Payson Web

February 5, 2010

Social Networking = Leads

50% of small businesses say lead generation is the biggest benefit of Social Networking! And you thought this stuff was for kids?

Remember the movie with Jack Lemmon and Robert Di Niro, Glengarry Glen Ross? It was a dramatic examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office. (can you say time share?) Well, that movie was made in 1992 and I was the Dir. of Sales at a Wyndham Hotel in Scottsdale at that time. I used to really get down on myself as a sales person when the leads stopped coming and I had to resort to “dialing for dollars” I would come home from a day of that and go straight to the liquor cabinet.

But when things seemed the worst they could get for me I would always think of this movie and thank my lucky stars I didn’t have to sell in that kind of environment! Talk about pressure!

I use it to make a point about the importance of solid leads, how hard it is to get them, and how important it is to network, build your own community, and use the power of connecting with social media marketing to help generate them.

The video is made up of clips from the the movie, obviously placing an emphasis on the importance of leads to the characters in the movie. It’s one of my favorite films because of the cast and the acting, (De Niro got the Oscar for it) but also one of the most depressing movies I ever saw. These guys could really have used some help with social networking to generate leads, and not just the crappy ones like these guys were getting. How about you, could you use an unlimited supply of good prospects? Call us today for a free consultation. 480-282-3445

2:14pm
(View comments)

February 5, 2010

Small Business Marketing Forecast

Image via Wikipedia

What are other U.S. small business owners thinking about their sales, advertising, online marketing and social networking? Are they pulling in their horns, slashing ad budgets and crying the blues about the economy or are they thinking more positively, constantly seeking more bang for their buck, finding affordable ways to gain new prospects? What will you have do to stay at the top of your customer’s mind?

We’re glad you asked!

The good news is that it’s not as difficult as it might seem. Our very smart friends at Ad-ology’s Small Business Marketing Forecast Team are the guys and gals who are good at interpreting the data that provides the statistical information that gets business owners attention. It is necessary for empowering a business to understand why social media and online branding is critical to their online marketing initiatives. Sounds good, right? Now all you have to do is figure out where your business can benefit.

Ad-ology has undertaken a study of online marketing, it’s the largest small business marketing study of its kind with a sample size of 1,100 small business owners. You may have seen it featured in several well-known national publications, including: USA Today, Inc. Magazine, eWeek, eMarketer, and others.

Small businesses are now projecting budgeting plans for more than just traditional media advertising, including online marketing and social networking. Your first experience with social media marketing doesn’t have to resemble anything even as remotely complicated as people would like you to believe, start by calling Payson Web today and see how easy we can make it for you.

Once the business owner realizes the potential of these new social media marketing tools, Payson Web can show you which ones you should start with, what you can expect from each and how they can work for your business.

This video offers some very encouraging news about the tremendous growth of social media but small business are still confused about how to take the first step. Many think that they don’t need it, many say that they don’t have the time, many more will say they don’t understand how it can help their business.

In response to that to that I will repeat one of those statistics that as a salesman all my life I can appreciate. It has to do with leads baby! Prospects!

50% of small businesses say lead generation is the biggest benefit of Social Networking! It would be worth twice the price of admission if that was all you got. But there are many other reasons to use it.

Where Small Businesses Get Online All Wrong (mpdailyfix.com)
Small Business Owners Should Focus Social Networking Efforts (prweb.com)
Citibank Survey Finds Small Businesses Not Leveraging Online Tools to Drive Their Business (eon.businesswire.com)

11:43am
(View comments)

February 5, 2010

What’s The Biggest Benefit Of Social Networking For Small Business?

Lead generation leads the way as the biggest benefit of social networking for U.S. small businesses. Thanks to our good friends at the Social Media Examiner we know that a whopping 50% of small businesses studied admitted that their biggest benefit from the use of social media marketing was lead generation.

It’s not surprising that while 67% agreed that social media is a good way to increase business, 39% of those surveyed said they did not plan to use social networking in their marketing plan in 2010. You have to ask yourself this question then, what does that 67% plan to do about it?

11:28am
(View comments)

Filed under: Social Media Examiner Twitter Social media marketing Business Social media MarketingProfs Marketing and Advertising Social network service

January 25, 2010

The Evolution Of The Company Web Site

Image by Daniel Greene via Flickr

First there was the Web Site, every business had to have one, right? But how many of them languished in obscurity because of little or no updating over the years? And who could blame you, the business owner, isn’t that what you hired the “experts” for?

Don’t get me wrong, a web site is still a good thing to have, it’s just not enough. iIn this ultra competitive climate we now find ourselves in where every edge counts.

Back then you had to PAY a webmaster every time you wanted something changed on your web site. Plus you were paying hosting fees for a site that was doing little or nothing for you. You might have even discovered (as have many of our clients) that you don’t even own your own domain! Changes took forever and cost real money!

Along came the blog, some smart person took the words Web and Log, combined them, and came up with Blog. What started out as an online diary or simple journal has now become one of the greatest tools for small business marketing to come down the pike in a long time. And while I am at it let me refresh your memory as to why a business should have a blog in the first place:

The significant change that has come about in online marketing over the last five years or so is this social media thing everyone keeps talking about. A Blog is social media! The game has changed, you must employ a virtual sales piece (blog) that can go out on the web and effectively market your business, directing traffic to your web site.

With just a little help from a pro you can easily incorporate a blog into an online marketing strategy where almost all the resources you need are free.

Too busy you say, already have more than enough to do running a business day to day no time to learn about blogs or web sites and how they function? Perfectly understandable just a few short years ago, but NOT TODAY!

The technology is now here, YOU, the business owner now have the power to take back control of your business presence online. Not only to take it back but to make it work harder for you, harder and smarter than any other media you have used before. You can do this, your work ethic, brains and street smarts are what made you a business owner in the first place. You saw an opportunity, you took the initiative, you learned everything about the field your business was in, you worked hard and became the EXPERT! That’s secret number one, and I just gave it to you for FREE!

Now comes Social Media, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Flickr, Youtube and a host of others. Each has it’s place in how they can be utilized to promote a business and each is free to use.

Sometimes change is painful - we KNOW that already! But change is also inevitable, and if you don’t want your business to die with you, now is the time to take action.

Use Social Media To Improve Your Marketing (ricksrss.com)
Practical Social Media Measurement for B2B (socialmediatoday.com)
The 11 Commandments of Social Media (socialmediatoday.com)

3:21pm
(View comments)

Filed under: Social Media Facebook Marketing Twitter LinkedIn Business YouTube Website

January 25, 2010

Caution! Now Entering A No BS Blog Zone

Image via CrunchBase

I could possibly be the greatest gift to the Payson business community that they have been given since the endowment of our beautiful library! And if you think I’m kidding, read on -

I just finished up a 23 year career in Scottsdale, working in tourism and hospitality, the last 10 years in various marketing roles for Hilton, Wyndham and privately owned hotels & resorts. I am now doing something I have wanted to do for over 20 years - I am living full-time in Payson!

I started blogging over four years ago and as of now have hundreds of web sites and blogs to my credit, built for business’s just like yours. Had I known then what I know now about social media and online marketing, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, instead I would be stretched out on the sand under a beach umbrella in the Caribbean wondering why my waiter was taking so long with that Mai tai!

1:16pm
(View comments)

Filed under: Wordpress Facebook Blogger Blog Google Tumblr Website

January 25, 2010

More About The Power Of Guest Posting

Image via Wikipedia

Some of you may remember that article I wrote that appeared as a guest post for the hugely popular, online magazine, Making Money Online about this blogger’s strategy for making money online? I’m still pretty proud of that piece even though it’s so yesterday’s news.

Since that article, and just since I started Payson Web just a few months ago, I have been introduced to a lot more ways (apps) which have the potential to significantly increase the chances of a blogger making $$$ from a blog. However, in my humble opinion nothing can beat the power of a guest post to help you get there.

And I’m not just speaking of the viral potential of having a guest post appear on a popular make money online blog such as Doug Dillards and Mark Smith’s. I’m talking about something a lot more valuable than that, and I got it from bloggers I follow and admire. It’s called confirmation, an affirmation of what it is that I do. It’s about building credibility as a blogger and getting nice things said about you. It feels good to know that I’m on the right track.

In future posts I’m going to share with all of my readers everything I can possibly gather together that will help them gain a better understanding of what blogging and social media marketing can do for ANY business, not just the Dell Computer’s and the IBM’s of the world, but the Mom and Pop operations that are the heart of American business. And I will demonstrate often along the way just how pivotal a role guest posting can play as part of any business’s online marketing strategy.

Guest Posting Policy (onecoolsitebloggingtips.com)
MyBlogGuest.com - Guest Blogging Made Simple (domainmacher.com)

11:26am
(View comments)

Filed under: Blog IBM Mark Smith Social media marketing Business Marketing strategy Dell Marketing and Advertising

January 24, 2010

The Power Of Guest Posting

Image via Wikipedia

I will never forget the first time I guest posted for a make money online blog blog, MakingMoneyOnline. It was an article titled; One Bloggers Strategy For Making Money Online. and it was written by yours truly. My first reaction? Look Ma, I’m famous!

After I came down off my cloud I remembered how it all came about and thought it might make a good post here, mostly because it really was an easy process and a great experience thanks to the guys at MMO. I happen to agree with them and a few other bloggers - about what guest posting can do for you - it’s like having your own banner on a well trafficked site - for FREE!

It all came about while surfing their site one morning (which I do frequently), enjoying their great posts about tips for making money online, when I happened to notice that that their blog offered an opportunity to guest post. Mmm says I, do I have what it takes?

So Easy A Baby Boomer Can Do It!

I modestly concluded that maybe I did have the right stuff, as Tom Wolfe would say, so now all I had to do was impress Doug Dillard and Mark Smith of MMO enough to be invited to submit something. What made me come to the conclusion that I should guest post, you ask? Let me count the ways:

*I would be exposing my name and my blog to a whole new audience.

*It would generate more traffic to my blog.

*It would assist me in building a reputation as a blogger to be taken seriously.

*There would be SEO benefits including a link back to my blog which the search engines love.

*And it performs for you as free advertising too!

Isn’t that alone worth doing one for? I will add my own reason to that list, maybe the most important one of all - *How good it feels when you see YOUR name at the bottom of that guest post. Man, it’s an awesome feeling that every blogger should experience for themselves.

But I digress; I traded a couple of emails with Doug, he was very quick to get back to me. He liked the idea I proposed, told me that I could talk about how I make money online as long as I was truthful, which I was. After a couple of edits, a bip here and a bop there and voila! a guest post was born.

I think I was up all night before it went live and thank goodness I got some encouraging comments from some other bloggers I respect, my ego is far too fragile for it to have gone any other way! NOT!

MyBlogGuest.com - Guest Blogging Made Simple (killerstartups.com)
MyBlogGuest.com - Guest Blogging Made Simple (domainmacher.com)
More guest posts you should check out (broadcasting-brain.com)

9:27am
(View comments)

Filed under: Blog Web search engine Tom Wolfe Mark Smith Search engine optimization Advertising Tools FAQs Help and Tutorials

January 24, 2010

Is Your Blog Comment Luv Enabled?

Image by Nikita Kashner via Flickr

Bloggers like my friend DiTesco at iblogZone have long ago discovered that leaving a comment after reading a fellow bloggers post, replying because you liked what was said, or if it gave you good info or you disagree with something.

Commenting or Commentating as it is sometimes referred to is about engaging your readers, creating a dialog and getting backlinks for your trouble. Make sure to return the Luv by thanking your commentor with a reply.

How to Profit From a Blog (wealthyways4you.com)
Is Disqus Costing You Comments? (wassupblog.com)

9:24am
(View comments)

Filed under: Blog Directories Web Rings and Cliques Chats and Forums Tools Commenting DISQUS blogging

January 24, 2010

How Twitter Can Teach You To Be A Better Blogger

Image via Wikipedia

If you are new to using a blog for your business or are thinking about trying to make money online let me pass along a great tip that the folks at Twitter inadvertently gave me.

This online culture of ours (one that bloggers have helped create) is one where people aren’t reading your blog’s posts, they are scanning them. That means if you want a readers attention you are going to have to get to your message across very quickly, and the shorter and more direct your message is, the more successful you are going to be.

Some Folks Call It Mircro Blogging

I call it OJT, on the job training for keeping blog posts simple, to the point and brief. Staying within the boundaries of the 140 character limit tradition of Twitter Tweets, I can show you in an actual Tweet how Twitter can help you become a better and more successful blogger.

First, as you know, when you Tweet, you are allowed to type no more than 140 characters, this is not 140 words, each keystroke is a character.

Condense your thoughts, stress key points, be brief, be direct, ask for action, apply those same principles when writing your blog posts That’s it!

When you see how good you can get with Twitter Tweets you will be amazed at what you can say in a lot fewer words on your blog posts.

9:21am
(View comments)

Filed under: Twitter Business Online Communities Social Networking Blog Trending and Popularity Social media Kevin Thau

January 11, 2010

A Wordle For Payson Web

Gotta click on it for the full effect and it’s a little “busy” as my artsy sister in law would say but it’s my very own custom tag cloud and I could stare at it for hours! Thanks to Ms Ileane Speaks for showing me the way to the wonderful world of Wordle.

I think I am going to explore some ways this fun application could be used to promote Payson Web.

Demystifying Internet Marketing For Small Business This blog has moved, please update your bookmarks.

Demystifying Internet Marketing For Small Business
This blog has moved, please update your bookmarks.