The Cutting Edge of Online Marketing

I posted this partially tongue-in-cheek Top Ten list to my blog at BobStovall.com on Tuesday. I’ve gotten so much positive feedback that I decided I should share it with you as well.

It’s amazing to me the number of small businesses serving local markets that still don’t have a website. Or, they have one but it hasn’t been updated in months or years.

But not ALL businesses need an updated and dynamic website. So I’ve carefully compiled a list – in Top Ten fashion – of businesses that don’t need a website. I hope you aren’t one of these:

10. Businesses that are closed.

9. Businesses that are about to close.

8. Businesses that will hold their head just above water for a time and then close.

7. Businesses that don’t need customers.

6. Businesses that don’t need money.

5. Businesses that are afraid of success.

4. Businesses that don’t want to plan a future.

3. Business owners that will win the lottery.

2. Businesses backed by a Sugar Daddy.

1. The Mob

No matter how bad your current (or non-existent) website is, it’s never too late. Resolve to fix it now so you can begin reaping the rewards of a fresh, updated website now.

If you’ve been to Tony Kovach’s Masthead blog post for today, you’ve discovered that we’re going to begin making podcasts of a good bit of the material here at MHMSM.com available in June.

That means that you’ll have the opportunity to listen to our articles and maybe some extra materials as you work or even while you’re in your car. This is part of our ongoing effort to make our materials more useful for you.

Most of you have discovered by now that the audio file you’re listening to is pretty much word-for-word the same as the text part of this post, and if you’re listening to this audio file right now and you’re like 80% of the people who are listening, you are also reading along with me.

This is valuable to you because research says that the more of your reader’s or listener’s senses you engage, the better recall they will have of your message.

And getting your message across is what marketing and advertising are all about. I’m going to make this a very short post because I hope you’ve learned one important thing from it – listening AND reading is better than listening OR reading.

If you’ve grasped just that one idea, this post may prove invaluable for you.

This is just one of the dozens of ideas we have to expand your marketing effectiveness. Jump on over to the MHMSM.com Solutions page when you are ready for more.

This is going to be a very short post with what I consider a rather important point. I’ve been a little busy the past few days, so I was searching for a video with some great information about the type of subject matter I write about.

My search turned up a series of three videos with a positive message on YouTube. So I figured one would be good for today and I could use the other two in future post.

I clicked the “embed” button to get the code, and was met with a message that said “Embed function disabled by owners request.” Hmmm. Let me see now… someone spends a bunch of money on a professional production touting their product and then doesn’t allow it to be shown to new viewers.

That strikes me as equivilant to a Hollywood studio producing a movie, but refusing to allow theaters to show it.

Video is a very powerful way to attract buyers. One house that I had built a web page for had 1,291 views in two months. 30% of those came from my YouTube video being embedded in other websites and blogs.

You want maximum exposure to any video you post anywhere on the Internet. Don’t get all territorial and disable the “embed” feature. Other folks showing your video are doing you a huge favor – let them do it.

No more Local Business Center… it is now called Google Places.

And claiming your own business listing, which has been a “no-brainer” for some time now, is even more attractive to local businesses thanks to some new features.

What’s new (per article USA Today):

• Instead of just submitting an address, business owners can instead show a geographic area they serve. Additionally, home-based businesses can make their address private.
• A new advertising feature, for $25 monthly, lets business owners “tag” their listing with special offers to stand out. Google is testing Tags in a few cities, including Austin, Atlanta and Washington D.C., before going national.
• Free photos of your business. For the business owner who doesn’t want to take the time to upload a photo of their business, Google is offering a free photographic service to come and shoot your location for viewing in Google Maps.

If you haven’t claimed your business listing in the Google Local Business Center… oops, I mean Google Places, do it right now. If you don’t have the time, desire or technical savvy to do it yourself, Google Places listings are just one of the many benefits included in an Orange Cat Online Marketing 1-2-3 package.