If you have an experienced team, the captain is only needed when you hit rough water. Steering the ship through a crisis is a learned skill set, sharpened by experience. Whether we have fallen into a leadership position, got forced into taking the helm or arrived at it by design, the short strokes are that every ship needs a captain and every project needs a champion. Why? Because there are always storms to navigate and only one person can make that decision. No two people are likely to approach the same set of circumstances in the same manner. As my older brother likes to say, “There are lots of right answers”.

When I started my business 24 years ago, my older brother’s advice was… don’t do it. He had been in business for a decade already and knew the perils I would face. I believe it was something I was meant to do and as I may have stated before, being overly optimistic and somewhat naive are fundamental qualities of being in business for yourself.

I’ve seen a lot of businesses fail. Solid companies with hard working owners – most spent too much money on the wrong things at the wrong time. Many fell behind with tax remittances. Some coasted when they should have forged ahead. Some forged ahead only to have a dramatic shift in technology or market conditions do them in. I feel very fortunate that my business is solid as we march into 2012.

For anyone thinking of starting their own business or are in business already and questioning their direction, here are 5 tips that people have shared with me and I know to be true:

1. Don’t bog yourself down with things you’re not good at. Hire the right people to fill the gaps.
2. Banks never give you money when you need it. Always increase your credit line when you don’t need it so that it’s there when you need it most.
3. Prepare yourself to work longer hours, take fewer vacations and have more stress than you will ever have working for someone else.
4. Prepare for the worst and expect the best is appropriate advice and trusting your instincts is critical to successful decision making.
5. Last but not least, the right decision is always the hardest until you make it… after you make it, you will wonder why you hadn’t done it sooner.

Lee’s quote for the day

“You’ll know when you’re going in the right direction by the number of hills you climb, obstacles you overcome and forks in the road that require decisions to be made.” 

“What is Google Analytics?” “Why should I use Google Analytics?” “How can I make money from Google Analytics?” “Why would I PAY to use Google Analytics?”

Well… I’ll answer the last question first, Google Analytics is FREE!

Now to the first question; Google Analytics is a system that tracks and displays critical information of your websites performance. In short, it shows you who is using and viewing your website. It shows you where your visitors are coming from, how long they stay on your site, which page is most popular, and so much more.

Next question… If you have a website, then it makes sense to utilize Google Analytics to allow you to understand how well your website is working for you. You will see that if your homepage has a high bounce rate then your website is not engaging potential clients. Your marketing and advertising strategy may be driving the wrong type of customer to your site, or it may be time for a refreshed design or a clearer more impactful message. (Bounce Rate is an averaged percentage between the number of visitors who leave your site immediately and the number who stay and click through to multiple pages.)

“How can I make money from Google Analytics?” It’s not that you can make money from signing up but it will help you earn money. Most people reading this blog will be in B2B rather than B2C so ecommerce and tracking ROI from direct sales through your website is not relevant. However, there are ways to ensure your web presence is earning dollars. You can set goals; for non-ecommerce sites, goals would be what you want your website to accomplish whether it’s filling out a form, downloading a file, or emailing you. Values can be placed on certain goals if you need $ numbers to work with. Our IT guru Jerry wrote a previous blog article explaining Google Analytics in greater detail. http://www.trypm.com/blog/2011/05/27/google-analytics-interpreting-key-metrics-for-a-transportation-related-website/

10 Benefits of Google Analytics

1- Allows you to see how many people are visiting your website

2- Allows you to see how many returning vs. new visitors you are getting

3- Allows you to see where your visitors are coming from

4- Allows you to see how long visitors are on your site and how many pages they view

5- Allows you to see what the most popular page on your site is

6- Allows you to see how your visitors found your site

7- Allows you to see what the most common search terms are

8- Allows you to see a comparison to previous performance

9- Allows you to see which sites you are getting the most referrals from

10- Allows you to see how you stack up against other similar websites if you choose to submit yours

The other option is to market yourself through Google AdWords which I will explain in my next blog post. AdWords will take a bit of an investment but it, in combination with Google Analytics, will allow you to target your message more appropriately and spend your marketing dollars more effectively.

1.  Give your web some personality.
   Many companies put website development in the hands of their IT department. Although they certainly play a big role, there should be a second set of eyes directing your look and message to the marketplace.
2. Take a message first approach.
   Don’t keep what you do best a secret. Make sure your value proposition is front and center. Narrow your focus and increase overall results by speaking specifically to your 80% strength and customer target.
3. Use an effective combination of Flash and HTML text in your web layout. Too much of one or the other can leave the viewer either frustrated with download time or bored from lack of effective design and text heavy layouts. A “picture is worth a thousand words” applies to websites too.
4. Optimize your site.
   Having a site without SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is like having a hot dog without the bun. Proper SEO can dramatically change your presence on the web through increased rankings.
5. Keep your news or blog category current.
   Having original news and/or blog content will increase rankings and customer interest, while copying others verbatim and having out of date entries can work against you. The more you update your site, the more reasons search engines such as Google will have a reason to visit.
6. Attention to detail is important.
   Use quality photos and well written and proofed text. Make sure your logo and tagline are reproduced consistently and correctly throughout your site and please avoid extended “under construction” postings.
7. Make your site customer centric.
   Make it easy to navigate. Tell your message quickly and concisely. Have applicable customer log-in portals front and center. For new visitors, the majority are looking for contact info so make it easy to find.
8. Benchmark your activity before and after.
   Use Google Analytics to better understand traffic demographics. Review regularly and make changes to your site based on the data received. Set targets to better capture your viewers’ attention and increase frequency and lengths of visits in the future.
9. Use a combination of push and pull strategies to increase your web presence.
   Don’t wait for business to land in your lap. Push out your information. Promote your website to customers and prospects.
10. Use one capable marketing provider. Your results will be more cohesive, cost effective and less demanding on your time. Taking a “too many cooks” approach (within your company and by using multiple vendors) could result in poor overall delivery and lack of consistency with your branding efforts.

 Lee’s quote for the day,
“To catch the big fish, your marketing needs to have the right hook, line and thinkers.”

Okay a little weird, but they thoroughly enjoyed it and it went on for months. My kids, who were key characters in the story, got great pleasure out of cleverly avoiding the cleansing from the Bucket Lady on a nightly basis.

You might say that it was my first pre-internet blog. It was original content that resonated with my listeners, who looked forward to the next release and shared the story with their closest friends. Moving forward, we’re now telling our story to a vast audience, eager to listen and share information too…if it’s relevant.

What’s involved? Personally I take a few hours every weekend to create my blog for the following week. After a while it becomes a habit. You let recent events shape the article and relay something you find interesting and others might too. Blogging is a big contributor to our significantly increased rankings on Google. Like any new initiative it takes time, someone in your organization needs to champion the cause and collaborative writing across your team is a big help.

Lee’s quote for the day, “It is better to have blogged and not been tweeted then to never have blogged at all.”

B2B companies are ahead of their B2C rivals when it comes to social media adoption

• 81% of B2B companies maintain company-related accounts or profiles on social media sites versus 67% of B2C
• 75% of B2Bers participate in microblogging (eg. Twitter) versus 49% of B2Cers

Source: Business.com – 2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study (http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007404)

And the FTSE 100 are just plain running scared of Twitter

• Just 16 of the FTSE 100 companies are using Twitter, despite the fact that 20% of Tweets contain a reference to a product or brand

Source: Virgin Media Business (http://ow.ly/1gDTf)

But CIOs could well be the biggest blocker to social media adoption

• 54% of CIOs prohibit use of social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, while at work

Source: Robert Half Technology (http://rht.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=131&item=790)

Use of social media by B2B companies is validated by B2B buyer perspectives

• 93% of business buyers believe all companies should have a presence in social media
• 85% believe companies should not just present information via social media, but use it to interact and become more engaged with them

Source: Cone Inc – Social Media in business (http://ow.ly/1dLqJ)

And that’s because the B2B buying process is fundamentally changing

• 9 out of 10 buyers say that when they’re ready to buy, they’ll find you

Source: DemandGen Report

• Over 70% of purchases are restricted to established vendors or are heavily dependent on Word of Mouth recommendations

Source: Buyersphere ebook, Enquiro (http://ow.ly/YbQm)

• More than 8 out of 10 IT decision-makers said word of mouth recommendations are the most important source when making buying decisions

Source: Forrester Research, How to take B2B relationships from Indifferent to Engaged: Jan 2009

• 59% of B2B buyers engaged with peers who addressed their challenge, 48% followed industry conversations on the topic and 37% posted questions on social networking sites looking for suggestions

Source: Genius (http://www.genius.com/marketinggeniusblog/2767/a-glimpse-inside-the-mind-of-the-new-b2b-buyer.html)

Yet there are differing opinions as to where search comes into play in the buy cycle

• 7 out of 10 buyers say that they start their buying process at vendor sites, not Google

Source: DemandGen Report (http://ow.ly/1d82N)

Versus

• 93% of B2B buyers use search to begin the buying process

Source: Marketo (http://bit.ly/9O6pix)

If you think C-level executives aren’t active online, you’re sorely mistaken

• The Internet is the C-Suites top information resource (74% of C-Level executives say it’s very valuable)
• 53% of C-level executives said they prefer to locate information themselves
• The C-suite first turns to mainstream search engines (63%) to locate information
• 6 out of 10 C-Suite executives conduct more than six searches a day
• Executives in IT are the most prevalent users of the Internet for information gathering

Source: Forbes Insight – The Rise of the Digital C-Suite (http://www.forbes.com/forbesinsights/digital_csuite/index.html)

Client marketers are warming to the idea of social media, but many are still to act

• While 92% of client marketers agree that it would be unwise to ignore social media, 63% do not have a social media strategy

Source: The B2B Barometer (http://www.b2bbarometer.co.uk)

The relationship between Marketing and Sales in B2B organisations still remains fractious

• Sales generate 53% of their own leads and marketing contributes just 24%

Source: 2009 CSO Report (http://bit.ly/7EbaHS)

• 90% of marketing deliverables are not used by sales

Source: The New Rules of Sales Enablement (http://tiny.cc/jXRxX)

• 49% of B2B marketers confess to not measuring ROI

Source: The B2B Barometer (http://www.b2bbarometer.co.uk)

And if you still don’t get the whole social media thing, it’s worth bearing in mind…

• 89% of journalists make use of blogs while conducting their online research and 96% turn to corporate websites
• 56% said social media was important or somewhat important for reporting and producing stories

* Note: We have used and abused the above information, as the author insisted. A special thanks for the folks at Earnest Agency.

From my perspective, there is no shortage of marketing related topics to write about. I find it somewhat therapeutic as a matter of fact and enjoy putting my digital pen to paper as a regular part of my weekly ritual. At this point, we haven’t seen direct comments in response to our blogs but they are being read and shared. As we gain more experience in this venue and with time, we hope our efforts will be helpful to others and that eventually we’ll get more interaction and collaboration on the various subject areas posted.

This past 4-day week we had two sales leads that materialized as a direct result of our web marketing. One where we weren’t the right solution (company was looking for canned newsletter content) and one that was right up our alley and turned into an appointment. Not all that significant maybe, except that 1 branding/web appointment for us can turn into 20-50,000 dollars of immediate work and a customer for life.

In the B2B environment, I believe getting your web ranking higher organically is (at a minimum) like having another full time sales person on the road and at a fraction (3%) of the cost. Similar to adding a new sales person it takes time to see the results. In this past economy it can be 6-9 months before you see the benefit…but there are soft benefits in the meantime. Now more than ever, the purchasers of your services are forming opinions of your organization based on your presence on the web. Your message needs to be clear; your look professional and when someone searches, ending up on the first page in your category doesn’t hurt.

Everybody always says: “Why should I bother?” “What is the ROI?” Or, “It’s not right for my business” and the list goes on. There is absolutely no way to promise a certain ROI, a certain number of viewers or a specific number of sales directly related to these outlets. It comes down to common sense; the larger the presence you have on the internet, the more people will notice your company; the greater the chances of one of these viewers utilizing your products or services. It’s always a numbers game and the more, the merrier.

It will take some time to get used to using the various media websites but after a while you will get the hang of it, and you will be able to keep it updated with minimal effort. There is no sense in getting overwhelmed by the thought of tackling all of this at once. Start with one until you’re able to fully understand how to keep it fresh without spending a lot of time. A company blog is a great start and allows anyone in the business to write about their specific fields, showcasing diversity and allowing visitors to understand all aspects of your business.

Another benefit to using Social Media is that it will eventually increase your page ranking on Google. Setting up a blog and writing original, informative articles that the internet community will not only read, but link to, is a great way to start with Social Media. Again, the more original and unique content your business has on the internet, the more Google will visit your pages and it will assume that your information is more important than the majority. It isn’t exactly easy though, it will take a lot of patience so don’t get discouraged if your pages aren’t getting a lot of hits right away. If you’re posting interesting and informative articles on a consistent basis, the people will come, so keep at it!

Please leave a comment or ask a question, we are happy to help!

Many of these spam comments are posted with a link, that links to the site in which the author is trying to drive more traffic to. There are potential consequences for both the spamming comment poster, as well as the site where the spamming comment is being posted on. Many search engines like original content – content that was explicitly written by you, and not repeated too many times anywhere else. For example, the more original content your website has, the higher it will rank on Google. If you allow comment spamming on your site, you run the risk of making your website less relevant to searches, because the content of your site (the spam comment) is duplicated across many other sites. The other consequence is that to the spam comment poster, in that they run the risk of getting their site delisted from the search engine indexes.

So time now for some tips. First off, don’t approve any comments that you may come across on your blog. Go through all of them with a fine toothcomb, and only approve the ones that address specific items in your blog article. Secondly, if you’re going to post comments on other blogs, make sure they’re unique, well thought out, and well written. Don’t do a copy and paste job, cause it will hurt your blog in the long run.

For comment moderation, blogging software such as WordPress come with an anti-spamming plugin called Akismet. All you have to do is enable the plugin by getting a WordPress.com API key. The majority of the time Akismet will find 99% of comment spam automatically. It’s not enabled by default, so make sure to turn it on.

Happy Blogging from Palmer Marketing …