Why do companies need to try harder?

03 Feb 2010 | No Comments »

I had an incident with a company in the hometown today that exemplifies why I like working with internet technology as much as I do.  To be fair, I like tinkering with new tools and thinking about new ways to use products.  I don’t like having to go back and read up on tools or languages that are outdated, and working with Sunflower Broadband today reminds me why I don’t have to be a computer engineer to work online.

I am putting together a survey for a client who wishes to have an online version.  Normally this is not an issue as mot of the sites I work for use a web hosting service that has easy form creation or coding for me.  Sunflower Broadband on the other hand, needed a phone call from me to start the process of figuring out what I had to do, followed by 2 more phone calls to settle everything out in theory.  I got a link I needed, but there was absolutely no support given or follow up phone call.  At this point I am strongly advising my client to look elsewhere for his hosting needs because at the end of the day, there are companies out there who are happy to make it easier and faster.

And that should be a lesson for all online companies today.  Unless you operate in a monopolistic market, you need to be aware that the information age is not only making more products available, but the ease of use is also increasing.  Companies that fail to recognize this and work to be market leaders will eventually go the way of Studebaker.

Category(s): General News

Tag(s): , , , , ,

#8 Online Marketing Tool: PayPal

03 Feb 2010 | No Comments »

The most important thing about having a web presence that sells products is being able to collect payment.  For most small business owners, the easiest tool to use would be PayPal, although there are literally hundreds of payment processors available to business owners online.  The real reason I like PayPal is that fairly easy to setup and is quite a common tool.

For businesses looking to get involved with PayPal, the process is quite easy.  As long as you have a bank account and online access to your accounts, you should be ready to work with only about 20 minutes of work.  A company signs up with an e-mail and then associates a bank account to the account.  1-2 days later PayPal will deposit a small of money into the account, and the user will need to go back and enter the amount to confirm the account.  Once it is confirmed, all the user needs to do is setup a link for the product and put it on the website.  WordPress also has modules users can download that are made for use with PayPal.

Some web page solutions have payment processing built in for users and allow for more options, such as e-mail capture for marketing purposes.  These are useful tools as well, but for simply getting into taking payments online PayPal is the best place to start for new and small businesses.

Category(s): Top 10 Tools

Friday Fun Day!

29 Jan 2010 | No Comments »

It’s been a long week, and with several secret projects taking up more of my time than I had envisioned, I have not been able to post something new this week.

This video is not exactly new, but I think it’s one of the best at showing what power social media has in the future. For your consideration:

When you’re done watching that video, take a look at SI.com’s new video of what they would like to do with tablet pc’s down the road.  This is really cool:

As for something new this week, I stumbled upon this site http://failin.gs/ that lets people make comments on you completely anonymously.  This is something that I don’t know what to make of yet, but for all intents and purposes, it could serve as a great customer feedback engine for small businesses because it allows for people to make comments without fear of retribution.

That’s all I got today in Lawrence Kansas Web Design.  Next week I plan to finish out the top 10 online marketing tools series and start showcasing some additional products.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Category(s): Uncategorized

Friday Fun Day!

22 Jan 2010 | No Comments »

It’s Friday and I think we all know we all want to be somewhere else soon enough.

I was surfing the web today and found a cool little piece over at Mashable.  There are five French scientists who plan on participating in a unique experiment that will look at the effectiveness of posts on both Twitter and Facebook.  I think its interesting in its reach, but it should make a good point to everyone out there looking for results with social media.  Whatever you are putting out on your digital profiles need to be pertinent and usable or your relationships will be strained with your followers.

Another good post talks about the top trends for the internet in 2010.  The article talks about how live online video will make a big step forward this year and this article is still timely even though we are close to February.

And lastly, I am proud to say today that am an not a Social Media Marketing Expert.  Most of the people in this business who are working at the small business level are those who are excited to work in this highly developing and evolutionary field.  If anyone, INCLUDING ME, tells you that there is a basic plan for how to run a social media campaign works, you should thank them for their time and send them on their way.  One statistic I love to think about is how in 5 years, over half the planet’s population will be accessing the internet on a smart phone as their primary method of connecting.  The fundamental shift in communication that we are undergoing means that right now anyone trying to experiment with ways to reach and connect with their followers will  be more rewarded than those who don’t.  The other thing that it means is that there are no wrong answers right now.

We are all trying to figure out what the best plan of action is as we move forward technologically and communications wise.  It’s a new morning in our world.

Category(s): General News

Tag(s): , ,

#7 Online Marketing Tool: Flickr

20 Jan 2010 | No Comments »

I recently got turned on to this application from a buddy of mine who was really interested in taking pictures and posting them online.  It seemed a little different, but then my friends was a bit eccentric and then I left it at that.  Having taken a new look at the website though, its really obvious why this is such a great tool for small business owners.

The site is great because for all intents it is the YouTube of photo sharing, and offers users a lot of the social media components that make Facebook and YouTube so popular.  It allows for users to connect with contacts and post comments on other pictures.  Users can setup privacy settings and limit what the general public or other friends can see.  It also comes with a basic photo editing tool called Picnik that users can use to touch up photos.

The tool is useful for several reasons.  One, it can be used to set up a back link collection to help get more attention to your site in search rankings.  It allows users to setup a named unique domain where photo steams can be stored, like mine here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gthomasholland/.  It also allows for users to share content on other sites by giving them several options.

Here is a picture I uploaded and am sharing using the feature:

nibso2

So yet again the big question is how does this help a small business?  Every small business owner is an editor in their own trade journal, and images are an important part of telling stories to others.  My picture above tells me that I do enjoy being able to work on the road and online because it frees me up to take “vacations” and yet still be close to clients I am working with.  What ever the point of your picture is, business owners need to take at least one maxim to mind.

The Zen Monks of Ancient Japan believed it was worthless to interrupt silence, pure and perfect as it is, unless what you had to say was truly worthwhile.  The trick is finding out not only what to take pictures of but how to use them in a coordinated marketing campaign.

Down the road we will talk more about how we can use photos we take to help our web traffic, but right now we need to know that such options exist and are free for users.

Category(s): Top 10 Tools

Tag(s): , , , , , , ,

Mashable’s 10 Levels of Social Media Integration

19 Jan 2010 | No Comments »

I got this article forwarded to me from Ed Dale, and after reading it wanted to send it along to the blog readers.

http://mashable.com/2010/01/11/social-media-integration/

What this article talks about is how a company goes through different levels of social media usage and presence before the endeavor takes off and becomes a living thing.  The basic premise is that 2010 will be the year that social media usage finally becomes developed enough that common structure and usage patterns will emerge as what’s “right” for companies.

The article is very heavy on concepts so read it when you have a spare moment.

Category(s): General News

Tag(s): , , , , ,

#6 Online Marketing Tool: Commission Junction Account

08 Jan 2010 | No Comments »

It’s been a long couple of weeks, and with the holidays and vacations sneaking up on me, I haven’t been good at writing some more on my top ten list.  Since Christmas 2009 is now gone, I figure its time to start 2010 blog wise.

Today’s tool is one that most people would not immediately suspect as a top marketing tool for small business owners.  For a little back ground, commission junction is a website that allows users to become affiliate marketers of products through web links.  The number of vendors is quite impressive and the pay rates are considered tops for online entrepreneurs.  You can learn more about the site here: www.cj.com.

What Cj.com allows small business owners is access to a related set of products for a business that they can sell without having to worry about inventory, shipping or delivery.  The links can be used in a variety of fashions and allow for business owners to earn extra sales utilizing online channels.

So how could this help the average small business?  Our ever trusty example, Joe’s Plumbing, can go online and see several product lines that might be of interest.  A search for “drain cleaner” pulls up over 1,000 products Joe can add to his website and get commission on for each sale.  But if Joe truly wants to connect with his customers, he should add products that add a utility for his customers.  Should Joe look for “green cleaner” he would find 603 products that are environmentally friendly.  These are products that are probably not readily available in stores, but links to them on his site would help Joe out.  Customers would have a place to buy green cleaners, and Joe gets a commission and goodwill.

The real key to success with using a commission account comes from finding products that your customers would like to have or would be excited to learn about and then sending them the information in a timely manner.  The upside is that there is no inventory headaches and owners can establish another stream of revenue.

Category(s): Top 10 Tools

Tag(s): , , , , , , ,

Happy Holidays!

25 Dec 2009 | No Comments »

I just got done spending the some time with the family and I wanted to take a second and wish everyone out there a happy holidays and happy new year from us here at Dark Horse Communications.  I hope your 2010 brings you new adventures both in work and in play.

Thomas

Category(s): Uncategorized

Tag(s): , , ,

#5 Online Marketing Tool: Twitter

14 Dec 2009 | No Comments »

It’s been a long week here in Dark Horse Land, but I wanted to complete a post that will bring us halfway through my list of the top ten tools for online marketing.  This post’s subject is Twitter.

Twitter is the newest and probably most unproven of all the tools listed so far.  The company itself has acknowledged that it has not made any money yet, but it has created a genuine change in communication with its technology.  The basic idea is that it allows users to broadcast a message to the world in 140 characters or less.  Users can follow other users, and you can follow someone else.  A big difference between Twitter and Facebook is that a relationship can be one sided on Twitter while it can not be on Facebook.

On Facebook, both users must agree to a friendship and this can prevent some businesses or individuals from aggressively adding to their social network.  On Twitter users can follow as many people as they would like, but there is no guarantee that the followed will return the favor. So what makes Twitter so revolutionary?  It allows for both mass broadcast and individual communication on the same platform in real time.

Users can send direct messages, or Tweets, to users using a @ sign that is utilized much like an e-mail is.  The best example of how this works would be like a TV commercial that you could send a question to and get a response over your TV.  Another cool feature of Twitter is the hash tag functionality.  A new twist to twitter is how users are now using a # followed by a subject to tag their tweet.  This allows users of twitter to search for tweets and have results shown to them.  Bing and Google have also announced that they will start adding hash tags results to their search results.

So what should small business owners do with Twitter? At this point, it would be best to at least get your twitter domain, (twitter.com/joesplumbing, /lawrenceksplumbing, etc.) and then start listening to the tweets.  The best way to start in Twitter is to listen to your audience, build a following, and then start adding to the community once you understand it a bit, along with its needs and wants.

It’s best to keep in mind that in the relative life of the internet, Twitter is still in its infancy and creative use of what it allows is still being figured out.  Thats why for the time being its best to just get your name and start listening to your audiences.

Category(s): Top 10 Tools, Twitter

Tag(s): , , ,

#4 Online Marketing Tool: WordPress

08 Dec 2009 | No Comments »

For small businesses, the process of setting up a web site can usually go one of two ways.  The first way most businesses go is to set it up themselves to try and establish a presence.  Other businesses stay completely hands off and hire a company to design a site.  Either way can work, but in my mind (and most internet marketers minds ad well) the best compromise between the two is to use a WordPress blog.

This site itself is an example of what wordpress allows users to do.  It’s a very cost effective method because it is an open source software which means its free, and because of its popularity, there are plenty of plugins available to utilize on your site.  Designs are also available for free on the internet, or you can spend a bit of money and have one designed for your site.

What makes WordPress such a great tool though is the fact that it was built to help people using the software be more accessible to the internet and search engines.  Search engines love websites that update content regularly, and WordPress allows users to have a blog to do just that.  It also allows for additional pages to be created for content that stays more static, like contact information.

Another great part of the software is that it is very cheap to host.  I use it for several sites, and the hosting cost at GoDaddy.com is $4.99 a month.  Coupled with the fact that there are many great template designs for free online and how easy the software is to use, it really is the best option for small businesses look to start online marketing.

Much like the Facebook fan page, the easiest way to get the most out of your website is to spend some time at least once a week on your site updating your content.  There are free versions available as well, but hosting your own WordPress blog allows you to install advertising on your site and keep additional affiliate links as well.

Category(s): Top 10 Tools

Tag(s): , , , , ,

« Older Entries