Website or "Blogsite" for small business? Revisited.

The beginning of this is a post I wrote in back in March of 2005- I've added to it for today.

One of the biggest problems with company websites is they are boring and many seem to be out of date. I have visited many sites and clicked on a "news" tab to find that the "news" was last updated an average of 2.6 years ago.
OK - I didn't average them all, but that feels about right.

What's the answer for small business? A boring, seldom updated website - or a "blogsite?"

----------- jump to 2009----------

Now more than ever, I believe a "blogsite." Not to the exclusion of an informational website, but a blog of regularly updated, relevant, and interesting content is essential. A blog can be a stand-alone, it can link to your website or it can be incorporated into your website. It isn't an either/or question, it's the "you can have it all" answer. Your blog content gives people a reason to come back to your online space.

I work with many Realtors and I've been a Realtor. (in one of my many past lives - another story or 1000) The big news back in the day (read mid to late 90's) was this thing called the Internet. It seems that every real estate services vendor was selling website design and hosting packages - and they were pretty expensive for a new agent on a commission-only-I-don't-think-these-sales-will-ever-close budget.

The blogosphere has changed all that. Low or no-cost entry to the Web has democratized the Internet. And in my opinion, made it better and much more interesting.

Social Networking and Corporate Rules? How does that work?

Many businesses I talk with are worried about having their employees involved with social networking because of the concern over inappropriate content, or that they will say something detrimental to the company, or even the time they spend on the "social web" while at work.

I encourage businesses to have guidelines for social media use. Including blog posting, "tweeting", Facebook, MySpace, Digg - wherever people are interacting. Now, I'm not saying that companies should be able to censor their employees - but that employees should be aware of appropriate ways to mention who they work for and times that it isn't appropriate to represent their business lives.

The Mayo Clinic has an excellent set of guidelines for their employees, that encompasses personal and professional social networking.

I think this is a great place to start from to develop your organization's social media guidelines.

Anyone have any others to share?

Facebook Group vs. Fan Page?

I've been working with several different organizations on Facebook pages, and the question has come up - "should I have a group or a fan page?" They have different strengths, and in some cases both may be appropriate for an organization.

With the new look for fan pages, one big plus is the ability to post a status update that will show up in your fans' home page feeds. It's a great way to get the word out about something new, put a personality on your brand or share a blog post link with your fan base.

Groups have a super easy way for a group member to invite their friends into the group - making the viral marketing part of Facebook much easier. Fan pages lack this ability, but you can use Facebook pay per click advertising to build your fan base.

Here's a link to a post from Search Engine Journal last October that also discusses the issue and their experiment. For search geeks (like me) it's particularly interesting that the fan pages are indexed by the search engines, and groups are not.

Now, as to what I said about some organizations needing both, one reason is I think it makes sense to use a group to virally build membership and then invite your group members over to your fan page. I don't see a downside to having two ways for someone to find your organization! Any thoughts?

Rankings are dead?

Here's a video interview from PubCon 2008 with Bruce Clay, CEO of Bruce Clay, Inc.,  in which he explains the current problem and the future problems with depending on rankings to measure SEO ROI. To sum it up in one sentence - everyone's search results are going to different and as search engines get better at targeting search behavior - the SERPs will be even more unique for each unique search user.

So, how to judge the effectiveness of your search efforts? Back to the basics - traffic and conversions. 

What's it all about, Twitter??

There's been ton's of talk around my world lately about Twitter. What is it? Why? Isn't that freaky, all those people "following" you?

I love Twitter, I admit, I'm addicted. It has been a great way to meet people in my industry, learn, share ideas. I also follow some folks just for fun. Friends, interesting people, funny people, people who are interested in the same things as me (NASCAR fans!). But how does Twitter help a business? How can I use Twitter for our clients?

Here's a good post by Jenny Cromie, 8 Ways that Twitter Can Grow Your Freelance Business

Everyone likes a good list, right??

A commentary on Viral memes

Anyone who doesn't understand the power of a viral Internet meme should take a look at this clip from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade today. There was a float for Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, they were all singing their little songs, and suddenly - ba ba ba - Here comes Rick Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up."

"Rick Rolling" has been a main Internet practical joke for a couple of years now. You post a blog post or send an email with a link that you describe as anything you want - but the link goes to the old '80s video of Rick Astley singing his signature song.

This Internet meme has only been propagated through word of mouth. Today - the Macy's parade recognized that the majority of their audience would "get the joke" and put a live, nationally televised Rick Roll out there.

Within two minutes of the live Rick Roll, Twitter was all abuzz about it. A search of Twitter shows, by my count, well over 1000 tweets about the Fosters float Rick Roll.

And that, is the power of the viral web.

Google makes Analytics better

Google has added a bunch of new features to Google Analytics. They run down the list in the blog.

I'm going to play with the new stuff later and I'll let you know what I'm most excited about!

Online Ad Calculator

Just a little while back, a couple of us were discussing how to value online ad space that a client website wanted to put on their site. We compared other banner ad charges, but couldn't really come up with a "rule" for the value.

Thanks to DazzlinDonna for building a tool to make it easy, and giving it away for free. Here's a link to Donna's 125 x 125 ad rate calculator.