PJ and I are down in Austin for the annual SXSW Interactive conference. I’m taking a break from the insanity to charge up my phone, post this blog and get cleaned up before heading out again.

This place is nuts. I’ve never seen some many people walking around looking at their phones. Mostly iPhones. That seems to be the overwhelming flavor of choice. Apple in general is the default for this group. I’m just as guilty as the rest. So I’ve had to run back for quick re-charges a few times in the 30 odd hours I’ve been here so far.

Only 30 hours, hard to believe, and I’ve been asleep for about 6 of those. I was warned to rest up before coming. I could have done better.

Some random highlights:

Seeing Jason Fried of 37 Signals speak and sorta read from his new book “Rework” which I read on the flight done.

Hang out with my buddy Burr Settles who is presenting here on his FAWM.org project. He is also working at Carnegie Mellon on a fascinating project involving scrapping the web for contextual/localized content. They have a Google Grant to help with funding. Smart dude.

Meeting a woman who was sent by the Chickasaw Nation to learn about how they can use Social Media to connect their people.

Going to an awesome throwdown/party at The Boiling Pot put on by our friends at Kristian Andersen Associates (thanks Kristian!)

Attending numerous panels/speakers/workshops that built/expanded/challenged/educated me in many ways I could never cover now but did via my Twitter posts.  (I was disappointed that all the CMS talk at events is around Drupal with no attention to proprietary or even Microsoft solutions.)

To follow my travels and thoughts please follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/jebbanner

more soon!

So I wrote up a quick definition of Fanvertise and posted it to my Twitter account. Here it is as well:

Fanvertise- when a person or “fan” promotes third party goods or services without direct compensation.

I would consider it a sub-category of Viral Marketing but mostly I just like the word better. Viral has a nasty, sickish sound to it, right? Fanvertise sounds fun and captures what people are really doing.

So how do you get Fanvertising? It is obviously much more desirable than traditional advertising since it’s free and the other is, uh, not. It’s also cheaper than traditional PR since PR agencies can be pricey too. Both advertising and PR are often needed and are usually effective if executed correctly but they don’t have nearly the ROI of real and mostly free (not counting your time) Fanvertising.

I see Fanvertising as a 3 step process:

Fanvertising Step #1. Be awesome at what you do, you cannot suck. You have to have the happiest customers on earth or at least in your industry. In being the best you will give your customers the emotional foundation for singing your praises via every channel at their disposal.

Customer service should be treated as a marketing expense not an afterthought. Happy customers will bring you more customers. This is true in the B2B and B2C worlds.

Instead of focusing on selling your product or service, focus on making your current customers happy. They will then do the selling for you. This is the core of Fanvertising. Don’t think about new customers until you have taken care of your current ones.

Fanvertising Step #2. Be an enabler. Give them the tools to tell their stories, not your story. Your story doesn’t matter that much on its own. It only has really impact when combined with a customer’s story- “I’ve spent years looking for a good carpet cleaning service and now I’ve found it in XYZ Company, check out their website, Facebook page, etc- here. Highly recommended!”. If you don’t have easy ways for your fans to Fanvertise your company then they will most likely move on and not get around to it. Make it super easy.

Fanvertising Step #3. Say “thank you”. Don’t ignore feedback, good or bad, acknowledge it, engage in a conversation if it’s bad, spread it around if it’s good. Remember what the Bible says- “Let others praise you”, just don’t forget to say “thanks!”.

In the brave new world of Social Media there are so many opportunities for Fanvertising. Make sure you are following these three steps and Fanvertising will start growing your business.

Step 1: Write the content for the new page and forget about SEO

Write for you intended audience and don’t worry about keywords yet. You’ll address them in the next step. For now, just concentrate on writing effective page copy. Because you know your industry and your audience, more often than not, you’ll wind up using valuable keywords without even trying.

Once your page copy is complete, publish it to the site via the CMS.

Step 2: Identify target keywords that capture what the page is about.

Now you can start thinking about SEO. Review the keyword research document and identify any keywords that capture what the page is about. Often more than one keyword will capture what the page is about. In such cases it’s usually preferable to use the keyword that has greater search volume.

No keyword research document can ever be 100% complete, so there will inevitably be cases where none of the keywords in the document capture what the page is about. In these circumstances you’ll need to do a bit of on-the-spot keyword research. Google has a tool that makes this quick and easy, so it’s a good idea to do some on-the-spot keyword research, even if there are promising keywords in the keyword research document.

Here’s how to use the Google tool:

• In a web browser, go to the new page you just created (make sure you go to the page on the “front end” of the site – not the “back end” via the CMS).
• In a separate tab or new window of your web browser goto the Google AdWords Tool here: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
• Click on the radio button next to “Website content”
• From the address bar of your web browser copy the URL of the new page on your site and paste it into the Google AdWords Tool
• ·Do NOT check the box to include other pages on your site linked from this URL
• Click on the “Get keyword ideas” button.
• After the results are collected change the “Match Type” from Broad to Exact in the drop down menu.

Once you’ve identified some keyword possibilities, pick 1 keyword to be your primary keyword target. As a rule of thumb, you usually want to have the keyword with the highest search volume as your primary keyword target. However, don’t forget the user intent behind the keyword. People type in keywords because they are trying to find something. Will you page copy provide what they are looking for? If not, you may be better off targeting a keyword with lower search volume and better user-intent.

You can also indentify 1-2 keywords to be secondary keyword targets. Sometimes the secondary keywords are variations of the primary keyword. For example, [design build] and [design and build] are not the same keyword even though they might mean the same thing and have the same user intent when they’re typed into a search engine. Since [design build] has more search volume it’s the better candidate for the primary target and [design and build] would make a very good secondary target. Plural and singular of the same term are also separte keywords and should be treated in a similar manner. Secondary keyword targets can also include different terms that are related to the same idea.

Step 3: Compose a Title Tag that includes the target keywords

The Title Tag is the single most important on-site factor that influences search engine rankings. It is also becomes the clickable headline of you listing when it appears in the search engine. Use the following format to compose Title Tags that are both “clickable” and maximize the page’s ability to rank well:

Primary Keyword | Secondary Keyword | Secondary Keyword | Site Name

Since you will be limiting yourself to at most 3 keyword targets, you don’t need to worry about keyword stuffing or excessively long Title Tags. Try to keep your Title Tags less than 69 characters because Google does not display anything in the Title Tag past the 69^th character.

Step 4: Compose a Meta Description that is clickable

The Meta Description does NOT influence search engine rankings. However, it is the free “ad copy” for your page that the search engines display beneath the Title Tag on the results pages. So, you want to write a Meta Description that “sells the click” and entices people to click on your listing. The following format will usually accomplish this:

[Site/Company] is/has/does [products/services/things covered on the page]. [One or two benefits]

Try to keep your meta descriptions less than 155 characters. Google won’t display anything past the 155^th character.

Step 5: Add an H1 tag that includes the primary keyword target

The H1 tag shows up as the primary headline of the page. For your human visitors it will be seen as the headline of the page. It also is factor that the search engines use to determine rankings, so the H1 tag should include the primary keyword once. For both usability and SEO reasons you do not want to keyword stuff the H1 tag, so you do not need to worry about including secondary keywords in the H1 tag. Also, for SEO reasons do not make the H1 tag just the primary keyword. Instead you want an H1 tag that uses the primary keyword as part of a slightly longer title.

Step 6: Tweak page copy to include instances of the target keyword(s)

Review the page copy and make sure it uses the target keywords multiple times. Try to feature the keywords in the first few words (50-100, but hopefully even sooner) of the page’s text content. Don’t be overly aggressive and “keyword stuff” your page copy – it could result in an over-optimization penalty. So long as you follow this simple rule of thumb you’ll be fine: “2-3X on short pages, 4-6X on longer ones and never more than makes sense in the context of the copy.”

Step 7: Bold and Italicize the primary keyword target in the page copy

Try to use the primary keyword target at least once in bold and at least once in italics. This carries a minor amount of SEO weight and this can be skipped if it does not make sense in the context of the copy. There is no added SEO benefit from bolding or italicizing more than once, so do so only if it makes the copy more readable your audience.

Step 8: Add an image to the body with an optimized alt-tag

Find an image related to your primary keyword to add to the main body of the page. Pick an image that will appeal to your human audience because the search engines can’t see images. The search engines rely on the image file name and the piece of code called the alt-tag. Make the image filename exactly match the primary keyword target. If your keyword is more than one word long, use dashes to replace spaces in the filename. Make the alt tag exactly match the primary keyword target.

We could definitely add several more steps but if you follow these then you will be well on your way to having a website that is well optimized for search engines.

“The Death Of Print” has been predicted for the last 10 years or so. Magazines are going out of business, Newspapers are doing the same or significantly downsizing. Anyone looking at the industry has to admit the future ain’t too bright. But does that mean that print is going away? I want to make the argument that print is going to be around for a good while longer and remain one of the most popular mediums for the foreseeable future.

Why is print still a valid medium? Two words- user experience.

I consider myself to be pretty tech savvy. I have computers, an iPhone, TVs etc. But I don’t like to read online. I do it but I prefer reading print. Online reading is often not a consuming experience since the medium is by nature distractable. I start reading something and then I’m jumping around, researching something on Wikipedia, etc. I rarely finish a blog or article when reading online. But give me Sunday’s New York Times and I will end up reading 10-15 articles start to finish over the course of several days. I love the focus of print. It’s keeping my hands busy without being too heavy (hello Kindle!).

Speaking of Kindle- I don’t get it, same with iPad but at least the iPad looks better. Why are people paying hundreds of dollars so they can then pay $5-15 a book and then have to read it on that ugly thing. I have to say I was a little shocked that it wasn’t a bomb.

There are plenty of people like me, including many avowed techies. Sure I scan blogs, Twitter, CNN on a daily basis but I almost never read Fast Company, Inc. or even the Indy Star or Nuvo Newsweekly online. The Web is for scanning/consuming (like a plate of food you pick at) and print is for reading/owning.

You might think that I’m just showing my age (38) but consider the recent resurgence of vinyl records. Vinyl was all but dead 10 years ago (sound familiar?). The CD had put all but a handful of record pressing companies out of business. The only records being pressed were for DJs and some vinyl geeks over in Europe. In the early to mid 1990s you could buy used vinyl for pennies. Stores were just clearing it out. But then Napster happened and then iTunes and now the CD is a dead man walking just like vinyl was 10 years ago.

Vinyl Records are the only section of the music industry that is growing. Many of the buyers grew up with CDs and are now turning to vinyl. Why?

Same two words- user experience. A CD is mostly a transportation device- it takes music from the store to your digital devices. Sure there’s some art work there but usually not much and it’s really small compared to a record. CDs are nearly worthless at this point and we are just a few years away (if that) from their demise as the standard medium for releases. I know from talking with friends in the music business that many labels are looking at a vinyl/digital release format in the near future.

So as we embrace our digital future and all the glory that it will be, let’s not forget that we have not actually changed, we are still animals that want to touch, feel, smell and interact with our world. The screen creates a barrier between us and a full tactile experience. I predict as we move towards more content being digital there will be a quiet but growing backlash by consumers craving tactile experiences.

Print isn’t dying, it’s just resting.

Somehow we started talking about CRMs (Customer Relationship Management) and how we don’t find them very useful. We both felt a little guilty about it. Turns out we are both using the same methodology (roughly)- paper and email to manage leads and tasks.

Personally I start every week by writing all active projects on a notepad and then creating a list of “to-dos” and active leads. That pad of paper is my CRM. I look at every project everyday, I can’t avoid it like a CRM that requires me to log in, etc. I’m sure there’s great ones out there but everyone I’ve tried, and I’ve tried a few, end up not being used. Paper just works.

We both felt that technology, in this instance, actually added an unnecessary layer to our process. Kyle said something like “it’s weird cause I think of myself of a techie” to which I responded “you’re not a techie, you’re a platform agnostic, you use whatever works.”

Normally the word “agnostic” is used in the religious arena- “I don’t know if there is or isn’t a God so I’m not going to take a stand, etc.” The non-religious definition is “a person unwilling to commit to an opinion about something”. I’m using it more broadly here as “someone who has little to no platform or channel loyalty.” A little bit of a re-definition I admit but I’m not sure what other word would capture that idea.

definition time- what I mean by “channel” and “platform”
channel: medium used to reach an audience- radio, tv, internet, text, etc.
platform: operating system and corrresponding hardware that runs software often connecting via a channel. i.e. Laptops, iPhones, GPS, Satellite Radios, etc. Or, for our purposes: paper (operating system), pencil (hardware) and language (software).

What I’m seeing is a generation that doesn’t care what platform or channel they use as long as it works. And by “works” I mean it does the job effectively and they enjoy the experience. If a piece of paper works better than a computer- great! If I can hear the songs I want via Pandora then I don’t care about the new station in town. If my cell phone gets good reception at home then who cares about a land line? MySpace full of losers? Hello Facebook! All these iPhone fanatics (myself included) are just one great phone (maybe the G-Phone?) away from cancelling their AT&T contracts. We have no loyalty to AT&T, if anything our experience with their service has decreased any existing brand loyalty.

Since there is very little channel or platform loyalty it creates real challenges for brands that relied heavily, increasingly past tense, on their channels and platforms as a differentiators- think Comcast grappling with the upcoming move to Internet TV, Microsoft with the move to web software eroding their desktop market share, AT&T totally fumbling the transition from land lines to cellular towers (or the lack therefore).  As consumers rapidly jump around many companies are panicking. They aren’t scaled to do that. They aren’t agile.

So how does a company deal with all these Platform Agnostics out there messing everything up? Focus on the user experience- create a superior user experience, the “killer app” of user experiences.

Look at the business card or the post-it note. No digital technology has replaced these and I’m not seeing a near future where that happens. Same with email- an “antique” digital technology. There were high hopes for Google Wave to be “email 2.0″ and maybe that will happen but right now it looks more like “antique” email will continue to be king and only slowly integrate Wave-like elements over time. Business cards, post it notes, note pads, email- they are all “killer apps” and no-one has come close to dethroning them despite numerous attempts.

Technology isn’t going to slow down but for every new shiny object that reaches critical mass usage there will be dozens if not hundreds of others lying along the road. Users are selfish. They only care about themselves. Keep this front and center in all your efforts and you will convince some of these Platform Agnostics into believing your creed.

The Small Box offices are above Qdoba here in lovely Broad Ripple, Indianapolis. If you step out on our “deck” (aka the roof access we have at Small Box) you have a 25% of chance of being blasted by smoke from their grills. Ah….nothing like chicken grease in the morning!

Up to recently you were also likely to hear their questionable music mix softly blasting through the floorboards of our main room where I happen to sit with 3-4 other team members every weekday.

Everyday…the same songs by Tom Petty…3 Doors Down…Coldplay…The Fray….ugh. It was the bane of our existence. We mockingly sang along in falsettos and I even got a mix CD of Qdoba music for Christmas from Karl Hosttetler (very funny Karl).

(Crazy thing is we continued to routinely order from Qdoba. Hey, it’s good stuff! One visit would be to grab a burrito, another to complain about the noise. Maybe a good thing we can see them make our food!)

Keep in mind that Small Box happens to be run by a bunch of music nerds. People that pride themselves on thinking they know a thing or two about music and will probably tell you as much over drinks if you are ever so “lucky”. So this wasn’t just a pet peeve but a serious issue (at least in our snobby minds).

So, we tried to get them to turn down, repeatedly. We went down and talked to them, had the landlord call the owner, called them almost daily “I really do love Tom Petty but I just can’t hear American Girl another time…please turn it down!”. They said it was corporate policy, no dice, had to be this loud.

We even thought about moving and we really love the space. We love being in the middle of Broad Ripple. But the music was driving us crazy. People were working from home to avoid it. Something had to break.

Then it happened.

Jerry Hellmann, one of the guys that was enduring the daily onslaught of Celine Dion, posted a comment on Qdoba’s Central Indiana Facebook Page. Here’s what he posted:

“Qdoba! I have the absolute BEST Christmas gift you could give to your customers!! Please, PLEASE turn down or change that terrible VH1 classic, 10 song muzak playlist that is rumbling my floor! I work above your Broad Ripple office and I’m considering seeing a psychiatrist because of this. A man can only take so mu…ch of hootie’s “i only want to be with you” and the painfully horrible “Rockabye”…..last but not least……the office favorite…..Annie Lennox’s “no more i love you’s”. Please Qdoba, have mercy on us all. Turn down that horrible sound….our ears won’t stop bleeding. NO JOKE – Train’s “Drops of Jupiter” just started playing. GOD HELP US!!!!!!!!!!!“
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/QDOBA-Central-Indiana/189858001092?v=wall&ref=mf

The next day we had a representative from the Qdoba corporate office at our door. She was there to drop off a gift certificate for Jerry who was out at the time. PJ and I had her sit down and listen to the music wafting through the floors. We begged her, please! fix it!

…and they did. We can no longer here Qdoba’s finely tuned, demographically targeted music mix. We can actually sit quietly and think. They have put in new speakers that no longer broadcast into our room. We have been saved!

Thank you Jerry!
Thank you Facebook!
and yes, thank you Qdoba!

Looking back on 2009 I’m coming to see that it has been defined as much by the opportunities that we didn’t pursue as the ones we did. Opportunities in years past we would have gone after with gusto. Maybe some of them would have led to bigger better things but my gut says that we probably dodged a number of bullets in 2009.

Every minute of our days is being tugged- “check this out”, “I have an idea”, “have you heard about this…” There is often a sense of panic, at least I can feel it, that I’m missing out on something “big”.

and maybe I am but I’ve made a conscious decision to be ok with that. Sure, I may miss out here and there but looking back I only have a handful of regrets from the past year- “gee, I wish I’d done that” kind of moments.

So I’m slowly learning to “just say no” to opportunities that aren’t the right fit. It goes against my entrepenureal spirit but maybe that’s the trick- finding the balance between success and happiness by saying no as much as yes.

Social Media Platform Fatigue- when a social media site suffers a drop in users or activity due to the users becoming increasingly annoyed or bored with the user experience.

No platform is perfect and certainly no platform is perfect for every user. Add to that users are not a static bunch. They are learning and changing the more they “use” software and the Web. Users also increasingly expect software and websites to improve dramatically on a regular basis. This is increasingly important for daily use sites. Sites like Facebook, Google, CNN, ESPN, Twitter etc. Sites that the same users visit day in and out. 

Most of the time improving a site doesn’t mean just adding more stuff to it. Just take a look at Facebook or MySpace to see what happens when you add functionality and content to a platform without really considering how it should be organized for the user. Both platforms are increasingly messy and hard to navigate.

Platform Fatigue is seen most acutely in social media sites. Consider that only 6 years ago Friendster was the dominant online social networking site and MySpace was just beginning to rise through the ranks. Friendster-MySpace-Facebook-Twitter all in 6 years!

Maybe the problem here wasn’t so much the inevitable spam and clutter but the platform itself. Maybe users just got tired of the platform?

The challenge is that social media sites start out doing one or two things really well but they usually give into the temptation of trying to be all things everyone. MySpace was where bands went to post their music, Facebook was for college students, etc, but now both those sites have lost their defined and even narrow vision in an attempt to attract more visitors and thereby revenue. MySpace is heading south and I predict Facebook could see a similar fate in 2010 if it doesn’t fix some usability issues. Facebook is becoming really hard to navigate.

Twitter is an interesting exception to the rule so far. It has mostly resisted the temptation to expand its offerings. It has made small incremental moves, recently “lists”, but nothing dramatic. The platform is really simple to use, you can only do about 4 things on Twitter but there applications are limitless. I wonder how long before the investors start to clamour for ways to suck revenue from Twitter? That push usually leads to a chaotic rush to add features that are revenue based in some way or another.

I’m sure some users get frustrated with the limitations of Twitter but I would think some users get frustrated with the limitations of Google as well. But consider this, Google users have very little platform fatigue. They use it multiple times a day. It doesn’t try to be all things to all people. There is really only one thing you can do on Google.com for the average user- find stuff via search. Sure Google has Gmail, Docs, Wave etc but most users are just doing one thing- search. Those other apps are great next steps in the relationship but they generally don’t clutter the search experience with these other offerings. They mostly act as stand alone platforms.

Other search engines tried to expand their search offerings in an attempt to monetize their user base only to drive those same users into the arms of Google. Yahoo clutters its home page with ads and links to all kinds of junk- is it a news site? Email? Search engine? Store? All of the above?  Sure! All Google cares about is the user, they know a sustainable revenue model only happens with happy users.

So my advice to Social Media sites- focus more on the user experience and less on new features. It may be frustrating at times for some users who are craving new features but the other road leads to a feature rich site that is increasingly difficult to use. I see Facebook heading this direction and the further it goes the less I find myself stopping by to check in on my friends. Too bad since it was a nice platform, once.

The end of 2009 is upon us! What a year, a year that will be measured for many as a consistent gut-check and the impact of some very difficult financial decisions on every level. As we draw to a close, let’s examine some opportunities you might have to share any personal or company income.

Click and Give

Small Box has been fortunate enough to be a part of some really great non-profits. One goal of each of them is to make it easy to donate money through the site, please consider supporting these awesome organizations:

Second Helpings – Food Rescue in Indianapolis
Y-press – Youth Journalism
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful
College Avenue Neighborhood Development Organization – Smart Growth
Cheer Guild – Gifts for Riley Kids
4-H Foundation – Support the Mission in Indiana
Rock for Riley – Riley Children’s Charity

Buy Now

And with the Christmas shopping season upon us, more of you are shifting to online purchases. We’ve worked with several e-tailers on their web and encourage you to visit their sites.

Good Earth – Shoes, Vitamins, Beauty and more
Taste of Indiana – Indiana Gift Baskets
Kipp Toys – Wholesale Party Supplies
All Natural Lip Balm – Chop Saver
Giant Fortune Cookies – Big Cookies, Custom Fortunes
Time Factory Publishing- 2010 Wall Calendars

Planning for 2010

Maybe your business is sitting on big profits for the year and you need to spend it? If so Internet Marketing consistently provides measurable returns on your investment. If you have spent the year cutting budgets for your marketing, let’s get some positive planning for you in 2010.

Whether you are a non-profit, online retailer, or interested in ramping up your web visibility next year, you can e-mail sales@smallboxweb.com or call us at 317-254-0932.

Over the last year, Small Box has been asked to respond to dozens of  RFPs for all kinds of businesses, corporations, and non-profits. Here’s some advice for groups that are looking to solicit work from a company like Small Box via an RFP process… Don’t. Just kidding, sorta.

I suggest instead of sending out RFPs to every company you come across examine the capabilities of the companies you are considering and start conversations with them.

If you like how the conversation is going and the work they have done for others then engage with them on a limited or trial basis. This might mean research and site architecture or just general consulting to help organize the project. If they are the right fit you will know after that limited engagement. If not then walk away with the work they did and keep looking.

This gives you a real chance to find out how they work, and in the long run saves you the time and money associated with an extended RFP process and subsequent “marriage” to the chosen vendor. What if that vendor is really only great at 2 of the 5 things you need? Now you have a vendor that is stretching to do work that it shouldn’t be doing.

Instead find one team to lead and manage the project and work with them to bring in secondary vendors as needed. Rely on the lead team’s knowledge and experience to help pick these secondary vendors.

An RFP can be a useful document and a good starting point for a conversation but most of the time the scope of a Web project will change, often dramatically, once the planning and design phase begins. The Web is both a wonderful and frustrating thing. It is ridiculously flexible as a platform which creates endless possibilities.

A smart company will engage with an agency that is willing to explore the possibilities, make informed choices, put together the right team to get it done and then circle back around to evaluate those choices after they have been implemented. Too often companies, and agencies, get pulled by the “idea of the day” creating endless scope creep and headaches for all involved. The resulting site is usually a messy melting pot of half baked ideas. Explore, make decisions and stay focused. You will have a much more successful project in the end.

- PJ with contributions from Jeb