Are you creating LinkedIn LOVE?

April 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Years ago, I worked at a university where we created an online community (before it was super easy) and used it to help students get to know each other before arriving at the school.  It was a big success but with some unexpected usages.  Students were using the site to plan parties and other kinds of activities.  The developers later started referring to it as the orgy board.

LinkedIn was developed to organize your network.  People you really know.  But by nature, some people like to connect with lots of people far and wide.  I see value in either option - having a strong network or having a broad network both have some great positives.

The trick to creating a broad network in LinkedIn is to have your email in your title and LION (Linked In Open Networker) also in your top portion.  These two things are an invitation to connect to strangers.  - See my profile

LinkedIn  could put a stop to this.  It is certainly not their intention, but why fight nature?  Wouldn’t people just find another way to hook up eventually?

Now, if you want people to pay attention to your invitations, write one that shows you took a real look at them.  Today I got this:

Ron

I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. I work in a buzz marketing agency in Italy, and I think that Buzzoodle is the bible of word of mouth :)

-Dario

How could I not connect to Dario!?!?  That is how you spend 10 extra seconds and get a much bigger bang for your buck.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Networking, Blog 

Super Hero Cards

April 22, 2008 | 2 Comments

If you are a regular reader or know me personally, you know we have some very unique business cards that are shaped like bee hives.  They get great results and are well worth the little extra to pay for a die cut.

Today I stumbled upon Super Hero Cards.  I am not sure I want to see me in tights, but this is a good option for those people that want to have fun, stand out and have something different.

I usually get two or three people asking me “What ideas do you have for my card…” after a presentation.  Creativity in such a small and portable space takes time, but take a look at that site for a different take on the business card.

Updated:  Benjamin Bach emailed me his Super Hero card.  Here it is and see his comment.Email Super Hero

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Branding, Networking, Blog 

Want Meat in your Webinar?

April 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment

All too often, you sign up for a free webinar and you get an idea or two, but the majority of the presentation is a sales pitch.  It is actually very effective and as long as you know that going in, that is fine.

Lee Salz wanted to find a place where he could pay for real training instead of suffer through the pitch.  When he could not find the network of business experts he was looking for, he created one.

Business Experts Webinars is a network of specialists giving (for fee) webinars that have real meat.  No sales and pitching to the audience - real training.

I am really pleased to be a member of this group.  I have watched Lee bring this thing to life with boundless energy.  The great thing is I make a little something from the effort and I can feel confident sending people to this network.

Please go check out the list of webinars and look for mine - I have one each month.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Interesting Buzz, Buzzoodle 

3 Quick Places to Gain Visibility

April 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment

If you only have one of the top 10 spots in Google searches for important key words - here is how to probably get some more.

Here are three places that will let you (responsibly) publish information with links to your site.  The new thing you write ranks well quickly because it is on existing sites that have great ranking.

  1. answers.yahoo.com - Strategically creating good questions and answers will get ranked well on search engines and generate traffic to your website or blog.  Use the tool and do not always promote something, or the same thing.
  2. Squidoo.com - Publish your lens with resources and outbound links.  Be sure to use the keywords you are targetting in your tags and titles.
  3. HubPages.com - Freakishly fast and high ranking in Google after publishing on this.  Build HubPages on your targeted topic and be sure to include a few links to what you are promoting.

In all three of these cases, you have to add value.  If you just post blatant promotional items, it will get far fewer results (and possibly removed.)

A technique I use is writing a top 10 (or 7) list on a topic, with links to additional information peppered throughout.  Those links may go to blog posts like this one with more detail.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Internet Marketing 

Home Improvement Buzz

April 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment

We just started helping a new client with a great new website:  Showroom 411

I do not write about every client here, because I try to keep this blog relevant to buzz marketing.  However, showroom 411 has a very relevant story that could be an inspiration to you.

Rick Maselli is a builder.  Not terribly web-savvy and not a marketer.

Years ago, he improved his project outcomes by using links on the web to help clients pick out the fixtures and materials they wanted.  This grew into an access database, and now has launched a very comprehensive online community around DIY Home Improvement.  It brings together home improvement people, products with public reviews and contractors that are there to help if needed.

My question to you is this:  How many companies are out there sitting on all kinds of great information and simply do not know they can leverage that for buzz, visibility or to launch a whole new company?

Showroom 411 includes:

Take a look and think - do you have another company in the making?

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Small Business, Blog 

Why You Need the Virtual Buzz Assistant Network

April 15, 2008 | 1 Comment

For years I have been saying, “You can do this.”  and I stand by that.

You can create buzz yourself, but you can create more buzz faster with an assistant that really focuses on buzz.

I hear from people all the time that tell me they know they CAN create buzz, but they do not have the time or could not stick to it long term.

In the past, we did not really have options for these people because you either had to hire me, and I work on only a few projects at a time, or you had to train people in the organization, which many people did not want to do.

So here it is:  The Virtual Buzz Assistant Network

We find great people that want to work from home and be your buzz-only Virtual Assistant.

To do this successfully, we needed to work out a system where clients work directly with the virtual assistants.  So it is a placement system where we look at your project or need and forward you our best members for your consideration - and you pay them directly.  This keeps the cost low for the client and puts the pressure on the assistant to perform well or lose the client.

We stay involved if someone requests monthly oversite by us (yes, there is an additional fee) and we also do satisfaction surveys frequently to help everyone get the most out of the relationships.

Best Use - Clear Marketing Goals

The best way to use this service is to set a clear marketing goal, like “I want to increase my email newsletter subscription by 3,000 people.”  If you just say “I want buzz.” it is less likely to succeed.

If you already do SEO, Web Design or Traditional Marketing, you can either work with Virtual Buzz Assistants to offer new products, or you can join and add the services to what you offer personally.

Our current biggest need is to get more Virtual Buzz Assistants signed up.  It takes some time to go through the basic certification and we have several clients on waiting lists for when we have a bigger selection of Virtual Buzz Assistants.

If you have questions about either end of the program, feel free to contact me.  Thanks for reading.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzzoodle, Blog 

Impersonal Buzz Marketing

April 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Even when you have a strong brand, people do not appreciate being treated like a number:  Seth Godin blog post about Forbes.

Remember when you are contacting people - the more they feel like they are the only person you are talking to that day, the more likely they are to respond in a positive manner. 

Does this mean that the Virtual Buzz Assistant Network we run doing the same thing? 

Sure, Virtual Buzz Assistants are short-cutting the relationship - but the point you need to remember is that companies that hire Virtual Buzz Assistants respect and care about online relationships - so much so that they have an assistant that helps them maintain them. 

Caring about the relationships and full disclosure is what makes the marketing services a Virtual Buzz Assistant offers unique.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzzoodle, Blog 

Researching Blogs that want to write about you

April 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The great thing about blogs is that active Bloggers are looking for relevant topics and content to write about regularly. They are often very open to doing an interview, linking to a good article, etc.

But how do you find the right blogs to contact?

Specialized Blog Search Engines

Your best friend will be the specialized blog search engines.

Technorati was once the leader, but Google has some great features that often make it better. With Google, you can sort by date of key word, bringing you the most recent posts to include your keyword first.

Technorati is different. It has search, but also has a social network aspect. You can find one blog you like and then look at those other blogs in their neighborhood, in the cloud tags, etc. to find others that may be writing on the same topic.

Blog Directories

Blog directories are another place to find blogs. The great thing here is that they catalog them by topic, which helps give you a focused list to review.

Blog Rolls

One of the best ways to find blogs in your topic is to find a good blog, and then use the blog roll of that blog. A blog roll is a list of related blogs that the blogger sometimes publishes in the side bar of their blog. Blogs do not always have these, but a good one could save you many hours of research.

Contest Results

Lots of places have contests to select best blogs on a topic. You could start by searching for “Best Gardening Blog” (Replace Gardening with your target) and see if people have assembled lists and winners. Also replace the word Best with Top.

It takes time to find blogs that fit, but finding good fits and writing a good email can get you great rewards.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzz with Blogs, Blog 

Are you being Blogged to Death?

April 7, 2008 | 2 Comments

I recently had a reader ask my why I was not writing more.  I told him I’d backed off slightly to focus on other content, but still try to post 2-3 times per week.  Considering the number of posts I already have out there, I feel like I have earned a little more downtime.

Today I saw on CNN a blogger that is commenting on a NY Times article.

They refer to the difficulty of creating a successful blog and keeping it updated.  It can be very negative on your health, it turns out.

Don’t worry, I blog less, excersize and have lost over 40 lb. in the last 6 months.  I may post less, but I plan on being around for a while. 

You may find those two links interesting if blogging is taking up more time than it should.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Identify your own VALUE

April 1, 2008 | 2 Comments

Buzz is about value.  The value may be in the story itself, such as a very unique and remarkable story that provides information.  But often it is in the value that you product or service provides someone else.

Years ago we sold very good CMS software for website management.  The software was fair priced and had lots of great features.

So why didn’t customers always get great value from our system?  Because the value they needed was web marketing, not just a software package.  They needed to be able to understand how to do, and often they needed someone else to help them do the activities.  Buzzoodle was founded to address those issues and provide more value - regardless of the software a person uses.

That is not an easy process.  Can you look at your products and ask yourself if you are providing the value they want?  It does not matter if you product is good if it does not deliever on your customer’s needs and expectations.

So here are some questions that can help you identify gaps in your value:

  1. Do customers rave about our product after purchase?
  2. Do nearly all customers use and benefit from the product or service when they buy?
  3. Does our product or service provide more time, more securtiy and a better lifestyle for our clients?
  4. What % of customers tell their friends about us?
  5. Do customers end up needing additional (unexpected) services and incur unexpected charges to finally realize the expected benefits?
  6. Do we simplify the adoption of our product or service so that clients employees look forward to the change?

What other questions can you think of?  Add them in the comments if you have a good one.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Word of Mouth Marketing, Blog