Using Blogs for Business

Most people think of a blog as an interactive tool where visitors can make comments and you can have a running conversation with one or more people.  Although this is an option, it is an old fashioned option at best, and does not take full advantage of the "power of the blog" for business.

The best ways to use a blog are as both your online brochure as well as an educational moment...actually moments.  Here is probably the biggest obstacle I have found to blogging this way.  Most business owners think that if they "give away the crops" you are "giving away the farm".  How does that translate to what we are discussing here?  Too many people are misguided  in thinking that if they answer questions with somewhat detailed information they are giving away their business for free.  Not so...here's why.

Building a Relationship
There are basically two reasons why people are on the internet...to get information and to buy something.  Often, the two are mutually inclusive.  It is common for people to search for information on the net to decide what to buy, so if your site/blog can supply both...you win.
  
In order to do this you need to establish a relationship with your visitor.  Now I've heard many times that you can't establish relationships on the internet with your clients since you need to face them, in person, to do this.  Wrong!  If that statement were true you probably could never establish a relationship with a client over any long distance...so how is it that many client/business relationships are established by using only the phone?  I think it is easier, and much better using the internet since the only thing you can deliver to the client over the phone is your voice.  Over the internet you can deliver everything else...digitally.

One of the most important things to deliver, in order to establish a relationship, is trust...and if you deliver answers to your clients questions, in some detail, without charge, you will be building the trust that is the basis for all relationships in business and in life in general...just don't give away all of it.

Building Trust and Credibility
One of the reasons your clients will return as paying clients, is the relationship of trust you are building is also building your credibility in their eyes.  This will naturally lead to sales.  Remember, they are there to get information and while gathering that information they are also putting together picture of the person or group that is delivering that information to them.  Build that picture in their eyes of an expert in the field as well as a great person giving them the answers they need to make a decision of where to go and who to go with, and the results will be astounding.  Put yourself in their position.  How would you react?

Building an Up to the Minute Presentation 
Using your blog as a presentation tool, accurate to the second, is one of the best reasons to have one in the first place.  Printed material is expensive and accurate only up to the point of printing.  If changes or additions are made to your product or service after printing, you're printing again or you're handing out material missing important information, or you're writing that new info on the back...real professional isn't it?

With your blog, just change it as it happens.  All your clients have to have is the link that takes you to your blog.  Since the link never changes, just the info at the other end, you are running a much more efficient marketing campaign...and a lot less expensive.  How many pictures can you put in print before you run out of space...or money?  How many pictures can you put on your blog before you...well, space or cost doesn't come into play here.

Building a System
Just participate in discussion groups, as posted earlier, and you will have the ability to bring your clients to you. The use of blogging and discussion groups (Social Media) together allows you to build your marketing into a repeatable system that continually presents itself to thousands at a time...for a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the time.

...My Offer to You
If you are interested in applying this approach to your business, I can show you how.  Let me do the mechanical work, you supply the material (which you are doing anyway for print marketing), and I can build you your own blogging marketing system for a fraction of the cost of print...and much more effective as well.  I can even do this for you for free...yes you read that correctly, and I'm not nuts or giving you a lite version of it.  Just ask me.

You have a lot of clicks, but no conversions...why?

Google says you have only 4 seconds to capture your client before they're gone forever.
So, ask yourself:

• How fast can you or your client read?
• How effective is the first 4 seconds of text on your website or blog?
• How do you capture your audience then?
• How do you fix it so you capture your clients before they read your text?

iVO...Internet Video Overlay...that's how.

What is iVO and what can it do for you?  First, Ivo is a proprietary compression technology that allows you to Overlay Video Ads to play seamlessly across your websites and blogs.  It's a fully hosted, managed, system that delivers your video overlay content so you can be assured your site viewers will see your message.  These Online Video Ads engage the website visitor the moment they arrive. iVo Technology adds that Live Human Element instantly!

You have many options; play a video once per visit, use hot links, the spokesperson can say click on me to see our specials page...iVo is very easy to implement. By simply inserting a small HTML code into your web page, iVo can be up and playing in a matter of minutes.

Check it out for free.  Visit their site, type in the website or blog of your choice in the box with the DEMO link, and see what a simple/basic example looks like.

Choose from 3 packages to match your budget and business

iVo has different packages to fit every budget. Choose from their library of generic pre-recorded messages or you can choose a custom solution for ultimate name branding of your product or service. iVo is so effective they even allow you to try out the technology for 30 days on your website absolutely free. They have PPP Service Plans that are very affordable & depend on your site traffic. You should see positive results when adding one of their website spokespersons and you will give your site a vital instant personal connection that is required for today's audiences.

One of the packages gives you the option to write your own script and have it delivered by one of their professional spokespersons.  They take care of everything.  Use the system on one page or many pages on your site.

You can even have the spokesperson wear one 

of your custom shirts with your LOGO and contact

information printed on it

iVO even gives you the option of using yourself or your personal spokesperson to do the video.  

This is one of the coolest things I've come across in a while.  I think it solves one of the biggest turnover problems for business on the internet...visitor patience...most have none.  This solution puts an entertaining image, through video, onto the screen that holds the visitor's attention longer than the usual 4 seconds the client allows you to capture them.

How to Use Social Media in a System for Marketing

The Beginning:
In the beginning, there was Social Media.  The first sites are still around, but they are mainly useful for personal social activities.  They can be used for "Business to Consumer" marketing, but the true B2B marketing campaigns should be run through the SM sites that are business oriented.  Examples would be FaceBook, LinkedIn, MeetUp, PartnerUp and more.  As you read below, you will see why I like these sites much better than the original SM sites for business.


The System - Step by Step:
Throwing "you know what" against the wall and hoping it sticks is the way most people think of, and use, SM in their marketing methods...and the reason it fails.  They have no planned out system in place to maximize it effectively, so in their eyes it doesn't work for their business...and they'd be wrong.  You need a "step by step" system to implement SM as a marketing tool, just like any other more traditional marketing method.  You wouldn't place an ad using any of the traditional medium and expect it to work unless you also had "steps" laid out as a follow up to do something with the names and information you gained from that ad.  That ad is just part of a cohesive system, as is the use of SM.  The main differences is the ability of SM based marketing to reach far more people, and focused people, as well as being able to do this at a much lower cost.


So here is my system for using SM for business along with a brief explanation of each (details below).  Keep in mind that if you only use parts it won't work as well (if at all), so use it all...with the restrictions:

1. Join the different Social Media Sites and set up a "professional Profile"...not a personal one.  This is your professional resume'.
2. Join many "groups" found there and "follow ONLY" some discussions.  Don't answer any questions or post any comments...yet.  This will be explained below.
3. Set up your blogs...yes blogs.  You will probably use more than one.
4. Now join in on the discussions by answering questions.  You can even start your own discussion or group if you want.
5. Get educated on how to do this better by joining an online educational source that will continually add to your knowledge and tools to implement this system to its peak efficiency.

The System Parts - Join the Sites

Join a number of these business oriented SM sites and post a professional profile.  It is very important that the posting looks professional in every way...especially in content.  Think of it as your resume'.  Put on it what you would normally put on a resume' that you would give to out at an interview.  If you don't want a potential employer looking at your vacation shots...don't put them here.  Use the ability to add digital media like slide shows (not vacation ones), video, links to websites and other groups you participate in and more.  This can also contribute to a higher Search Engine ranking if you learn how to do it right.

Also, as a side note, it isn't important how many "followers" you have on these SM sites, so turn that off.  Your marketing focus is NOT to your SM followers, but it is to the connections to them.  More importantly, as you will see as Step #4 is explained below, you will get your clients from the discussion groups you participate in.

The System - Join the Groups

Here is where you start to market yourself...the operative word being "start".  This is also a very important part of the educational process within the steps.  Remember, I said earlier that at this point you should not be participating in these discussion yet.  You're not ready yet.  You may be able to answer the questions, but using this system there is much more to it than that.  It comes down to your ability to answer and hold them.  Relating this to more traditional marketing methods, you would never expect very good results from an ad you placed in a newspaper that would lead a potential client to your store if the store was empty would you?  If you answer the question at this point, that's exactly what you're doing.  The idea is to get business from this, right?  If your answer is successful, meaning your client is interested in finding out more about you, but you have nowhere to send them to, they will be lost.  All you've done is give a way a free answer, that has gotten them interested (excited), but since you are not prepared to close the deal, you just sold your concept/answer for a competitor...because the client will find your competitor instead.

As I mentioned, this is the start of your educational process of how to use this system.  Here is what you will be learning:

1. What groups actually have your potential clients in them.  Don't just join groups that are made up of other businesses just like your's...unless they will be buying your product or service.  This type of group can be valuable for networking for knowledge, but not for getting clients.  Join groups that are related to your product/service, but they don't have to be exactly on topic for it.  Join groups, monitor them, see what they are discussing and see if you can contribute in a way that will lead the followers back to you.  Join as many as you want...they are free to join.
2. How to answer, and not answer, questions that are posted.  Have you ever been involved with a discussion, anywhere, that has been going on for a while, and have someone come up out of the blue and say, "Hi, my name is Hotshot Salesperson, I overheard your conversation and I think I can help.  Here is my card, call me tomorrow".  Don't you just want to....? Well, if you think that's obnoxious, and I might add very ineffective, then don't do it here either.  It still amazes me how many times I see this on these discussions.  Someone comes from nowhere,...keep in mind that there are always more people monitoring these discussions than actually posting to them, but I digress,...  Where was I, right,...someone comes out of nowhere and says, "I have what you are looking for, I'm the best, here is my email/website/number, contact me later and I can help (sell) you what you need".  It doesn't work...ever.  Don't do it.  Learning how to answer the questions is a very important part of the system.  I just stated what I hope was an obvious example of what not to do.  There are many other good and bad ways to answer the questions, so before you actually start answering them, learn how.  Monitor the discussions first, figure out what appeals to you, and follow that direction.

The System - Set up your Blogs

Think of you blogs as your online brochure...and other sales material.  You can post anything you want to say about any topic related to your business here...and it can be to the minute.  This means you can actually answer the questions posted on a discussion forum with a brand new posting on your blog that you just put on there based on the question.  In other words, just before you answered the question on the discussion group, you posted a detailed answer on your blog.  Now, when you answer the question, you send them to the detailed blog answer.  The more times you post, the more "brochures" you have just produced that are specific to the market.  How expensive would that be to produce, and distribute, if they were actual hard copies?  Now, place you blog address on all of your traditional marketing pieces and this posting becomes it's own version of "multitasking". 

You can set up pages within your blog that are always easily accessed from every individual posting.  These would be the standard marketing materials you would want everyone to always have access to.  On my Architectural blog I have my Portfolio and my Catalog of Plans as separate pages that I keep up to date and are visible and accessible to everyone at all times.

Once you have your blogs set up as you want, with a variety of information that shows who you are and what you can do, you are then ready to go onto the next step in the system...

The System - Discussion Group Participation

Now that you understand 'how" to answer the questions, and you have a "place to send them" for more detailed up to the minute answers, start answering the questions.  What is important here is that you actually answer the question...and don't just send them to your blog.  The answer needs to be full of valuable information that not only answers the question but leaves the readers (remember, others will be monitoring this...not just the person that posed the question) wanting more, and thus wanting to visit your blog.  Make sure you answers include your business signature with contact info (email) and links to the details (website and blog).  If they are interested in "who this person is" and "what they can do for me" you need to provide a way of finding out.  They can click on your name to open your business profile, and your signature will give them the means to find out more...just like you planned.

You see why it is important to execute step #3 before you go onto step #4.  If you go directly from step #2 to 4, the answer will be incomplete and you will lose control over the reader...and potential client.

The System - Education

What you see here is an explanation of the system and why you would use it.  As to how to use it more efficiently you need to join an educational group that can provide you with this knowledge.  There are many of them out there, and they are usually not free, but well worth the expense.  Make sure the education is continuously updated, that the group provides access to them for specific answers, and also the tools needed to put all the marketing "add ons" like video, mass mailing, SEO support, auto-responders (very important) and more.  There is so much to learn that too many people bi-pass this with the idea they don't need it...wrong.  You wouldn't build a house, perform surgery, cut hair or cook without learning how, so why would you attempt to do something that is so crucial to your business survival without learning how to do it right first?

This works - try it

I hear many people question the ability of using SM in their marketing campaigns as a true source of growing their business.  The reasons are usually based on a lack of understanding of how to use it.  Like I mentioned above, you can't just throw it against the wall and expect it to stick.  You can't just blindly go through the motions without a map/system laid out to follow and expect it to work...because it won't.  

Just follow the complete system above, educate yourself as to "why and how" so you can make efficient choices as to applying each step, and I can't think of very many, if any, business models that can't benefit from this....and the best part of all, is it's so cost effective you can make mistakes along the way and learn even more.

Learn by Doing: Moving Forward

I have had many requests for information and direction as to where to go for more education and which sites to use to automate this process.  I don't want to specify too many sites since there are many good ones and I don't want to leave any out...I sound like I'm accepting an award...but here goes.


A starting point list of sites I like.
Here is a short list of sites I like, what they can do for you, and why I like them. I will admit right from the start, that I can make a few bucks if you use these sites too, but I would recommend these sites anyway since I use them before I recommend them.  Here goes:


Education:  MLM Pro This is the most important program you can get into...and it should be the first. There are other places to get education from, usually the best will come from good MLM programs. Don't laugh, they have some great business and marketing programs as part of their systems...the good ones do.


Website Hosting Programs: GoDaddy, Host Gator, ViralHosts.  Cheap, even free in some cases.  Have website templates for those who don't have sites because they can't design them.  Good support as well.


Auto-responders:  AWeber, GetResponse. You can't operate an online business, maybe any business now, without one.  These fantastic tools are cheap to use and allow you to use your time more efficiently.  I know, some of you are saying this takes the "personal contact" out of client relations...but only if you use it wrong.  This is a tool, not a substitute for client relations.  Use them to filter clients and to get info to people efficiently.


Client List and Lead Builders:  Drop Cards, eMail mass mailers, Using professional programs to help you build your client lists makes more sense than cold calling...and you don't need to hire someone and depend on them to do/say what you want them to.  This is a great tool to use with your auto-responders too.


Video Marketing:  Traffic Geyser.  There are more, but this is a great one that does all the work for you...well, you still need to do the video.


SEO:  SEO NETWorker.  If you want to get your search engine placement optimized, you can do it the hard way...by yourself, or you can get it done much faster and more efficient.


Paid Advertising:  GoogleAdwords.  This is a long topic, with many variables and options.  Too long for this blog, but you're in luck.  This link takes you to a great eBook that explains how to do it and why.  This comes highly recommended.


Using Articles online:  Article Submitter.  If you plan on writing and distributing articles you write as a means of marketing, and it is very effective for many reasons, you need to have a way to submit them...or they just sit on your computer...all dressed up and nowhere to go.


E-Commerce:  AlertPay.  If you plan on selling something on your site, even if it is just an eBook, you need to be able to accept payment.  There are many options out there, but I don't want to give away half of my profits in upfront fees or royalties


Well, that turned into a longer list than I thought, but these sites/programs are well worth the investment...especially after you educate yourself on how and why they are important...that is the first step.  If you don't learn how and why, you end up just spending money on something that has great potential, but never sees results.  Find out how and why, then do it.  You'll be very happy you did.  It works.


For more information and better explanations on the use and importance of these types of programs you can <click here> and get my free eBook on it.