I get alot of questions about using social media these days – Facebook, Twitter and the like. The biggest mistake is talking about yourself, as this article describes. If you want to use social media, make it an effective part of your marketing plan. Learn, plan, apply, test and evaluate like any other marketing activity.

I’ve been reading Joan Stewart a.k.a. The Publicity Hound and her newsletter ever since she started it years ago. She offers great practical advice for small business owners seeking publicity and has grown along with the internet. Her weekly newsletter is free and the credit at the end of the article directs you to her site and blog. She is a “10″ in my book!

This is from the Nov. 24th newsletter:

1. Stop Talking About Yourself
====================================

If social media were a cocktail party, many of us would be heading
for home by 8:30.

That’s because everybody seems to be talking about themselves:

“I’m standing in line at Starbucks.”

“I’m starting my day with a hot bowl of oatmeal.”

“I just dropped my kids off at school. It’s pouring rain!”

Chris Brogan, who is arguably one of the top social media experts
in the world and whose blog has been ranked Number 1 by Advertising
Age magazine, says we should be spending 12 times as much time
talking about other people as we do about ourselves.

He spoke last week at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York City. A
10-minute snippet of his presentation at
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=L69A3&m=1fFHyyzuPTtYrK&b=rXjHm_9biQkYkibc9qCmmQ may be one of the most valuable
videos you’ll watch all year. His tips:

–If you’re not spending time using http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=L69A3&m=1fFHyyzuPTtYrK&b=DIWrIzToQ2CJjZ29Dg9vGA
or the search part of your social media application, you’re missing
one of the best opportunities that social media offers. That’s
because you can search for people who are talking about specific
topics. Following conversations is often more valuable than
following people.

–We should be listening far more than worrying about what to say.

–When we share helpful tips and information from other people,
that makes us more valuable to the people who follow us. Eighty
percent of his Twitter posts are responses to things other people
have tweeted.

–No continual “barking” (his words, not mine) about your products.

–The difference between an audience and a community is the way you
turn the chairs.

As you watch the video, notice the tweets that show up on the
screen behind him. Many of them are from audience members who are
tweeting about his presentation. They’re using the hashtag #w2e in
their tweets. That makes it easy for anyone searching for
information about the conference to find it at
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=L69A3&m=1fFHyyzuPTtYrK&b=DIWrIzToQ2CJjZ29Dg9vGA

Read more about how to use hashtags for publicity at my blog at
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=L69A3&m=1fFHyyzuPTtYrK&b=0PwgI_bFrIaM.twXKwq_KQ

and don’t forget to add your thoughts with a comment below!

Reprinted from “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week,” an ezine
featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity.
Subscribe at http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=L69A3&m=1fFHyyzuPTtYrK&b=doEjuk786e1sxsrpJjUJQA and receive by email
the handy cheat sheet “89 Reasons to Send a Press Release.”

OK, so you decided to start your blog as part of your internet marketing campaign. You’ve installed WordPress, chosen a theme and started blogging away. You are marketing online and ready to increase your profits. Good for you!

How, you want your best prospects to visit your blog on your website, look around, comment on your blog, sign up for your website newsletter and, eventually, become a customer – RIGHT? That’s alot to ask, but not unreasonable. What’s unreasonable is expecting it all to happen right away. And, it requires a systematic approach. First things first.

The BEST thing you can do to your website blog is to PING! Pinging is basically sending a signal to blog directories and other websites to let them know you’ve posted new content on your blog. Sending pings is a great way to get your website blog indexed in search engines and spread the word so that your potential customers can find your content. It’s really the fastest and easiest place to start promoting your blog, your products and services and your small business. Best part about it is that it doesn’t COST you anything to do.

However, you must do this the right way or you can end up hurting your website and blog presence in the ever-growing-and-becoming-much-more-important blogosphere.

WordPress comes with built-in ping features. However, they don’t really work that well as the default and you really need to optimize your blog ping system. The best tool you can get (and one of the few plug-ins I use here) is MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer. It’s easy to install and use and really makes a BIG difference in getting the results you want from your blog. (If you need help with this, just ask me by email or call me direct at (863) 668-1086)

Your pings can get you:

Indexed right away in search engines

Traffic coming immediately to your website

Listed in blog directories so SEEKERS can find your website

Get other blogs to find your blog and mention your posts

Get good links that add to your Google Page Rank and bump you up in the search results

How, once you’ve got it installed and activated, you’ll want to add some ping sites to your list. Here’s the first twenty I have on my list:

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/

http://api.feedster.com/ping

http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2

http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping

http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2

http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php

http://www.blogsnow.com/ping

http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

http://coreblog.org/ping/

http://ping.blo.gs/

http://ping.feedburner.com

http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://topicexchange.com/RPC2

http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/

http://api.moreover.com/ping

Getting your BEST customers to visit your website and Buy your products and services is the goal of an internet marketing campaign. Your Lakeland business can use more customers, right? So what are you waiting for? This is your invitation to maximize your blog by using ping optimizer. It’s easy, fast and no cost other than a few minutes of your precious time. It’s definitely worth your investment!

This is a great start. You can discover more by searching the web or you can just email me and ASK for a list of more ping sites I use. I add new ones all the time and am glad to share them with you!

New Feature Article on Lakeland Internet Marketing

Search Engine Marketing Helps Generate Traffic

By Jack Duncan, Internet Marketing Consultant, Radiance Road Marketing, Lakeland, FL

If you website is not getting the results you want, there are reasons. Internet marketing is no great mystery. The biggest reason your website is not generating leads is because your prospective customers aren’t seeing your site listing when they use search engines.

Are the Major Search Engines Indexing Your Web Site?

This is easy to check. Simply go to Google, Yahoo or Bing! and search. Start your search with your company name and see if your site pops up. Try putting your company name in quotes (for example, “Radiance Road Marketing”). This would eliminate all the chaff, such as listings where the terms ‘radiance’, ‘road’ and ‘marketing’ might turn up out of context. You can also add your location by… continue reading

Read More Marketing Articles at: http://www.radianceroadmarketing.com/articles.html

I really enjoyed my first Lakeland Chamber of Commerce Business & Breakfast at 7:30am this morning at Lakeland Habitat for Humanity 1317 George Jenkins Blvd.

OK, 7:30 in the am is a bit early for me to be out and about (unless I’m going to Disney World!), but this IS businees & BREAKFAST. Chamber staffers Amy Wiggins (membership account exec) and Christine Murphy (admin. asst) cheerily greeted me at the door and pointed me toweard the coffee <thank you>. There were about 40  of the other local shakers and movers grabbing some yogurt, bagels, sausage biscuits and the like while doing the morning networking thing.

I met local Realtor Janet Shearer (read her Polk County Real Estate blog here) and we talked for awhile. She just got her first internet marketing lead! It’s thrilling to meet sharp local entrepreneurs getting results from marketing online Keep up the good work, Janet!

The chambers’ Champions mentor newbie members like me and I got to visit with one of ‘em, Wade Altman, business support specialist with Superior Business Technologies. They sell and service computer systems, networks, telephone systems and security system for small businesses like mine. Good to know!

Claire Twomey, Executive Director of Lakeland Habitat for Humanity [contact her at (863) 682-3812], told us all about what the organization has done for low-income families here in the area. Did you know that the families have to work to help other families build homes FIRST? They also have to make a down-payment and get a loan, but Habitat makes it affordable for them to have a home. Claire said that they have helped 100 families so far here in Lakeland.

Our Lakeland Habitat is now offering more volunteer opportunities for churches and civic groups to get involved with their new A Brush with Kindness program. It’s a locally-operated program, Claire said,  serving low-income homeowners who struggle to maintain the exterior of their homes. Certainly, many of our local seniors and challenged citizens need this sort of assistance and it helps the entire community!

Unlike so many bailout and entitlement programs today, Habitat for Humanity helps people to help themselves. The organization has to buy land, materials and pay building contractors (like plumbers and electricians). And, they keep their administrative costs around 3% so donations mainly go to the actual program services in the community. If you are looking to get involved in improving our community, I would recommend that you check them out!

Claudia Tritton, business development director for the Lakeland Economic Development Council gave a stimulating presentation on how they are continuing to help the area grow by adding significant new businesses, keeping companies here  and helping existing businesses expand.  Some of their recent successes include WellDyneRx, Firmenich, Pepperidge Farm, Saddle Creek and GTECH Printing. Her excitement is contagious! Claudia reinforced the reasons I moved here and have made a commitment to grow my internet marketing consultant business here in Lakeland.

After the presentations, we were escorted out (Disney-style) through the “gift shop”.  The ReStore is Habitat’s thrift shop for building materials, furniture and the like. Yes, they even have the kitchen sink! And lighting fixtures, windows, doors, tile… WOW! I didn’t know this existed here. It’s a great place to shop for your next home improvement project and the money goes to a great cause, too!

I was really impressed by the business & breakfast event. I got to connect with some local business people. I learned more about our wonderful community – how we are helping each other and growing together. And, breakfast! All for only five bucks as a Lakeland Chamber of Commerce member…

Maybe you should call Amy at 688-8551 ext. 229 to find out how the chamber fits into your marketing plan. I’m really pleased how it’s working for me already! Tell her Jack Duncan sent ya…

If you have comments or a story to share about the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce, Habitat for Humanity or how we are growing as a community, please post it here [or you can call me at (863) 668-1086 anytime....].

Have a great day today!

Or FIVE MYTHS About Marketing Online

Lakeland businesses, like small businesses in towns all across the globe today, want to grow and make more money. As a small business owner, the internet provides a great opportunity to get your marketing message to your target market. However, there are some misconceptions about marketing online that may be keeping you from getting the results you want.

1. Build Your Website & They Will Come. If you’ve setup a website expecting visitors to flock to it just because it’s there, you’re probably disappointed in the results. You may have paid a website design company to build a site for you and it looks great. But how do people find it? Are you indexed in the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft’s new BING? Why should they come? These are the major questions facing any small business owner here in Lakeland who wants to generate leads on the web.
2. A Web Site is An Online Brochure. Many owners simply put up a list of what they do and expect a visitor to be impressed. Many Lakeland plumbers, for instance, say that they fix a leak in a faucet or do toilet repair or install septic tanks. But WHY should they choose YOU over every plumber in Polk County that does the dame thing? What makes your plumbing company different? How do you benefit the customers more than any other plumber?
3. If I Submit To Search Engines, Customers Will Find My Business. Getting found by the three major search engines is important. However, it’s where you rank that makes a difference. If you aren’t in the top ten results for the term “Lakeland plumbing company,” prospects won’t be visiting your site. As a matter of fact, you are more likely to get customers if you are one of the top three sites (among other things). Search Engine Marketing is a complex process that requires more than indexing.
4. The Secret to Getting Customers Online Is…. There’s no secret. There is a PROCESS. It’s not easy and it’s not simple and it’s not over-night. Like anything else worthwhile, it takes time and effort and a proven method. First of all, it’s really like any other form of marketing. It requires a marketing plan. You have to use the basics of marketing and apply them first, then add the internet marketing techniques that work. There are a thousand books on internet marketing and all the good ones say the same things as the marketing textbooks: target your market, create a powerful marketing message, deliver the message to your prospects and motivate them to take action. It doesn’t matter if you are a plumber or plastic surgeon or a dentist or an air conditioning repair company – it works the same way. There is no magic software to get you to the top and keep you there.
5. Once You Set It – You Can Forget It. OK, internet marketing is not the Ronco Showtime Rotisserie, but you use the same basic techniques as Ron Popeil to market your business. Did Ronco make one commercial and play it once? Hardly. It takes an ongoing effort. Repetition works in marketing. Think of all the hugely successful marketing campaigns. They repeat the same message over different channels consistently over time. Marketing research shows that your customer, on average, needs to hear your message at least seven times for it to even make an impression. The internet, especially, is competitive. You can be at the top of Google one day and not there at all the next.

Don’t get fooled by companies that promise you a magic bullet to make your internet marketing successful. Many companies waste their time and resources by not having a solid internet marketing plan. They fall prey to gimmicks and scams and get-rich-quick schemes. If you don’t know how to market online, get some reliable information and maybe some help from a professional internet marketing company you can trust. Avoid the outrageous claims – like guarantees to get you to the top of Google. The only guarantee is that if you do the right things in marketing, the right way, consistently, you will become a competitor in the online marketplace.

Lakeland Internet Marketing Read More Marketing Articles

It’s time to take a step backward and gain perspective on this whole “business” idea.

I examine several companies in Lakeland every day to evaluate their position in our economic community. Some are wildly successful in their field and very profitable. Some are struggling. And some have recently gone out of business. As a resident of Lakeland and a small business owner myself, I depend on the success of our community in order to survive and thrive personally and professionally. As a matter of fact, it’s Polk County and the State of Florida, too.

Cypress Gardens just went out of business. Closed. No more visitors. No tourists to spend their money along Cypress Gardens Boulevard shops and restaurants. More jobs gone. More county and state taxes gone. The Butterfly effect will ripple through Winter Haven to Auburndale to Lake Wales to Bartow to Lakeland and beyond.

The problem with Cypress Gardens, as with so many businesses here, is perspective. What is important to YOUR business? Go ahead – make a list. I’ll wait.

Ask most business owners this fundamental question and you’ll usually get these responses: location, product or service, management, cash-flow, traffic, the economy, employees, customer satisfaction, overhead, pricing and market share. Sure, all those things are important to achieving business success. There is a crucial factor that most of us don’t really consider and it may be the MOST basic and important reason business succeed or fail: communication.

A basic college degree generally requires a communication class and I have taught many, many classes. I always start off with a simple definition of the communication process.

Communication requires a sender to form a message and deliver it through a channel to a receiver who must provide a response. Think about it. Does any business get done unless that happens? You can’t get a location or employees or a bank account or a loan or customers or market share or profits without communication. It doesn’t matter if you are a plumber or air conditioning company or a dentist or an attorney or Wal-Mart. How and what and when and to whom you communicate will determine your business success on a very basic level. What is important to your business?

Your business depends on your ability to send the right message to the right audience at the right time in the right way to get them to take the action you want. Who is going to be more successful in business: an owner who communicates well or one who does not? How well you communicate is going to determine your sales and your profits (or losses). If you’re not satisfied with your profits (I’m not), then maybe you need to take a look at that.

Easy question: What is the fastest growing means of communication in human history? You’re right – the internet. How important is THAT to your business? Is your competition taking advantage of internet marketing? Are YOU? Are you getting the response you want from your website? What can you do today to communicate better to improve your business?

I’d be glad to take a look at your website and offer three ideas for improvement at no charge. No strings. The only condition is that your business has to be headquartered in Polk County. Email me at info@radianceroadmarketing.com or call me right now at (863) 668-1086. You may not qualify to be a client, since I only work with a few, select companies, but your business is important to all of us here in Lakeland. I want to help you to succeed.

Lakeland Internet Marketing

When people are ready to buy something or need a service, like a

plumber, they will generally use a search engine like Google, Yahoo or

Bing to find a company in their local area. Unless your company shows

up in the first page of the results for your industry and city (such as

“Lakeland plumbing” or “air conditioning repair Lakeland”), they don’t

find your website – they find your competition. To land in the top

results, you need to optimize your site for the search engines.

Two types of SEO

The two types of optimization techniques are onsite and off-site. By

on-site optimizing, we mean that your web page has the proper elements

that the engines are seeking to rank you high on the results list. This

involves marketing research to choose certain keywords (like your

industry and city). Then, you make sure that they are included in your

page title, description, tags and page content. Off-site SEO involves

getting links to your website from other web pages. The better the rank

of the referring page, the more weight it carries with the major search

engine. Google, the largest and most-used search engine, relies heavily

on referal page rank.

The Problems with Optimizing Your Website

The first major challenge is knowing what to do with each type of SEO.

On-site optimization requires research, such as using Google Keyword

Tools to find the search terms your clients use and selecting the ones

to prioritize to give you the fastest results. Once you have the

keywords, you must know how to use them in your meta tags, page

description and content. Even search engine experts differ on the proper

formula to use for this aspect. Offsite optimizing requires getting

links on other websites. Where do you want your links? This requires

more careful research because you want “good links” and avoid “bad

links”. And then there’s the question of why the other site would want

to post your link. You can see that the SEO portion of internet

marketing is complicated and this is just pointing out the tip of the

iceberg!

The second major problem, in addition to having the expertise, is the

incredible amount of time it takes to get your page ranked. The effort,

once you have done solid marketing research, to perform the individual

tasks is more than most local business owners can afford to spend

themselves. It’s really a big job that takes many hours of tedious

effort. Small business owners don’t have their own internet marketing

department to handle this. It costs alot of money to have a staff to

handle your marketing.

The Rise of the Search Marketing Company

Because of the expertise and time involved and because the rewards of

effective internet marketing are HUGE, most businesses need a

specialized professional to do their search engine marketing for them.

SEO firms are popping up everywhere. Some companies guarantee to get

you on the first page of Google. Beware of them. They don’t CONTROL the

search engines. Some sell software programs that promise to automate

the process. The right programs can help and experts use them to save

time, but it just isn’t that easy. It still requires knowledge, skill,

ability and time.

What’s the answer?

The best choice for your business depends on your particular situation.

First, get some good advice from an experienced professional in your

local market. Choose someone who is willing to take a look at your

company in-depth and can focus on you. At Radiance Road Marketing, we

provide personalized attention because each situation is different. Not

all companies will profit from online marketing. That’s one reason why

we only work with a few, select local businesses. You want a local

expert that focuses on local companies and asks lots of questions about

your business and customers. Make sure that they have a marketing

background and some solid marketing experience, not a newbie or

career-changer. Most of all, you need someone you can trust. Remember,

if it sounds too good to be true – if it’s not reasonable – forget it.

Good SEO delivers Profits

Search engine optimizing helps drive qualified traffic to your website.

Once they find your website, you need to move them through the sales

process. To get the sale, you not only have to get their attention and

get them to listen to your marketing message, you have to get them to

take action. SEO is one very important part of the online marketing

model. If you can get your best prospects to visit your website, you

still have to get them to buy your products or services.

Does Internet Marketing work for your business?

Looking around the wild world web, I see countless stories about internet marketing. Most give generalities about how cost-effective it is and that you need to be doing it. Some, especially in the trade magazines online, give actual success stories of positive results from online marketing efforts.

I recently was doing some research on the remodeling industry and the effects of internet marketing to write an article. Two stories caught my attention in Remodeling magazine. One talked about how a construction company doubled the number of leads from its website over the last year and how marketing online is more cost-effective than traditional methods. The other company invested $12,000 and is now getting more business from its website than from past customers or referrals (their former leading sources).

These successes don’t happen overnight or without a focused effort and a willingness to invest. Certainly more companies are taking advantage of new technologies today and reaping the rewards. Some of them, like the ones above, have taken advantage of the current situation to GROW.

Lakeland businesses are my concern. As you know, a lot of local companies are struggling right now. They are laying off employees because of a lack of work. Undoubtedly, there is less work because of the economy. However, it also means that you have to get aggressive in your marketing to get the work that’s out there. Unemployment is bad for all of us here in Lakeland. It affects every business, consumer and organization in Polk County and throughout Florida. What can we do?

Working smarter has always been the answer. It was in the last challenging economy and it will help us now. However, the technology continues to change and the shift has left many local companies at a huge disadvantage. Today, more consumers rely on the internet for information. Has your website changed? Can your prospects FIND you online? Are you using social media? What about email newsletters? What are you doing to gain a competitive advantage online?

I’d really like to hear from some local businesses and the projects that are working – or not working – for YOU. You can reply here or give me a call at 863 668-1086.

You can also read my article mentioned above Internet Marketing Creates Opportunity for Lakeland Businesses

Thanks,

Jack Duncan

Radiance Road Marketing

Lakeland Internet Marketing

Many small business owners in Lakeland (or Anytown, USA) ask: Why blog? As an internet marketing expert that lives and works in Polk County, FL, I ask: Why NOT blog? There are certainly many more reasons for me to create and maintain a blog than there are NOT to be an active blogger for my own company.

Here are my thoughts, as I am starting to write this blog for Radiance Road Marketing today…

Why NOT create a blog?

The first reason to avoid the whole web-log thing is that I am lazy. Some days, it’s all I can do to get up and put on pants. That’s part of the reason that I started to work in marketing, advertising and public relations.  We marketing guys have days that we don’t have to get dressed. Or go anywhere. We can work from home. With the growth of the internet, more and more business owners are not getting up, putting on pants (or panty-hose) and traveling the morning rush-hour to earn a living.

OK, I am not actually lazy – I like to work. I just like make working as easy as possible. For me, internet marketing consulting is the easiest way for me to earn money doing something I enjoy. I get to stay at my home here in South Lakeland (actually between Highlands City and Bartow), get on the internet (which I do anyway) and have an opportunity to apply my knowledge, skills and abilities marketing online.

Second, the whole thing seems complicated. I mean, do I really want to learn more tech-stuff? No. Back in the late ‘80s, I saw a fellow student in college creating a newspaper column on an Apple MacIntosh. I was amazed. I remember learning to use that funny mouse-thing by watching him and then trying it myself. Not hard at all. I learned basic electronic publishing that year as managing editor of The Springhillian. I was hooked. The next year, in graduate school, I took Electronic Publishing as one of my first courses. I was amazed at how far we had come from Gutenburg and the printing press and how we were transforming the power of the people to communicate. I even bought my first Mac, toted it around in a backpack and started my first marketing consulting firm.

Later, the internet came along and I worked for Matrix Information Systems where I learned more than I ever dreamed possible about the world wide web, computers and software. I published a website and maintained it for the first time. When I went back to consulting, I had my first internet connection at home and used it to communicate with clients and my internet mentors. Finally, two years after moving to Lakeland, I learned how to create a blog. After all, I am an internet marketing consultant now. It was simple. I read for a few days abut blogging (cause I have to know A LOT about something – the whys and hows – before I try to do it myself.

Really too easy.

In about fifteen minutes, I had downloaded and installed WordPress on my website. Another half-hour to install some plug-ins. Another ten minutes to edit a blog post and make sure the thing worked. Today, I’m a blogger! For me, it took twenty years and an hour and a half to get here. Only the hour and a half were really billable hours. If you haven’t tried creating a blog yet, WHY NOT? Lemme know….

NEXT TIME: Blogging for profit!