danny brown

Opening Up Social Media for Local Small Business

danny@dannybrown.me (Danny Brown) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:50:04 +0000

While becoming more mainstream, social media still holds fear for many businesses, especially small local business.

Fear of time involved; fear of where to start; fear of where to be.

While this fear is understandable, it also means that many local small business owners miss out on social media and all the benefits it can offer, especially when it comes to competing with the big boys.

While I’ve written before about how expensive social media can be from a corporate campaign viewpoint, for small businesses it’s still one of the most cost-effective methods of being visible to your customers, new and existing. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube – they all offer possibilities for the small business owner.

Then there’s the real workhorse – the blog. The best marketing tool you will ever have as a small business owner, a blog can be a myriad of things:

A promotional tool.
An information hub.
A resource centre.
Your own personal social network.
A live, ever-fresh FAQ section.

In fact, the only limitation to what a blog can do for you is the limitations you put on the blog itself. And again, this is where many small business owners – especially local small business owners – bypass social media’s strengths and opportunities.

Fear comes back in. Fear of what to blog about; fear of how to target an audience; fear of how to promote a new (or existing) blog; fear of setting yourself apart when there are so many other voices around.

Apart from that fear, perhaps the biggest stumbling block is setting up the blog in the first place. If you’re not doing it yourself, where do you find a designer (and for many small business owners, one that doesn’t break your budget or rip you off). Again, this fear is only natural.

Yet help is at hand.

In the next couple of weeks, a new course will be unveiled that takes the fear out of social media and blogging for small business owners. Some of the features will include:

Using social media and your blog to market your small business.
Using online tools to benefit your brick and mortar business (or a simple home-based one).
Getting a fully-functional blog and social media tools set up from day one.
Course “mentors” that bring a vast and comprehensive set of skills to the table (oh, and me).

These are just some of the features and benefits, with more to be announced over the coming weeks. It’s a course designed specifically for small and local business owners that get social media and its benefits (like blogs), but need that extra bit of help to really start utilizing it. Best of all, it won’t cost you anywhere near $22,000 a day…

More information will be available very soon. To make sure you get the latest updates, as well as details of what’s in store and who’ll be part of the course, you can sign up for the latest news via the newsletter form below. Don’t worry, you won’t be spammed and you definitely won’t be sold to any dodgy characters!

Social media and blogging was made for small business owners. Here’s a great chance to be that business – look forward to seeing you in a few weeks.

photo credit: DBarefoot

Why the Headway Premium WordPress Theme Kicks Ass

danny@dannybrown.me (Danny Brown) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:18:12 +0000

When it comes to the Headway premium WordPress theme, there’s no question I’m incredibly biased about what it can do for bloggers.

I’ve written about it more than once on here, and I use it on the three sites I’ve created so far, with more to be shared soon. In fact, it’s the only product that I’ve fallen in love with so much that I’ve signed up as an affiliate. So yes, when it comes to premium WordPress themes, Headway stands head and shoulders above everything else (at least I think so).

Yet as much as I recommend the theme, it’s still only words (and obviously the design of this blog, the 12for12k site and Just Kickin’ It) that tell you some of the cool stuff Headway can do. Sure, I can say it’s easy to use and it really does make your life a hell of a lot easier when it comes to designing your blog/website. But words only tell half the story.

Which is why this video from David Wang is perfect. In less than ten minutes, he takes the standard Headway theme layout and transforms it into a great-looking business site. Sure, it’s just the home page and you still need to add all your other pages and posts. But as an example of just how quickly you can begin to build your blog/site, under ten minutes is pretty damn impressive! Have a look for yourself.

Now that you’ve seen how simple it is to make the Headway theme sing on WordPress, what else does it have in store for you? Currently version 1.6 is in beta, and I’ve been messing around with it behind closed doors. Some of the cool features include:

Live CSS editor. While the theme allows you to make a great website with absolutely no coding needed, it also allows you to get as down and dirty as you like with coding. The new live CSS box means you can drop CSS code in and see the changes take place right in front of your eyes – no saving and checking to see how it looks.
Skins and Templates. When Headway first hit the premium WordPress theme market, one of the things it promised was the option for skins. This is where you can upload a specially developed skin that changes the look of your blog completely (if you don’t want to design your look yourself). This is now live with Headway 1.6 and you can access them from within the dashboard or from dedicated theme stores.
Default Leaf set. Headway uses a system called Leafs, which is basically your content body and sidebars (albeit in a far cooler, interactive way). While you can use any mix of set-up for your blog, with a different sidebar on every page, Headway 1.6 allows the option of a standard leaf throughout your site. Perfect if you don’t want any extra work when designing your blog.
Automatic SEO slug clean-up. This is a great new feature that cleans up your search engine visibility by removing words like “the” and “and”, etc, that Google doesn’t really bother with. You can switch this on and off in the SEO area of Headway.

These are just some of the features that the guys behind the Headway theme will be bringing to you soon. The beta is almost ready to go live, and will be available as a free upgrade for existing users and available for purchase to new users imminently.

Watching the new features that developer Clay Griffiths puts out in each new update is almost like a game in betting on just what he won’t add in each new version – it’s that crazy how much he gives WordPress bloggers. And the support is second-to-none as well.

If you’re looking for a new premium WordPress theme, Headway delivers in spades. And as a special promotion, any purchases of the theme via this blog in March will see all affiliate earnings go to the current 12for12k charity.

So, the best premium WordPress theme around and all Headway sales going to charity – what better time to upgrade your blog? Just click on the image to the right to get your copy.

© dannybrown for danny brown, 2010. | Permalink |
Post tags: 12for12k challenge, blogging, headway wordpress theme
11 comments

Big Business Needs to Think Smaller

danny@dannybrown.me (Danny Brown) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:01:18 +0000

Here’s a question for you. If you’re in business, how do you treat your clients?

Or, to look at it another way, how do your clients treat you?

Is it with respect and shared passion for doing the same work, or is it just having a need for each other and no more?

When dealing with a client, do you meet your deadlines or do you constantly offer excuses why their project isn’t ready? Do you work closely together, listen to/make suggestions for improving and strive for excellence on the fly, or do you simply turn in the work, take the money and walk?

I ask this simply because it seems many big businesses have forgotten the art of either being a client or providing for one. From having a maze of contact information to wade through to losing the personal touch that won them the following of the customers in the first place, larger businesses are forgetting how to communicate.

So here’s an idea.

Go back to basics. Remember when you first started your business and you had time for everyone (because everyone was important)? Find that business owner again.

Ask yourself how you’re communicating and how you can improve. Are you using the online space effectively? Look at your Internet strategy and see how your brand is viewed. There’s a billion voices waiting to answer you and offer you invaluable advice and insight into making your brand the authority in your niche.

The question is, will you be listening?

photo credit: fofurasfelinas

Celebrating Mountains

danny@dannybrown.me (Danny Brown) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:31:33 +0000

How do you overcome your mountains? The challenges you face both in business and personally – are you dealing with the small mountains to overcome the big?

There’s a fairly well-known phrase that goes, “Stop making mountains out of molehills.” For anyone that’s not aware of it, it’s basically saying that there’s no need to make a big deal out of something much smaller.

Usually it’s aimed at people who make a song and dance about the smallest thing.

You know, the drama queens for whom the wrong kind of butter on movie popcorn is akin to the worst kind of insult you could make, and boy are you going to know about it.

But you know what? I say let’s make mountains out of molehills. Let’s take the small things, make them larger, and let everyone know about it. Why should anything be insignificant or too small to take notice of or worry about?

Would Bill Gates or Steve Jobs have the loyalty and gratitude of millions if they had left their ideas about consumer and business technology as molehills? Maybe instead of being two of the most influential men on the planet today they’d simply be working undiscovered at a small-town IT company.

With the ease in which people can communicate today and with the support network that is social media behind us, we can all turn our molehills into mountains.

Our small idea for a business start up? Throw it to the community and get constructive feedback and help from people who’ve been there and can guide you through the pitfalls.

That dream of making a difference in people’s lives through change and charity? Social media and the people in it can help you spread the message like never before.

When we accept that molehills are the norm and that mountains are scary obstacles to overcome that should be avoided at all costs, we lose the freedom of choice that makes us who we are. We all have greatness inside us – all we need are the tools.

Social media gives us these tools. What say you – ready to start climbing mountains?

photo credit: swamysk

© dannybrown for danny brown, 2010. | Permalink |
Post tags: climbing mountains, personal growth, social media
19 comments

Why Simple Works – Free Ebook

danny@dannybrown.me (Danny Brown) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:56:08 +0000

Sometimes, as marketers and/or business owners, we over-complicate matters and offer so many facts on ideas and products that none of them stick. Sometimes, the simplest of ideas work.

This ebook is a collection of simple ideas that may work for you (they originally appeared on my Posterous account). Enjoy.

(Either click on the image to open, or right click and “Save Link As” to download)

Little Green Men

danny@dannybrown.me (Danny Brown) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:53:21 +0000

In 1947, a businessman from Idaho named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine strange disks of light in the sky while flying above the Cascade Mountains in the US.

While his experience wasn’t the first time unexplained objects had been recorded, it was the first time that they were recognized as alien craft. The myth of the UFO was born.

In 1934, one of the most famous photographs in supernatural or unexplained history was taken by Colonel Robert Wilson in Scotland.

Showing what looked like the head and neck of a plesiosaur-type dinosaur, it brought the legend of Nessie the Loch Ness monster to the attention of the world.

What do these two stories, and more like them, have in common? Simple – the promise of something fantastic that captures the attention of millions worldwide.

While they may or may not have some grounding in fact, what can’t be denied is that they both sparked conversation, interest and tourism to their relative areas that is still fervent today.

In other words, they built interest and started a huge viral chain reaction before viral was even used. By offering a glimpse and nothing more, they let people’s imaginations take over and built an industry around what was perceived, rather than what was.

Whether you run a business or a blog, have an offline or online identity, the premise of something fantastic can often be better than the reality. The teaser of something that can be unique for everyone depending on their take is the bridge between you and your audience.

What tales of the fantastic are you using?

photo credit: Curtis Gregory Perry

An Invite to Pimp Your Blog

danny@dannybrown.me (Danny Brown) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:34:03 +0000

So this week’s been really quiet on here, due to a particularly busy project over at Maritz Canada. Now that project has at least resorted to more normal activity levels, I’ll be jumping back in here and reverting back to normal frequency.

First up will be the continuation and conclusion of the 7 Days to Turn Your Blog Into a Social Media Hub series, and this will be followed by some thoughts I’ve been having around operational social media and marketing differently. So, thanks for your patience during this recent quiet spell – really appreciate it.

But before all that, I’d like to ask you a favour – share your blog.

Leave the URL and a little info about it in the comments section (don’t worry if it doesn’t appear immediately – I use a filter for multiple links, but I will publish any filtered as soon as possible).

You kindly come here to read and maybe share a post or two with your community; now I’d like to do the same. The comments are yours to share your blog with us. And while you’re there, make sure you check out some of the blogs left there – you might just find some great new reads.

Thanks for being you, guys.

photo credit: nicora

Untapped Episode 1: Stupidity Tries

danny@dannybrown.me (Danny Brown) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:53:00 +0000

Untapped is a weekly video blog that looks at everything and anything. Not just social media; not just business; not just blogging; but more the human voices behind these and more. To receive the latest episodes, feel free to subscribe via email and get the latest video in your Inbox every week.

Stupidity Tries

7 Days to Turn Your Blog Into a Social Media Hub – Day 4: WordPress

danny@dannybrown.me (Danny Brown) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:47:51 +0000

This is the fourth part of a seven part mini-series looking at how and why to turn your blog into a social media hub. You’ll be able to find the complete series here.

So far we’ve looked at prepping the networks you’re going to be using for your hub, and what features you might want to consider. By now, you should have a pretty strong idea on what your hub is going to look like, so all we need to do now is find a home for it.

For that, the best option is setting yourself up with a self-hosted WordPress blog.

While there’s nothing wrong per se with free blogging options like Blogger or Wordpress (the .com version; self-hosted WordPress is on the .org domain), they severely limit how much interaction you have with them from a user perspective. Designs are limited as well, and add-ons aren’t supported, and to make a truly effective social media hub on your blog, you need fluidity to design.

The worst thing about free blogging options is that you’re also placing all your content into the hands of a third-party. If Blogger, WordPress or any other free blogging platforms change their Terms and Conditions, you could find yourself without a blog. With a self-hosted option, all the control lies in your hands. While there are other options like TypePad and Squarespace, I just prefer WordPress for its ease-of-use and community support.

Going Self-Hosted

Just in case you aren’t already using self-hosted WordPress, here’s a quick guide to getting set up :

Choose a domain name and a web host to host your blog. Bluehost is perfect for this, since it offers packages that set up the domain and hosting as an all-in-one package. There are several others, so Google “web host” and find the one right for you.
Once you have your account, you’ll be taken to an area called C-panel. This is simply the Admin dashboard for all the backroom stuff associated with your site. Once in there, its simply a matter of using Fantastico to set up your WordPress account, as shown by my friend John Haydon’s video.

Planting the Seeds

The reasons for using a self-hosted WordPress blog are numerous, but the main two (at least as far as a social media hub is concerned) are design and add-on flexibility. Since the hub is going to be both your home-base and outpost, you need a platform that can handle your needs – WordPress is perfect for this.

The look and feel of your hub will define how useful it is to your visitors. The less cluttered the look, the more effective the hub can be, although some folks prefer a more information-led design. This is where WordPress and a premium theme comes into play (a theme is just a pre-designed look or framework for your blog) - you can choose a template, page, sub-pages, sub-domain or any number of design options to present your hub.

There are benefits to each option:

A page holds everything in one area, although it could get cluttered.
Sub-pages allow you to set up different niche hubs (more on that tomorrow).
Sub-domains offer a completely separate hub altogether, but still tied to your blog’s main domain.
Templates allow a different look and feel from your blog design, and help give that unique hub feel.

What you choose will mostly be determined by how many resources you populate your hub with. How you populate these resources is up to you; again, the great thing with self-hosted WordPress is that the flexibility of design is limitless, thanks to plug-ins.

Social Media Plug-Ins for Your Hub

WordPress is an open-source community, which means that there is a whole community of developers making really cool applications (or plug-ins) every day. These are released to the WordPress userbase (almost always free of charge) and you can then use them on your blog to help turn it into anything you like.

Some of the best ones for a social media hub (and ones that I’ll show you examples of in the design post coming next in the series) include:

Enthropia’s Lifestream. One of the ways to show what you’re up to on different networks is Lifestreaming, and Enthropia’s plug-in for WordPress is one of the simplest. This is perfect for those that don’t want a full-on social media hub.
Twitter Tools. Offers great integration between Twitter and your blog and vice versa, including tweet archives, posts, admin options and more.
Smart YouTube. Ideal for video bloggers, this gives you a larger set of options than just video embedding – playlists, RSS feed support and iPhone compatibility being just a few.
FotoBook. While there are plug-ins and widgets to integrate your blog with Facebook, one of the coolest to do this in reverse is FotoBook. This imports all your pictures from Facebook and enhances the personal aspect of your social media hub.

These are just some plug-ins that, along with your design and the existing applications from the various social networks, will make up your social media hub. The great thing with WordPress is that, no matter what you’re looking to do via your hub, you can probably find a plug-in for it. Just go to WordPress Extend and start searching – that’s where the treasure is to shape your hub, your way.

Takeaway: Make a list of how many features you’d like on your blog. Decide if you want to go for a single page, sub-pages, sub-domain and how intensive or lite you wish your hub to be. Sketch some ideas for layout, since tomorrow we’ll look at the various options available, with examples of each to a successful hub. To make sure you receive the latest from 7 Days to Turn Your Blog Into a Social Media Hub, feel free to either subscribe by RSS feed or email subscription.

photo credit: pexatar

Why I Want to (And You Can) Help a PR Pro Out

danny@dannybrown.me (Danny Brown) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:00:32 +0000

There’s an event taking place on Friday February 19 called Help a PR Pro Out, or HAPPO. Organized by two people I’m proud to call friends, Arik Hanson and Valerie Simon, the aim of HAPPO is simple and does exactly what it says on the tin – helps a PR professional out.

Specifically, helps a PR pro out when it comes to finding a new job, or putting them in touch with an agency that may be looking. And I want to help a PR pro in Toronto find that new job that’s eluded them so far, and with your help I think we can do something really cool.

A Little Back Story

When I was first starting out in the corporate communications industry, no-one wanted to let me speak. I was the new kid on the block, the greenhorn that was good for getting coffee and licking envelopes.

If I had any ideas, I had to run them by my junior account manager, who ran it by the junior manager, who might run it by the manager (depending on their hormones for that day).

It didn’t matter how great my ideas were (and some were crap, I’ll admit, but there were some that I knew were blasting anything my “peers” came up with right out the water). It was frustrating. It was soul destroying, knowing I had more in me. I was about to give up when fate took me for a little spin.

I was at a dinner reception for one of the company’s clients, and managed to be seated next to the boss. As the night and brandy wore on, he asked me why I was so quiet at work. I said I didn’t mean to be, but I wasn’t really given the opportunity to talk. So my boss said talk now. So I did.

And kept on talking. And kept on talking.

Two hours later, I was pretty sure my boss was hammered and I had just spoken to someone for two hours to help then pass the time at a dull party, and they wouldn’t remember our conversation on the morning. I was wrong.

I was made a junior account executive and made a key part of three accounts. I had the foothold on the ladder and didn’t want to look back. All because someone that could help finally listened. So now I want to listen and help out where I can.

Help a PR Pro Out

On Friday February 19, between 11.00am and 3.00pm eastern, PR and communications professionals will be ripping up a storm online, all in the name of helping a fellow PR-ster out. Tweets, blog posts, job pitches, Twitter chats, Facebook status updates – you name it, it’ll be happening. You can follow HAPPO on Twitter or on their Facebook page, as well as get involved in the following ways:

PR job seeker. If you have a blog, write a post about why potential employers should give you a chance (telling them Danny Brown said so might work, but don’t put all your chickens in that basket!). Then tweet it out, link back to it, and have yourself on display to potentially hundreds or thousands of agencies. Use the #happo hashtag so we can retweet your information. Offer an email where agencies can contact you. (If you don’t blog, leave your details in the comments and/or email me and I’ll tweet you out).
PR agency. If you have a position open, or one coming up, follow the HAPPO hashtag conversation on Twitter. Or leave your details in the blog posts that are going up of the folks you’re interested in, or email them directly. Or contact me (or any of the HAPPO champions listed below) and let us connect you.

There’s also a cool competition on the go as well. HAPPO is looking for someone to design their official logo, so if you’re an artsy type, check out the HAPPO blog and see how you can enter.

Because I’m based near Toronto, I’m going to be looking for agencies in Toronto or the GTA to come forward with any possible positions, and help connect you to your next superstar. Feel free to email me directly for more info (just put HAPPO in the message header).

I would have missed on a fantastic career if someone hadn’t taken the time to listen. Let’s make sure that no-one else needs to. Let’s show our fellow PR pros that we’re listening, and we’re here to help.

You in?

The Happo Champions (make sure to connect with the one in your area to help connect with PR pros/agencies):

Jeremy Porter (Atlanta)
Kellye Crane (Atlanta)
Doug Haslam (Boston)
Jennifer Wilbur (Southern CA)
Gini Dietrich (Chicago)
Lauren Fernandez (Dallas/Fort Worth)
Richie Escovedo (Dallas/Fort Worth)
Justin Goldsborough (Kansas City)
Arik Hanson (Minneapolis/ St. Paul)
PR Cog (New York Metro)
Deidre Breakenridge (New York Metro)
Valerie Simon (New York Metro)
Heather Whaling (Ohio)
Adrienne Biggs (San Francisco)
Danny Brown (Toronto)
Dave Fleet (Toronto)
Mike Schaffer (Washington, DC)

photo credit: Jose Téllez