All Things Marketing – SEO Strategies
As a member of the panel discussion at the All Things Marketing Conference last spring, I talked about the two types of creatures who visit your website; humans and search engines.
Here is an excerpt from the discussion.
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
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.
All Things Marketing – Personal vs Corporate Branding
Last spring I particpated in a panel discussion as part of the All Things Marketing Conference. Here is an excerpt from the discussion. The question was about Personal vs Corporate branding in social media. Opinions varied between the panelists as to whether you should brand as a company or an individual.
There are pros and cons of each to be considered. Watch the video for our opinions
Don’t Forget to Stop … And Listen to The Music
This is the fourth in a series of VBlog’s produced by Another Cool Design. Originally shared as a blog post almost a year ago, this is an example of how we miss great opportunities when we aren’t paying attention.
Roundpeg Video Blog #4 – Joshua Bell from Another Cool Design on Vimeo.
Want to see the entire Joshua Bell video?
Ordinary People with Extraordinary Passion
Often when we hear about someone who is extraordinary successful, we step back and say, of course, he/she is extraordinary. They have skills and abilities well beyond ordinary people. They have gifts which make them successful. But I would argue, that real success comes from extraordinary passion more than anything else.
In this episode of the Roundpeg Vlog, I share the story of someone who achieved extraordinary success because of his extraordinary passion.
Roundpeg Video Blog – Chris Cambell from Another Cool Design on Vimeo.
Leading Questions, Part 2 – Presentations and Networking
Mason King from the IBJ and I covered so much ground in our interview for the Leading Questions series that they wound up releasing a “bonus” video. Check it out for some tips on approaching everyone’s favorite chore: networking.
Design Your Website for People, Search Engines and iPhones
As I talk to small business owners about their websites, I routinely remind them they must create web pages for two types of visitors; live human beings and search engines spiders. Live human beings like pages which load quickly, pretty pictures, the occasional flash image and simple navigation to find what they want. In contrast, the spiders don’t care about the pictures, the flash, or even the navigation. The spiders focus on the content; key words, phases, page titles and tags.
Serving these two masters is challenging enough, but now we have a third, important audience to consider – the mobile community. Why should you care about what your website looks like on someone’s mobile phone? Because every expert agrees mobile already represents a significant portion of your visitor traffic and that number is expected to continue to grow.
Depending on the expert the time line varies, but Mary Meeker of Morgan Stanly shook the industry to it’s core with her prediction that Mobile will overtake Desktop users within five years. This chart from her presentation shows the tremendous acceleration of mobile users over the next few years.
What does this mean to you as you develop your website? It means real changes in your design. Now you need to consider how the page will size and scale for a 2 – 3 inch screen. This is one of the reasons we really like to work with WordPress. The pages look as good on an iPhone as they do on a desk top.
Flash images and most video is simply invisible on smart phones. While the feud between Apple and Adobe over the next generation of flash rages, my advice to small business owners with limited budgets for web design, is to hold off investing in this type of image, and stick to platforms which work now. You can always update later.
Does this mean you have to have boring static websites to be compatible with mobile? No! There are many products which will create interesting effects on your phone. My advice, be sure to ask for a demo before you buy!
Leading Questions, Part 1 – Who Should Be an Entrepreneur
Recently, I had a chance to sit down with IBJ reporter Mason King for their Leading Questions video series. In this first video, I chat about the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make, and who should (and who shouldn’t!) start their own business.
Ready to be a business owner or take your business to the next level? Join me for a FREE overview of business planning – How to Avoid the Ten Planning Mistakes Business Owners Make. In this lively ninety minute workshop, participants will learn the elements of a good business plan, as well as tips and strategies on how to get started, and make planning an integral part of your business operation.
The next sessions is June 9 at 8:30 at the offices of Trustpointe – 6666 E. 75th Street, Suite 150, Indianapolis, IN 46250. There is no fee to attend, but reservations are required. You can register by filling out the form below. And as an added bonus when you register, you are enrolled in the free eCoulrse: How to Write a Business Plan in 10 Weeks
To take advantage of one or both of the FREE offers simply fill out the form below.
Animoto – Cool Image Display
At Rounpdeg we are always looking for new tools to add features to the websites we design for clients. The criteria:
- Easy to use – Even though our skill set has grown and we can usually figure out how something works, we won’t use plugins and features which are not easy to use. Why? Because most of our small business clients come to us for web sites which they can maintain. It doesn’t do any good to end up with a simple website, with the most interesting feature something we can not edit
- Free is great! But not all our tools are free. We often try free versions, and if they add value, we will upgrade, and offer our clients the opportunity to use our subscription, or get one of their own
- Compatible with WordPress. We stopped designing traditional static websites two years ago, and have never looked back. The plugins have to work flawlessly with WordPress, or we won’t work with them.
So in our quest for new and cool plugins, I have one I think is going to be a favorite. It is called Animoto. It converts simple photos to a cool interactive slide show. Check out the video I did with images of my husband’s art.
The thing I liked best, was how quickly I was able to put this together. Of course I am hooked, and will probably pay for the upgrade so I can create longer videos, and even some without the Animoto logo. But in the meantime, this is really cool!
Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.
