website.  (I’m not in bed with any of these providers.)

Expanding from Homestead’s $5 basic package takes you to $20 monthly (now includes email!), then  to $50 monthly  for email & traffic stats.  $600 per year for 5 years is $3,000 where if you’d paid the $1,000 up front for a WordPress template site, it comes with all kinds of plug-ins including traffic, filters, emails as well as an unlimited number of pages.

5 Dire Limitations of “Free” or Limited Website/Hosting Providers

1.  Free or limited hosting plans are usually extremely limited in terms of allowable content. You usually get a pre-installed blog platform or content management system, but you can’t change it easily, you can’t back-up or migrate your information to another server or page, and you can’t add anything outside of the blog (for instance, a separate store or unrelated service page).

2.  Anybody who’s ever lost files knows the value of having a backup system. Many pay-for-service hosting solutions allow unlimited storage space, giving you the freedom to back up your pages, documents from your computer, important files, etc. With a little know-how, you can even create pages to help display the data and allow multiple people to access it.

3.  As you get more comfortable with your company and your services, you might realize a niche that’s unrelated to your flagship product or service, but you are perfectly suited to supply to eager consumers. This is where subdomains come in. Your site may be www.johnswidgets.com, but down the road you may need to add www.johnswidgetinstallation.johnswidegets.com down the line.  This will prevent you from having to set up an entirely new site.

Subdomains are extremely limited in some low-cost hosting packages (and almost unheard of with free hosting).

4.  Web technology is everywhere, and it’s always expanding to new domains. In the near future you might need to add a function to your website that you can’t foresee right now. Having a  free hosting solution will most likely not allow you to make that change. Having your own hosting provides you with that extra flexibility.  There are tens of thousands of wordpress widgets and plug-ins that could make your website more appealing and help it run more smoothly.

5.  You may own a small business now, but every major corporation started out as a small business. Free hosting solutions place limits on all kinds of activity, and will stifle your growing business. If you pick the right hosting, it’s all unlimited.

Hosting companies that Informed Web Content likes right now include Bluehost and Dreamhost.  Both make installing WordPress easy.  Anyone have a great experience with a temporarily free or limited provider like Homestead or Vista Print?  Relate it here.   This topic can be very confusing.  Any and all questions about hosting and website template/platform options will be answered with Lego analogies.  Who doesn’t love Legos, after all.

Please, if any of this is confusing at all, please post a question in the comments.  Believe me, every one is confused by the hosting question.  I would love to know exactly where I lost you.

Nervous about starting a blog?

The search engine optimization people are happy to extol the virtues of blogging, but ask them to get 500 words up online three times a week and they dive behind their spreadsheets.

The good news is that you don’t have to be a great writer to blog.  You do need to focus on your customer’s needs and pain points, however, rather than your business’ latest accomplishment or press mention.

2 Pre-Steps to Blog Launch:

1.  Download, The Business Blog Start-Up Kit (FREE to everyone), an easy blog workbook that allows you to create a custom blog plan for your business.  With plenty of examples and format specifications, it allows you to learn while you create.  Below, I’ve summarized the Business Blog Start Up Kit’s 7 major steps.  

2. Get yourself a calendar.  Like Excel?  Use IWC’s Blog Calendar Template, with all the sheets and column headings already set up for you.

OR:  Set up a dedicated Google Calendar. Here’s a link about setting up a Google calendar (you have to have a gmail account– a 2-step set up.)

OR:  Just use a paper calendar!  But keep a separate, special one for the blog (you can do the same for a newsletter).  I relish the opportunity to use pen and paper.  It slows me down, a good thing in many instances.

Seven Steps to Blog Launch:

1.  Assess blogs in your industry and those that complement your industry.  (e.g. If you’re a computer repair service, check the blogs of other computer repair technicians AND the blogs of networking services.  If you are an interior designer, look at your competitors’ design blogs as well as those written by window companies.)

2.  Get your web developer to help you put blog capabilities on your site.  This will take him or her no more than one hour and cost less than $100.  DON’T START A BLOG ON A SEPARATE PLATFORM LIKE Blogger or LiveJournal!  To rise in the search engine rankings, your website needs the “link juice” the blog provides.  Google wants those frequent updates after all!

3.  Brainstorm at least 20 blog posts based on the most frequent questions your clients ask you.  Provide answers in your posts.  Put your posts in bullet point or numbered format for easy reading.  Write in a casual style.  Include photos.

4.  Do some search engine optimization to determine your keywords.  Repeat one keyword or phrase twice per 500-word post.

5.  Keep blog post ideas coming by signing up for Google Alerts.  Get yourself an iGoogle homepage.  Also, fill up your blog calendar with awareness dates, business anniversaries and other short cuts.  Check out IWC’s post: “3 Blog Content Cheats to Get that Editorial Calendar Filled Up Fast!”

6.  Promote the blog in your store, on Facebook, Twitter and other blogs.

7.  Set up Google Analytics to watch and see which of your posts got the most traffic.  After you get past the intimidating charts, this is really quite fun.

(Note:  a writer at heart, I probably too often ignore these search engine optimization rules on my own site. I want my own sentences to sing.  That said, some of these tips don’t interfere with fine writing.)

1. Put your keywords up front in headlines (within first 3 – 5 words), as I did for this post.
2. Put your keywords in page titles (different from headlines).
3. Anchor links (to and from other posts, pages, etc) need to contain your keywords.  The days of “click here” and “read more” are over.  If you are a financial planner, both external and internal site links should say things like:  “College Fund Pitfalls” or “2012 Tax Changes.”  If you own a pool service company, links need to read, “pool cleaning tips after a fire” or “maintaining healthy cholrine levels.”
4. The one keyword (or phrase) per page rule still holds.
5. When appropriate, put keywords in the alt tags of photos.  Beware! If you put “solar panels” in the alt tag of a photo depicting a bikini-clad woman, Google may ding you.
6. Don’t forget Meta tags!  Although currently the Google algorhythm doesn’t seem to placing as much weight on meta tags (keyword descriptions of each page) lately, one never knows when it may again.

Know the rules and then ignore them.  A business needs to appeal to human readers as much as robots. Further, if a page developer gets the top 20% of the most important SEO right (titles, URLs, internal links) 80% of the  SEO value can be squared away.

These girls perhaps too young to appreciate Analytics, but someday . . .

Oh boy. Oh boy!  Google Analytics Version 5 is out and still FREE.

When will Google deliver the news that we’ve somehow signed over our property rights or first born children in exchange for all this fun free stuff?

Apparently, Adwords fills Google’s coffers sufficiently.

Online marketing genius Avinash Kaushik goes over the new bells and whistles involved in Google Analytics version 5, although you have to be a Market Motive member to watch the video.  Currently, I pay $300 each month for access to Market Motive’s treasure trove of online marketing videos.  That’s cheap for the fantastic, cutting edge information I get from their top-level experts (I have no deal to tout their classes and videos; just a true believer.  Informed Web Content post, “5 Online Marketing Evangelists to Believe In” covers the benefits of belonging to Market Motive and the credentials of the excitable and fun Avinash Kaushik.)

If you’re not up to paying just yet, Benjamin from Austrailian Google experts Mangold Sengers lays out most of the great improvements in clear terms as well (although you probably need a “analytics for beginners” video first).  Find Mangold Sengers’s Google Version 5 Update Video here.

What looks like the most fun version 5 upgrade is the “keyword term cloud,” which puts your keywords into a visual format with the most effective keywords appearing larger, much in the way Wordle does. Fun!

Finally, here’s what big daddy Google itself has to say about it’s brand new baby on the  Google Analytics Blog.

If I didn’t have so much writing to do, I may become a Google Analytics nut myself.  Good luck and happy exploring!  Relate anything on version 5 you like here in particular.   Thanks!