#151 - 10 Reasons You Need a Great Website...Right Now!

Whether you are a car dealer, architect, doctor, consultant, farmer or home builder, whatever business you're in, you simply cannot be effective in the digital age without a great website. Here’s what an effective, professionally crafted website really means to your bottom line:

1. Saving money on advertising.
2. Making money via an on-line store or order placement site.
3. Enjoying easy access to change your content.
4. Saving money on postage.
5. Gaining exposure to new local and global prospects.
6. Having a professional, relevant image in today’s marketplace.
7. Saving time (by providing information your prospects need).
8. Automating business.
9. Providing better customer service.
10. Tracking potential customers and all results from online advertising.

10 Reasons ETC Should Design Your Site

1. Free consultation to discuss your online needs.
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3. A professional team that speaks plain English, NOT just technical jargon.
4. A site that is professionally designed, not cheesy or amateurish.
5. Free images.
6. Access to the resources you need and the expertise of seasoned professionals.
7. FREE updates for 30 days while you refine your image and the overall site.
8. Access to website statistics.
9. Email set-up and access so you can generate email lists from your site.
10. FREE Planning and implementation.

BONUS - FREE Submission to the top 5 Search Engines
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#144 - It's time to embrace social media for business - no more excuses!

Have you heard enough from your colleagues, kids, friends and the "talking heads" about the importance of social networking? Are you finally realizing that Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Search advertising (and much more) are here to stay? It's time to stop fighting the inevitable change and learn how to use this new media to your advantage, regardless of your current status. Whether you are a college student, stay-at-home mom, business professional, consultant, freelancer, company owner or employee, you still need to understand these new communication technologies and how they affect our world.

And, you're not alone.

Armed with the right tools and information, anyone can master the basics of social media for business and professional purposes. Relax. Start celebrating the sea change. With the right attitude, your use of social media can become your best professional asset and a source of prosperity and personal growth.

Certainly, social networking and Internet marketing have changed the ways we communicate, even how we conduct marketing and public relations. However, many businesses and owners are just now beginning to see that the social media train is already packed and it's departing the station - without many people on it. The new grad, professional, or entrepreneur who doesn't jump at the chance to start learning the new media landscape is destined to lose touch with valuable consumer bases and necessary tools for life in the coming years.

If you plan on working or being in business a decade from now, you've simply got to start drinking the Kool-Aid now. If you're still reading, then you're already ahead of the game. You've taken those first steps toward embracing, harnessing, and ultimately, leveraging social media for personal and professional gain.

You can do this.

"All too often today, business owners are being lured in by what appears to be the simplicity of many social media sites. They jump in without any formal plan or strategy, never considering how or if this particular new media fits the company. Many flounder, start then stop, then start over with nothing. Or, they lose patience and simply give up too quickly which can do more harm than good for a brand."

Make no mistake - social media offers a variety of benefits for business owners, but it can also be an enormous time waster if it's not implemented with a specific strategy in place.

How to get started - successfully

Be realistic. Know who you're talking to and why. Put it down on paper. If you're an entrepreneur or consultant, this is simple. But if you are a player in a larger company, the person best suited to create, manage and monitor social media may not be you, your assistant, the marketing director or the CEO. Take a hard look at who within the organization is best qualified to speak directly to prospective and current customers about your services or products in clear, clean, simple language - as opposed to ''marketing speak."

Choose the right tool for the right job. Who makes up the audience you wish to engage with? What social media platforms do they use? To work well, social media requires participation, engagement, conversation and relationship-building. Visit the major sites - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Squidoo, MySpace, FourSquare, related blogs, etc. Observe for yourself the types of content and activity in each venue and select no more than three to four sites or platforms that make sense for your audience (and your corporate culture).

Create a time line. Again, be realistic. As with anything new, you'll have to start slow and work social media into your existing routine. A simple way to move forward is by clocking off a set amount of time on the calendar, as much as an hour or as little as 10 minutes twice daily. Schedule and then dedicate this time to visiting social media sites and engaging in conversations. Just 15-30 minutes consistently is far better than blocking off a number of hours or days you may never actually have available. Next, establish this time as you would any healthy new habit...one day at a time, with commitment.
Give yourself permission to enjoy it. It genuinely helps to put your social media in its proper perspective. It's called "social" media for a reason. Think of a visit to your Facebook Page, responding to blog comments or reading your Twitter stream to be like attending a business networking event - like a cocktail hour - only this one never ends. It's "always on." Real social engagement works best when it's fun for everyone involved. Get to know the people behind the profiles and let others get to know you, your brand, the way your company works and cares. Talk to new people you enjoy conversing with. Share parts of your personality, and start new discussions with interesting people you actually want to know better. You'll be very surprised at how quickly you can build a following - and your business - but only if you plan first, listen second, and finally, engage consistently!

"The more things change, the more they stay the same"

We've all heard the familiar adage. The bottom line is that nothing has changed about the way people view or select companies, products, brands or services. Everything you know about marketing, PR, promotions, events and sales still holds true - on some level - but if you continue business as usual, with only the traditional communications tools, the fact is the competition will continue to surpass you. Many will become dinosaurs. Relax. Only the medium has changed - not the message.

Ask and you shall receive!

Fortunately, there's still plenty of time to learn what you need to know about these new communications channels and how they can work for you, your company, your career, even your personal life. Start asking questions. What do you want to know right now about getting your social media strategy or campaign started? Ask away. This is as good a place as any. Comment below and I will respond privately or in my next post with some solid input, source materials, direction and answers (based on experience and training). If I don't know the answer, I'll admit that, too. Then, I'll find someone who does.

Like so much information online, this resource is free - use it!

Are you wondering how to start a Facebook Page, Group, Event, or Cause? Confused by Facebook's "Community Pages?" Think Twitter is useless or wonder why anyone really needs a blog? The answers are here if you're only willing to ask. Just think, by engaging with the dreaded "social media," this blog, you can (proactively) find answers you need.

#140 - Why students often make the best teachers

Writing is hard work. Blogging is no exception. Blogging, however, also involves something more. In addition to all the planning, research, execution, and editing, blogging requires "personality."

If you want to be a better blogger, you must infuse each post with a little bit of yourself. Quirks and eccentricities can serve to give your blog the personality it needs, or they can overshadow the writing. It's really about striking the proper balance. Do check out Chris Birk's new article at Copyblogger: How I Became A Better Writer Thanks to Distracted, Hungover College Kids. You'll love the reasoning behind that headline!

This is a post every writer or writing instructor should read. In it, Chris really opened my eyes to the wealth of information I learned from students over the past few months. It's true, my recent three-week adventure in teaching (writing for public relations) simply primed me to receive Chris' words of wisdom. Rest assured, the link above contains some pertinent wisdom for every writer. I could relate my own take on brevity, clarity and content, but I prefer to send you straight to this excellent source.

Pay special attention to the section on Economy of Language.

I know I related to the views expressed in this Copyblogger post...and anyone striving to be a better writer, reporter, or blogger should as well.

You may or may not have noticed by brief absence from the blogosphere for the past month. I took a well deserved break after posting for 130 consecutive days, and I'm back. Starting this week, I plan to start sharing snippets from each of my training workshops on Blogging and RSS, Facebook for Beginners, and the increasingly popular, Twitter Bootcamp. Rest assured, I was busy preparing a wealth of educational copy about social media. next, I'll be sharing it here - in bite sized portions.

Feel free to leave comments below and your social media questions so we can address them in the upcoming posts.

It's all about our Social Media Life!

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#136 - Tell me about your Social Media Life!

Breaking news! The focus of Life Lessons has now officially changed to reflect the many ways we are all living our lives in the social media spotlight. (Note the new blog title above - Social Media Life Lessons.) In case you're wondering what prompted this change, it's quite simple. Earlier this week I had a conversation with a prospective client, an executive VP for a non-profit organization in Nashville, and he remarked that more and more he found he was "practically living on Facebook."

It was not the first time I'd heard the comment, and it suddenly dawned on me that the real reason I blog is to explore and possibly even enhance knowledge of social media - be it with blogs, Facebook, Twitter, SocialGo, Squidoo, hundreds of online communities, forum discussions, RSS aggregators, various websites, or online news sources. What's happening in social media affects everyone. It has changed the virtual landscape of media from print to broadcasting in an amazingly short span of time - just one decade. The medium is changing and we need to change with it.

To better reflect the nature of this site, I have changed its title to reflect a focus on teaching important life lessons framed within the context of social media, including news and events of interest to students, everyday users, and social media practitioners. The primary goal is to keep you, the reader, informed (with an easy, interesting format) of changes in social media (which seem to be occurring almost daily). Each week, we'll focus on a specific lesson covering the most effective and popular usage of one social media tool or technique.

Feel free to leave topic requests in the comments section below! I'll put my best research skills to work to answer any reader questions or comments.

You can look forward to many more posts on how to leverage social media for PR, news writing, advertising, education, business and even personal use. So, please, take a minute to let me know what you want to learn more about or better utilize online. I will research and report on any aspect of social media you choose.

A blog is only as good as the conversation it fosters...I look forward to collaborating with you, communicating and educating in this blog space.

In other news...
There was major news in social media today with the announcement that Google is already re-tooling the new Buzz network to address privacy concerns raised by consumers - just day's after the network launched. Google plans to separate Buzz from users' Gmail accounts, according to a report at Search Engine Land. Personally, I applaud Google for taking quick action to address any security concerns. I do worry that this rocky start for Buzz does not bode well for the search engine giant's foray into social networking.

What do you think of Google Buzz? Have you tried it? Do you agree that it should be separated from Gmail accounts? Inquiring minds really want to know.

It's time to get this this conversation started! I look forward to hearing from you.

#127- How do you define Social Media?

If you’ve ever had a hard time explaining “Social Media” to your family (or your colleagues), here's a quick overview to illustrate the differences between Social News, User-Generated Content, and Networking sites.

Categories of Social Media:

• Social News sites allow people to post and vote upon news or other content they consider noteworthy.
• Social Networks connect friends to each other with pictures, status updates, and other applications.
• User-Generated Content is found on sites where users can upload content and make it public. UGC also includes formats like comments, ratings and reviews, and other feedback mechanisms.

Here are the places these things overlap:

• Blogs have strong characteristics of all three of these categories. Their content is generated by users; they can have news value, and they are often viewed by a network of followers (something I'm working very hard to build here, for example).
• Twitter is a collection of networks that follow each other's brief status updates, to whom the news is considered noteworthy.
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication), allows a network of subscribers to receive new or updated content.
  

If you read this blog you’ll soon realize that I’m a huge fan of social networking. I believe in it, especially for anyone in business, but even more so for small businesses. Social networking is a tremendous way to stay on top of a niche and build connections. But there are appropriate times when you can take a break.

Just as with anything else in life, you’ve got to know when to walk away. Sometimes, a planned break can energize you. You come back stronger and ready to run some more. That’s true in a workout, business, relationships, and a lot of things - including social networking.

But how much time should you take off and when?
Just do what is right for you. Obviously, holidays are days most standard businesses take off – Christmas, New Year’s, etc. It is reasonable to take off recognized national holidays

Site/community managers, bloggers, and others must not disappear for too long, however. Taking an entire month off from social networking will cause a loss of momentum. A week off here and there is probably not a problem. A day off is perfectly acceptable for a blogger or citizen journalist. Days off can give you back the energy you need. But, if you run a social community or even a fan page or web site for a small business, it's important to try and find someone to fill your shoes when you need time off - someone who knows your company or product and who can represent your business well.

So, if your batteries need re-charging, by all means, take a break, just don't be gone for too long.

#125 - Social media marketing in the 20-teens

We can all learn a lot from the digital decade of the twenty-ohs (as Josh Bernoff at Forrester Research calls it). Bernoff shared his team's insights in a recent blog I found worthy of a re-cap:

We have all been part of a transformational decade - the digital decade of the 2000s. Our obsession with the latest product from Google or Apple often clouded our recognition of the long-term effects of the decade's events. We all know where we are now. But many of us have forgotten where we were, and just how dramatically things changed in 10 short years.

In 2001, Bill Gates called this new decade "The Digital Decade." He was so right.

* When the last decade began, there were 2.6 million broadband households in the US, one out of every 40 homes. Now there are 80 million, or two thirds of the population. Broadband has gone from rare to ubiquitous.

* Starting from zero, digital video recorders reached 31 million homes and HDTV reached 51 million. Together with online video and video on-demand, these gadgets completely transformed the television experience.

* Mobile phones subscriptions are now 270 million, out of 307 million US adults. (For a comparison, mobile phones were in 51 million households at the start of the decade, and back then having more than one phone per household was unusual.) In 1999 phones were phones. Now they are iPhones, Blackberries, and Androids -- computers and Internet access devices.

* Portable digital music players have reached 76% of all US households. At the start of the decade, there were none, because the iPod had yet to be introduced. Mark Mulligan called it "The Decade That Music Forgot."

* And finally, it's worth commenting that Google just celebrated its 10th anniversary last year. In 1999, most of us hadn't even heard of it. And forget social technologies -- in 1999, a few people were talking in chat forums - and that was it.

As we look back on all this from the perspective of media and marketing, it's clear that consumers lead, media stumbles along behind, and marketers follow the media.

In 2009, consumers spent 34% of their media time online. As a result, digital marketing spending went from $6.2 billion in 1999 to $25.6 billion, or 12% of all marketing spending, in 2009. But marketers are still spending most of their energy and dollars on television, newspapers, and radio. (And you thought old media was dead!)

Within those industries, spending shifts much slower than behavior. Newspaper websites still bring in far less revenue than ads in printed editions. Video on-demand (VOD) and online video ad models are still only under construction.

What can we learn from the last decade?
First, consumers (we) move quickly, models move slowly, and marketing moves conservatively. When you see a technology shifting, that's the time to closely observe the models behind it. It will take years for them to take hold, and in those years, we all have a chance to learn. That's when marketing professionals need to experiment and figure out how things work, because that's when it's cheap and the competition is hanging back. Because when transformation happens -- and it will -- the best advantage is knowledge.

2010 passes the Advantage to marketers
According to Bernoff (and many others), the twenty-oh's were the digital decade for consumers. They predict that the twenty-teens will be the digital decade for marketers - meaning business is catching up. Being a savvy consumer has never been more important. Wouldn't you agree?