MediaSauce is a leader in Internet strategy, web development and interactive solutions, helping companies and non-profits build lasting connections to drive revenues in the Digital Age.
I recently spoke at Indiana Construction Roundtable and SMPS – Society for Marketing Professionals first joint seminar on “Social Media are Internet tools used for sharing and discussing information. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter help connect like-minded people, companies, and associations.” They did a fairly quick interview with me that I would like to share with you.
I’m using a friend’s business as an example. It’s a vein treatment center located in St. Louis called Vein Skincare Institute. She is answering the first of my four questions. This is not how many questions we ask during an investigation of a company. It’s just used for her as an example.
With her four answers, we’ll start working a strategy online that can help transform her business. Instead of surviving, she’ll thrive and grow and, eventually, change the world. Or at least, the world of vein treatment. more
While I’m waiting for the answers from my friend, I hooked up Google Analytics to their site.
Setting up Google Analytics
1. You have to have a gmail account. BTW, I love gmail. I switch off Microsoft Outlook in Jan and I won’t be going back. It’s like when I switched from skiing to snowboard. With the flexibility and ease of Gmail, there’s just no going back. And you should also have a Google profile. They are easy to set up and you can link to your websites and other profiles on the web. Check out mine at Don Schindler Google Profile.
I would also recommend that you set up a gmail for your business. I use this gmail account for lots of different pieces like Adwords, Adsense, Analytics, Checkout, etc…because then you don’t have to worry about mixing personal and business accounts. more
What questions do you have about digital marketing?
OK, I’ve been gone a while. I apologize. I had a very large client with a very large budget and I needed to focus on them completely. But now that the major presentation is done, I can go back to all the other things I was doing along with my job as a digital strategist at MediaSauce.
I get a lot of questions about what I would do with this or that on the web. Does Twitter work? How should I be using Facebook or Linkedin? What is the best way to get my site seen by Google? (This one is near and dear because I believe that if Google can’t see you, then you don’t exist.) All good questions but there’s a lot that I don’t know about your company before I start recommending how you should be using technology. more
A business blog can do lots of things so it really depends on the company. I can tell you that we are not a digital company that immediately says you need a blog.
We are a company that will find out what you want to do, find out what your audience really wants from you and then if a blog fits our strategy – well then, we’ll suggest you start a blog.
But that being said, I am a big believer in blogs. Right now, blogs are very good at doing lots of great things on the web.
We measure our business blog by the traffic it generates and the conversations it spurs. Our chief evangelist, ScottyHendo, is very, very good at getting conversations going. Some of his more intriguing ones are:
But he is amazed at how much traffic my little post about Princeton Premier has driven for our blog.
I wrote it merely as an example of how I used searching and social media to find out about a company and then make a common sense evaluation of whether I wanted to do business with them.
But the blog post itself remains one of our top posts and continues to drive traffic to the site. It’s on the first page of the Princeton Premier SERP (Search Engine Results Page) for Google and it continues to get comments.
I never really intended for it to do anything but be part of our voice to help businesses understand that if you aren’t out there in social media spaces and being a part of the conversation, others will do it for you. And it may not be the message you want.
For Princeton Premier, I think it is bad. Their site is number one but almost all the other links are blogs calling them out for being a scam.
The lesson here is make sure you are constantly making sure that you know what is being said about you on the web. I use SM2 and Google Alerts for both my company and myself.
And then if you find something bad, knowing what to do about it. MediaSauce has several solutions for this that range from contacting the person directly to establishing a siteless web presence with social media.
If you would like to learn more, just give us a call at 317.218.0500 or email.
But back to my original purpose of this post, business blogs do work if you give them time and you write about things that your audience wants and you tie it into your business. Don’t give them just fluff. Don’t give them that old school marketing spin.
If you don’t believe in business blogs, I would like to understand why. Give me your feedback and experience.
Funny little story about branding. I’m branded. I have a classic heart tattoo with my wife’s name on my right arm. It’s cliche but I love it.
One day a buddy of mine asked what would happen if we would get a divorce. “I can’t believe you put her name there. That’s just stupid.”
Obviously, he was divorced. “It was a wedding present. My choice,” I said. “And I’m not getting a divorce.”
“But what if you do?” he asked.
“I’ll cut my arm off,” I said jokingly. But that’s not true. I would rather cut my arm off then lose her. Anyone that knows me, knows this is a fact. I’m branded for life. more
Several things happened last week that made me take notice. And since I don’t believe in coincidences, I had to pull it altogether in my mind.
First, an amazing client story.
J.D. Gould Company is a family-owned business. It’s been around since 1951. They make solenoid valves. It’s really hard to get excited about solenoid valves unless maybe you are an engineer but, according to the client, a lot of engineers don’t think about them as much as they once did. They are one of those things that don’t seem very important but they are. A bad valve can shut down an entire line. And that’s what happened to the an unnamed American Car company back in 1950′s. more
So here are the top ten sites to get the Black Friday Deals – I didn’t steal this from anyone. Just did a little research and this is what I came up with. more
Recently, I traveled to NY to visit a client and help them with one of their learning websites. The business I did there was fine if uneventful but what happened on the way back to the LaGuardia really opened my eyes to how lost people can get in an online world.
First thing I blew it on was the directions. Instead of taking the time – and I have some being stuck in a hotel room in the middle of nowhere in New Jersey – I worked on a few projects and watched some TV. I could have easily gone to Google Maps or something and gotten directions but I didn’t. Instead I decided to trust my original Google map that got me to the business in the first place and just reverse my way back. That was big mistake. more
You knew that was coming, didn’t you? But there are ways to push the complaint farther away from your site and out of your search results.
The first thing I would do. Go after that customer, face to face, and see if you can correct what happened. Now some people would say that there are people who are never going to be happy, no matter what you do.
I would disagree and say, “You really don’t know that until you are face-to-face with that person.”
Too many times I’ve seen emails and comments start flaming because when it comes to digital communication it is easy to forget there is another human being on the other end of that discussion. It’s almost like we are flipping mad at our computer and just letting them have it. But once they are in person or on the phone, the anger settles and people can talk in the right TONE to one another.
The other thing to do is to go to those sites that have your complaint and explain your side of things. Tell them how you’ve tried to work this situation out.
But if you can’t fix it, you can out-content them on search results.
If you have only one website on the internet (your singular web presense) on the internet, this is going to be very hard. Because you essentially have only one link or two links that will come up when there is a search for your company.
Now what I would do is start pushing lots and lots of content out on the web through these different channels – and there are a heck of a lot of more of them than I mentioned.
Also, don’t do it all at once. Space it out. Get stuff up there at least once a week.
Other things you can do is change your static site frequently. I don’t care if it costs you money because you built a site without a CMS. By not changing your content, it just sits there and Google has no reason to re-index your site.
Get involved in other people’s conversations on their sites. If you are scared of the internet, then talk to someone who understands it and can help you.
The bottom line is get more active on the internet and you can drive them down on the search results.
This is also not a great idea in theory – I’ve done this before with companies. It does work. But make sure you understand this. The same rules that apply to you, also apply to the consumer and that’s why when you step it up – they can as well. So it’s better to just work it out together and not go through this mess.
Good luck. And if anyone else has some ideas on how to do it, let me know. I would love to hear them.
I’m using a friend’s business as an example. It’s a vein treatment center located in St. Louis called 
