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A Guide to Building a Successful BlogFebruary 6th, 2010 by Chris TurnquistEvery day there are thousands of new blogs launched, but only a few get read by more than a several hundred people. What is it that makes the most successful blogs a success? There are many variables to that equation. One thing’s for sure, the most successful blogs don’t become a hit overnight. The most successful blogs require creativity, consistency, and just plain hard work. A blog can be your company’s hub for communicating with its’ target audience. It is where ideas and opinions are exchanged. Think of it as your opportunity for gaining feedback directly from your customers on your products and services. A blog can be your vehicle to gain valuable insight into your customers’ wants, needs and desires. When used strategically, blogs can exponentially amplify the effectiveness of your offline advertising. Your blog is an integral part of your online presence and allows you to demonstrate thought leadership in your industry. Your blog is a platform that allows you to add value to your online community and be perceived as a trusted resource. Successful blogging is just as much an art as it is a science. At Proteus Design Studio, we have put together a guide to building a successful blog. In the guide you’ll find tips for creating useful content, strategies to maximize content distribution, and valuable resources for making social connections. Please share this information with anyone you know that may find it beneficial. View more presentations from Chris Turnquist.
Tags: amazing blogs, blog strategy, Blogging, business, creating, successful blogs Our Military’s Web Strategy for Winning on the Social BattlefieldFebruary 1st, 2010 by Chris Turnquist
Having one of the most challenging recruiting tasks of any organization in America requires nothing less than an exceptional marketing plan. The five branches of the military each have a distinct military mission and therefore recruit a little differently. More specifically, I would like to discuss why I feel the U.S. military is using the internet to market more effectively than almost any civilian corporation in the world. Just like any other organization, it is first necessary to have a thorough understanding of the military’s mission or business plan, in order to develop an effective web strategy. Let’s take a brief look at each branch of our military to gain a better understanding of their role in providing our overall national security. I will be discussing the Military Branches in order from largest to smallest. Tags: air force, army, coast guard, Conversation, Facebook, fanpage, marine corps, marketing, military, MySpace, navy, online advertising, social media, youtube channel World’s Ugliest Web Design Makes $1 MillionJanuary 27th, 2010 by Chris Turnquist
The ultimate goal of the website was to generate $1 Million. The site went live on August 26, 2005 and became a massive hit within just a couple months. By the end of October, 1400 people claimed 500,000 pixels. The final block of 1000 pixels were auctioned off on eBay for an astounding $38,100, well exceeding his initial goal of $1 Million. How did his idea take off? He began by selling his first block of pixels to friends and family. Sales grew slowly initially by word of mouth. Once multiple block holders started promoting the page URL, it took off virally.
Tags: $1 Million Home Page, ugliest web design, ugly web design, viral marketing Is Social Media Destroying Obama’s Approval Rating?January 26th, 2010 by Chris Turnquist
It is well known that the President has inherited a host of challenging issues including but not limited to the War in the Middle East and the economic recession. Most would agree that these challenges will take at least a decade to resolve regardless of who’s in office. The fact is that the President’s approval rating has dropped below 50% and many analysts suggest this number will continue to decline. As social media communities such as Twitter, Facebook, and DIGG continue to grow at alarming rates, what will this mean for the President’s approval rating? Will he stand a chance for re-election in 2013? How much clout or social influence do his critics have on social media platforms?
Tags: approval ratings, president obama, presidential campaign, social influence, social media Twitter AddictionJanuary 22nd, 2010 by Chris Turnquist
Tags: addicted to twitter, addiction, Followers, retweets, tweets, twitter Social Media – Learning Why Your Customers BuyJanuary 21st, 2010 by Chris Turnquist
Brand Awareness - Is your customer aware of your existence? They need to know about you as a source or option. Your location, whether it be brick and mortar or the first page of Google are important factors in determining your Brand Awareness and market penetration. Product Features and Benefits - We are all customers. Have you ever compared features of a particular product or service? We all do it. A good example is when shopping for a Cell Phone Service Provider. We compare the features of various plans offered by the competing companies. Most importantly as customers though, we focus on the benefits. What will that cell phone do for me? Maybe it’s the security and peace of mind to know that I can call anytime or anywhere during an emergency? Or maybe it might make me feel good to know that my monthly bill will be a flat rate every month. Product or Service Pricing - Let’s face it, there are customers that price shop. Then there are customers that are willing to pay more for what they perceive as a better value. Have you heard the term, “Getting the most for my money”? Brand Reputation - what does your market think about your brand? Dominos Pizza recently learned that the majority of their market had the opinion that their product sucks. They learned specific details as to why their customers felt their product was inferior against their competitors. Dominos then used social media to their advantage by asking for customer input to develop a new and improved product. Word of Mouth - What are your customers saying about your company, product or service? Results from studies have shown that a satisfied customer may share their buying experience with 1-3 people. On the other hand, if they had an unpleasant experience with your company, they are likely to share that information with 10 people. This is one of the reasons customer loyalty is so important. Social media and customer rating sites have made it extremely easy for customers to review and share their buying experience. Smart companies are learning these new marketing concepts and using them to their advantage. The most successful companies today are leveraging their knowledge of the fore mentioned concepts with social media technologies. In my blog post titled, “Corporate Marketing– Simplifying the Social Media Challenge”, I discuss a simple and effective way for companies to approach their social media strategy. Connect with me: Tags: Brand Awareness, branding, marketing, positioning, products, sales, social media, strategy How to Come Up with Great Blog TopicsJanuary 15th, 2010 by Chris Turnquist
When we speak with our clients, we find this to be the biggest killer of what should otherwise be successful blogs. In this post I am going to provide you with a strategy that you can use over and over again to create "Great Blog Post Topics". I’m sure people may have other names for this approach, but I’m going to call it the “Opposites” Chart. The concept here is to draft two lists at the same time, side-by-side of each other. The lists should be based on opposites. Here are some examples to explain better: Like/Dislike - things you like and dislike about your career, hobbies, or personal life Usual/Unusual - Things that happen all the time and things that happen rarely. Fun Things/Things that Suck – Things you do that are enjoyable and things that suck.
Your lists should help to quickly produce enough topics to last an entire year. Just make sure you save them for future reference. Not all topics are going to be clear winners. Remember to ask yourself these 4 questions when choosing your next Blog Post Topic:
I wish you much success with your blog. As with everything in life, you will only get better with practice. If you would like more information on blogging or the use of social media for business, please contact our web design company. Tags: blog post, blog topics, Blogging, content, copy, copywrite, Copywriting, ideas, writing 5 Crucial Steps for a Successful Facebook Fan PageJanuary 14th, 2010 by Pilar GuerraIn a previous post, How To: Create a Facebook Fan Page, I took you through the Fan page creation process. If you decided to create one you’re probably asking yourself, "Ok, I have this fan page set up, now what do I do with it?" Well it’s going to take some effort on your part to get the ball rolling, unless you happen to be a well known brand of course. As much as we all would love to have instant fans in the thousands, in this land of information overload, we are but a small glimmer in front of a big glowing sun.
So before you start inviting or suggesting your Fan Page to your Facebook and business connections, use the following methods to get the biggest bang out your invite. People will be more likely to join your page if they see there’s an effort being made to stimulate their interest.
I hope you find this post helpful in getting your Fan Page started and on the road to great success. As long as you’re providing quality information you will begin to see an increase in your fan numbers. Just make sure that if a Fan posts a question or comment on your Wall or Discussion board you or someone at your company responds in a timely manner. After all that is why we’re doing this in the first place Please feel free to share your experiences in the comment section below or if you have a suggestion to add to the list, I’d love to hear it! Tags: facebook applications, facebook fan page, group, profile, social media, social networking 12 Hot Tips For Ranking Higher in GoogleJanuary 12th, 2010 by Chris TurnquistIt is absolutely critical for your website to be found in the major search engines. The majority of traffic that a website sees from search engines will come from Google. That being said, we have complied a comprehensive list of informative resources to assist you with website search engine optimization. Extremely Helpful Sites & Guides
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Having served in the Marine Corps for ten years as well as co-founding and operating a web strategy company, I offer a unique perspective on our military and its’ Web Strategy. The United States has the world’s second largest military, after the People’s Liberation Army of China, and has troops deployed around the globe. With an “All Volunteer” military force of 1,454,515 people serving on active duty and an additional 848,000 people in the seven reserve components, I think most people would agree that the military’s recruiting mission is of an epic scale compared to other organizations.
Customers buy because of their perceived need. Most of the time, their perceived need is actually a want. Many companies fail to recognize this difference and therefore make costly mistakes by developing products and or services that don’t catch on. There are several factors that determine why customers buy a product or service from one source over others. The main factors are as follows:
I can’t think of anything to blog about today! This is a very frustrating feeling that most everyone who writes has experienced at one time or another. Your blog already has a general theme, but for your next post, where do you begin? Coming up with the right topic can be the toughest part of writing. Blogging is supposed to be an enjoyable experience, not a nightmare that you avoid. Yesterday you came up with a great topic, what about tomorrow and then the next day? Does this have to be a constant battle?
Place a Fan Page Badge on your company website and/or blog. Let your current visitors know that they can now interact with you via Facebook.
The easiest and fastest way to become successful with Twitter is to be human. Make a real contribution to others. Share useful information that others can use. That’s what people really want. What they don’t want is to be sold to. Spend a short amount of time on Twitter and you will quickly see that a lot of people just don’t get it; there are tons of those types of people on Twitter. You can use this to your advantage to stand out from the crowd.
It’s simply about being transparent and being you. It’s about meeting people and being genuine. The best part is, it’s especially easy to use Twitter to find people you have common interests with. Just search for them using the keywords that best describe your interests.
