posted by Anna Fleet on June 30th, 2010
If you asked Curtis Kimball, the owner of a very successful mobile crème brulèe cart, why business was booming, he’d give kudos to Twitter!
But it wasn’t always that way. Curtis had to be convinced of Twitter’s word-of-mouth marketing prowess. And he was. Just three short weeks after he started his part-time business, he noticed a new face in his line up. When he asked the stranger how he’d heard about it his cart, he was told, “Twitter”!
Curtis was convinced. Since then, he’s quit his day job as a carpenter and uses Twitter multiple times a day to post his current location to over 5,400 followers.
So what should your small business with no marketing budget or your large business with budgetary restrictions take from Kimball’s story?
1. Twitter is a free social maketing service
2. It can provide the sole means for marketing
3. Twitter is easy and quick to update—more so than a webpage or blog
4. It’s ideal for promoting mobile businesses
5. It urges people to spread news to their own social networks through retweets, etc.
6. It shares news nationally or locally—depending on your business goals
7. It lets you ask questions and share advice with other business owners
8. You can talk directly to your customers
Read the full story about how Curtis Kimball and other small businesses owners are using the power of Twitter for word of mouth marketing.
Tags: social networking tips, twitter advantages, twitter tips for small businesses, web marketing for small business
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posted by Anna Fleet on June 24th, 2010
Yesterday we took a good look at the age-old blog question—does blogging frequency or the quality of posts matter more? And the Google experts at Google Webmaster Central weighed in.
I thought it was all said and done. However, this morning, I found A Simple Blogging Formula c/o Chris Brogan, the owner of New Marketing Labs and chrisbrogan.com.
Now Chris is someone who blogs daily and pretty successful (I might add)—he draws approximately 50K readers who subscribe to his RSS blog feed daily. Chris favors the side of blog post frequency over quality posts, but as a side note he does claims that he thinks of way more valuable and relevant ideas to write about than he has time for…which should be the case if you’re passionate about your blog focus or have expertise in the field or industry you’re promoting!
So Chris Brogan’s formula for blogging is definitely worth checking out if you’re considering starting a blog for your small business or non-profit.
Tags: blog formula, blog strategy, blogging tips, chris brogan, Google blog tips, social media strategy, social networking tips, web marketing tips
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posted by Anna Fleet on June 23rd, 2010
I go to the experts when it comes to the question “How much does blog post frequency play into a high SEO page rank?”
In SEO circles this is an age-old dilemma. Does one put quality content ahead of frequent blog post updates? Does quality posts or frequent posts matter more?
Well Google Webmaster Central has this to say…I told you I was bringing in the big guns)…
We know that Google loves quality content. So useful, unique posts will always attract search engines to your blog.
But…
For organic visitors (e.g., people visiting your site on their own) posting frequency is a vital component. Would you continue to show up to a blog if there were no new post in the last month? No, you’d probably assume the user has abandoned it. Posting frequently is a great tactic if you want to engage lot of users.
So I think we can agree that a balance is valuable in this case—of course, depending on your blog goals. For full details, check out the whole YouTube video from Google Webmaster Central video.
Tags: creating SEO rich blog posts, frequency of blog posts, Google blog tips, Google page rank, SEO tips from Google, social networking tips, web 2.0
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posted by Anna Fleet on June 22nd, 2010
Can you engage your non-profit or small business customers in 140 characters or less?
Twitter can be a challenge to learn and navigate for newbies, but this free online forum has almost 100 million users—which equates to massive marketing and social networking potential for your small business or non-profit agency. So if you’re not taking advantage of Twitter already—you best be Tweeting soon!
To help guide you through the “tweets”, “retweets” and so on, Kermit Pattison from The New York Times recently introduced his small business tips for using Twitter, plus he offers 11 prime examples of large-middle-and small businesses that are taking advantage of Twitter in new ways.
So check out Pattison’s list and learn how giants such as Rubbermaid, UPS and shoe king Zappos are using Twitter. But don’t be scared off by sheer size, smaller companies like Naked Pizza and Kiss My Bundt offer some excellent 140-character examples of engaging tweeting as well.
Tags: brand strategy for non-profit, Kermit Pattison, New York Times, social media, social networking tips, twitter advantages, twitter tips, web marketing for small business
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One Calendar with Social Networking Powers
