Entries from July 2008
Building traffic to your website is not an individual activity! Today, websites are ranked, not only by the amount of traffic, but the amount of links to the site. So to improve your rankings, you need to consider a strategy which includes a bit of link love!
What is link love? It is a process of promoting or suggesting other websites through links, particularly in your blog posts. Working with friends and business associates, you can request they return the favor. And if you generate high quality content, it is very likely other folks will send a little love your way, as well.
For example: Resources for local small business owners:
- www.866mynubiz.com – This is a site I developed with a local attorney
- www.entrepreneur.com – National resource
- www.indy-biz.com – Local news for small business owners
- www.smallerindiana.com – Lively local social network
- www.douglaskarr.com/ - Marketing Technology Blog ( This is where I go to get my questions answered!)
You can list your links as I have done above, or simply include a link to a local organization, like Rainmakers in your text. As long as the information is clear and relevant, it is good love!
And if you would like to send me some, that would be fine too!
Categories: Web 2.0
Tagged: Marketing, small business marketing, Web 2.0
Every day there are hundreds of journalists working on stories for traditional media and on-line publications. How do they find sources for these stories? It is easy if they are one of the 20,000 members of HARO
Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is the brain-child of East Coast PR pro Peter Shankman. It started out as Facebook group, but today has it’s own website, and a wish-list distribution sending story ideas to member up times a day.
I have been hooked up with HARO for about a month, and have already connected several clients with writers across the nation. If you are a PR professional, or have an interesting story to tell, you should connect to HARO
Here are just some of the 33 topics requested in the Monday morning email. (more…)
Categories: Uncategorized
Today’s Business Note from Roundpeg
Online Video Ads: What Small Business Advertisers Need to Watch For!
In March 2008, U.S. internet users watched 11.5 billion videos! The average video user watched three hours of video online. These records make video more attractive than ever before. Read more to find out what this means for small businesses. By Jeff Porter
Categories: Marketing · Web 2.0
Tagged: advertising, online advertising, online marketing, video marketing
I love animals, and always thought it would be cool to have one of those offices with laid back pets roaming comfortably. And now I do.
About six months ago, my assistant, Rebecca, here at roundpeg asked if she could bring her dog Bonnie to the office while they were remodeling. This was no small request, Bonnie is an 85 pound Bouvier des Flanders, (For those of you not familiar with the breed, she looks more like a bear, then a dog)
Well Bonnie came, made herself at home, and we are very glad she did. Each day when she arrives with Rebbecca, she checks out each office to see who is in, then settles down for a nap in my office. She pops up when visitors arrive, says hello and goes back to sleep.
And now we have added a Kitty! Her name is Clyde. ( Get it Bonnie and Clyde)
At 2 pounds she already rules the roost, terrorizes the dog, and makes her home on desks and laps. Although distracting, she certainly livens things up, makes people laugh and look forward to coming to the office.
Next, I think we need a bird!
Categories: Uncategorized
I love animals, and always thought it would be cool to have one of those offices with laid back pets roaming comfortably. And now I do.
About six months ago, my assistant, Rebecca, here at roundpeg asked if she could bring her dog Bonnie to the office while they were remodeling. This was no small request, Bonnie is an 85 pound Bouvier des Flanders, (For those of you not familiar with the breed, she looks more like a bear, then a dog)
Well Bonnie came, made herself at home, and we are very glad she did. Each day when she arrives with Rebbecca, she checks out each office to see who is in, then settles down for a nap in my office. She pops up when visitors arrive, says hello and goes back to sleep.
And now we have added a Kitty! Her name is Clyde. ( Get it Bonnie and Clyde)
At 2 pounds she already rules the roost, terrorizes the dog, and makes her home on desks and laps. Although distracting, she certainly livens things up, makes people laugh and look forward to coming to the office.
Next, I think we need a bird!
Categories: Uncategorized
Forming good relationships with key vendors can save you in many different areas of your business. At the same time poor vendor relationship can hurt you and your business. Read more to find out why this type of relationship is crucial.
Categories: Biz Planning · Networking
Tagged: business owners, business relationships, small business, small business planning
If you provides a variety of services to many types of customers, understanding each of your customers is the key for success. This requires analysis from different perspectives to identify the roles of your customers. Read full article to help understand the valuable asset customers represent to your business.
Categories: Web 2.0
Tagged: business relationships, customer focus, small business owners
Jay Lipe, Author of Smart Marketing has written a post about using guarantees to increase sales. He asserts this type of promotion signals you’re serious about providing top-notch quality and 2) It transfers risk from your customers back to you.
I completely agree. I have seen the power first hand at Rainmaker events.
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About two years ago we started offering a “Money Back Guarantee” if people joined, came to events, worked the system, and didn’t feel they got twice the value of what they invested.
We rarely need to srefund money, but our conviction frequently get people to join as a result.
Read the rest of the post.
Categories: Marketing
Tagged: customer satisfaction, guarentees
To get the most out of your marketing investments, each piece must work together, reinforcing the customer experince and strengthening your brand image.
In an article by Jay Ehret, he called it the marketing multiplier effect. Each marketing spot: branding, advertising, word of mouth and customer experience is connected in some way. Read more to find out how!
Categories: Biz Planning · Marketing
Tagged: affiliate marketing, Marketing, small business marketing
Building a great website is only the beginning. Once built, you need to drive traffic and measure performance. Fortunately there are a number of web tools which can help. Check out this list of thirty sites which can put more power in your eMarketing strategy.
Go to the list of tools!
Not sure how to use these tools? Roundpeg can help!
Also check out www.websitegrader.com to give you feedback on how good your site is now
Categories: Web 2.0
Tagged: internet, internet entrepreneurs, SEO tools, Web 2.0
The coolest thing about the internet is the ability to tap into the collective genius, and discover a really amazing, free, application.
WebGrader is one such application. Now, in one report you can find out everything you need to know about your web sites performance, with hints for improvement. And, they even provide a comparison to several of your competitors sites.
So how did I do? Not too bad: With a score of 79% overall I have a few things to work on. My nearest competitors scored 87% and 35% respectively.
I got high marks for my blog and inbound links but scored low for too many Meta tags. While some of the changes requre a bit of coding, many of them will be a snap to do.
How do you score?
People often ask me how I stay on top of all the newest applications. It is easy, I read Doug Karr’s blog regularly!
Categories: Web 2.0
Tagged: search engine, Web 2.0, web tool
For business owners or those in the service industry, determing your rates can be tricky. You want to make sure the price is right. If you ask yourself, do I charge too much? or not enough? read this article by Walt Goshert and find out how to set rates that benefit you and your customers.
Categories: Biz Planning
Tagged: Biz Planning, Business Planning, marketing strategy
Email marketing is such a powerful and affordable tool and still so many people fail to use it. There are 5 ideas listed in this article that may be beneficial for your business. The number one most important thing is to build a bigger list of emails! Read the other 4 ideas.
Interested in trying eMail marketing for your business? Roundpeg can help with a solution from Contant Contact. Check out the free trial, or call us to get your campaigns started.
Categories: Marketing · Web 2.0
Tagged: constant contact, email marketing, internet marketing, roundpeg email, small business marketing
Just finished listening to Seth Godin’s Unleashing the Idea Virus - And although it is not a new work, the ideas are as fresh and practical today as they were in 2001 when the book was written.
Listening to Seth present his ideas on how to make my ideas infectious, he had me re-examining my own marketing programs, as well as the role I play supporting friends and referral partners.
If you have not read or listened to this book, put it on your must read list. Discover for yourself what makes a powerful ’sneezer’, how ‘hives’ work, and how critical velocity, vector, medium, smoothness, persistence, and amplifiers can change your business!
Categories: Marketing · Web 2.0
Tagged: idea virus, maketing, set godin, small business
