Websites People Read

Age of Conversation 2: Why Don't They Get It

I am excited to be part of this wonderful project led by Drew McLellan of Drew's Marketing Minute.  Age of Conversation 2 is a unique collaboration via the internet, involving 237 marketing professionals who blog from 29 states throughout the U.S. and from 14 other nations from Australia

to the Ukraine. 

Here is a little bit of information about how this project got started and the charity that will benefit when you make a purchase:

The book has an unusual story behind it, involving online connections between people around the world who have never met each other.

Drew McLellan, who heads an advertising agency in Des Moines, writes a blog online.  Drew’s Marketing Minute is among the 25 most-read marketing blogs, and a regular reader is Gavin Heaton, who works for global software giant SAP in Sydney, Australia.  Heaton writes a blog called Servant of Chaos.

Nearly two years ago through a chance online conversation, McLellan and Heaton decided to invite fellow bloggers to participate in writing a book about conversation and how it impacts us in marketing, in business and in life in general.   “Blogging, after all, is about conversation,” McLellan said.

More than 100 bloggers from the U.S. and eight countries responded by contributing essays on conversation.  The book, published in the summer of 2007, earned $15,000, all of which was donated to the international children’s charity Variety.

 “Gavin and I were overwhelmed with the response,” said McLellan   “Almost as soon as the first book was published, we heard from bloggers asking when the next book would be published so they could contribute essays.”

I contributed an essay titled Put Your Advertising Strategy in the Hands of Your Customer, which offers the suggestion that you partner with your best customers when creating or revising your marketing message or even your strategy.  If the idea is to "get more customers" just like your best existing customers, then why not ask them for advice. 

Blogging is a wonderful way for professionals to share ideas, learn from each other and connect with like-minded spirits around the globe.   Collaborating on a book about conversation is a perfect way to share among ourselves and among others who don’t read blogs.  And we have the added incentive of helping a charity that does important work around the world.  I am thrilled to be a part of this project.

The Age of Conversation 2 will be available as a downloadable e-book beginning TODAY, at a cost of $12.50, of which $10 will be contributed to Variety.  Beginning on the same date, orders will be taken for a limited number of printed books in hardcover ($29.95, with $6.04 to charity) and soft cover ($19.95, with $8.02 donated to charity).

 

Purchases can be made online at http://stores.lulu.com/ageofconversation .   More information can be seen online at www.ageofconversation.com .

Here is a listing of all the great contributing authors:

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Is Linked In a Big Waste of Time?

 

How have you used LinkedIn? 

 

If you are like me, someone sent you an email invitation and you waited before checking it out.  Eventually you went to the site, filled in your job history and maybe uploaded a photo and then forgot about it.

 

That was about the extent of my LinkedIn involvement for the first year. Oh – I went through my Outlook addresses and sent invitations which led to connections with prior peers.  I had fun reconnecting with people I’d lost touch with and pretty soon my number of connections grew. 

 

Like Six Degrees of Separation, it was fun seeing just how many connects I had in my network and soon amassed more than 1,000,000.  However, other than bragging that I was connected to a million people, I didn’t really see the benefit.

 

Until recently.

 

I’m starting a new venture in speaking wrapped around a speech entitled Make or Break Moments.  I’m concentrating on expanding the idea into a series of workshops. In an effort to gauge interest I used the QUESTION function of LinkedIn to send out a message to my network. 

 

Or so I thought.

 

I posed the question “How do your associates handle Make or Break Moments and would you be interested in a workshop that would help them face those customer moments with confidence?”

 

Not only did my connections respond, but others on the LinkedIn system viewed my question and weighed in on the topic.  Pretty soon I’m emailing people from around the world talking about make or break moments.  I mentioned this at the monthly meeting of Akron Bloggers and learned that answering questions on LinkedIn benefits you in a variety of ways:

 

1. You share your knowledge on a given topic

2. You are connected with people outside your network – building relationships

3. Answers are ranked in terms of “best answer” thereby enhancing your expert status

4. All of the answers and questions are indexed on the Internet and become additional touch-points in the search results

5. Some people have turned the answers to their questions into a blog post – repurposing the information in other venues on the web

 

LinkedIn has a variety of benefits, far beyond serving as an online resume of your work history. 

Joan Stewart has written an article sharing 7 Tips for Using Linked In.

25 Most Influential People on the Web

Business Week names the 25 most influential people on the web.  Only four are women.  Most of those listed represent the most commonly  heard names today:

Amazon

Google

Yahoo

Craigslist

Facebook

MySpace

Twitter

and on the list goes.  It was interesting to find a few names not connected with large web companies like Jon Stewart of the Daily Show.

One name and company that was new for me was Maria Thomas of Etsy:

Etsy is a happening little company with a lot of promise. The three-year-old site, where people buy and sell homemade arts and crafts, last year sold $27 million in goods with very little marketing. Its secret? Hitting a chord with people who are tired of the ordinary and the mass produced. Thomas' job is to let more people aware that Etsy is the alternative they didn't know was there for them. She has plenty of experience building new models on top of old habits. As the Vice President and General Manager of NPR, she spearheaded the organization's wildly popular and innovative podcasting offerings. Now Thomas, a onetime exec at Amazon, is back at her e-commerce roots.

As a crafter, I found this information interesting, not just as a place to visit, shop and perhaps even submit my wares but the fact that a company selling homemade items would be listed as one of the top 25 most influential.  Cool.

Check out the list for yourself.  Any surprises?  Anyone missing?

Back to Basics: Marketing for the Small Business Owner

My new book is here!

   

Back in April Doug Johnson of the Twinsburg Chamber, asked me to put together 30 marketing tips in 30 minutes for a Business Expo.  The speech went over so well, I was asked to present it several more times and it occurred to me that it would make a great book. 

So using the speech as a framework, I expanded on each thought, created worksheets to help with the planning process and researched and included over 100 live links to additional resources, articles, worksheets and blog posts.

I am excited to announced that the electronic version is now available.  It will soon be available at Amazon, however, if you can't wait, I would encourage you to visit my website and check it out.  Not sure?  Download the first of 30 tips for free. 

Back to Basics: 30 Tips to Market Your Small Business & Establish Yourself as an Expert in the Industry. 105 pgs. $12.95.

Here's what people are saying about Back to Basics:

“Deborah Chaddock Brown is a bold-faced LIAR!!  She promises 30 tips to market your small business in her new book, Back to Basics.  But there have to be at least 50 of them in there!  With easy to grasp examples, Deborah offers the small business owner a cornucopia of marketing tips, tricks and best of all, proven techniques for building a rock solid marketing foundation.  Read this book with pencil in hand because you’ll be taking notes in the margins as you plan your way to smarter, more effective marketing.”

Drew McLellan, Top Dog, McLellan Marketing

 

"Thinking of launching your own small business? Don't waste another day or dollar dreaming about your idea until you read this book. Deborah Chaddock Brown challenges, prods and forces you to define your target audience so well that you can almost predict what they eat for breakfast. And knowing your customers is imperative before you can sell to them. If you already own a business, you'll find at least a dozen marketing ideas you can start using today to grow the bottom line." 

Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound 

  

WOW!  Insightful. Easy-to-grasp. This is a perfect roadmap for a small business owner who is ready to grow.  Deborah packs Back to Basics with lots of "Ah-Ha-so-that's-what-I-should be-doing" techniques.  It's like having a cup of coffee with a smart marketing veteran who is willing to share her knowledge about the marketing tools that work.  What a resource! Chris Brown, President, Marketing Resources & Results, Inc.

 

 

 

 

Back to Basics is a marketing guide must read for businesses trying to get a grip on marketing and not knowing where to start.  It breaks marketing activities into different strategic areas and explains why they are important and how to tackle them. Ron McDaniel, President, Buzzoodle Marketing

 

So Much MORE than the Basics… A terrific read.  Great for small business owners or independent professionals to get new ideas and improve old ones! Norma J. Rist No-Nonsense Business Coach, Founder RistList

Is your Website Mobile-Friendly?

Almost a year ago I wrote a post entitled Does Your Website Move WITH People? focusing on the new (dot) MOBI extensions for URL addresses.  The idea was to configure your website for the smaller cell phone screens. Something you can back-burner until 2020 - right?

Not according to a recent issue of Advertising Age magazine. In the article Why Google see cellphones as the ultimate ad vehicle.  Reporter Abbey Klaassen interviewed Google's Mobile Product Manager, Sumit Agarwal about the future of advertising on cell phones.  Sumit has this to say:

"The phone is the ultimate ad vehicle. It's the first one ever in the history of the planet that people go to bed with. It's ubiquitous across the world, across demographics, across age groups. People are giving these things to ever-younger children for safety and communications."

The mobile phone isn't just for pop-up ads.  Dreamworks is launching their movie Eagle Eye through mobile vehicles.

Dreamworks today (9.23.08) announced it has teamed with Millennial Media, Inc., the industry's largest and fastest-growing mobile advertising networks company, to design and launch a revolutionary, innovative mobile advertising and promotional campaign surrounding the theatrical release of DreamWorks Pictures' highly-anticipated film, Eagle Eye, which is a DreamWorks/Paramount distribution release.

What does this mean for the small business owner?  The technology is changing so fast that I hesitate to read any articles on the subject older than 6 months ago.  Here is an article on modifying your blog for the mobile phone which offers a couple simple steps and links to the resources you need to make your blog cellphone-friendly.

How about you - have you done anything to actively reach the mobile-user?  I have to be honest - other than purchasing the (dot) mobi address for my site, I haven't done a thing.  Ahhh!

Top TEN Writing Blogs Announced for 2008-2009

The winners have been selected, the race was tight, but Copyblogger took the lead for the third time in a row!  Michael Stelzner announced the winning writing blogs on his blog recently.

According to Michael the first three positions were separate by only a percentage point, so if you are already a fan of Brian over at Copyblogger, check out these two blogs:

Men with Pens and Deb Ng's blog entitled Freelance Writing gigs.

Not a writer?  This blogs should still hold your interest as crisp, compelling content is the cornerstone for successful marketing campaigns and value-based websites/blogs. 

Congrats to the other seven of the top ten blogs:

Write to Done

Confident Writing

the Regengade Writer - who just posted a comprehensive post on LinkedIn success.

Remarkable Communication who just wrote about autoresponders

The Writing Journey

Freelance Parent

Urban Muse Writer

Congratulations to all of the winners!

Your Business Photos Set to Music as Easy as Point and Click

Tomorrow is the Twinsburg Chamber monthly luncheon and I'm especially looking forward to the speaker, Brad Kleinman, as he always brings cool new techno tools to the table. 

I was just checking out his blog and already learned something new.  His post entitled BSK Video shares information about an awesome website called Animoto that takes your music and photos/slides and turns them into a video set to the beat of your music.

It sounds like you just upload your photos and an MP3 file and it will sense the beat of the music and compile a video for you to upload to your blog or website.  And the best news yet?  IT'S FREE.

Now you can produce a welcome video for your website or a compilation of photos from your catelogue or share slides from your latest vacation all set to music.  What a great tool.

I just used the program to create a mini-keepsake of a recent Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert that my daughter and I enjoyed.  The music isn't authentic because we don't have the copyright or permission, but Animoto makes it easy by providing:

• Ability to upload your photos (use about 10-12 for a 30 sec. video if the pics are large)
• You can select some photos to be spotlighted and they'll stay on the screen longer
• Music is a variety of styles from classical to hip hop
• Screen savers for the cover of your video or you can use one of your pics
• Tons of tips to make the process smoother

Genius.  I'm writing this while my video "cooks" and as soon as it is done: I'll put the code in this post to share. 

OH MY GAWD - it is so coooool!  - check it out in the post just below.

 Wow - thanks Brad.  Can't wait to hear what other new tools you have to share at tomorrow's lunch!

p.s.  yes, I did take those photos - we had awesome seats thanks to my brother and his family.

Your Business Photos Set to Music as Easy as Point and Click

Find a Different Word!

Steve, over at Brains on Fire just wrote a post about banned words that lists some of the most over used words and phrases currently used in the marketing of businesses.  He put the word out on Twitter asking followers what words they thought should be banned.  There is a lively conversation taking place in the comment section with additional thoughts being added by readers.

Here's mine:  Quality.

Have you ever been driving down the highway and passed a sign that advertises an upcoming diner with "Good food!"

I always yell out "As opposed to WHAT?"  Bad food?

Quality hits me the same way.  You offer quality products and services, as opposed to what?  Crap?

I created a business alphabet exercise (modified from a fiction writing workbook) that requires you come up with a word or phrase that starts with every letter of the alphabet.  It forces you "outside the box" (one of those banned phrases) and think creatively about the benefits you offer to your customers. 

Give the business alphabet a try - have your employees fill the form out as well then combine the lists.  You might be surprised with the results.

What is your dreaded word or phrase?

Photo courtesy of Compare Store Prices

Great Auto Responder Idea for Twitter

I'm really hooked on this Twitter business.  I try to keep in mind that social networking is the new phrase that really means "procrastination" but truly, I'm meeting cool people and learning a ton.

Take for example what I learned yesterday.  I found Denise Wakeman from the Blog Squad through a variety of clicks and tweets and decided to check them out.  When I got to their page and read their bio, this is what I found:

Business Blogging & Social Media Enthusiast! Follow me & get free rpt on how to use a blog to write & market your book.

Interested, I clicked follow and in just moments received an email thanking me for the "follow" with a link to my free gift. 

What a great way to continue the relationship, add value and drive traffic to your site. 

Are you using every opportunity to provide value and connect with your target prospect on the Internet? 

I'm inspired.  Now I need to create something that I can offer for those that sign up to follow me on Twitter.

By the way - if you have submitted articles to E-Zine Articles - you can now increase your audience by following Ezine on Twitter.  I learned about this yesterday from Chris Knight.  See the instructions and link for connecting your Twitter and Ezine profiles.