Make 2011 your best year ever!

New Year’s Resolutions have always been a major tradition amongst many people. So why not make a New Year’s resolution for your business?

Many business owners are taking the challenge and creating New Year’s resolutions for their company. The most common New Year’s resolution amongst business owners is the resolution to have a successful year. As 2011 is a very technologically enhanced year, business owners will need to shift their focuses onto the Internet and technology aspect of marketing in order to see an increased level of success.

If you are one of those business owners that has taken the challenge and want to see successful results for the New Year, here are some ideas for where improvement can be made and hopefully lead you to a more successful new year.

Website Development.

It is almost a necessity to have a website in this day and age. However, many business owners still have websites that were considered outdated in 1998. One of the keys to success is developing a website that has a fresh, flashy look that customers want to visit and keep on visiting. Many business owners make the mistake of trying to develop their own websites and those can come off flat, unattractive and hard to use. Consider a complete website revamp in the new year. Not only will it give your company a new look but it could lead to new customers or clients.

Internet Marketing.

Internet marketing has really made a splash in terms of being the hot new marketing tool for businesses. It is estimated that over 80% of the world’s population turns to the Internet to find new businesses and services. If you want a successful year in 2011, you will need to really tackle Internet marketing head on and get your website to the top of those search engines. Consider making an aggressive Internet marketing strategy and get your website or blog to the top of Google, Bing or Yahoo searches. That new search engine ranking level could just lead to a very successful and rich new year.

Embrace Social Media

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all the rage now when it comes to Internet marketing and driving traffic to businesses. If you haven’t developed a social media marketing strategy it will be a must in the new year. You will need to consider launching your company live on Facebook or Twitter, what stance you will take on these pages and how often you will use them. With the world’s increased reliance on these social media platforms your level of success could just be dependent upon your visibility on these social media outlets.

As you can tell 2011 is a very technologically advanced year. In order to be successful in the business world you will need to embrace the finer aspects of Internet marketing and social media. Without a well thought out Internet marketing plan for 2011 you might not be able to keep your New Year’s Resolution for 2011 and have a successful business year. Luckily, by considering some of these finer points of Internet Marketing and online business strategy you will be help to your business have a very successful year.

Consistency is key to growth!

How do you achieve success when writing a blog?  How do you get your readers to visit and return to your blog?  Being consistent is the #1 one recommendation by professional bloggers for growing your blog.  

We teach the importance of this with our clients.  If you want to see your site grow and your audience to increase then it is essential to be consistent in your blogging technique, style and content.   

Here are some fundamental tips to help you: 

1. Set realistic monthly goals and work to achieve them.  

2. Write your heading with purpose for search content SEO. 

3.  Share your posts on the social media where your brand has already built relationships like Facebook and Twitter. 

4.  Write with purpose and “be real”, blog readers are savvy and look for authenticity in a blogger. 

5.  Keep it to a minimum, if you have a lot to say we recommend a short blog and a video, or breaking your message into a series of blog posts. 

Here are two examples of what your blog stats can look like.  The first example demonstrates a strong blog with consistent content and the second blog post randomly and is not consistent.  It really is a matter of discipline and dedication.  You can see in the second example they were all excited when they first launched their blog and were working hard and as their commitment diminished so did the visitors to their site. 

Make sure your Facebook website design must have a clear Call to Action. Nothing is worse than getting to a page only to feel lost, bewildered, confused and overwhelmed by information. Remember, one of your main objectives is to get more people to “Like” your page.

This first image shows how if the profile image is longer than it is wider, you will not have the problem that Sonic has here.  Although the profile picture looks good, when it is made into the thumbnail, it cuts off and looks unprofessional.

This second image shows how in the sidebar information panel of the Sonic Facebook page, the website link can be made active and click-able by changing it from www.MediaPowerTools.com to http://MediaPowerTools.com (Sonic currently has no sidebar information panel.)

This third image is similar to the last one.  In this case though, Sonic gives more information than is necessary.  If they remove the “www.” from their website link on Twitter, then it will make more of the website address visible since Twitter cuts off if it is too long.

According to an article by Harvard Business School, now is not the time to cut back on marketing. (Marketing Your Way Through a Recession) http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5878.html

Maintain marketing spending. This is not the time to cut advertising. It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.

Now is the time to vamp up your marketing. Do not cut your marketing no matter what! That is what your competitors are probably doing. Even more reason to get out there! Look at various ways and plans for implementing even better marketing strategies through the uses of things such as social media, online marketing, email marketing, web site redesign, etc.

Do your research. Your potential clients are! During an economic crisis you need to know more than ever how consumers are redefining value and responding to the recession. Consumers take more time searching for goods and where do most of them do their research? Online! So, it’s important that you not only have a presence online, but it’s key that you look professional. A quality website not only shows you care about your company but more importantly it shows you offer a quality product or service.

The power of video marketing is being seen all over the internet.  What makes for a successful campaign is to make sure your videos are not too long and the quality is good.  A good quality 1-2 minute video can reap great rewards for your business. 

This video example shows just one of the unlimited creative ways you can serve your clients by giving them free tips.  http://talkfusion.com/products_case_studies.asp#top

Imagine getting ready to go into a freezing cold swimming pool in March.  Some people would run and dive right in.  They would get a sudden jolt from the cold water but then their bodies would adjust to the low temperature.  Others may prefer to slowly wade into the water, getting a shock every time the pool slopes down another foot in depth.

Approaching a swimming pool in early spring is not all that different from approaching social media for the first time.  You can jump on and create an account for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, DailyBooth, Diggit, Yahoo groups, Blogger, and any other online media platform you can find.  The trouble though is that it takes time to learn the pulse and workings of each platform since no two are the same and each was designed with a different objective in mind.  It can also be daunting to juggle those accounts and stay current with each community.

To avoid this predicament, consider phasing in one platform at a time.  Start with one that you are most comfortable with.  If you believe less is more, then consider starting with Twitter or Jaiku.  This format is easy for those who love to text message.  You are just sending your texts to a larger audience.  It does take time to develop relationships on Twitter but once you do you will love it and want to hang out there more often.

If you love photos and like to share check the Daily Booth.  Daily Booth is a photo sharing community.  The concept is to share a photo of the day.  You can have friends, followers and a community of those sharing their favorite photos online.  If you love pictures you should definitely check out the Daily Booth.

If you enjoy making videos and would like to share your message YouTube is a great community.  There are no limitations on what you can discuss or have videos about on YouTube.  If you love books discuss them in a video.  If you want to talk about your kids, family, or even for business your product there is a community for you to interact with on You Tube.  The energy of You Tube seems less judgmental and open to conversation.  It can be a really fun place to hang out and if you need to know how to do just about anything or need an answer to any question, it is almost always available on You Tube.

Facebook is a great place to dip your toe in the Social Media Waters.  The platform is easy to navigate.  Your community you have as friends are usually family, friends and close associates.  This allows you to have conversations and share online with those who you may not see as often as you would like.  I read recently that Facebook has been hijacked by grandma and I think there is a bit of truth to this.  There is no limits to this community and you really can use it as a central place for family and friends to keep in touch.  I think everyone should be on Facebook.  The relationships that are built there are made stronger and more interactive than if you were just seeing each other at birthdays or holidays.

Now that we have discussed these social media options lets discuss the options of phasing in.  It will normally take 2-3 months to phase in and be comfortable with a nice network growing on any network.  If you allow yourself to be 100% vested you will have a better experience and will benefit from participating in social media.  With that being said I would phase them in one every 3 months.  Find the ones you love and really spend your time there.

We think of a business card as a way of turning what may have been a brief first meeting into a potential long-standing business relationship. Whether you have a small business or you’re an employee of a large organization, your business card communicates your professionalism. Your business card will help your customer or colleague to remember you even after you leave.

So what do you with such precious and small amount of real estate? A good business card should clean and easy to read. Since space is at a premium, it should only have relevant contact information in a legible font. Be careful with background photos or images because they may make your information harder to read. The design of your card should convey the essence of your company and the quality of design of your business card should distinguish you from your competitors.

Use the business card, but don’t rely on it – if you don’t make a memorable impression on your own, the card itself isn’t going to help you much.