Google Wave Invitation - Now What?

November 30, 2009 | 2 Comments

I was anxiously waiting for a Google Wave invitation.  It took a while but I finally got one and then invited several people I talk to regularly.  They joined quickly, and now we are just stuck.

It is not Google Wave’s fault.  Here is what I see as the problem.

They want to replace email, not integrate with it.  This is a very big goal and not unthinkable.  However, it is going to be s..l..o..w.. going.

If they did not want to replace email, they could have made the tool a collaboration tool and have an easy feature that sends an email that notifies you every day of the new updates, etc.  However, because they want to replace email, they are not going to put this in - or make it easy, at least.

Here is the best illustration of what I mean.  I keep email open all day and check it constantly.  I am used to doing this, and it does not seem to be odd in any way.  I doubt it is for you either.

However, I do not keep twitter and other things open as I do not want a bunch of interruptions all day long - trust me, email is enough.

Google wave only works (for a novice user at least) if you keep it open like email.  And you are not going to invest your attention in a new, open application on your computer if you only have a few people in your contact list and they are still emailing you mostly.

For Google Wave to catch on, there have to be more engagement for new users.  Sure, if you have friends that enjoy new technology you are going to get moving faster with it, but for the casual user it is going to take a long time to migrate from the comfort of current email to the Google Wave environment.

I do think it is better than email and I would be happy to use it in place of email.  But since everyone has email and few people have Google Wave (and many of those set up accounts but do not check them regularly) then there is an adoption issue.  This might be a simple, step by step guide to fully using Google Wave after sign up.

I can see a day where email will be for light touches and people I do not know, and Google Wave becomes the place I communicate with everyone I really know.  However, until more than a couple of those people start using it - I am just looking at a group of messages I wrote and that went unanswered.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzzoodle 

Small Business Speaker

June 22, 2009 | 3 Comments

I do not think of myself as a Small Business Speaker.  But I am a Marketing Speaker that has a strong appeal to small businesses and non profits. Sometimes the market chooses what you are more than you do.

So as a small business speaker, I am presented with a variety of challenges.

  1. Small Business is too wide a category.
  2. Small Business Owners are too pay much attention online.
  3. An individual small business is unlikely to bring in a small business Internet Marketing Speaker.
  4. Many events have cut back due to economy.

So with that, I have launched a serious effort to attract more speaking opportunities via my personal marketing speaker website and I am using Buzzoodle’s lead generation engine to build visibility.

This is the first time I am really focusing on the web for speaking leads and I have high expectations, because without trying hard in the past I have done rather well.

I know a lot of speakers and small business owners read this blog, and we have already signed up 5 speakers for their own lead generation engines - so this is going to be a hot area for us.  I will update this blog on future progress.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzzoodle 

Successful Inbound Marketing Techniques

June 8, 2009 | 1 Comment

Inbound Marketing is the strategic creation of content to increase targeted visitors to an offer on the web.

It can include video, articles and any other kind of content that someone can create to help them be found and encourage people to take action.

Inbound Marketing is simple for people that have been doing Internet Marketing in the past, but can seem like a lot of voodoo to someone that has only ever had up a basic webpage.  Let me spell out how to do Inbound Marketing in a simple, step by step plan.

  1. Have a great call to action.  When someone lands on your website, they are not necessarily going to call you or buy your product.  Create a good call to action - maybe with a free give away - that will collect information and turn your visitor into a lead.  For example, I offer a free lead generation course.
  2. If you know your call to action is good, then you need to start building bridges from the big Internet world into your call to action.  This is a critical step:  Identify the problem your product solves and think about what people are searching on to create content that will rank high and attract attention.  Do keyword research to find those words that are not too difficult to get but have good traffic.
  3. Create a business blog and hire someone to do blog writing if you cannot do it.  This is going to be your inbound marketing engine that will generate a steady flow of leads for you.  Make sure your business blog software is designed for automatic seo and is 100% ROI focused.
  4. Create Content Often - The search engines love fresh, relevant content.  If you set it up and forget it, you will not be very likely to have an Inbound Marketing success.  The trick is to keep building and growing your effort, which is why business blogging is the best Inbound Marketing technique today.
  5. Know your sales funnel - Leads are just where you start.  Make sure you know how your online lead generation feeds into the sales process and do not drop the ball on leads that are coming in daily once things get going.

Find Out More: Inbound Marketing with Business Blogs

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzzoodle, Internet Marketing, Small Business 

Pittsburgh Marketing and Networking

June 8, 2009 | 1 Comment

I believe strongly in the two hour rule, which is ideal for my location.  I have many big cities within two hours driving and my goal is to build a strong network in all of those places.

Ask yourself, other than LinkedIn and Twitter - how big is your sphere of influence?

I am near Akron Ohio, which is within one hour of Cleveland, Youngstown, Canton, Alliance, Hudson and many other smaller cities.

If I extend that radius to two hours, I have an incredible number of cities:  Add Pittsburgh, Toledo, Columbus, Erie and maybe Detroit, although it is more than two hours.

The funny thing is that I enjoy and succeed at International Networking.  I know a lot of people and distance is nothing.  I also and very strong in Akron/Cleveland as person to person networking.  But obviously I am leaving a lot of opportunities on the table.

So this week, I am going to Pittsburgh to see an author I enjoy and I know his event is going to be all about meeting people and building bridges to succeed.  I am going to be gone really late, but this is my first focused effort on Pittsburgh, where I do have clients but do not have a network of people I know well.

I am writing about this here because I am not just going to an event, I am launching an effort to increase my influence, parters and resellers in the city and it should be kind of interesting.

Some questions you might ask yourself.

Do you have cities within 2 hours of you that are left untapped?

If you were to get the same results you get from networking in your city in another city as well, how would that change your business?

Do you have a lot of connections in FaceBook, Twitter and LinkedIn from a nearby city that you have never met in person?

I will update the blog on how my experiment goes, but ultimately it is not a question of how one meeting goes or does not go.  It is about making an effort to build a team of people that care in a place a little farther than usual from your home.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzzoodle 

Buzz Marketing Campaigns

May 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Over the last year, we have really taken our focus away from Buzz Marketing and turned it towards lead generation with content marketing.  Why?  Because it is very measurable.  It is a clear lead acquisition strategy that works and it has a great ROI.

But what if you want to do a Buzz Marketing Campaign?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing a buzz marketing campaign.  These types of marketing campaigns can be very effective.  The problem with trying to sell it is that people think that Buzz is the outcome.  Actually, just like content marketing, Buzz Marketing must be the way that you drive prospects into the top of your sales funnel.  And that means that before you launch a Buzz Marketing Campaign, make sure you have a great lead acquisition tool and proven sales process.

I know that buzz is way more sexy than talking about lead acquisition.

But proven results with great ROI are much better than lots of buzz and no money to show for it.

Honestly, I am just tired of all the different marketing terminology being created.  Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing, Buzz Marketing, Viral Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Attraction Marketing….

Don’t fall in love with the wrapper.  Build a sales funnel and find creative ways to help people find you and opt to become your lead because you are so nice and helpful.  The only thing hard about this is shutting out the noise and clutter and focusing on results.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzzoodle, Interesting Buzz 

Corporate Blog Software - How is it different?

April 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment

If you are a small busines you may be thinking about doing some business blogging.

Do you want a free blog, a traditional blog you host yourself or do you want to invest in corporate blogging software?

Before you even start thinking about your corporate blogging platform, you will want to consider what goals you want to accomplish with your business blog.

The mistake people make with new media tools is that they hear they should have a business blog, they should use twitter or facebook, they should - they should.

It certainly does not hurt to go set up a facebook and twitter account.  I would even suggest setting up a free blog or two, depending on your time.  However, you need to really have a strategy around these things if you are going to use them for business purposes.

And a clear goal.  By goal, I do not mean the number of followers you have.

I mean the actual amount of money you will make and how your social media strategy will funnel the right people to the right products and make income for you.

This is important.  If you are not expecting anything from it up front, why would you invest in corporate blogging software solution?  Just go with a free business blogging option.  Probably more than half your visitors will not know the difference.

But did you want to make money with your blog?

If you expect to get something out of your corporate blog you are going to need to set up a blog and use it with specific goals in mind.  Or, you can hire a professional business blogging company that will set up and host your corporate blogging software and set specific goals as well as help you measure your results.  When you approach it as a real marketing effort instead of a thing you heard you should do, the entire experience changes.

Now you start out doing keyword research and targeting customers.  Then you buy a corportate blogging solution that will build a virtual keyword blog targeting each keyword.  Then you make a clear call to action that drives targeted visitors to your corporate blog to become a sales lead for you.

Blogging is exactly like normal websites.  You can set up a free website, you can set up a basic business website with no goals, or you can spend some money and time and set up a money engine that will pump your sales funnel full of targeted sales leads.

The most importat thing is to know what you want to achieve before you begin looking at corporate blogging software and other options.

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

Pump Up Your Marketing

March 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment

My guess is as good as yours on the economy in 2009.  OK, maybe your guess is better than mine, but this is my blog, not yours.

Many businesses have cut back on marketing over the last year or more.  Many reports show that investing in marketing during an economic downturn is a great investment.  But I am not going to beat that drum - if you are short on cash you have to do what you have to do.

But if you live in the North - as I do - you know what a Spring Thaw looks like.  The day seems like Summer even though it is 38 degrees because of what you are used to.  And the water starts slowly dripping off then end of the icicles.

With some positive things in the news about the economy, it is like that first day of thaw.  There will still be more cold snaps and it is certainly not Summer yet, but good things are on the way.

Which brings me to your marketing.  If you did cut back on marketing for a while, now is the time to really think about increasing your visibility again.  As soon as people feel like the worst is over, they are going to splurge a little bit because they have been holding back for a long time.

Our new Inbound Marketing product is going so well that I have already begun to spend a little more than I was spending.  I even visited a new restaurant (new to me) because of their marketing - I’d really cut back on eating out for a while.

Sure, my new found optimism is related to a new marketing product - but that new product is the result of the economy.  We were forced to look at simplifying our offer and creating the highest value possible.

Marketing is not a situation where you want to jump in after everyone else is in there.  You want to be early and stand out in people’s minds.  Today is the optimal time to pump up your marketing.  If you are interested in online visibility, request our demo of how to make it easier for buyers to find you.

If that is not right for you, then find what is right.  Now is the time.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzzoodle, Marketing ROI 

Old School Marketing

December 29, 2008 | 4 Comments

It is popular to talk about social media, influentials and Web 2.0. But does that mean the old school marketing has stopped working?

No, it means that there are more ways to reach people and depending on your target market, you have more options that all may be less effective than in the past when there were fewer options (and more people condensed into fewer communication channels.)

Here are some old school marketing techniques that still work.

  1. Press Releases - When it used to be really read by the press, it was appropriate to call it a press release.  Now I would call it a news broadcast.  I do not believe a press release will usually find any major writers but I do think that you are going to get some good exposure and good back links to your website.  Also, if you focus on a niche or use the more expensive services you may still hit some great media outlets.
  2. Email - Way more attention seems to be given to social media than email marketing.  However, email marketing will still generate a lot more money for you.  It is an essential part of your marketing and if you bought the whole Email is Dead crap, you jumped on the wrong bandwagon.  I make most of my money from email and SEO.
  3. SEO - Search Engine Optimization is not the new hot thing, but if there is one area that is actually using social media well, it is the people that get how SEO and Social Media tie in together.  The key with SEO is that if you are in a tight target niche with little competition, you can probably pay for a one time project and reap the rewards for a long time.  If you are in an even slightly competitive market, you need someone that goes to war on your behalf every month to increase ranking and get more pages indexed.
  4. Old Websites - Do you have one of those old websites sitting around that looks like late 90’s and does date back to then?  Don’t touch it without talking to a professional!  The age of your website is very valuable and the pages should not be changed unless you have someone that can look at your ranking first.  I updated one of these old sites after some research and got fantastic results within 3 days - I am talking #1 rankings where a lot of other people were fighting for it.  These old sites have great credibility in the eyes of search engines and can be ignited by a good search engine specialist.
  5. Directories - Things like directories seem out of date, but getting listed in a good directory still gives you a valuable back-link and can generate a steady (if not huge) stream of traffic.  Some of my favorite are technorati and blogcatalog - but the older (less shiny) ones are still effective if you get into them too.
  6. Link Exchanges - These things have a bad name, and anything that automates the process I would stay away from.  However, doing an occasional link exchange with someone else in your industry will help - not hurt - your website.  If link exchanges actually hurt websites, most blogs with blog rolls would be thrown out of Google long ago since they often link to each other.  This is one of those things that still works, you just have to be smart about it.
  7. Word of Mouth - The oldest of the old school marketing is the new cool.  Finding ways to get people to talk about you are the holy grail of cutting through the clutter.  But it may just not work for you - you really have to be differentiated.

Dead Marketing - Some things are really gone

Yes, there are some marketing techniques that are really gone.  Do not do the following -

  • Pass out your audio book on 8 track tape.
  • SPAM - Does anyone fall for that now?
  • Dressing up as a gorilla and selling encyclopedias door to door - OK, this still works but don’t do it.

Most things will still work with good execution and message.  Just be realistic about how people’s attention has scattered.  You need to scatter your message where your niche market is to make sure they can find you.  But that does not mean you throw the old school marketing in the garbage.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzzoodle, Internet Marketing, Marketing ROI 

Marketing with Virtual Assistants

November 29, 2008 | 1 Comment

If you have ever tried working with virtual assistants, you know that it is hit or miss.  You have to treat it just as carefully as hiring an actual employee.  You also have to cut the relationship if your gut tells you that things are not going to your liking and you have provided clear directions and expected outcomes.

Getting a Marketing virtual assistant - a VA that has been trained in Internet Marketing will increase your odds of success.  Here are 7 tips for better web results with a Virtual Assistant.  You will not like these, because they all involve more work for you.  But get over it and get your marketing plan done in advance of hiring your Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant.

  1. Hire 2 or 3 Virtual Marketing Assistants for small projects and test which one does the best job.
  2. Either write a detailed, step by step description of how to do the tasks you want done, or provide a video that serves as a  virtual assistant training video.  There is no arguing with clearly documented directions.
  3. Set specific deadlines.  For example, do not say you want the Virtual Assistant to write 5 unique blog posts in May.  Instead, state that each Friday the Virtual Assistant needs to mail you the link and keywords targeted for that particular blog post of the week - by noon your time.  Also include a summary of how the last weeks blog post is now ranked for the keywords targeted.
  4. Keep talking to your Virtual Assistant.  Do not set them loose and forget about them.  If you want to keep them you need to make them feel like an important part of the team.
  5. Do not believe Virtual Assistant resumes - Just like job applicants, people often exaggerate skills and likely outcomes.  If the Virtual Assistant does not live up to how they sold themselves, move on quickly.
  6. Expect to get what you pay for.  More than any other position, Virtual Assistants pay rates vary from a couple of dollars and hour to several hundred dollars an hour.  If you go for a cheap virtual assistant, be ready to do more training and management.
  7. Treat exceptional Virtual Assistants like gold.  Just like any profession, you have some people that are far and away better than average and if they are motivated, making you money and exceeding your expectations, show them you care.  Send them a gift certificate, a bonus, a card, flowers - and if you are sure you are not going to need them full time, send your exceptional virtual assistant referrals.

Find exceptional Virtual Marketing Assistants.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzzoodle, Employee Advocates, Marketing ROI 

Measuring Success

November 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment

There are a lot of ways to measure success.  I have had three big successes this week, and thought I would share them to help you think about your successes.

#1: Alltop virtual assistant Blog

Our Virtual Buzz Assistant blog has been recognized as a leading virtual assistant Resource by Alltop.com.  This is a big success because it will generate much higher traffic and higher online respect, which translates into better SEO and a bigger audience.

#2: iLearning Global

Despite the fact that it is an MLM, I decided to join and promote this great product.  I joined Monday night, and by Wednesday I’d started appearing on Google in the #10 slot, 1st page, for the search iLearning Global.  I revamped an existing site that we were not doing much with.  Liquid Learning, which is our parent company.

#3: Marketing Mastery Advisory Board

Last night was the second meeting of my Akron area Marketing Mastery Advisory Board.  After the first meeting a month ago, one of the members went back after a discussion within the group on Google PPC and revised is campaigns to be profit oriented.  After only one meeting he is now saving over $1,000 per month and increasing his results.  I measure my success by how much I help other people succeed, and this was great to hear.

Did you have some big successes recently?  Go ahead and share them below.

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Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzzoodle, Small Business 

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