What does social networking mean for your company? It changes how people can and will talk about your brand. It changes how you can and hopefully will create community and value around your brand.
Is this important? Review the report below and decide for yourself…
By: Curt Conrad
President, BrightCite Inc.
Warning. Slight rant below…
Is your small business prepared for the arrival of the virtual marketplace? For years I’ve been telling all who would listen how strategic use of the web is a critical small business asset. I’ve been met with many glazed eyes and blank stares from small business people who just don’t get it.
Too bad - because the clock is ticking for the small business person who is web-illiterate and who still thinks about and uses a website as only an online brochure.
It’s going to be a rough road ahead for small businesses not actively seeking to build online assets and who lack a basic understanding of how business works on the web.
On the flip side, proactive small business owners who see the Internet as an opportunity for a business building investment will be rewarded with an exceptional rate of return on time, money and resources.
Are you actively educating, positioning and preparing yourself and business to profit from the power of the Internet? Where do you stand?
Quick Audit
Answering yes to the questions below indicates you are positioning yourself to build online assets that will serve you and your business well in the years ahead:
The more questions you answered "no" to, the less prepared you are for the rapidly approaching future. On the other hand - there has never been a better time to start increasing your online business knowledge and skills.
We’re pleased to announce the beta release of our latest portal product - PlantscaperPortal.com. Our goal is to provide interior landscapers with an affordable and professional web presence that helps grow their business faster and with less hassle.
Simplicity - We’ve taken the guesswork out of web development. You don’t have to spend time and energy managing web developers or trying to understand their proposals. We help you get up on the web fast and with ease.
Ownership - You have and own your company domain name so if you ever decide to take your site somewhere else it’s easy. Your web address is www.YourDomainName.com All you do is let us know the name you want and we’ll register and set it up for you. It’s all included with the set-up fee.
Brand Building - Help customers realize your value, differentiate yourself from competitors and establish the unique identity of your company.
Local search Engine Optimization - Your PlantScapePortal site is locally search engine optimized so you attract qualified prospects in your area of service. Plus our PortalReach™ technology helps you achieve higher search engine ranking for your strategic keywords.
Professional Online Marketing - We market additional web properties designed to refer business back to plantscapers within the PlantScapePortal network. Our online marketing pros are constantly adding and optimizing content, adding links and online promotions designed to increase the flow of qualified leads back to your company web property.
Professional Copy Writing - Your online content is edited by BrightCite online marketing pros to help your company website generate qualified leads and convert them into paying customers.
Ongoing Fresh Content - Your web site is also plugged into our compelling content generation program that automatically displays new prospect/customer relevant content on an ongoing basis. This means your customers have a reason to come back to your site often and refer your content to others.
Site Statistics - See who’s been visiting your site, what keywords they used to find it and how effective your page is at generating leads and converting customers.
A Cost Effective Web Solution - Professional web development can cost thousands of dollars up front. Our web lease program lets you have all of the above benefits at a flat monthly fee. Plus we have multiple packages to suit any budget.
Now You Can Get Professional Web Services At A Fraction Of The Cost
With a PlantScapePortal website you get more for less. Companies spend thousands on just online marketing and ongoing search engine optimization services. Think of your PlantScapePortal web site as a "marketing mutual fund". You invest a small monthly fee and get the benefit of professional management.
PlantScapePortal Beta Program
For a limited time PlantScapePortal will be in premium beta release phase. This means we’ll be testing our systems, working out kinks and adding new features over the next 3 months. Plantscapers who set up accounts with us during this time will receive deep discounts, free functionality upgrades, personal support and additional functionality that won’t be available once our beta phase is over.
If you’re interested in the opportunity to build your company’s online assets, we invite you to apply for a beta account today.
"A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies."
The above insight is from a seminal book that uncovered the simple truth - "markets are conversations". That underneath all the corporate-speak, technology and marketing tactics doing business really means creating and evolving a trusted relationship with your market and the customers within it.
Great personal relationships are built on candor, communication, and mutual respect that generate emotions of loyalty, appreciation and joy. What is so different about business relationships? The Cluetrain Manifesto points out there is no difference and that the Internet empowers the building blocks of great relationships. One example is business blogging.
The best business blogs are transparent - They value candor. By reading a business blog customers can touch the humanity behind the corporate curtain.
The best business blogs facilitate communication - They encourage customer feedback, conversation, comments and community.
The best business blogs create mutual respect between company and customer - Their very existence says we value you as an individual, you’re more than just an invoice number.
If your business doesn’t have a blog you need to start one. It’s simply a great way to stay close to your customers. Writing a business blog will sharpen your brain and produce a level of creativity in your company that is hard to achieve in a meeting.
And if you’re confused by all this, a good place to start is with The Cluetrain Manifesto…
Northeastern University published a white paper reporting on their "Blogging Success Study". The paper distills their findings into 5 underlying factors of successful business web logs.
The report highlights best practices of the following successful corporate business blogs. These are great sites to visit if you’re thinking about publishing a blog to support your business.
The study goes on to report the 5 success factors. Here’s the background and gist:
Interview results were transcribed and summarized in twenty separate case studies. Each was then studied and analyzed with three questions in mind:
- How does the set up of a blog contribute to a blog’s success?
- What is it about how you blog that makes the blog a success?
- What is it about the content on a blog that makes the blog a success?
After careful review, the research team identified five factors for success. The majority of the twenty participant bloggers pointed to these factors as important to the success of their blog. We focus in on these factors in Section Three.
The five factors identified by the participants were:
You can download the PDF White Paper of the Blogging Success Study here.
