marketing

Several months ago I came across about.me - a great app that consolidates all of your social media and other internet profiles in to one place. It’s not a blog, and it’s not another social media network or site, but instead is much more like a really, really cool virtual business card that gives you a place to connect all of the different places on which you live on the internet - and a business card that gives you analytics too.

You have complete control over what you want your about.me page to look like. You can choose your image, choose how much - or how little - you’d like to share, provide visitors with a way in which to contact you via email, a place for you to write your bio and links to your blog - the list goes on.    Read more »

I just launched my newest project: MyWebsiteWorkshop.com. This project originated in a moment of inspiration while thinking about the future of the web, web businesses, and small business in general.  I’d been long thinking about doing something like this, but didn’t quite know how to put the idea together. It was actually one of those "eureka" moments: I was doing some keyword research for my business website and there it was, right there in front of my eyes - the keyword term was right there on the screen and it all crystalized in that moment - I had to grab a pen and pad to make sure I captured all the ideas that were flowing.    Read more »

I saw a tweet the other day that got me thinking. This person is a very successful ecommerce merchant and there were some issues mentioned that caused me to think that if I were still in sales I’d be pulling out all the stops trying to win that business and I wondered if their current rep knew about the situation. They’d dangled the carrot out there for someone to meet their need, and I would have loved such an obvious opportunity if I were still a sales person.

The wheels started turning as I thought about my old competitors, and customers and wondered if this person’s rep was aware of the fact that they were in a precarious position of potentially losing this customer. Was their rep really listening? Did they know? If I was still in the business, I’d immediately have gone to my resources to find out what was the latest information about them.    Read more »

I’m a subscriber to Groupon and as you may (or may not) know Groupon along with LivingSocial amongst others sends out a daily deal that consists of a huge discount on products or services available in the area. I always take a look at the deal to see what businesses are offering and today I had an idea.    Read more »

 I spend my days working in front of a computer and get a lot of time to myself in my work.  Several years ago I grew tired of listening to tunes on my iPod Touch and replaced virtually all the music with podcasts and audio books.  I'll cover my favorite audio books later, but here is a short list of my five favorite podcasts.    Read more »

In my previous post on essential elements for websites I talked about some essential pages and tools your website needs. You want your site to draw traffic, engage your visitors, and turn those visitors in to customers, clients, and raving fans. It doesn't happen automatically as soon as you hit publish - it takes thought, planning, and some extra hard work but it's worth it.

Making sure you incorporate these elements will go a long way in helping you get the results you're looking for from your site. So let's dig a little deeper this time and cover some things you can use to make your site awesome!    Read more »

Ecommerce intrigues me.  It's long been a fascination for me since I first started to see first-hand what ingenuitive and resourceful people were doing to seize upon the opportunities the internet provides and build a business. What intrigues me even more are great business ideas. I've seen and been part of some really amazing ecommerce businesses.  I've seen large businesses like Kevin's Catalog based out of Thomasville, Georgia to smaller ones like Table Tops Etc. and numerous businesses in between. The good news is that now I have the opportunity to follow my passions in both of those by launching a new site that brings together the best of both ecommerce and what's becoming known "socialpreneurship".      Read more »

It’s a frequent issue that comes up whenever I’m talking with someone about their website. There is so much to think about when getting your website going that it’s hard to keep up. It’s easy - really easy - to get swamped in the weeds of the fine-grain details and overlook elements that are essential to your site being successful. So if you’re not sure what’s missing from your site take note of the essentials below and make sure you’ve got them implemented. It’s your virtual reputation. Make sure you have the basics covered.

"About Us" page

This is an easy one to gloss over but people like to know that they’re doing business with people. This isn’t a 5000 word essay that would take a week to read, it’s an elevator speech and a resume all in one. Chris Brogan has an excellent example of a great “about” page. If a publisher, potential client, or customer landed on his page they’d immediately be informed about all that he does and what he’s accomplished.    Read more »

 So this weekend I'm taking a break and decided to get some time with my little girl and watch one of her favorite shows with her. I don't have a lot of patience for television, especially live television.  If I can't fast-forward through the absolutely ridiculous number of commercials, I really don't care much to watch it.  That even goes for football games of my beloved alma mater Florida State University. So as usual I focus my attention on my little girl and we're having a good talk about what's going on and getting some time together.     Read more »

It's no secret that the economic outlook for the entire world is bleak to put it mildly.  Every morning as I drive to the office I hear the all too common reports of this economic problem or that huge corporate bail-out for another bloated and greedy global corporation.  But all of this has got the wheels turning for me in a recurring pattern with a common theme: our world is undergoing an enormous shift in how it does business.    Read more »