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.

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.

Data Sources: Wikipedia entries for Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard

*Special note – Although I served in the Marines and am somewhat biased, I think it’s pretty amazing how the Coast Guard, as small as they are, have such a big challenge in terms of their mission. Due to the fact that they are the smallest branch in size, their recruiting efforts don’t have to be nearly as aggressive as the other military branches. Therefore, I won’t be discussing their recruiting website. Also, their target demographic is typically a few years older than that of its’ DOD counterparts. Their message is very much like that of a civilian corporation rather than a military organization, “We’re Hiring”, literally.

What is the Military’s Product (what are they selling?)

They are selling what would be considered by any expert in sales, the most difficult product of all to sell, intangible benefits. Intangible benefits such as self-discipline, motivation, honor, and pride of belonging to name just a few. They are also selling the opportunity for higher education, career training, leadership development, worldly experience and travel.

Websites and Product Message

After carefully analyzing each branch’s recruiting website I was able to identify differences in messaging that address each unique demographic or target audience. The common demographic across all the military branches, though, are eligible males and females between the ages of 18 to 26 (approximately).

Over the past 200 years the military has been perfecting their recruiting efforts and understand their customer audiences better than most public corporations. But what I find particularly interesting is how quickly the military has fully embraced the use of the internet as an effective marketing vehicle and they have clearly put the pedal to the metal! Most corporations, however, have been slow to adopt or reluctant all together. More specifically, in regards to the use of social media platforms to reach their target audience.

Strategy

On each branch’s website, you’ll notice how they have integrated their T.V. commercial into the site providing maximum brand awareness and increasing the effectiveness of its’ broadcast reach. The following is an excellent example:

One of the biggest sales objections that a recruiter faces are the physical challenges that Boot Camp presents to a potential recruit. Most young people are intimidated by the horrific stories they hear about how Drill Instructors are constantly in your face screaming and yelling. Most prospective recruits are also apprehensive when it comes to facing the extreme physical challenges like combat water survival, repelling from a 50 foot wall, and the confidence course (an extremely challenging obstacle course each Marine Recruit must successfully negotiate in order to earn the title, Marine).

The second biggest challenge for all the branches is parental consent. Many parents are apprehensive about the thought of their children serving in the military. Each service has addressed this sales objection with a special website geared just for the parents of potential recruits. These sites are extremely easy to navigate and answer all of the most common questions and concerns that most parents have. All recruiting sites are also translated in Spanish as a significant portion of the military’s prospective recruits are Spanish speaking.

Breakdown of each Branch’s Recruiting Website

U.S. Army

Designed to appeal to high school students both female and males. Their message is geared toward the young adult that wants to develop the qualities that are in demand by civilian employers. They are clearly advocating that the Army will make you a stronger person. I would like to note that they have cleverly left that interpretation up to the individual. In any case it can only be construed as a positive benefit that will result from becoming a U.S. Soldier.

The Army’s site has one of the most advanced features I have ever seen on a website, the "Ask SGT STAR" feature. It is a database driven application that allows the visitor to ask a virtual Soldier any question that would typically be asked by a prospective recruit. What a powerful database! It answered every question I asked ranging from pay to duty station preferences. It even addresses questions on family housing and includes a sample floor plan. Most impressive!

U.S. Air Force

They don’t make an obvious attempt to reach out to either gender. Approximately 20% of the Air Force population is female compared to the Marine Corps’ 5%. This should not be surprising as the majority of duties in the Air Force are combat-support and do not involve direct combat. What is obvious from a customer demographics perspective is that the website clearly represents diversity in terms of race. The primary benefit to the prospective recruit that I noticed is self improvement through higher education. The Air Force’s marketing message is clear in its appeal to those who value continuing education.

When one thinks of the Air Force, the first thing that comes to mind is cutting-edge technology. The Air Force’s recruiting site truly lives up to that branding image. It is probably one of the most interactive sites on the internet. This site has countless activities that engage and stimulate the interests of a young high tech enthusiast. From video games that simulate piloting and destroying enemy targets with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to simulations that allow you to learn more about training military working dogs, the Air Force recruiting website delivers a user experience that is unparalleled in online marketing.

U.S. Navy – Accelerate Your Life ™

Many young people in high school are in a rush to grow up and be viewed by friends and family as adults. I can’t think of a life decision that requires more careful consideration than making a 4-6 year commitment to serve your country in the military other than getting married and having children. The Navy’s recruiting website is every bit as impressive as the other branches.

The major feature that differed from the other sites and caught my immediate attention, was an interactive area that connects directly with the female demographic. It showcases women in the Navy and allows the user to learn about the role(s) they have in the Navy. It’s a very engaging experience that most likely dispels any apprehension or concerns that a prospective female may have when it comes to meeting the challenges associated with serving in a male dominated military. This is an awesome feature and clearly illustrates the importance the Navy has placed on internet marketing.

U.S. Marine Corps

Designed to appeal to the male, high school student, who is looking for the ultimate challenge of self-discipline. Their message in itself is a challenge and is aimed directly to a small target audience. The Marine Corps needs candidates that are highly motivated and willing to take the challenge of becoming a member of the World’s Most Elite Fighting Force. It’s no surprise that only one in every one million Americans claims the title, “United States Marine”. Can you tell I served in the Marines?

The Marine Corps faces its’ biggest sales objection straight on by providing one of the most incredible user experiences I’ve seen on a website. They include excerpts of video taken from the recruits’ perspective while engaging in the most challenging activities during training. They have the entire 12 weeks of Boot Camp broken down on one, navigation friendly page. This user experience allows for the visitor to see first- hand the challenges Marine Corps Boot Camp Offers.

Summary

Each branch of service is augmenting their online presence with YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. They are benefiting from the power that social media offers in spreading their message virally. As a member of Facebook and a former Marine myself, I decided to become a fan of the Marine Corps’ Fanpage. Within minutes, I was bombarded by other fans asking me about my experience in the Marine Corps. Most of them are young people that haven’t reached the qualifying age yet, but had already decided they are joining the Marine Corps.  I was surprised at the amount of questions they were asking in regards to the Marine Corps.  I think they were intimidated to talk to the recruiter.  This was a way for them to get their questions answered without feeling pressured by a potential sales pitch.  It just goes to show that your customers are going to talk about your product with other people outside of your organization.  Companies can benefit by monitoring the conversation and learning about what concerns their customers have in terms of their product.

Once they have a better understanding of those concerns, they will be better able to address them via the social platforms they utilize. There is no other marketing tool more powerful than word of mouth. Conversations about your products by your prospective customers is your most powerful marketing tool. The military is one organization that “Gets It” and definitely participates in the conversation.

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:

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:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• E-Mail

I hope this list gives you some useful ideas so that you can create an amazing blog.

1. Create a good, unique design
2. Easy to navigate site
3. Posts that are Consistent and regular
4. Content that is helpful and useful
5. Create blog posts on niche topics that aren’t oversaturated
6. Original content using your, unique voice
7. Easy to share content- social media sharing tools/widgets
8. Comment on other blogs to become known
9. Make it easy for readers to subscribe
10. Organization with categories and sub-categories
11. Content variety including multimedia
12. Functionality- the ability to interact
13. Announce your latest blog posts on Twitter
14. Write powerful headlines for your articles
15. Don’t sensor yourself- Be You!
16. Monetize your blog- Banner Ads, Text Ads, etc.
17. Reference and link to other blogs
18. Engage with commenter’s
19. Who, what , where, why, when format
20. Use storytelling
21. Conciseness and brevity
22. Inspirational thoughts and ideas
23. Accuracy, sourcing, and references
24. Provide examples and demonstrations
25. Blog Post Topic diversity
26. Imagery and Illustration
27. Humor and occasional fun
28. Quotes and Acknowledgement
29. Controversial discussion
30. Sticky CTA’s (Call-to-Action) Entice visitors to return
31. Participate on LinkedIn “Answers”
32. Distribute posts using social bookmark sites (Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Etc.)
33. Proofread, Proofread, Proofread
34. Scannable Posts
35. Create relevant “Top 10” Lists
36. Create “How To” articles
37. Write a “series” post
38. Don’t duplicate other people’s content
39. Provide a picture of yourself and an “About Me”
40. Optimize the blog for the Search Engines (SEO practices)
41. Use Squidoo and Hubspot to write articles that point back to your blog
42. Use Youtube to host and embed video to your blog
43. Use Google Analytics to Analyze and Improve Traffic Demographics
44. Write content that will still be relevant tomorrow
45. Offer a download (free E-book or Guide) to build a e-mail distribution list
46. Develop a personal brand
47. Add your Blog Link in your E-mail Signature
48. Tweet useful news articles on Twitter besides your blog posts
49. Don’t over promote yourself or your products
50. Submit your blog to blog directories

If you have questions on blogs, blogging, or social media in general, please contact our website design company.

Companies need a simple way to approach their social media strategy that doesn’t necessarily start with technology. It can be broken down into an easy, three pronged approach and here are our recommended components.

1. Monitor: In most cases, companies dive into the social media mix by jamming their traditional mainstream media messages into a social media venue. It just doesn’t work that way. The two-way dynamic of social media requires a different, more delicate approach. Careful, unbiased listening skills are a necessary part of a successful social media strategy. In order for companies to start off on the right foot, they must have an open mind to discover new possibilities and insight that their customers and potential customers will invariably deliver.

2. Engage: Companies have to take an active role in social media by engaging with their audience by providing thought leadership. This can be accomplished by participating in relevant conversations with key influencers in their industry. Their goal here is to make a positive impression with influential participants that are outside the company. The company ultimately needs to be perceived as the industry leader and a subject matter expert.

3. Integrate: A company’s marketing efforts should be integrated with their traditional marketing channels such as seminars, trade-show events, radio, television and print advertising. Social media has always been a challenge to measure in terms of ROI. When possible, it is advisable to use social media technologies to drive traffic to channels that can be measured through analytics software. Also, it pays to have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution in place for tracking customers and managing prospects. Managing your company’s internet presence can and should be scalable.

Our simplified three pronged approach is not an end all, but provides an easily definable starting point that any company can begin to execute. What are your thoughts?

If you would like more information regarding internet marketing or social media, please contact our web design company.

I am up this morning at an earlier than usual time (4:30 A.M. PST).  I am drinking my first cup of coffee and can’t help but realize how much I love coffee.  I beleive like most people that too much of anything can be bad for you, but I wanted to generate this list of ten known health benefits:

• Coffee use can lower Parkinson’s risk

• Coffee can lower diabetes risk

• Drinking 4 or more cups of coffee a day may help prevent gout

• Coffee may protect against bladder cancer

• Coffee may lower your risk of cavities

• Coffee can reduce the risk of chronic liver disease

• Coffee jump-starts short-term memory

• Coffee treats asthma

• Coffee can prevent the development of colon cancer

• Coffee can treat headaches

Lastly, I feel coffee makes us more creative.  Have a fun and productive day folks!

What colors will be used in the design world for marketing in 2010?

Your brand creates an emotion?  The question is, is it the right emotion to positively influence your audience?  The following information will give you some insight as to which colors may work best to achieve your marketing goals through visual communication.

Here’s a list of frequently used colors and what emotions are generally associated with them:

• WHITE – White is associated with innocence, purity, peace and contentment. It’s considered clean and sterile. It’s cool and refreshing. White can have a calming, stabilizing influence.
• BLACK – Black is the ultimate power color.  It suggests strength, potency, authority, boldness, seriousness, stability and elegance. It’s distinguished and classic, great for creating drama. Black has more weight than other colors. Too much can be ominous.
• Gray or Silver – Gray can be associated with conservative qualities and considered traditional. Business-wise, it symbolizes high tech and suggests authority, practicality, earnestness and creativity.
• GOLD – Gold suggests wealth. It’s considered to be very classy.
• BLUE – Blue is the favorite color of many businesses. It suggests sanctuary and fiscal responsibility. It inspires confidence. It is the most popular and second most powerful color. Darker shades are authoritative. Dark and bright blues represent trust, security, faithfulness and dignity. Paler shades can imply freshness and cleanliness, although they can imply weakness.
• RED – Red stimulates many kinds of appetites. Red commands attention, alerts us and creates a sense of urgency. It’s considered the sexiest of all colors. Red symbolizes heat, fire, blood, love, warmth, power, excitement, energy, strength, passion, vitality, risk, danger and aggressiveness. Financially, it’s associated with debt.
• YELLOW – Yellow is the sunshine hue and is a spiritual color. Yellow represents a warning, but it can also bring happiness and warmth. The most preferred yellows are the creamy and warm ones. Bright yellow can be irritable to the eye in large quantities. Yellow speeds metabolism. It’s often used to highlight or draw attention.
• GREEN – People associate green with the color of money, as well as nature. Olive greens are associated with health and freshness — a good choice for environmental concerns. Green suggests fertility, freedom, healing and tranquility. Green represents jealousy. Businesses use it to communicate status and wealth. Green is a calming, refreshing color that is very easy on the eyes.
• BROWN – Brown is associated with nature and the earth. Dark browns represent wood or leather. Brown and shades of cream are associated with warmth and coziness. Brown suggests richness, politeness, helpfulness and effectiveness. It is solid, credible, mature and reliable. Light brown implies genuineness.
• ORANGE – Orange is associated with vibrancy and the tropics, as well as warmth and contentment. It can instill a sense of fun and excitement. It implies health. It suggests pleasure, cheer, endurance, generosity and ambition. It can make an expensive product seem more affordable. It appeals to a wide range of people, both male and female.
• PINK – Pink is considered to be a very feminine color. It represents gentleness, romance, well being and innocence.
• PURPLE – Purple represents royalty and luxury. In darker shades, it’s considered a wealthy color. It suggests spirituality and sophistication. In paler shades, such as lavender, it’s feminine and romantic.

When choosing your color choices for your next graphic design project, make sure you consider your marketing goals and the emotion you want your audience to experience.

Free Speech

Give a “free” speech about a topic involving your industry. Don’t talk in terms of your product directly though; engage the audience with information that is beneficial to them and teases them with your product. If you’re a Heating and Air Conditioning company for example, give a free speech on how to save money on energy costs throughout the year. This way you’ll be perceived as an industry leader, not just another salesperson. You want people to think of you as a valuable resource. There are organizations that love to have guest speakers. When was the last time you had an audience listen to what you have to say concerning an issue that your product addresses? When one of those audience members has a Heating or Air Conditioning issue, who do you think they’ll call? Through your creative use of speech, you’ll build rapport, credibility, and trust. People want to do business with people they like and trust! Don’t you?

Creative Writing

Another valuable sales and marketing tool! Use the same concepts as in “Free Speech” above, but put them in writing. Write your way into their lives with valuable information they can use. Tease them with your products in a round about way. Promotional materials are more effective when people are interested in the content. People don’t want to hear about your product or its features; they usually throw that type of literature in the trash can. Give them valuable information and they will keep reading and more importantly, pass it on. Newspapers have been doing this for centuries! Develop rapport through your writing style. If they like what they have read, who do you think they’ll go to when considering the products in your industry? Get your articles published in newspapers, newsletters, and industry trade magazines to name just a few.

Give them Value

I have a friend who is an attorney and used this technique the other day. He gave a powerful and compelling presentation in the form of a testimonial from one of his clients who had been severely injured in a car accident. He spoke of how he was able to assist his client with legal representation that enabled her to receive a healthy lawsuit settlement. I immediately noticed the effectiveness of his ability to gain the full attention of the audience. At the end of his presentation he handed out accident cards for your glove-compartment, with important instructions to follow in the event of an automobile accident. It had his contact information at the bottom as well as emergency contact information. Everyone went out of their way at the end of the meeting to thank him. Now that’s value! Follow this approach and you’ll be amazed at the results.

Hi all,

A lot of people ask what the differences are between the following types of marketing companies:

• Advertising Agency
• Ad Agency
• Marketing Agency
• Interactive Agency
• Interactive Advertising Agency
• Interactive Marketing Agency
• Search Engine Marketing

And so on, and so on…

I put together a lens in Squidoo that explains various business models in the Marketing/Advertising Industry and what their responsibilities are.  Keep in mind that there is much overlap.  Some companies may carry the same title, but provide a wide variety of services while others are tightly niched.

The article can be seen here:  My interactive marketing agency Squidoo lens

If you have any questions or would like to offer additional insight, please do.

Thanks in advance,

Chris Turnquist- CEO, Proteus Design Studio

We are posting a checklist for you to use when developeing a new website for your company.  We hope you find this checklist useful.

Web Site Design Marketing Objectives

• What is your primary goal with the site?
  • Establishing your credibility
  • Describing your products or services
  • Completing sales transactions
  • Offering customer service and support
  • Communicating company identity or branding
• What are your secondary goals?
  • Search engine friendly?
  • Generate repeat traffic?
  • Encourage visitors to recommend it to others?
  • Create an online community, send emails?
  • Increase customer loyalty?
  • Encourage visitors to stay and visit many parts of the site?
• What is your intended use for the site?
• How will people find the site?  By searching in a search engine or because you gave them your URL?

Who is Your Target Audience

• Who is your target audience?
• Will they be accessing your site via dial up or high speed connection?
• How will you be accessing the site (connection speed and browser)
• What is your target audience looking for?
• What questions are your customers constantly asking you?
• What can we include that would WOW your customers?

Web Site Design Look and Feel

• Have you seen any sites that you would like to model yours after? Or site designs to avoid?
• What do you like about those sites?
• What colors do you prefer for the site?
• What image the site should convey?
• Home page design: three column tabloid, two column information or splash screen?
• How wide do you want your site design to be?
• Do you want your pages to be easily printable or do you want to offer PDF files of information rich pages?
• Vertical or horizontal navigation bar preference?
• Do you want your site to use only graphics, only photos, or both?
  Are you interested in animation files?
• Do we need to take photos of you, your staff, your services, or your products?
• Do you have any vendor supplied photos or graphics you are authorized to use?

Logo and Branding Identity

• Do you have a logo?
• Do you have a digital copy of it?
• Do you need a logo or would a stylized typeset of your company name be sufficient?
• Do you have a tag line? How would you describe your business in one sentence to a family member?

Web Site Content Creation

• Do you have any existing written materials we can start from?
• Do you have this information electronically?
  • Hard copy brochures
  • Client presentations
  • Customer letters
  • Information flyers
  • Case studies
  • Customer testimonial letters
  • Your resume
• What menu categories make sense for you. Here are some common choices:
  • Home
  • Services-how many
  • Product categories
  • Customers
  • Testimonials
  • FAQs
  • Forms
  • Articles or other informative topics
  • Pdf files to include?
  • Links or resources
  • About us
  • Contact us

Website Promotion- Search Engine Optimization

• What search terms do you expect your customers will use to find you?
• What search engines will they be using?
• What organizations, companies or sites can we ask to link to your site?
• What organizations, companies or sites would be valuable resources for your readers?

Website promotion- Social Media Marketing

• Do you want people to share the useful information they find on your site with others (Viral word of mouth advertising)?
• Are you going to cross promote your site through YouTube, FaceBook, LinkedIn,etc.?
• Do you have the resources, both human, time, and financial to execute a successful social media marketing campaign?

Miscellaneous Considerations

• Have you registered a domain name?
• Have you secured hosting?
• Do you have your site access information?

Web Site Maintenance

• How often do you envision updating the site?
• What content will need updating?

Schedule and Project Timeframe

• What is your timing for this? Beginning and finishing?

Many companies call us inquiring about lead generation over the internet, only to find that pay per click is extemely expensive for their industry. Pay per click is a great program when used properly. It can be very expensive for certain markets, but it can generate immediate results.

A more economical solution to generating leads over the internet is to use social media. Setup a blog to discuss your industry topics. Blog posts need to be done on a regular basis. You can setup a free blog at either wordpress.com or blogger.com. Both sites are easy to use and will allow you to be up and running in short order.

Commenting on other peoples blogs is a great way to get noticed in your industry. Goolge your keyword or kewords that you are working on ranking well for (also include the word blog). Find a blog that comes up in your search results that you’d like to participate on. Make sure you put a link to your blog or website when commenting on someone elses blog entry. This way you benefit from a external backlink.

Commenting on someones YouTube video is also another way to build relevant backlinks. Over time, you will see your website increase in rank for the keywords you are focusing on. If you would like to find out how your business model could benefit from using social media, call us to schedule a free social media marketing strategy.

A main goal of any franchise corporation is to sell franchises. I think it’s easier than ever for a franchise to build their brand’s reputation over the internet. For example, if you owned a fast food franchise, you could search on Goolge for blogs that are industry related. Get in on the conversations and contribute. Provide valuable feedback on the topics being discussed. Ensure to insert a backlink to your website or blog whenever possible.

Another suggestion I have for franchisors selling franchises is to contribute to community sites sucha as LinkedIn and facebook. Join and start your own groups within communities. You’ll soon find that it’s not too difficult to connect with people that are interested in similar Franchising topic(s).

I have started a Squidoo lense that is designed to provide information to Franchises on how they can grow rapidly using social media and web 2.0 technologies. For more information, you can visit the lens here: Franchise Marketing Ideas

Please bookmark the site as I will try to update with more information on a regular basis.

Social Marketing-  What is it anyway?

Social Marketing is a combination of the use of social media to promote your business.  Although social media is a powerful marketing tool, the use of social media to promote your company should be just one aspect of your overall website traffic building strategy.

Below we’ll cover the main concepts of proper social media marketing.

If your not Blogging, your really missing out.

Everyone knows by now that Google loves updated and fresh content.  Your blog is the place to make it happen.  Not to mention the fact that it’s so easy to distribute your blog entries to all the social bookmarking sites.  This is a strong traffic building strategy that almost anyone can employ immediatly.  I recommend using the keywords that you have found from your most recent keyword analysis.  Put them to good use with tightly focused topics that you feel would be useful to your target audience.

Use the Social Bookmarking sites correctly

Treat these communities and their members with respect.  It’s social, so make it social.  The larger your network of friends, the better.  Try to create strong relationships with people who have large friend networks.  This will be helpful in getting your submissions a lot more exposure.

Write as though your having a real conversation- Don’t pitch your products/services

People aren’t on these sites to read how great your product or service is.  They are there to make real relationships and gain something of value from social networking.  One way to fail miserably is to provide a constant flow of sales pitches.

A systemized, methodical approach will get the best results.

Setup times to participate on the sites.  Perhaps a couple hours a day.  One hour blogging and sharing content and the other hour reviewing other peoples content and rating it.  Also try to make it a point to meet new people on a regular ongoing basis.  Once you get in a habit, things will become second nature.

Many times, popular videos get spread virally over the internet. Creative video production can be a very economical way to promote your small business.

Here is an awesome example of how a business can promote their brand and product over the internet. Blend Tec has an entire series of these blender commercials titled, “Will it Blend?”. This one in particular features the I-Pod geting blended by the Blend Tec blender. It is uploaded on You Tube and has been viewed over 5,000,000 times. This company has seen a significant increase in blender sales as a result of these videos.

Static websites are almost obsolete in my opinion. A dynamic website may cost twice as much, but they are often 100 times more valuable in the long run. With the rise of social media becoming the norm, a static website will leave your business at a major disadvantage. In an economic downturn, many industries are becoming more competitive. More companies are stepping up their internet marketing efforts to gain the advantage over their competitors.

Today, internet visitors expect to be able to leave comments on your blog, watch streaming video, download and share information across other social bookmarking sites. This is the main reason why membership population numbers on the social bookmarking sites are doubling every six months. This is why we advise our clients to change their company’s internet presence to be more compatible with the new internet user behaviors.

When I meet with clients for the first time at our San Diego location, I try to emphasize and keep my clients focused on one primary objective. Everyone gets all wrapped up in the “look and feel” of the website design. The big question that I ask is, once the visitor is on the site, what do you want them to do next? In other words, what is the next step in your sales process?

I always recommend setting an initial goal of getting the visitor to submit their name and e-mail address in exchange for a special offer. Special offers, for example, can be anything from a free consultation, 10% off of a product or service, or a free downloadable report. This strategy is referred to as, your “call to action”. It needs to be clearly defined. The actual act that a visitor takes toward that goal is called, the “conversion.” Once converted, you can now nurture the new relationship by e-mailing them with other items they may find of value. It takes an average of seven exposures before a purchase decision is made and that’s just the average.

This is the essence of internet marketing and is also an area in website design that is severely overlooked. Most web designers are not concerned with conversion rates because they are not internet marketers. They just make pretty websites. When seeking out a web design company, it is a good idea to find a website designer or website developer that adds value by setting goals to increase business through your new website.

In San Diego, California, networking with other businesses has always been a difficult challenge.  Besides the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce (the largest Chamber of Commerce in California), San Diego also has a long list of smaller, city Chambers of Commerce.  It requires a significant amount of time each month staying on top of all the events, dates and times, and locations.  For maximum exposure, one must then try attending as many events each month as possible.  The cost of these events can quickly deplete the marketing budgets of most small businesses.

After speaking with the CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce at the end of 2007, it became apparent to our company that there is a need for an on-line community that could make a dramatic impact on the way people in San Diego network and promote their businesses.  We have decided to take on the project ourselves and make it available to the general public.  Imagine one central website location with an information calendar of all networking events.  A San Diego, internet business community modeled after the other successful social sites such as Linked In, MySpace, and Facebook.  We envision a website where people can meet to exchange thoughts and ideas on how to help each other grow business.  Webinars on various topics important to the business owner will be available for both live participation and download.

If you or someone you know may be interested in joining the on-line community, we are accepting pre-registrations via our website.  All we need is your e-mail address and your name and we will notify you via e-mail when the website is launched.  We anticipate launching the site early June of 2008.

Website promotion should be the primary focus of your internet marketing plan. Pomoting the site effectively and driving the right traffic is more important than the esthetics of the site in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, the site should make a great first impression, it’s just that there won’t be a first impression if no one sees the sight. This is why constant website promotion is critical for an on line business.

Here are seven fundamental steps for website promotion:

1. Create a website marketing plan – People don’t plan on failing, they fail to plan. During website design and development, design a plan on how you will market the new site as well. You need to have clearly defined goals and design a strategy to accomplish your business objectives.
2. Target market, Define it – Do the research on the demographic of your customer. There may be many websites that already have your customers visiting on a frequent basis. You could possibly advertise on those sites by linking an advertisement back to your site. Targetted traffic to your site will increase your sales because the visitor is already interested in what you are offering.
3. Focus on more than one promotion strategy – Try several strategies to determine which is most effective for your business model. For example, forums, writing articles, blogging, search engine optimization, and e-mail newsletters. Using several techniques, will give you a greater chance to gain more traffic to your website.
4. Consistent website promotion – You need to promote the site consistently in order to get consistent traffic. Website traffic could become your best source for new sales leads. Make promoting the site a daily habit. Dedicate a block of time everyday.
5. ROI/What is your return on investment – This is where you calculate the difference between what you spend on certain promotion methods for the site and how much in sales you have made as a result. This could prevent you from wasting money on poor methods.  If you calculate that it takes 200 visitors to visit your website to generate one sale and with each sale you make $20, then you shouldn’t spend more than 10 cents for each targeted website visitor to still make a profit.
6. Website traffic analysis – Monitoring your website traffic and visitor behaviors can be very beneficial for making improvements on the site to increase visitor growth and sales.  Analyze which keywords your visitors are using to find your business website, which web pages are the most popular and where your visitors are coming from. Reviewing these statistics on a regular basis, will be an extremely valuable internet marketing tool.
7. Testing, Tracking, and monitoring – Try different colors, messages, etc. on the website and e-newsletters to find what generates the best results. Tracking the responses you experience from an online advertisment will force you to make tweaks for maximum performance. Once you have a winning recipe, you can then increase the size, scope, and investment of your internet marketing campaign.

Finally, website internet marketing strategies will differ for each business. Try everything you can, record the results, and see what works for you.

I hope this has been helpful and good luck promoting your website.