Michigan Blog - Featuring Michigan Shopping, Travel, Business & People

The landscape is changing and it needs your attention!

If you are a small business owner in Michigan ( or elsewhere ), the odds are ...a website was built for your company about eight years ago (on average) and then it was revamped about three years ago. If you did your homework and hired an internet savvy consultant or a web firm that understood a bit about meta tags and linking - then you probably have gotten a little bit of business from that website of yours. Nothing to call home about - but it probably nudged your business to profitability in one way or another.

But the landscape HAS changed and the leads are lessening because more and more of your competition has jumped on the bandwagon and built websites. The advent of Google ads and Yahoo ads and other small Pay per Click and Pay per Position opportunities have arose. Much traffic is now generated by social networks and organic search results are getting harder to obtain.

It was easier in the past - the steps were simple:

1. Build a website


2. Add meta tags, content and other on-page elements


3. Get a few links from directories


4. Whala! Success

Now the process is a bit more complicated and it is not clear what parts of the process will give you the biggest bang for the buck.

1. Build a dynamic website with continually changing content


2. Add the meta tags and on -page elements - but those have to be dynamic also


3. Add a blog to the website and update it every few days.


4. Create a PPC strategy and an affiliate strategy ( if applicable )


5. Add social bookmarking and sharing elements


6. Build a LinkedIn page for your company (and Facebook and MySpace)


7. Develop a reputation on the social networks in an ongoing fashion - don't forget Twitter and Plaxo and FriendFeed.


8. Add video content and more advance multimedia to capture your visitors attention


9. Add a KLM file to map your location and/or locations


10. Join directories like the Michigan Business Directory and make sure all of your online profiles are hooked up.


11. Syndicate your content using RSS


12. Create press releases on a regular basis and submit them to Free Press Release Services like MichiganPR.net


13. eCommerce businesses have to worry about all the social shopping sites like Kaboodle and ThisNext in addition to the above items


14. Product videos need to be created (if you sell or distribute or manufacture products)

The case for a full-time web designer, web marketer or at least IT professional is realized but not something you can afford. Where do you start?

First - get a blog installed on your website. Blogger offers easy to use tools and allows you to integrate the blog easily with your own website.

Second - set aside one hour each day (or evening) that you work exclusively on an online reputation plan. Create profiles in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN and Plaxo to start.

Third - Get started on a PR strategy. Each month write a press release that announces the latest and greatest news about your company. Send these across the internet and even send them to your local paper

Start with the above three steps and it should give you the momentum to obtain more business from the Internet. Once it proves itself worthwhile - THEN you can hire a web developer or online marketer on a regular basis.

Happy ONLINE marketing!

Labels: Michigan Web Design, online reputation, social networking

We were hoping to announce our new "2009 Social Features" on January 1st, because that would be most fitting, but ... a programming bug here and a holiday drop-in there .. and well ... here we are on the 5th of January finally ready to announce!

• Your Google profile
• LinkedIn.com profile or company page
• Facebook profile or company page
• Delicious profile
• Your company or individual blog (RSS feeds are accepted)
• Your twitter profile

Finally, we added a field that allows you to offer a coupon, discount, sale or promotion to your company page.

More on all of our new features in subsequent blog entries, but now is the time to login and reap the rewards of extra exposure by adding your profile pages.

Happy New Year and don't forget to add me as a friend when you create your Google Friend Connect account. My id is: nicayla9042

Labels: google friend connect, social networking

I started working on search engine marketing in 1999. Back then, a good optimized website with keywords, a description and a good title tag would get ranked well on search engines including Google. Noone had heard of the terms "Page Rank" and once a month, Google would dance.

Yes, Virginia, there really was a google dance each month. (It isn't just us old folks' imagination gone wild). Times have changed, actually they have mutated into a wild rush for websites to look "popular" to the search engine spiders so that they rank well. The methods of gaining popularity are exploding and new "bookmarking" and social networking sites are popping up everywhere.


It is so confusing .. but here are a few SIMPLE guidelines for newbie online marketers that are trying to promote websites.

1. Blogs will help. Yes, they will, but you have to take time to create information that people want to read. Not just spiders. Search engine algorithms are getting smarter and they really can tell if your post is just a bunch of spam. Write for people, double check your spelling and grammer .. for people. Write consistently and you will be rewarded.


2. As a guideline, use TWO tags for the post. In a nutshell, the way that Blogger and other Blog software handles tags is that it creates a single page for every tag. Therefore, unless you have a 10,000 entry Blog, you will have alot of duplicate and useless pages that Google DOES NOT like.


3. Be consistent about your linking strategies. If you are promoting an eCommerce site, don't link to a product 15 different ways (with and without the www etc..). Use a consistent linking method so that search engines don't think you have duplicate content on the website. Unless you are lucky enough to have a super popular website, Google is only going to index a limited amount of pages. Make those pages worthwhile.

On the flip side, the above guidelines don't work well for social bookmarketing and social shopping websites. On those websites, it behooves you to use as many tags on the product or page that you are promoting as possible. Confusing and conflicting information, right?

The tags on public websites are used for searching and normally, they DO have millions of products submitted, so making a page for "Dog Bone" and "Dog Chew" makes sense because it would not generate duplicate content.

Don't spam with your tags, anywhere. Only use applicable terms - this corresponds to Web 2.0 social responsibility. (a term that I coined myself)

Happy promoting! - Next article will be on making money with affiliate marketing!

Labels: Blogging, social networking

A while back, I spent some time reviewing social article submission websites like DIGG, Squidoo and Newsvine. It was a fun but exhausting review process. You can view that article in one of my earlier blog posts.

Social Networking, in general is here to stay and is a cornerstone of the world of Web 2.0. It is not just a passing phase. - So get started, create a few accounts and start sharing, reviewing, asking and answering as you browse your interests online. This week, I spent my time reviewing Social Shopping sites - a new breed of Social Networking.

Here are a few of the top Social Shopping sites that I reviewed:

• Recommendr - This was one of my favorite sites -but I noticed that it must be very new. I have a feeling that it will take off. I liked the Q and A format. I liked the ease of adding a product that I liked and most of all, I like the fact that I could give a "description" and "comment" right when I entered a product. Recommendr tops my list in functionality - but lacks the traffic at this point in time. Hey, if anyone from Recommendr reads this - a good way to get traffic is to allow merchants to post a button on eCommerce websites. (similar to Kaboodle, ThisNext and ILikeTotallyLoveIt)
  
  
• Kaboodle - the grand-daddy of Social Shopping. Kaboodle is refined. It seems to have already gotten alot of the kinks out of social shopping. Buttons for merchants, friends, lists, nice layouts. Kaboodle topped my list. It's a keeper!
  
  
• ThisNext - I really like ThisNext too, but it took me longer to catch on. Not sure why .. maybe I am more right brained and the site is built more for left-brainers? You got me, but once I got going, I got it. ThisNext has over 3 million pages indexed on Google, compared to 4 million or so of Kaboodle's pages. They need more variety on the merchant buttons :)
  


• ILikeTotallyLoveIt - I like totally love this site :) Good social shopping site. The feel of the website is simpler, cleaner than the bigboys. It's building, I am betting on this one too. Hey - good job on having some buttons available to merchants. There are still a few bugs, php errors, that type of thing - but it looks like a promising network


• Wists - Wists is simpler and a bit more personal. Not as much interfacing with other shoppers. If you like to shop alone .. but keep track of where you found things, try Wists. It is a cross between a social bookmarking site and a social shopping site.
  
• CrowdStorm - Crowdstorm is limited. They only have a dozen or so categories and I couldn't figure out how to add a product that did not already exist on the website. Maybe I did something wrong .. but I could get nowhere with crowdstorm


• StyleHive - It is interesting how fast my StyleHive profile got indexed on Google. It was indexed within 8 hours. Stylehive is more of a HIP Social shopping site in my opinion. Most of the posters have pictures of themselves; the products are high end. I like this site - but it won't be my main Shopping gig.
  
• StyleFeeder - StyleFeeder could be considered one of the big boys in the social shopping world. I liked StyleFeeder alot .. but once again, I believe that merchants should have the option to encourage bookmarks by pasting a button or link on their websites. I could not find this functionality. All in all, StyleFeeder is a keeper.

In a nutshell - social shopping comprises of social bookmarking, social networking and comparison shopping. There are a few social shopping websites that have got the key - but many of the other ones are lacking one piece of the pie or even a couple pieces.

If you are aware of a social shopping site that I missed in this review - please comment and I will take the time to review it.

Shop until your fingers drop :)

Labels: social networking, social Shopping reviews

Gotta Facebook Profile? If not .. MAKE ONE!

Microsoft Corp. is in talks with Facebook Inc. about making an investment in the social-networking startup that could value Facebook at $10 billion or more, according to people familiar with the matter.

And try my new facebook application: http://apps.facebook.com/couponsplus/

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, is reporting that Facebook and Microsoft (MSFT) are in early talks about an investment that could value Facebook at upwards of $10 billion. Although the valuation is huge, the talks themselves shouldn’t come as a surprise, for Microsoft executives have long been enamored of the fast-growing social network based in Palo Alto, Calif.

Facebook has grown to 39 million members, up nearly 63 percent from 24 million in late May, and is quickly gaining ground on larger rival MySpace, which was taken over by News Corp (NWSa.N) in 2005.

Web 2.0 is the technology behind blogs, RSS, Digg, myspace, Technorati and Facebook - as well as dynamic news sites. MSN is playing catchup on Web 2.0. It is a catch-phrase for a new generation of Internet services that run on interactive software and typically rely on content generated by users to attract more visitors.

Microsoft also has an agreement with popular news site Digg.com.

It is time for you to start understanding and involving yourself in social networking.

If you own a company - start with www.michiganbusiness.us and Merchant Circle.

Labels: facebook, social networking, Web 2.0