Video Blog: Is the Social Media Space a Place for Selling?

By Brody Dorland — February 17th, 2010

This topic has been debated quite a bit in the last year or two. This video outlines my thoughts regarding a specific “social sales approach” that focuses on soft selling through content development and engagement with your target buyers or key influencers.

Can’t see the video above? View it here.

I know I didn’t get to touch on everything. What did I miss? Do you disagree with this approach? I’d love your feedback…

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Posted in Social Media / Social Networking | 1 Comment »

Google Alerts: Deploy Your Own Internet Spies

By Brody Dorland — May 1st, 2008

While this free Google tool is by no means new (launched in 2004), I’m constantly surprised by how many people not only don’t use it, but have never even heard of it. Let’s take a closer look at this wonderful tool and examine how it can save you time, spark ideas and help you stay ahead of the curve (and your competition)!

By definition, Google Alerts are simply e-mail notifications that list the latest and most relevant website pages, blog posts and videos that have been found by Google’s search engine spiders related to a particular search term or topic. Note that I included “most relevant”. This is important because if Google sent you EVERYTHING they find on a particular topic, this list could get out of hand real quick. They actually only send you the most relevant website pages, blog posts or videos that make it into the coveted top 20 search results. You can also specify the frequency in which you want to receive these e-mails (one a day, once a week or once a month).

So Why Should I Use Google Alerts?

Let’s get an example started so you can wrap your brains around the benefits. Say you’re a consultant specializing in training clients in the art of underwater basket weaving. As a specialist in this niche field, you obviously want to stay on top of the latest underwater basket weaving techniques, industry happenings and competitors that may be offering new services. And don’t forget that you will want to find out if your own internet marketing efforts are paying off in the form of other websites and blogs linking to you or using your name or company as an expert reference. All this is valuable information, but just imagine how many hours you’d have to spend surfing the web to find it all?

Let’s Get an Alert Started…Step By Step:

  1. Go to http://www.google.com/alerts. 
  2. In the “Create a Google Alert” box on the right, insert your keyword in quotes, i.e. “underwater basket weaving training”. Using quotes will help ensure relevant results.
  3. Select the Type of alert (news, web, blog, video, groups or comprehensive (all)). 
  4. Select your desired e-mail frequency.
  5. Enter your e-mail address and you’re done!
  6. And repeat…Enter your next keyword phrase, i.e. your company name, your name, a competitive company name, etc.

If you select daily notifications under the category of “web”, tomorrow you will start receiving the latest website pages that are being indexed by Google for your specific keywords/phrases. If you input very specific, niche terms, you may not get much on a normal basis. But if your keyword/phrase is more generic, you may find that you are getting too much and you need to refine your alert keywords.

Valuable Intel
After setting up a few alerts, here are some ways my small business clients have used the information to monitor their industry and improve their overall marketing efforts.

  1. Keep Tabs On Your Own Internet Presence – Besides the obvious egocentric notion of this, Google Alerts are very helpful for monitoring your online reputation, backlinks (other websites that link to you) and search engine optimization efforts. For example, as you develop new content for your website, sign up for a new social networking website, or another website references an underwater basket weaving article on your website, all this content will eventually be indexed by Google. Alerts will notify you the day that it happens.
     
  2. Keep Tabs On Your Industry – Whether you want the latest news and announcements related to your industry products/services, or you’re looking for opportunities that might spark new business, Google Alerts does the work for you.
     
  3. Keep Tabs On Your Competitors – Spying on your competitors has never been easier. Creating alerts with their company name, products or services is a great way to find out what they’ve been up to. You can also find out in which forums, blogs or industry websites they are participating.
     
  4. Get New Content Ideas – Do you provide industry news on your website or blog? Google Alerts brings you timely news and industry information that might just be the creative spark that you needed to write your next article.
     
  5. Save Time Surfing – As I’ve already mentioned, Google Alerts’ e-mail notification functionality brings the most relevant content right to your inbox. No more long hours surfing the web looking for the latest happenings.

Stay Ahead of the Curve

As Ferris Bueller always said, “the world moves pretty fast…” Keeping up with your daily marketing and sales activities is hard enough, let alone trying to stay abreast of everything that is happening around you. Google Alerts is a wonderful tool that does a lot of the legwork for you and may just provide a piece of intel that lands you a big sale.

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What If Your Website Was a Real-Life Salesperson?

By Brody Dorland — March 1st, 2008

In today’s business environment, every company needs a website. And if you’re a small business with a limited budget, a low-cost solution may be tempting. But what if your website was a real-life salesperson? Would your lack of investment in them set them up for failure?

I’m forced to use this analogy more than I would like these days. While I can’t do anything about the people/companies that offer so-called high-quality website development services for dirt cheap, I can try to help small businesses understand why you need to make an appropriate investment in your 24/7 sales workhorse.

You Get What You Pay For

Developing a high-quality website from scratch takes most, if not all, of the items listed below. Completing these items is time consuming and takes a lot of creative and technical talent. So how do the cheap service providers charge so little? Simple. They don’t offer many of these services…

Website Strategy – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
Like any successful marketing initiative, proper research and planning need to be the first step. Getting website marketing experts involved early on will give you an outside perspective and help you profile your audiences, define their needs and adapt your corporate growth strategies to the web.

Content Strategy – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
Once you have a good handle on what your customers need, your content needs to feed those needs and keep them coming back for more. A content strategy helps to keep your content fresh and establish internal or external processes for ongoing content development and website promotions.

Information Architecture – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
Website users can quickly feel lost if placed within a space that is not well organized. Information architecture focuses on usability and designing an effective site organization, navigation and nomenclature, all of which are best handled by professionals.

Custom Design – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? Kind of.
Do you consider customizing a pre-designed template as “custom design”? I almost can’t wait to be contacted by a company that was told their site was “custom”, only to come across another site that looks suspiciously similar.

Website Production Standards & Compliance – Included in Low Budget Solution? Probably.
I’d bet that a large majority of the cheap service providers out there are actually programmers (not marketers), so your website will probably meet compliance and compatibility standards.

Professional Content Development – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
You can dress up an attractive salesperson in a custom tailored suit, but if his sales pitch stinks, he’s not going to convert prospects into buyers. Heck, he probably won’t even make it past the receptionist. Writing engaging copy for websites is an art and a science and getting a professional website copywriter involved is a very wise investment. 

Content Management Tools – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
Many low-cost providers don’t provide content management options because they are banking on the recurring revenue your website will provide.

Search Engine Optimization – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? Kind of.
Ask any professional search engine marketer about submitting your site to search engines and optimizing your site’s Title and Meta tags and they’ll tell you that those techniques are important. But if you ask them, “Will this get me to #1 on Google?” They’ll probably laugh at you. These few techniques are all you’re going to get out of cheap website service providers.

Website Analytics Integration – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
Since many low-cost providers are also programmers who are probably running their own servers, they will probably include some basic traffic statistics for your site. But this is only the tip of the iceberg when you integrate free tools like Google Analytics into your site that will provide so much more user behavioral analysis and conversion tracking. 

Internet Marketing – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
With so many internet marketing tools at our fingertips, developing and launching your website is only the beginning. Now it’s time to go fishing.

Conclusion

A small business need to think of their website as a salesperson. A salesperson with vast potential. When you provide that salesperson with proper training (website and content strategy), a sharp business suit (great design), an engaging sales pitch (great content) and great connections to a huge network of potential customers (SEO and internet marketing), you may be surprised at how quickly your investment is returned, and then some.

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Posted in Website Design / Development, Website Strategy | No Comments »