At cre8 we’ve used LinkedIn ads and AdWords for our own internal advertising for our CRM application Lead Zeppelin. LinkedIn didn’t generate the same number of customers for us that AdWords does, and we stopped using it. But we’re always willing to experiment, and one of our customers, a niche B2B firm has trouble advertising with Google. Not all the acronyms in their industry (and the synonyms for those acronyms!) are accepted by Google, and we were getting hammered by low quality scores.
So we gave LinkedIn a go, focusing exclusively on groups that pertained to their industry. The results have been dramatic. Three times more leads, at nearly half the cost! The LinkedIn clicks are more expensive – but they’re more likely to convert.
The moral of the story: If you have a product that fits a very specific niche, one that makes people scratch their heads at cocktail parties, LinkedIn may be the better deal, particularly if it is B2B.
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Source: Final Point Logic
]]>[Donors] gave 66% more when they got a [photo of starving Ethopian child] and story line without the famine data. Statistics, it seems, “reduce empathy and interest in giving,” says Christopher Olivola, coeditor of the The Science of Giving: Experimental Approaches to the Study of Charity.”
As you’d expect, potential donors gave more when they were told the fund had an excellent rather than a poor efficiency ratio. But the highest response came from the donors who were given no efficiency information at all. “People give less when they’re thinking analytically,” says Princeton psychology professor Danny Oppenheimer.
In an experiment with Sierra Club, researchers found donations increase 2.3% when prospects were told a major donor had made a big contribution. Rightly or wrongly, we assume a rich philanthropist has inside information about the quality of a charity. “People like to invest with a winner,” says John List, a University of Chicago economist. And when it comes to door-to-door fund raising, never underestimate the power of a pretty face. Researchers found that an attractive woman at the door could double the frequency of donations. And blondes raised 65% more than brunettes.
How can you apply these findings to your homepages or landing pages?
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It’s hard coming up with blog posts, so you probably figured, hey I can put up some witty comments every day, that shouldn’t be too hard. Sometimes it isn’t, but getting people engaged should also be a goal too (not just clicking on links in your posts, but commenting, liking, etc.)
The beauty of Facebook and Twitter status’ is that they have to be short. If you look around, you probably have items or content that’s too large for one status or tweet. Like they say about eating elephants, let’s break ‘em down into sizable chunks.
Those tweets, pokes and likes can add up after time, but you really should commit at least 90-120 days to get your social media campaign ramped up and getting measurable results. Much like a new diet or workout, you have to commit some time and resources to it to see some results. If you bail after two weeks, well, guess we’ll both never know how it could have worked out.
A day doesn’t go by without getting a request for a customer to be “number one on Google search results”. While we never promise that to anyone, there is something even far better they should be considering. Why just settle for being on page one of Google? Why not dominate the first page? Think about it… check out these search results for a client of ours. Yeah, they’re number one, but they also have number 2, 3, 4 and 5.
You don’t have to have hundreds of followers on Facebook or Twitter to benefit from this. By referencing your product or service in your Tweets or Facebook posts (and linking back to your site/blog), you’re getting some additional link juice from these activities, AND claiming some real estate on the search engines. As a business owner, I’d take 4-5 links on page one even if I couldn’t get one link at spot one.
]]>We discussed in our last post whether an email address is worth more than a Twitter follower. Our experience has shown that Facebooking and Tweeting can certainly help with SEO but for some customers, a regular email tying back to content on their website, can certainly give them a needed boost.
The spikes in the graph above are on the days when our client sends out their weekly email, usually containing an excerpt from their latest blog posts, tempting folks to click thru with the help of a juicy cliffhanger link. Usually a couple other topics are added to the email newsletter like upcoming events or special offers, to capture the reader’s attention, if the primary content isn’t interesting enough for them.
Before we began helping with this client’s email newsletters, they were putting unique content into the newsletters that couldn’t be found elsewhere. That’s a great tactic to get people to signup for your newsletters, but not to get people to re-visit your website. Now, by moving their interesting content to their website’s blog, the newsletter can be a beacon, bringing people back to the website. Sure, we’ll post links to the blog posts and events on Twitter and Facebook too, but don’t forget email as a trusty channel in your marketing plans.
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“We kind of think of Twitter and Facebook registrations as a way to promote our blog posts and ad messages. So this is a form of newsletter”
People are going to recommend you to their followers, or complain about you, whether they’re “following” you or not. These days, people will more readily follow you on Twitter or Facebook (hey what’s one more…). But giving you their email? That’s gold. They don’t want to have to go the trouble of having to unsubscribe to your email, (or order call blocking or get a restraining order). Giving you their email address is a whole different level of trust. Mess that up and they’ll mark you as spam in Gmail, so don’t be a creep.
Get them to follow you on the various networks because they care what you say and think. Get their email addresses and show them you value their time and loyalty.
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The Nearby feature isn’t as robust as in other iPhone apps such as Yelp‘s. I often found myself having to search for where I currently was standing in Facebook vs. Yelp pretty much having my current location in the first page of their results (i.e. Girl and the Goat).
It makes more sense to check into Places vs. Yelp. Your friends are on Facebook (most are) and check there a couple times a day. Yelp? I really only go there when I’m looking for a new place to check out (not to check in with friends)
How do I check out? Facebook says you are “are at” somewhere, but doesn’t give a way for you to “check out” of somewhere. Presumably this gets updated when you check in at the next place you go to. However I’m not that OCD about checking in everywhere I go, and certainly not when I get home (privacy)
Speaking of Privacy. Facebook’s default settings are set to publish publically when you check in somewhere. In my case I first tried it at Binny’s, a liquor store here in Chicago. While there, I could see some other guy was checked in too! (creepy!). Might come in handy when looking for your friends at the mall or at the nightclub, but in mass social situations, call me an introvert, I’d rather stay in the background. Luckily you can change this setting in your Facebook privacy settings, so only your friends (not the whole world) can see when you’re presently somewhere, or recently there.
Finally, what’s in it for me? I’ve heard stories about people not wanting to leave town so they don’t lose their “mayor” status, but if business’ aren’t giving premiums for loyalty (i.e. similar to your swipe card at the grocery store), why fanatically check in everywhere you go?
Further, if you’re a local business trying to jump on this “check in” bandwagon, which wagon do you jump in on? Facebook, FourSquare, or Yelp? As with everything, test, test and test some ‘mo. It’s easy to set up monitoring of your popularity on these networks. If you see one spiking over the others, consider sticking your toe in the water and offering a deal for frequent customers.
Interesting note, while singing up for FourSquare, it asks your “hometown” and then uses that as your current location. Maybe I’m an anomaly, but I moved away from my hometown?
Check back next week for our experience notes on FourSquare!
]]>Being a Yelp user and seeing as how they had a decent number of listings for Montreal, I downloaded their iPhone app. And I do have to say, with its “nearby” function and “directions to Business” function, it really does blow away carrying around a fat guidebook. While checking the Google map directions to our next destination, I commented to my wife:
“Carrying around a Fodor’s book instantly labels you as a ‘tourist’, while checking your iPhone while walking down the street merely labels you as a ‘geek’”
While using the handy “nearby” feature (I choose restaurants for all 3 nights using this feature) I thought I’d try out the “check in” feature. I’ve seen other people I’ve been following on Facebook and Twitter occasionally “check in” using services such as Foursquare (aka “rob my house”).
I chose to use Yelp for checking in since I’m an active user on Yelp, and post reviews to contribute to the ecosystem that does so well giving me recommendations, it only made sense. For example, check out Foursquare’s page for Cafe Ba Ba Reeba vs. Yelp‘s . Yelp has star ratings, nearby links and venue information (and deals)
But, much to my chagrin, this feature left much to be desired. Sure, my check-in’s could make me a “Duke”, but there was no way for me to access my check-ins after logging into their website (not via my iPhone). I can add “tips” when checking in somewhere, but not a full review. Which was fine with me. I figured I could log into the website later to review my list of check-ins and use that as my reminder list of places I recently visited to post a full review. Not So. I tweeted them about this, no word back yet.
Badges
Other services such as Foursquare go a step further with their badges and appoint ‘mayors’ to people who frequent places more than other users.
Starbucks has latched on to this, giving special offers to its ‘mayors’. This tactic may work work for chains with hundreds of outlets, but for mom and pop’s with only one location or two? You really don’t want to reward the one super customer over your dozens of steady regulars?
Take an Idea from Amazon
This made me think of Amazon with their review system, but also of their Associates program. I can post a review of a product I’ve purchased on Amazon, but if I blog or use some other social media outlet, I can add links to products with my referral code and get a referral bonus when people click the links and actually purchase something. Now that would add more value to these “check in” features sites are using today. Its one thing to broadcast to your 4 twitter followers that you’ve just checked in to Starbucks and just bought a Latte, but if your followers were to then click thru on your link, perhaps the business could give you a discount or coupon on their service for referring business. That’s much more powerful.
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1. Deliver Your Promise.
The promo link from their site promised one thing, but after registering, what I wanted (and was promised) could not be found. If this client’s goal was to merely capture my email address to spam me later for another service (or worse, rent it from a list), he succeeded. But did he? If the unsuspecting registrant (me) were to ever receive an email from this service (or something vaguely resembling it) they’d surely mark it as spam. Long term strategy fail.
2. Just Give Me What I Asked For
I didn’t get one email after registering for my promotional content that I requested, but two! One was about the service (I had actually only signed up for a sample report, not the “service”) and the second email was long-winded with instructions on how to retrieve my special report. Jeebus man, just get to the point and give me the link!
3. Keep It Focused
After orientating myself with the retrieval instructions, I clicked a few links, logged in and ended up on what appeared to be an overview page for their entire service (and then some). Most of the content was inaccessible to me since I just had just signed up for the little trial freebie. To boot, the particular item I had requested was not available. If they had just a dedicated page with “here is the content you requested”, it would have went a long way to reinforcing their brand in my brain (really!). It’s called keeping a ‘scent’ for your prospect, if they land on your page or website and they don’t see anything that smells like your previous page, email or link was talking about, they’re gone, my friends.
Times are tough, we know. It’s even harder to imagine “nurturing” a prospect vs. pouncing on them with every offer you have, relevant or otherwise. Don’t. In the case above, they could have kept it light and simple. I gave them my email (and permission). They could have sent a follow up email a week later asking what I thought about the content piece I downloaded, or forwarded me relevant (!) offers in the future.
Are you afraid you’re not giving prospects enough options? Try giving them less, and keep them relevant and on-brand. You don’t want to lose a prospect, but you don’t want to damage your reputation either to cause prospects to leave the (virtual) room the next time you come around.
]]>No Secrets
First, we don’t try to employ SEO voodoo here. If you invest a couple hours, you can Google most of the basics yourself. It’s been pretty well documented on best-practices, how to code your pages, what tags to use, et al. How to track how you’re doing? Hopefully you’re using a program like Google Analytics with some goals set up, so you can track referring websites and referring keywords. From that, you should get an idea of what’s moving the dial on your website, and where you could perhaps do some tweaking.
SEO Goes Beyond Your Website
Even after you’ve got all the tags right, there’s still link building and channels. Do you have your site listed in all the appropriate directories, submitted to the search engines? Are you linking to your site from your social presences, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and others? Are your press releases SEO friendly?
Content Will Save You
Even if you manage to botch up all of the above, good, juicy, keyword-laden content will make the search engines happy—and encourage other websites to link to your creative, original content which is hard to come by these days. That’s right. Focus on the content, update your website, early and often.
Your Website is the Main Channel
Post content on your website FIRST. Don’t put tasty tidbits of orphan content in your email newsletters, nowhere to be found on your website. Facebook is great, but those channels are to get people back to your website to transact. If you have a new product, service, case study or anything interesting to say, post it on your website first. Then be sure to follow up on your other properties with links back to your website. Your fans can feel free to pan or rave about your postings in the social ‘spheres (that’s what they’re for), just remember to drive them back to your site so you can close the deal.
Post Something Today
Find something to say to your prospects today. Have you expanded your service hours or offerings, added a product line or have a new prominent customer? Put it out there. Make a practice once a week to ask yourself what happened interesting in the last week. After awhile you’ll get better at remembering topics as they come up to make a blog post or add a case study for (this post was one of three that came to me this evening).
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Lead Management
It all starts with a lead, doesn't it? This is so important, I decided we should build our own web application for this, Lead Zeppelin. Granted, there are plenty out there already, but we just needed something simple that we could wire up to our website, track deals and reminders for bids and follow ups. Follow up is key! Many of our own customers have admitted that they suck at follow up. You don't have to remember everything (you can't!) so let your little computer be your nag and worry about the one hundred other things on your plate.
Project Management
We've been using Basecamp for about as long as it has existed. It truly simplifies project management, and makes our team of remote workers collaborate as if they were right down the hall. Our customers like being able to 'check in' and see what's still on deck with the to-do's and milestones, or see what got completed yesterday on the dashboard.
Time Tracking
After trying a few systems, we settled on Harvest. The only reason we don't use their nice invoicing system too is because we still have messy accounting things to take care of via QuickBooks. There are a number of 'invoicing' systems out there, but many don't manage everything from end-to-end, they may track hours, but if you have to expense items that were purchased on your credit card, and track that credit card as a payable as well, you're still gonna need some accounting system.
Payroll
We just signed up with Intuit Online Payroll to handle our quarterly filings and cutting paychecks. We'll follow up with a post on our experience.
Content Management System
We eat our own dog food here and the the cre8 website is powered by the ExpressionEngine content management system. We had worked with a few CMS' over the years, but have settled on specializing in EE. It has the best blend of developer-friendly features and user-friendliness (for non-nerds adding content). For our .net friends, we do handle DotNetNuke CMS too.
HTML, PHP Coding & FTP
John, KC and I all use Coda for the Mac for coding. It's a hand-coding app with built in SVN. Carolynn here (on the PC) uses DreamWeaver.
Version Control
We've been using Beanstalk for a few years now and love it. Its great for collaborating with multiple people and especially when we are sharing website updates with clients. Bonus: clients get a backup of their website.
Page and Email Testing
Litmus gets used here almost daily, checking out pages and emails across a variety of popular browsers and email clients. It's a lot easier than firing them all up on our end individually. And, we can share the test screenshots with clients to show them how their pages and emails fare.
Validation
W3C Markup validation is part of the process here. If you have Chris Pederick's Web Developer Toolbar, it's just a click away. Firebug and YSlow also come in handy for troubleshooting.
Image Editing
Photoshop has been a mainstay for me, and have been using it for years. It's not cheap, but it does everything. Carolynn and John also use Fireworks.
Browsing
Recently switched from Firefox as our primary browser to Google Chrome. It [seems] faster, less hanging.
Backups
We switched from DropBox earlier this year after their security snafu to Wuala.
Mobile Phones
We have service with AT&T for our phones -- I have an iPhone (1st gen) and a Bluetooth Plantronic headset. We just 'upgraded' Carolynn's phone to a Backberry Curve 9300 for testing purposes. In addition, we do have a Google Voice number and are thinking about making that our primary number and routing system.
Chat/Video
We primarily use Skype around the office here to talk to (and see!) our peeps abroad. Other than that we use MSN Messenger.
Audio Entertainment
iTunes Radio, Pandora and Last.fm
What do you use?
We'd love to hear about any app or devices you use to help with your business. Share in the comments below!