| Web 2.0 For Your Small Business
Things you should know about marketing your small business online
Carrie Bevill Marketing Consultant Page 1 |
Web 2.0 For Your Small Business
There is a completely new world to use to market your small business. It’s called the Web 2.0
platform, and it’s where the puck is going in small business marketing.
Before we go any further, I want to provide you with Wikipedia’s definition of Web 2.0:
Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted
services — such as social-networking sites, wikis, and folksonomies — which aim to
facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users.
If that definition doesn’t make the concept any clearer, think of it this way; the Internet’s new
applications are changing the way the world communicates. People are moving from watching the
conversation being played out in traditional media to participating in the conversation through web 2.0
platforms such as video, blogging, social networking, and social bookmarking.
How does this affect your small business?
Well, if you’re like most small businesses, up to this point you’ve relied heavily on mass media
advertising to bring customers to you. You have pushed information to a mass market of people so that
they are forced to see your message whether they want to or not. But believe me when I say the
effectiveness of those techniques are going the way of the dinosaur.
The world we live in is an on demand place. You’ve heard of just-in-time inventory procedures?
That concept is now becoming an accurate way to describe the way consumers behave.
People want information as they need it, or just-in-time, not just-in-case. I don’t care about information
pertaining to the newest model of BMW because I’m not in the market to buy one. If I’m not in the
market to buy one and don’t see myself in the market to buy one in the foreseeable future, I’m probably
not going to research the vehicle just in case I do become interested. I am however interested in buying
a new Ipod, so I’m willing to search out all the available information about Ipod’s that will help me
make a better buying decision.
After that example, you can see why advertising won’t impact your sales as much as providing
information will. An ad won’t motivate the average person to buy anymore. What it will do is motivate
And where do you think people are going to find this information? If you said the Internet, you’d be
right. But the thing about the Internet is that Web 2.0 applications are changing the way people use the
Internet to find information.
As of this writing, the most visited websites on the Internet are as follows:
1. Yahoo – Search Engine and Personalized Content
2. Google – Search Engine
3. YouTube – Online Video
4. Windows Live – Search Engine
5. MSN – Search Engine and Content Provider
6. MySpace – Social Networking
7. Facebook – Social Networking
8. Wikipedia – Content Provider/Online Encyclopedia
9. Hi5 – Social Networking
10. Orkut – Social Networking
Of these top ten most visited websites on the internet:
- Five are search engines or information aggregating sites (i.e. Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia).
- Four are social networking sites.
- All enable video sharing in one form or another.
So what does this mean?
1. People are looking to the Internet to find information
2. They love search engines
3. They love social networking sites
4. They love video
More importantly, all of this means that people aren’t just using the Internet to soak in a bunch
of text anymore. They are on the Internet to participate in the conversation, watch videos, make videos,
connect with people, share ideas, and make an impact. You can no longer take the conversation to the
people; you have to join the conversation that already exists.
Let’s backtrack for a moment and talk about this conversation business. What do I mean when I
talk about the conversation? Well on the Internet, people are talking. They are using blogs, videos,
websites, social networking, social bookmarking, and anything else they can to share information and
ideas. All of these resources on the Internet get lumped together and separated into topics by search
engines like Google and Yahoo! in order of perceived importance. Those listings, my friends, are the
When someone goes to Google and wants to find out about the products you sell, you have a
choice to provide that information yourself or let other people provide it for you. There is probably
already information about your products online, but it might not be very good, it might be offered by
someone that isn’t as knowledgeable as you, or worse, it might be offered by one of your competitors.
By promoting your business online, you have a chance to become the authority that people find when
they are searching for information.
For example, if you’re selling snowboards in Regina, you would probably want to come up for
the Google keyword search “snowboards in Regina”. Getting your website listed under those terms is
the first step, but it doesn’t stop there. In order to really dominate that search term, you would want
multiple listings on the results page. More importantly, when people click on your listings, you want
them to find the most comprehensive, well presented content available. If you do that, tell me the odds
of that person doing the search becoming a paying customer doesn’t go up.
Search engine optimization or SEO is the process of getting ranked near the top of the search
engines. Without getting into the details of what to include in your website’s coding to make that
happen, let’s just say that the more quality content you have on the net, the better your chances of
coming up near the top of the search results.
But what is considered quality content? Let’s get into that. In a nutshell, Google likes three things:
1. Google likes dynamic content. In other words, websites that are always changing have a better
shot at a high ranking than a static page. That means that if you want to see results, you’ll
always have to be coming up with new content to serve your visitors.
2. Google likes sites that other people like. Think of Google search results as a popularity contest.
The more places that link to a site, the more important Google thinks your site is. The more
important Google thinks your site is the more weight your votes (or links to other sites) carry in
the popularity contest. So in other words, it’s wise to have your content and your link on
popular pages.
3. Google likes consistency. Going back to our snowboard example, the more places on the
Internet talking about your site and snowboards in the same place, the better. Think about it like
this, if a lot of people are talking about your business and snowboards in Regina at the same
time, chances are pretty good that your business is an authority on snowboards in Regina.
Google in turn will recognize this and give you a better ranking when people are looking for
information about snowboards in Regina.
So what can you do to provide Google with these three things? The answer is to use Web 2.0
applications to dominate your niche and become the authority in your industry. Here are a few things
Online Video
The most important medium online right now is video. If you go back to the list of most visited
websites, every one of them gives users the ability to upload your own videos, view videos, find
videos, or a combination of all three. YouTube gets 15% of the total web traffic on any given day, and
the only thing they do is provide an online community for video creators and viewers.
But a bunch of waterskiing squirrel videos won’t be the content that will help your business.
You’ll want to create videos that you can use to bring your website to life, use them to promote your
products or services, and use them to answer the questions your customers ask you every day in your
storefront.
Once you start creating videos, you’ll want to distribute them as widely as possible. You’ll also
want to upload your videos to any site that will accept them. There are many more video hosting sites
out there other than YouTube, and you should become familiar with them (sites like Revver, Google
Video, and Yahoo Video are the most important). Every time you upload your video it is an opportunity
to link back to your website from more places. This is crucial when you want to control the Google
conversation.
You can also borrow the attention that other videos are getting by posting video replies on
YouTube. This allows you to get in front of viewers of popular videos. Just make sure they have some
relation to your video and that you are providing value to the community.
Using your videos within your website will improve the experience your visitors have at your
site. The more accustomed people get to watching online videos, the less they will want to read text
online. I’m not saying take the text off your website, but you should at least provide the option for
people to watch a video instead.
Blogging
Blogging is one of the most underused tools for small business. If you ask the majority of
independent small business owners what separates them from a chain, they would tell you that it’s the
personal connection they have with their customers. Well why limit that connection to the people that
come to your storefront?
A blog is a place for a person or business to share ideas, opinions, and expertise. It can be
updated very easily and allows you to post text, pictures, and video. After each post, users can also
leave their comments allowing them to participate in the conversation.
Writing a blog is probably the easiest way you can establish yourself as an authority figure in
your niche. By allowing comments you also allow your customers to very easily interact with you
directly. That’s a huge thing in itself, because wouldn’t you feel better buying from a real person that
Blogs also establish you as an authority with the search engines too. Because blogs are updated
so much more often than a regular website, search engine spiders visit blogs more often. When a spider
visits more often your information is picked up much faster, keeping your search engine conversation
current.
You can even try to monetize your blog by adding Google Adsense. Adsense is a contextualized
advertising system where Google allows you to place ads for its sponsors on your site. Google
determines what your site is all about and gives you ads relating to your content. So if you write a blog
about football, your ads will probably be for football related products. Some people make a good living
off of it, but until you develop a huge following I wouldn’t rely on it to pay the bills. It costs you
nothing to try out though, so what’s the harm?
On a final note, there are plenty of free blogging sites out there that you can use. Personally, I
use Blogger (owned by Google) but WordPress and TypePad also offer free services. So if you thought
it was too cost prohibitive to get online, think again. The only fees you may incur involve buying a
custom domain name that might run you $20 at most. Buying one isn’t necessary though, each
Social Networking
If you’ll remember back to the list of most popular websites again, four of the top ten were
social networking sites. These are sites like Facebook and MySpace, and are wildly popular. The
average user visits them multiple times each and every day.
You can use these sites to promote the things you are doing in your business with your network
of contacts. After all, your friends are probably the best marketers you have for your business so
shouldn’t they know about everything you’re doing? Facebook and MySpace are great places to post
your videos and blog entries to make sure your friends have access to find out about what your business
is doing.
You can also have your employees promote your business through their network of friends. If
you are having a sale or special event, it never hurts to let people know about it. If you’ve posted a
video, ask if your staff doesn’t mind sharing it. The trick with social networking is not to come off as a
pushy marketer though. Just post information for people to view, if they are interested in finding out
more, they can visit your blog or watch your videos.
Groups are another important aspect about social networking sites. They allow users to become
part of a community of like minded people. If you’re a hockey buff you probably enjoy being part of
Facebook hockey groups. If you’re planning a wedding you would probably join a group of soon to be
brides and grooms sharing ideas. Join some of those groups or start your own group related to your
business. The worst thing that can happen is you learn more about what your customers are looking for.
The thing to remember about tools like Facebook is that it is a social utility first and foremost.
Try not to use it solely for business purposes. Posting pictures of your family vacations, writing on a
friend’s wall, and commenting on other’s posted items are a good way to make sure your personal
relationships come first. Remember, relationships will bring you more sales than a salesman ever will.
Oh, and people hate getting spammed.
Social Bookmarking
Social bookmarking is becoming an important source for gauging the pulse of a community or industry.
Wikipedia defines social bookmarking as:
A way for Internet users to store, organize, share and search bookmarks
of web pages.
Popular social bookmarking sites include del.icio.us, Digg, Stumbleuppon, Furl, reddit, and Newsvine.
Basically they allow users to share websites, articles, videos, blog posts, etc. that they find interesting
with others. And guess what, this is another good way to get more links and draw attention to your
online content.
In order to get a handle on it, you’ll probably want to sign up for an account at one of these sites and
start from there. Get comfortable with how the sites work and start to look for ways that you can draw
attention to your information. The biggest thing will be adding Digg, Stumbleupon, and del.icio.us
buttons to your blog posts to encourage people to spread the word about you.
You can also draw attention to yourself by participating in the conversations going on in these social
bookmarking communities. Comment on popular blog posts, stories, and videos. If you make valuable
contributions to the communities, people will be curious about you, hopefully leading them to your
web content.
Other Tools
There are plenty of other tools out there you can use to dominate the web conversation. Squidoo
is a site that allows you to build a lens about any topic you choose. Marketing guru Seth Godin founded
this site. The intention of a lens is to be a portal of information about one specific topic. Within the lens
you can link to blog posts, videos, books at Amazon, eBay listings, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
You can make money through their lensmaster affiliate program or just donate it to charity. Each lens
provides another chance for you to claim another listing in the search engines.
Participating in forums is a way for you to contribute to conversations and get links back to
your site. Make sure that you are making valuable contributions in forums, not just marketing to them.
It’s the equivalent difference between getting a call from a telemarketer vs a
Commenting on things like blogs and videos can help you spread your name, your brand, and
your links around the Internet. They aren’t always that effective, but the more you contribute, the closer
you’ll get to becoming an authority in your industry.
Using Content to Get Subscribers
The more quality content you create, the more in demand it will become. If you are adding new content
regularly, people will want to know when you come out with something new online or in store. This
presents a great opportunity to get your potential customers to identify themselves to you.
Using an online CRM database, you can collect customer’s contact information through web
forms. With no data entry on your end, your customers are able to give you their information so you
can stay in touch with them. That is something that is invaluable to a company.
People never want to miss out on a good thing. If you are having a sale, special event, or promotion,
your customers will want to know. The same goes for helpful videos and blog posts. They will be
willing to give you their information if you promise to keep them in the loop by providing value to
them.
By building your database of subscribers you can run targeted email and direct mail campaigns.
And by only advertising to the people that want your information you won’t be seen as another piece of
junk mail, but instead as a welcome and valued piece of mail. Provide the value and they will sign up in
droves.
Conclusion
All of the techniques I have talked about may not be right for your business, but that’s okay. Don’t feel
that you need to jump in head first, just start by creating a few videos and writing a blog. Once you see
that people are actually interested in the content you are offering, you’ll be inspired to create more and
more.
If you get all these concepts, but aren’t sure where to start, or if you just don’t want to take on the work
yourself, we can help. At LRS Consulting we can create a consulting package for your business that
allows you to outsource all of this content to us. Yes, that’s right; we’ll help you create it and do all the
technical work for you.
If you’re interested in putting our expertise to work for you, visit our website at www.CarrieBevill.com
or send an email to carriebevill1@gmail.com. We love this Internet game and are giddy about its
potential. Let us help you get results marketing your business on the Internet – whether you sell
anything online or not.
Dedicated to small business success,
Carrie Bevill
Marketing Consultant
CNA Enterprises
SKYPE ID Carrie.Bevill
P.S. For more small business ideas, check out our blog at
About the Author
Carrie Bevill's Desire was to Acquire Freedom in Every Aspect of Life.........Spiritually, Physically &
Financially. All Of This Changed When I Met "Carlos Cintron". A TRUE LEADER AND MENTOR
WHO SHOWED ME THE SECRET CODE TO SUCCESS. I always was chasing people to join my
business...NOW! I GET MASSIVE FREE QUALITY LEADS AND TRAFFIC. THEY CHASE ME.
THIS IS AMAZING!!!! I AM COMPELLED IN GIVING THIS POWERFUL INFORMATION TO
OTHER BUSINESS OWNERS & MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THEIR LIVES. I Am Excited Today
Because I Am Building Multiple Streams Of Income And Assets Online For My Future Children And
Many More Generations To Come, That is Absolutely Wonderful!. One last thing everyone the best
way to get ahold of me the fastest and get a response from me almost right away would be on SKYPE
its free at skype.com and my skype is Carrie.Bevill add me to skype and lets chat about what you can
do to expand your business on the web and get massive results Right Away!
Carrie helps small businesses find ways to use the Internet as a marketing tool. Some of the
areas he focuses on include:
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Online Video Creation and Distribution
• Social Networking
• Blogging
• Email Marketing
• Content Creation
• Database Marketing
• Website Design
• Marketing Strategy
Her other works are available. Just follow the links below.
Knol Foundation
Invite as author
Greetings
email knolfoundation@gmail