Your Web Presence Strategist

How to accomplish everything.

2011-02-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

Because I started back with a full time position, I haven't as much time to update my blog here at Your Web Presence Strategist. I also strongly believe in not adding more content for you to consume, unless I think it provides value.

That being said, I think this post by Chris Guillebeau provides value. You may not know who Chris is and I will leave it up to you to find it out. Thankfully his sage wisdom does not need to be supported by his expertise (of which you know nothing of). He wrote a post recently called Accomplish Everything. I encourage you to read it yourself, however I wanted to mention a few of his main points. Consider this your Executive Summary.

You don't actually accomplish everything. You accomplish what is the most important.
You have to enjoy what you do to accomplish everything you deem as important.
In order to accomplish everything you enjoy and deem as important, you still need to work at it.

There you go. Chris's article is an enjoyable and quick read. I suggest you take 2 minutes and learn something (or strongly implant something you already know).

Tribal Stages

2011-01-19T10:07:00.000-08:00

I listened to a great TED talk today by David Logan who was answering the question, "How do we create world shattering innovation?". He talked about tribes, not Seth Godin's Tribes, but actually tribal leadership and tribe stages.

He outlined 5 tribe stages:

Life Sucks - the lowest of these types of tribes. These are the culture of gangs and prisons. In this tribe, people just do bad things.
My Life Sucks - sounds like it could be worse than Life Sucks, however it's a step up. Atleast you know there is a better life out there somewhere. (I like his Boys Club example)
I'm Great ... and you're not - Here you compare your life and accomplishments to everyone else in a competitive nature. This doesn't really promote growth.
We're Great - Here the tribe gels and they see how as a group how great they are.
Life is Great - Here is where real new ideas come. His example of South Africa really encompasses the effect of Stage 5.

Now whether you agree on these stages or not, you can see how a greater focus outside of yourself can breed all sorts of creative innovation and results. And you can't remained in Stage 5 the whole time but how you can aspire to reach it. I also like David's comment about tribes can only see one stage above and below themselves. I've heard this before and have seen in in action.

When working on your own social media, keep these in mind. Within your company, aim for Stages 4 and 5 because that's where the real magic happens. However, realize you need to work your way up.

Social Media as a Means Not an End.

2010-11-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

Often companies get so focused on their Social Media channels they forget it's a tool not the goal. When Social Media usage becomes the goal, you don't have the time nor insight to make the company succeed in it's true mission.

Jonathan Fields, one of my favourite bloggers, addresses this, however I think his blog title is misleading. Instead of Twitter, the ultimate creation killer, I think it should be "Social Media as a means not an end", but that might be too poetic. :D

Twitter Starter Steps

2010-11-21T10:46:00.000-08:00

You know you want to be on Twitter. You've done your due diligence and decided it's important for your business. Now what?

Other than registration, getting started with Twitter, requires a few more steps.

Pick a username that is easy to spell and appropriate for your company.
Your bio allows 160 characters. Use it wisely. Think a combination of search friendly terms yet human friendly as well. (It has to be readable so people know what you are about).
Your profile image should look good. Don't just load up anything, think about your brand and how your background will look.
Design your background to coincide with your brand. Test it out on multiple sizes and remember the center column will float left and cover anything you have in the background. That being said, maybe it's my own pet-peeve but leaving your contact info, email, website, etc as part of your background image is just annoying. I can't click it. I can't copy and paste it. If it's important stick it in your bio.

Once you have the Twitter profile page design completed, it's time to get some peeps. This can take some time however here are some starting points for this as well:

If you know of competitors or similar business Tweeters, check out their following and followers list. Follow the same people if they look like they would provide value. Keep working your way through these lists. You might want to set an alarm so you remember to come back up for air 60 minutes later.
Use http://search.twitter.com/. Use the keywords you hope people are using to find you. Follow these people if it makes sense to.
Announce your new Twitter account on Facebook, your blog, your website, where-ever. If people don't know you have one, how will they know to find you?
Retweet anything that is of value and makes your business look good. (If you tweet something stupid it looks bad on you as well).

To make sure you are using Twitter to it's fullest potential, like knowing hash tags have nothing to do with illegal substances, check out the many online resources available.

Oh and most importantly, BEFORE you decide to follow anyone, you might want to have a few Twitter updates already live and ready. No one wants to sign up to your Twitter account with "Hello World! This is my first Twitter post! So cool!" Well no one other than your Mom.

Happy Tweeting!

To Tweet or Not To Tweet ...

2010-11-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Before you become a Twitter-er or a Tweeter, you need to think about a few things first.

Why do you want to Tweet and what do you want to get out of it.
How much time do you have available to commit to Twitter?
What value are you going to provide?
How are you going to measure your success using Twitter?

Often companies get on Twitter and they don't really know why other than they were told they need to be there. The same goes for Facebook. As with any good business decision, you need to have a plan before investing your time and money. Are you going to use Twitter as research, outreach, customer service or for promotions or company updates? Is the purpose to give your company a human touch or to provide data that makes you look like the expert you are?

Once you know why you want to use it and how you plan on using Twitter, the next obvious question should be do you have the time for it? If you don't, can you outsource your Twitter Social Media plan or keep it internal? Can you trust your brand to whomever you allocate the role to? Where will the content come from and what are the parameters for your research?

Finally, you should know how you plan to measure your Twitter success. It's not cut and dry. There are no 1 to 1 measurements at the moment. However, there are measurable aspects when using Social Media. Do your customers say they heard about you on Twitter? Are there more referring urls from your Twitter page to your website? Has the phone load in your Customer Service Call Center gone down? Is there more online chatter about your company and is it positive? These are all things that are measurable and will contribute to the value of your company.

But first ask, should you create a Twitter account? If the answer is yes, next week, I'll discuss what is required to set up Twitter for your business other than just registering your account.

Consistency is hard

2010-11-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

I went away in Sept for a vacation to Prague and Munich. I had a guest blogger prepared and ready to provide some worthy-for-you content to read while I was gone. I had full intentions of getting back into posting once I returned. Today is Nov 1 and I have nothing to show for October.

As I tell my clients who have blogs and what I *try* to put into practice myself, yes blogging is tough at times, but consistency is important. This is not only getting a post out on your regular schedule, but setting some time aside and writing for the next up coming posts.

I always have ideas when I'm not near a computer or when I am driving. Both make it difficult to write a blog at that time of inspiration. However there are ways around it. If you have an audio recorder or a smart phone that allows you to record your thoughts, use it. And don't forget to listen to it later. You may not use the exact wording, however listening to your thoughts may bring up the same passion you felt when you had the blog post idea in the first place. If you are not tech savvy, a pen and paper helps just to write down a couple ideas to spur the inspiration at a more opportune time.

The other important aspect to blogging regularly, schedule time to write something. Whether you need it or not. Whether you use it or not. Having that regularly scheduled time as part of your mindset, helps with those days when you procrastinate and put off the blog post (to then find yourself a month behind!).

So today this is my post. I hope you find it valuable. I will now take the remaining 30-45 minutes to write about other amazing ideas I've had while driving to Los Angeles or sitting on the Caltrain heading up to San Francisco.

Putting the Key in Keyword

2010-09-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

This week Tanya describes some of the best practices for SEO using keywords.

When you are developing SEO for your website, keywords are one of the keys to success. On the other hand lack of keywords, improper use or abuse of keywords will also hurt your website.

Keywords are words and phrases used in content and tags on your site. They are what define to the search engines and your customers what the page content is about.

Below is a list of SEO best practices and the ways keywords should be used on your website. The details on each of these will be covered in the following articles.
In <title> tag
In URL
Density in website copy
In anchor text
Keywords in headings (<h1>, <h2>, etc. tags)
In the beginning of a new article (copy)
In tags
In metatags
Proximity
Phrases
Secondary keywords
Keyword stemming
Synonyms

Now you may be asking yourself what are ways keyword usage could hurt your website.   Here are a couple of ways you should NOT use keywords.

1.     Diluting keywords. Using too many keywords especially ones not related to each other can actually hurt your rankings.   When the spiders come through and find too many words and those with no relationship to each other it comes across as messy and not very useful.   For example, if your site sells tennis shoes. You do not want to put in copy like “We sell red tennis shoes, blue tennis shoes, green tennis shoes….” Etc. Remember you are writing copy for a business not a Dr Seuss book!
2.     Keyword stuffing. Artificially stuffing keywords into your website to try to raise your ranking could get your website banned by the search engines!   An example of this would be repeating “dog food, dog food, dog food” in your title tag.

In the next post I discuss how the keyword SEO best practices are put to use.

Tanya Riepe SEM/SEO professional with over 7 years of experience.

Why Are Spiders A Good Thing to Have Around?

2010-09-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

More from Tanya Riepe, my SEO/SEM professional.

The first step in developing a search presence is you want to be found by search engines. This is done by what is commonly referred to as spiders. Spiders are programs which "crawl" through the code on your website, following links and picking up tags to determine what your website and it encompassing pages are about. As spiders cannot read password protected or blocked copy, images, videos etc, the text, links and tags on your website become very important. Flash websites may look cool, but if the search engine spiders can’t find what your website is about, it doesn't help you with SEO.

Search engine spiders cannot crawl every page every day. So as you make changes to your website, be patient as it will take time for the spiders to come through again. The key to keeping the spiders coming back is to update your website with fresh content often. Search engine spiders love fresh content and so do your customers!

After your website has been crawled by a spider, the information it found is indexed. Depending upon the tags, links and webpage copy the spider found, the webpage is placed in an index with keywords and phrases to describe what the webpage is about. The more information you provide for the spiders to pick up the higher your webpage and website will rank.

Once your website has been indexed it is now available to be returned by the search engine when a user runs a search query. How far up in the list of results your website shows up depends on the search string a user enters compared against website pages indexed with similar keywords. The more relevant your website is to the search, the higher up your page will appear.

A good rule of thumb is this: Search engines are used to find the best information. The more relevant information and ease of use you give to your users, the higher your ranking will be with the search engines. Follow SEO best practices and you will have a following of your own!

Do you know what a keyword is? Next post I discuss a “key” aspect of SEO.

Tanya Riepe SEM/SEO professional with over 7 years of experience.

Natural and Paid Search

2010-09-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

As a Web Presence Strategist, improving how a website is discovered is part of my consulting service. And on the web, as in the real-world, a common way to find something is to search for it. So I decided to bring in someone who really knows her search stuff. Tanya Riepe is a SEO/SEM professional who, over the next few weeks, will cover all of your SEO/SEM basics, implementations and common questions.

In working for an SEM firm, it's my job to assist clients to get customers to their website. You have probably heard of two such ways: paid search (SEM) and natural (SEO) also called organic search. While I am well versed in SEM/SEO, I understand it can be a bit confusing for some. So over the next few weeks, I'm going to give you a crash course on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for natural search and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) for paid search.

To start with we will begin by covering SEO. Before you pay to drive traffic to your website, you should use the best practices for SEO. Following the best practices gives your website a high page rank. Page rank is established by search engines depending on relevant content, links to other pages within the website to name a couple. I will help you navigate the SEO world to prevent falling into pitfalls considered black hat. We'll dig deeper in next week's blog post.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is best engaged in once you have a good page rank. Studies have shown conversions for SEM are 2/3rd greater if your site shows high in natural search (have good page ranking) as well. Paid search can be an expensive and frustrating process for those who aren’t prepared. It is understandable if you want to jump right in and start buying ads to drive traffic to your site. However, if your site doesn’t follow good SEO rules you could get end up paying a lot more! Don’t be caught with your paid search around your ankles!

Stay tuned for this series. Whether you are uninitiated or well versed in the search world I will give you information you will find useful. By the end of the series you will have the information you need to either tackle search yourself or feel more confident in engaging a firm to fit your needs.

Your questions and comments are welcome. Feel free to contact me through Linkedin. Consultations are available.

Tanya Riepe SEM/SEO professional with over 7 years of experience.

Having your privacy online, can it exist?

2010-09-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

In the golden age of Google Buzz and Facebook updates, one might think there is no chance at all in keeping some of your private life private, however that is not entirely true. And not entirely false. Just as it is with the real world, you can manage what you say about your self to other people however you can't truly monitor what other people say about you.

When it comes to keeping your privacy online, you must acknowledge there will be a certain amount of disclosure based on how public you are in the first place. Whether you are a public figure like a politician or an actor or if you just like to be out in public with friends and family, anyone with a digital camera and the ability to type can disclose your privacy for the world to see. Some people are better at managing these things than others. It takes practice, common sense, self control, monitoring and a little digital know how (and maybe some legal backing as well for those extreme cases).

1. Common Sense - If you don't want everyone to know about it, then don't tell anyone. It just takes one person or one photo to let the whole world know about a little tidbit about yourself that you didn't want then to know. Think before you post, "Do I care if my boss, husband or mother would know about this?"

2. Self Control - It's easy to get caught up in the Twitter and Facebook updates. You comment on someone's post or are so excited about sharing something new with your life (and for some people everything with their life). If you don't companies data mining your information, give them a less to work with.

3. Digital Know How - This is where you start taking some chances with your privacy. If you have bachelorette photos you want to share with the girls on Facebook, you can make the photos viewable by only them. No one else will see your photos and their comments. However if they decide to copy the photo and repost it or share it else where, first of all they really aren't your friends, but secondly the viewing is no longer private to that select group. Facebook has been criticized regarding it's handling of information and content posted to their website. However, they do provide some restrictions and settings to help set your online privacy control. Just check out the Privacy Settings under Profile. Using Lists in Facebook helps you regulate who gets access to what. I have three access lists: Full Access, Partial Access, Restricted Access. My professional contacts are on restricted. People who I met on the train or don't know that well but want to stay in contact with are on Partial. Friends and Family are on Full (well most of them). After classifying all your "Friends" on Facebook, go through your photo albums, wall posts, status update and figure you who gets access to what.

4. Monitoring - Set a Google Alert for your name. Anytime "Corinne Eckel" shows ups online, I get notified. If you use Facebook, you can get notified anytime someone tags you in a photo or writes on your wall (in case you don't want the world to know about that trip to the doctor but your buddy does). Once every 2-3 months, do a quick sweep of your accounts and make sure Facebook hasn't changed anything and that the world is as you expect it to be.

5. Practice - As with anything, it gets easier with practice. The first few times you start managing your privacy online, it will take some time, some thought and some headache. However, I promise you it does get easier. You just need to lay down the foundation (setting up lists and setting access to those lists) and you'll be set.

You honestly can't be completely private and still be online. Well, that's not entirely true. You can if you don't use your real name nor your real photo and you don't connect with any of your real friends. Which might just be the realm of some of those dating sites from what I've heard from girlfriends.

What are your thoughts?

Colbert's - Control Self Delete

2010-08-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

Working in Social Media, I often get "How can I truly moderate what is found about me on the Internet?". My answer is there is no 100% guaranteed way, however there are things you can do yourself to make sure you don't dig your own hole. I'll talk more about those details next week, however I wanted to leave you with Steven Colbert's solution for now: Control-Self-Delete.

It's easy to get lost out there - misguidance.

2010-08-20T08:00:00.001-07:00

The real benefit to this whole Social Media thing is the interaction you can get with people in various social media channels. Find the right group and you can get a wealth of information and provide a service that was currently unfulfilled. But it's easy to get lost out there.

We're so used to using the Internet to provide content and buy things. This whole interaction deal seems like an easy concept but it's harder than it looks. Often conversations are started the wrong way. It immediately goes into "sell" mode, "I believe in my service, you should use it." What about the "Hi, how are you?" and making a real connection? I get it, though. Time is money. Spending time creating new relationships online can be a risky business. You might not get anything out of the relationship. But that's the crux. You can't interact online looking for the conclusion of a sale. Mindsets need to be changed. It's easier to think this way. It's very linear and direct. But the new economy is about relationships. Listening and answering is a huge part of the relationship. Don't worry about what you'll get in the end. Just make sure you are in the right place.

Old Spice is no longer just your Grandfather's deodorant.

2010-07-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

Either Old Spice's new ads are a result of marketing genius or a clever PR stunt. Either way it will be interesting to see if they result in increased revenues for Old Spice or just changing the perception of who buys the product. Either way is a win.

If you haven't seen the ads yet, they feature Isaiah Mustafa, a football player from the NFL who hasn't left his mark playing football, but by playing the man everyone wants to be or be with in the Old Spice ads. The pure beauty of the ad does not come from Mustafa's bare chest or his deep voice (although those each add to the complete package), the beauty comes from Old Spice not taking itself so seriously. When you have a man jump from a waterfall into a hottub to have it erupt with him on a dirt bike, what does that really have to do with selling deodorant? Nothing really other than two things. The more humorous the video, the more viral it should be and thus the more people who should see the video and product. And second, the videos seem to take a jab at the beauty industry itself which often portrays impossible conclusions after using particular products.

The commercials themselves have gained plenty of ground on the internet and establishing their own viral economy. However the pattern usually peaks then dries out with sporadic resurrections as time wanes on. The genius or cleverness of this latest incarnation is the use of Social Media to continue sharing the message. Using YouTube as its voice, Old Spice has eyes on various social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Old Spice seeks out and encourages interaction and responds in kind to the public's questions and fandom. Mustafa doesn't push a product in most of these videos, he just answers fan's questions in the same eloquent yet exaggerated speech portrayed in the commercials.

I imagine it takes a bit of time to filter through all the online responses, come up with witty replies and record them in turn. However, Old Spice is immortalizing their presence and message by keeping the content current and interesting and encouraging this viral phenomenon.

I've decided. It's genius. My husband just said he might have to buy some Old Spice now.

Old Spice Facebook
Old Spice Twitter
Old Spice Website

It's not the number of friends you have

2010-06-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

I have clients who see their competitors on Facebook and get worried about their number of fans/likes compared to their own. I remind them, it's not the number of fans they have, it's how they get them and why they keep coming back.

People start following pages and groups for various reasons. Sometimes it's because they associate themselves with a cause like "Getting Betty White to Host the Academy Awards". As of today, this page has 150,526 people who like this. Most of the people who hit the Like button will rarely come back to this page but they are showing their support in getting Betty White to host the Academy Awards.

Other pages that get a high number of followers, are those making a statement. For example, "I Hate Snoring". Most people can relate to this statement whether they themselves snore, or they know of someone who does. However, the likelihood of these same people coming back to this page to stop their snoring is unlikely.

One of my clients is Sereno, The Center for Snoring Solutions. If their Facebook Page contained more than snoring related topics, they could have daily updates about sleeping, sex, beds, even the benefits of drinking water. However, daily updates isn't the goal. Neither is getting a very high number of fans. The goal is to educate the masses about a common problem, snoring, that afflicts so many lives and provide access to a service that alleviates the snoring problem. Sure, if more people follow this page, there is a great chance the message can reach a wider audience. However, if the message is diluted with inconsistent information, not many people will get it.

If you have a service to provide and you are using Facebook as another media resource, you need to also provide a use or function to keep them coming back. Be knowledgeable, educate, entertain, and provide useful information in combination with selling your services. Don't get steered away from your message. Stay focused on your expertise. Replace quantity with quality and you'll be the place to go when people need you.

From Lawyer to Judge. One client's Web Presence Strategy

2010-06-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

Vanessa Zecher was a client of mine. She was running for Santa Clara Superior Court Judge in the June 8^th elections. She has her own law firm and is successful in what she does, however she wanted to contribute more. And now she can. She won the seat and is now an elected Superior Court Judge.

Initially her website was run from a template system supported by a third party. Upon taking up her contract, I suggested she drop the third party company due to their very poor service, customization difficulty and low SEO ranking. I created a new website on GoDaddy and setup her email. Since contributions are as important as providing information on the site, I also opened a PayPal account to allow contributions to be funneled to her campaign bank account.

Next, I focused on the actual Social Media aspect of the campaign. The goal was to get Vanessa's name out to the public, obtain contributions, allow access to her as a person and provide a platform for individuals to show their support. Since she was an individual instead of an entity (like a company or organization), I opened a personal Facebook profile account for her and created a Fan Page underneath. This allowed people to search out her name, request to be her friend and join the Fan Page if they liked. Not only did Vanessa gain a following, she was able to reconnect with old friends as well as show up higher in Google Search Results when people searched for her name.

I also created Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, however these ended up being less influential in the long run.

The monthly management consisted of weekly reviews of Vanessa's online reputation. Since her law practice focused on family court and divorce proceedings, there were bound to be some negative reviews and comments about her online. We monitored them and made individual judgment call on whether to address them or not.

Other ongoing tasks included weekly campaign updates, event notifications and updating Vanessa's endorsements page as they continued to come in, which ended up being a time sensitive task. People and organizations like to see their name visible as soon as possible. Once the SmartVoter.org profile was established, all endorsements when through a 4 step process.

Update Campaign Website
Update SmartVoter.org Website
Update Facebook page to announce the endorsement(s).
Update Twitter to announce the endorsement(s).

Facebook and Twitter were not updated for each and every endorsement in order to not inundate her fans and followers.

There were plenty other tasks involved with Vanessa's Web Presence Strategy, however I won't go through them all here.

In the end the the goal was achieved and more. Running a campaign is an exhausting event, especially when staying current with your day job as well. Not only did Vanessa's name get out to the public, she also received support from friends and Facebook fans encouraging her to succeed. It won't be known to what degree her voters relied on Vanessa's web presence to help them choose her as their candidate. However, it's now accepted that not having a web presence is a serious detriment to winning an election campaign.

Congratulations Vanessa, you will make a wonderful judge.

Wow, 20 days? Really?!

2010-05-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, yes it appears I have been slacking, but the truth of the matter is I've been quite busy. I have 6 clients and 1 more prospective in the works. Between 2 websites I'm creating, 1 I'm updating, and 3 social media campaigns, I'm not left with much time to sit and think about something prolific to write.

I remember when I was interviewing prospective employees at the various companies I used to work for. I was a senior level employee which mean I was obligated with the responsibility to find other well suited individuals to work with me. One of the indicators of how busy an interviewee was, was to look at his/her website. If it was pristine and they thought it was perfect, the person obviously didn't do much work or they kept odd sleep hours. ;) Of course this wasn't the only indicator we looked at, however it was always an interesting talking point.

So that being said, I've been busy. And instead of filling my blog with aggregated news (which you can instead get from Twitter) or telling you about my personal life (which you'd know from Facebook if we're 'Friends'), I instead have saved you the time by not posting anything here for a while.

See quite intentional... but I hope to do better.

Until the next 20 days...

Let people seem them thru your story.

2010-04-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

We connect more strongly to what we relate to. And an emotional connection results usually in a stronger connection. When promoting your product, service or expertise, you usually tell a story as to why you are the best one for the job an why you excel where others fail. However, if you keep your promotion all about you, it will remain with you.

Instead, tell a story and tell it so your Prospectives can see themselves in it. If they see your problems as their problems, they will see your solutions as a possibility for them too. The more you can relate and share, the greater the chance they will come to you because you've been there and helped that. Let people seem themselves through your story and the story can become theirs as well.

Subdomain or Subfolder for your blog?

2010-03-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

Learned something new today. When it comes to SEO, you want to have your blog as a subfolder instead of a subdomain. This topic has been around for a while and there are some mixed feelings on it based on Google's recommendation at the time, but the consensus is as such: if you want your blog to count towards your SEO for your website, have it as a subfolder (www.example/blog). If you want your blog to be a some what separate entity to your website, have it as a subdomain (blog.example.com).

Subdomains don't always inherit all of the positive metrics and ranking ability of other subdomains on a given root domain. Google says they are more closely related now compared to in the past, but it's not as strong as a subfolder. We also need to keep in mind that although at times it appears like it's a Google world, there are other search engines out there that people use and we need to consider. I have clients using Yahoo and Bing as their default. If you decided to have a subdomain, you could help the SEO by doing alot of work using keywords and cross linking, but subfolders just naturally help the link juice flow more easily.

The big obvious for subfolders is subfolders appear to receive all the benefits of the subdomain they're on and content/pages behave remarkably similarly no matter what subfolder under a given subdomain they're put in. And to make life even more easier, a blog usually shares the brand across the main website and the blog. It's easier to refer to this css if it's all part of the same tree instead of having to access it directly (../css/site.css or http://www.example/css/site.css).

Although it doesn't look as sexy as a subdomain, from now on I'm recommending subfolders for my clients' blogs. Now I need to rethink recommending Google Blogspot as the blogger service. It was a no brainer when I set up subdomains but it's not possible for subfolders. I guess there is always Wordpress.

Here are some relatively recent articles I used as sources for this post:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/understanding-root-domains-subdomains-vs-subfolders-microsites
http://seoserviceprovider.com/seoblog/2010/03/15/subdomains-subdirectories-question/
http://www.hyperarts.com/blog/blog-hosting-external-subdomain-subdirectory-best-seo/
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/subdomains-and-subdirectories/

Ten Principles of Good Design

2010-03-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

Having a web presence strategy isn't only about communicating on Facebook and showing up in Google search results, its about having a website which portrays your company or organization in the way you want to be seen and heard. I came across an article about German design legend Dieter Rams in which he highlights his top ten principals in good design. He applied these mostly in the physical world, but I would say the same is true for websites. These are definitely things I like to keep in mind when designing a website and I wanted to share them with you.

Good design is innovative.
Good design makes a product useful.
Good design is aesthetic.
Good design helps us to understand a product.
Good design is unobtrusive.
Good design is honest.
Good design is long-lasting.
Good design is consequent to the last detail.
Good design is concerned with the environment.
Good design is as little design as possible.

Following my own rules...

2010-03-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

One of my rules for a blog is set time aside to write on a regular basis. Ideally twice a week so you can come up with two articles or really dig into one (especially if you are having a hard time about it). That being said, my last post was Feb 11. Today is March 3. Now in my defense, I've been busy! I've picked up a couple new clients. I'm building websites and relationships and well, I'm an engineer at heart. I like to do things and unfortunately taking the time to sit down and write something for a blog didn't qualify as doing something. But I need to change that and I will.

It's important that I write something with purpose. Something You find helpful, interesting, enlightening. I've been trying to keep the blog as a resource for You, but I've realized that a) this is hard to do especially when I'm busy with client stuff; b) a resource doesn't need to be a how to or something I need to research. A resource can be enlightening or a look into my world once in a while and see how things are going for me. Not saying you will find my world interesting all the time, you can always stop reading the post if you find you're not hooked...(are you still reading?) but you might just find something useful from my worldly interactions. For example, have you ever tried to get a Facebook Fan Page going when you don't have any friends on Facebook in the first place? If yes, tell me how it went. If no but you are interested in finding how to do that... I'll have to let you know. Until then, keep writing (and reading!)

Direct Marketing 2.0 is a subset of Social Media

2010-02-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

More than once I've been asked how using Social Media can replace advertising or make money.
There is something to be said for engagement, which I think is the true value of Social Media, but it's harder to determine ROI.
There is also the fact it's another form of marketing, or as this article points out, Direct Marketing 2.0

I think you might find this interesting.

http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/social-media-marketing-myth/

- Corinne

Tips on providing content for a blog

2010-02-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

I have clients who provide me with content for their blogs. Their first couple of submissions required some hand holding and guidance but eventually they figured it out. I always give them a couple tips to get them focused and then their expertise can flow freely. To me, being a blogger and providing content for a blog are two different things. A blogger is almost a life style choice. You live and breathe your blog and you treat it almost like a living thing. It is your sounding board, your online representation of yourself and your opinions. It is multi-dimensional. Where a blog content provider has more of a narrow focus and intention. Coming up with the content might always be the easiest, but atleast you can focus on just that. Today I'm focusing on the tips I give my clients, so they can focus on the message instead of the messenger.

To make aware an obvious point, the blog content must be of use to the readers. It should be relevant to the theme of the blog and provide some value. Get to your point, back up your opinion if you can and stay focused through out.

Try to incorporate an image, photograph or something visual. Straight up text is okay. I have read some fabulous blog posts that are all text, however they are mostly on my iPhone and via email. When viewing the post on the blog website, a visual image is nice. I think it makes it seems less intimidating.

Provide links where people can find more information if it's relevant. Make sure that link is target="_blank" so it doesn't open in the same window as your blog post. I like to click on the link and have it open in a new window for me to review after reading the post.

Good to provide a summary at the onset so people know what they are going to read. We are all busy people and not every post might be relevant to us. We appreciate it when our time is saved not wasted.

Try to always provide a value and not just your opinion. We are subjective beings so our opinion is apt to rear it's head (like even in this post) however try to provide a knowledge boost to your readers.

So in summary, my top pointers to new clients:
1. Keep it relevant.
2. Provide something useful.
3. Link to new windows.
4. Try to incorporate visual aspects.
5. Summarize early on what the post is about.
6. Don't blabber on about the same thing over and over.

Did I miss anything?

4 Myths about Social Media and Business

2010-01-26T11:45:00.000-08:00

I read a post on Mashable regarding 4 Myths About Social Media and Business. These are things I tell my new clients often. Mashable explains it nicely in the article but I wanted to give a quick summary here:
Myth #1: Small Businesses Must be on Social Media
Not everyone should be using Social Media. Do the research first. If you see a place for you, create a strategy before jumping in.

Myth #2: Set It and Forget It
You need to interact for it to work.

Myth #3: Word of Mouth Presence Isn’t There
Just because you are not being talked about, doesn't mean you shouldn't be there.

Myth #4: Social Media is Only for Broadcasting Messages
You can broadcast messages and get some value, but the real value is with interaction.

I suggest you read the whole article on Mashable. It's advice I often offer and it's great having a resource like Mashable to back it up. And thankfully, they've written the post so I don't have to. :)

Real-time Tweeting. Is it worth it?

2010-01-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

I was recently at an event where Connie Glasser was discussing communication techniques between men and women. At one point, a gentleman noted he was Tweeting during the presentation and found his followers has some feedback to the discussion. I admit, initially I thought, "Oh man I should be Tweeting about this! I'm missing an opportunity to share." This, thankfully, quickly passed. However it got me thinking about Tweeting during events in general: What are we missing when we Tweet mid-presentation and why do we feel like we need to?

Firstly, it's important to realize why we are Tweeting mid-event. I've discovered there are few answers to this question:

The "first" phenomenon. Any popular blog reader is familiar with this. In the comments section, there is always atleast one person why replies "first" and that's it. That is their claim to fame. Are you updating Twitter to be the first to comment during the presentation?
I'm here and you're not. Bragging rights to show people that you are important enough to be attending a particular event.
Feedback. You actually want feedback to be discussed during the event so you can share it, during the event.

Secondly, it's important to realize what you are losing while your brain is mid-Tweet.

Loss of introspection time. I get some of my best a-ha moments while listening to a speaker and allowing time for everything to sink in. If I'm Tweeting, I'm not thinking (atleast not as much).
Loss of real-world interaction. Conversations in the real-world are more engaging than virtually. You have body language, tone inflection and so many other cues to listen to. If you are Tweeting to the virtual, you are missing the real.
Loss of information while you weren't really listening. We all like to think we are multi-tasking demons. Some of us are, but for those of us who really aren't (and that's most of us), we are missing out when we are in our heads Tweeting out our next 140 character post.

So think twice before you start Tweeting mid-presentation again. Acknowledge the real reason why you are Tweeting and answer the question, will it matter if I Tweet about this after the presentation instead of during? If it doesn't, then stop using your fingers and start using your ears and get what you paid good money and time for. Knowledge.

Original Thought vs Knowledge Aggregation

2010-01-19T16:46:00.000-08:00

Which has more value? Blogs with original thought or blogs that focus on knowledge aggregation with commentary? While I subscribe to many blogs and get value from them, I also think about what I'm providing to my readers and how I guide my clients. Often I'm asked, "What should we be writing in our blogs?", "What do people want to hear?", "What will they find valuable?" Ultimately asking, what will keep people coming back? My conclusion relies on keeping the goal mind more than the action of producing the blog. As long as you are educating and creating dialogue, it doesn't matter which approach you take.

Original Thought

Pro: Create your own niche. Become the leader.
Pro: Possibility of creating a new thought movement.Pro: If your original thought is providing an answer to a need and if people can relate, your audience will become advocates and grow your audience for you.
Con: Initially a limited audience until you prove yourself your opinion or thoughts on the matter.
Con: Difficult to come up with posts consistently.

Knowledge Aggregation

Pro: You can rely on pre-existing material to support your ideas.
Pro: Your audience's perception becomes multi-dimensional based on your associations to the content you are reading and sharing.
Pro: Easier to do regularly.
Con: You can't just post links and redirect. You need to come up with your opinion or thoughts on the matter.
Con: Can be perceived as a non-original thinker.

Do you put more value in one approach over the other?