Blogs

As I've mentioned before in an earlier blog, social media can be a fabulous tool for small business owners or it can be a complete waste of time. Whether these tools are business builders or productivity wasters depends a lot on your business and your customers. If you do have a presence in social media, what will it take to keep your followers engaged?

Back in 1988, I went to work for PC/Computing, a magazine startup with the tagline: Smart. Funny. Beautiful. Not what you'd expect from a technology title of the time, the goal was to be the "Vanity Fair" of computer magazines.

Everything about the magazine was intended to support the smart-funny-beautiful brand. The first few covers were commissioned art, many of them oil paintings. Comedian and illusionist Penn Gillette was a columnist for a time. The editorial talent was some of the best available.

An attorney I know received an email from another law office inviting her to write a blog for the law firm to post on its website. Then each firm would link to the other's website.

What's going on?

I have long considered Twitter a complete waste of time -- both writing all those tweets and reading them. I am perhaps overly obsessed with how my cat spends his time, but I really don't care about the cats who live with my old friend from Boston (sorry, Manya). It's also much too public a medium -- everyone doesn't need to know that I'm a negligent gardener and the Cardinal Lobelia in my back yard is completely overshadowed by the the weeds (the subject of my first tweet).

1. Your next client is checking out your website. Even someone who is referred to you by a friend will probably check out your site -- if for no other reason than to look up your phone number and find out if you have evening hours. Make sure that your site is telling a clear, compelling story about why that customer or client should choose you. Focus on the purpose of each page of your site and remove anything that doesn't support it.

Networking is also often recommended as a way to become known in the community, find customers and grow your business. But it can feel a little desperate, like you've always got your hand out, asking perfect strangers to help you. The key is to rethink what it means to network.

You probably spend a lot of money on marketing. The website. The Yellow Pages ad. Those brochures. Listings in professional directories. That email newsletter that seemed like such a good idea a couple of years ago. Attendance at all those networking sessions. It adds up.

We're in a recession. Business is probably down. Now is not the time to cut your marketing budget. But it IS the perfect time to make sure you're getting the most out of it.

I suppose that seems obvious -- marketing is supposed to focus on how your business meets the customer's needs, right? In real life, it seems, not so much.

I look at a lot of websites for professionals and small businesses. And for many, rather than being about the customer, it's all about me: my services, my credentials, my books, my TV appearances, my philosophy. While all of that is impressive, I'm not convinced that clients make a decision to use your services based solely on your credentials, or even your philosophy.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of those marketing terms that sounds sophisticated and geeky and complicated and therefore only available to businesses that have sophisticated geeky web guys who understand the complicated stuff.

Actually, SEO is a fairly simple concept and isn't hard to implement. And when you understand how powerful it can be, you'll see why it's worth the effort.