Social Media: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition.
At BlogIndiana I heard an interesting statistic : Approximately 75% of the visitors to your blog or website are first time visitors. This didn’t sound right, surely people were coming back again and again. But I checked my own statistics and sure enough, 72% of my guests were first timers.
All that new content I was generating, was it going to waste? If I just wrote the same post over and over again, who would know? Well I believe it isn’t going to waste, because every post builds SEO bait. At the same time, the practice is improving my writing skills.
The fact that 3/4 of my audience is new every day presents an interesting challenge. If his is the first time you have arrived here, I want you to know a bit about us. – At Roundpeg, we are focused on small business. We write about marketing, social media, pr, web design, and business planning. Occasionally we show off samples of our work, and link to projects we do for our small business clients. Look around, we hope you will enjoy your stay, and maybe come back and become part of the other 25%
However, if you are part of my regular audience. I am glad you are back.. On this visit, I hope you will take the time to share some of your thoughts. What keeps you coming back?
Bring Your Date Home!
As Facebook expands their reach, launching a geographic platform ( Facebook Places) to compete with foursquare, it raises once again the question – Is Facebook All You Need? With custom fan pages, the simple user interface, the ability to take messages viral, why do you even need your own blog or web site?
The Answer … Control!!
While Facbook is an amazing tool, it is their tool, not yours. It is their game, their rules, and they can change the rules any time. This message was hammered home to me in several different presentations at BlogIndidana last week.
- After building a significant following on Facebook, Scotty’s Brewhouse had reached the maximum number of friends. Giving up most of their traditional marketing, they had come to rely on the platform to stay in touch with customers, promote location based specials and build a following. Yes they have a website, but it is their fan page and twitter stream which really allows them to connect with their clients.
When they reached their maximum Facebook shut them down. Now they were able to rebuild, but they had some significant scrambling to do, and some customer connections were lost forever ( not many, but some)
- FBML!!! – Facebook launched FBML – A quirky tool which allowed developers to create really cool Welcome pages as part of the fan page. I have met several designers recently who argued with FBML, they would never need to build another “real website” . Not convinced it would replace traditional websites, we still took on the challenge of learning the quirks of FBML. The result are some some really cool fan pages:
- roundpeg
- startingpoint
- Lipstick on the Rim ( This is my favorite)
The problem – Facebook is moving away from FBML – The first warning something was in the air, was a notice pages needed to be resized. So all of our designs have been downsized to 530 Px from 730. Not bad, but definitely not something I wanted to do. But the bigger issue? They are abandoning FBML. So now, instead of working on new projects, we need to find another way to add the custom tabs, and rebuild our sites and the ones we have created for our clients. Their game, their rules, their toys.
- As I was researching this topic, I found a blog by Jeff Bullas with one more reason: Facebook is not forever ( Think AOL). Sooner or later something else will come along. Their obsolescence becomes yours. With your site, you control, when, how and why you morph.
Have I given up on Facebook? Absolutely not. It is a powerful tool, which allows us to connect our clients with their constiuacy and DRIVE THEM TO THE CLIENT WEBSITE. That is the bottom line,: Think of Facebook as a giant party, where you can meet lots of people, maybe even the love of your life.. Meet them at Facebook then bring them home to dance!
Seven Link Challege Day Seven – What I Learned
Over the last few weeks, I have written seveval posts ( six to be exact) which were comprised primarily of links to other posts with a common theme. My goal was to introduce my readers to great content, on roundpeg, and other blogs, which they may have missed.
The results have been fun to watch. Many of my favorite posts, have gotten new exposure, lots of traffic and some positive comments.
While I can’t do it very often, with more than 1,000 posts in this blog, there is certainly a wealth of great content worth sharing a second time.
This is a good strategy for any blogger, who has a significant amount of content, and wants to take a little time to rechage their batteries. it is also a good way to see what people really like!
Try the seven link challenge, even if you don’t do it for seven days, and tell me how it works for you!
Seven Link Challenge Day Six – Video
There is more to Business Notes from Roundpeg then just great writing, there is video, and podcasts. In today’s installment of the Seven Link Challenge, I am going to share links to some of my favorite videos. While some are my presentations, others are just great snippets I pulled from YouTube and Ted.com
- Shop Local – From my Rainmaker presentation last fall, in which I challenged our members to vote with their dollars.
- Bring the Love Back – A funny look at how consumers view old style advertising.
- Networking and Toast – Ron Sukenic talking about his toaster – very funny
- Who Should Be an Entrepreneur – From my interview with IBJ writer, Mason King
- Economic Lessons from the Donkey – The written version of this story is also one of my favorites, but Nathan Karamanski of Another Cool Design, really brought it home in his editing of the video version.
- The High Dive - One of my favorite “Rainmaker Closes” this story about my son is proof that past failure is often an indicator of future success.
- Animoto Cool Image Display - Showing off my husband’s art in this cool video
Seven Link Challenge Day Five – Ramblings
Most of the time I write about marketing, social media, web design and pr for small business. But sometimes I go off topic a bit and talk about things that interest, inspire or annoy me. These posts are usually classified as Ramblings.
In today’s addition to my Seven Link Challenge (inspired by a post by Darren Rowse) I have sharing links to my favorite Rambling posts
- What I Learned in 13 Miles
- Not Strictly Business – Seven Facts About Me ( How could I skip a post with seven in the title? )
- What Small Business Owners Can Learn From My Father-in-Law
- Create Your Day
- Last Days of the Presidency ( Hint I am not talking about Clinton, Bush or Obama)
- It Is All About the Crazy
- Sometimes It Is Brawn Over Brains
As I was looking at my recent posts, I realized I haven’t done as much of this lately, but I like the posts, so it looks like I should make time to write a few more in the future.
Roundpeg Radio – Time to Say Goodbye!
As the summer starts to wind down ( I know it is stil well into the 90′s) but it is time for kids to head back to school. And the back-to-school crowd includes three of our interns.
As Jay mentioned in his post earlier this week, these extremely talented individuals will leave their mark on Roundpeg, and I hope we will leave a mark with them as well.
So in honor of their departure, this this week Roundpeg Radio is dedicated to Kelly, Dan and Emily. Our theme is songs of greetings and fairwell.
We will kick off the day with American Pie, and Hello/Goodbye by the Beatles. What would you like to have us add to the list?
We will be live until 3 PM today. Then play list will be up all week. So send your song requests to @roundpegradio. And although our interns will be gone, Roundpeg Radio will live on. So be sure to come back next Friday too, when our musical theme is technology.
NOTE: The widget takes a minute to load, and you’ll have to refresh to see the new songs. Make sure your speakers are on!
Seven Link Challenge Day Four: Guest Posts
Darren Rowse presented the Seven Link Challenge as a way to build content around a theme, In the post you share seven links which drives visitors back to older posts they may have missed. I have used this to highlight some of my favorite bloggers as well as some of my favorite posts here on Roundpeg. And since I am also talking about folks who aren’t members of the Roundpeg team, there are a bonus seven external links.
In today’s post list I feature some of my favorites guest posts.
- Rhoda Israelov, author of Say It For You: Enough Already with the Lists (Ok, so it seems funny to incorporate this in a list)
- Robby Slaughter, Slaughter Development: How to Blog in Only Ten Minutes
- Josh Brammer, Spin Web: What Dora Can Teach Business People
- Barbara Weaver Smith, The Whale Hunter: Whale Hunting
- Micheal Reynolds, Spin Web: Referrals with No Strings Attached
- Scott Howard, Collective Wisdom Three Keys to Marketing
- Dale Collie, Who’s Your Travel Agent and Other Leadership Problems
Looking at the list, I realize it is time to start inviting more people to drop by and write something! So if you write on topics relevant to small business owners, drop me a line, would love to have you as a guest.
All Things Marketing: Engage Visitors
When someone walks into a store, a good salesperson greets the visitor and offers to help. The same is true for a good website. While you don’t often have a person, you should have a process to “greet” and direct visitors to the right place on your site.
This process should include a way to engage visitors, collect their name and email address so you can convert them from a random stranger into a prospect.
This topic of conversion was part of the discussion at the All Things Marketing event last spring. Here is a short excerpt of that discussion.
Seven Link Challenge Day Three – Posts About Animals
This is the third in a series of posts inspired by Darren Rowes Seven Link Challenge .The idea behind the challenge is to present content around a theme, which drives visitors back to older posts they may have missed. Today’s post list includes some of my favorites. The topic: Animals
- Shake it Off and Step Up – This simple story of a donkey in a well is actually my most popular post. I am not sure if it is the story, or the picture which keeps people coming back.
- It was so popular in fact, I created a video version of the story too. Economic Lessons from the Donkey
- Along the same lines is this post about a deer: Economic Roadkill
- Avery recent addition to my animal collection talks about the danger of decisions by committee and my advice: Don’t Build a Camel
- An integral part of the team at Roundpeg – Clyde has been featured in more than a few blog posts – but this is my favorite: Roundpeg Employee of the Year
- How did animals become so much a part of Roundpeg? It all started here: Work and Pets
- And finally, this one is a bit of a stretch, but we created a new website for WellPets Clinic, and found some great animal images in the process.
BlogIndiana – Be There
One of the coolest events of the year, (atleast for local bloggers) is BlogIndiana. This two day event brings together experts and rookies sharing advice, ideas and strategies.
It is a great way to connect off line, with people you have met online ( And in many cases the conversations continue back on line, long after the event is over.)
I will be attending the first day of BlogIndiana again this year. There is a terrific line up of speakers, and it was tough to decide on who I would check out and who I would unfortunately have to skip.
Will you be there? It promises to be a great event.
