Recently I was very excited to be featured in Sarah Shaw’s weekly blog interview series on the entreprenette.  Sarah is a force of nature when it comes to product development and promotion and when I think of people that are doing social media the right way, I think of her.  In this interview, Sarah asks a lot of great questions.  For those companies that are involved in developing new retail products, like clothing lines, handbags, accessories, etc. this information will prove to be especially helpful.  I explain why great content is essential to connecting with your prospects.  Content is no longer just required, it is the currency of the web.  Listen now!

Check out Sarah’s entreprenette.com for information on her private coaching and other services and be sure to Follow the entreprenette on facebook and twitter!

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Recently, I presented my new magnum opus: The Content Rich Online Marketing Summit. Reviewing all the important online marketing strategies and tactics, the Summit is an action packed, 2 hour seminar that focuses on results. My goal with these events is to distill it down to the most important teachings and give everyone that came a ton of substance – no fluff – minimal storytelling and lots of step-by-step instructions.  I don’t know about you, but so many of the seminars I attend are either a total sales pitch or a bunch of stories stitched together by “get rich quick talking heads.” I’m a busy guy, I don’t want “feel good” anecdotes – I want information!

The inaugural 105 min event (outlined below) was attended by small business people from all over San Diego County and is now available for purchase for only $29.95. It’s action packed and covers the entire spectrum of online marketing and from the feedback we’ve received, attendees got A LOT out of the meeting.  The goal?  To take it to as many places as we can, spreading the good news of online marketing strategy everywhere we go… Everything for the Beginner.  Ideas for the Experts.  Check out these clips from some of my recent events!

Here’s how we break it down at Content Rich “Live” (as it’s also called):

I. Elements of Strategy

• Keyword Research
• Competitive Research
• Content
• Improving Usability – Design
• Social Media
• RSS/Social Bookmarking
• Blogging
• Link Building
• Sub Strategies based on type of business
• Local Companies
• E-Commerce and other web businesses

II. Tactics Continue reading →

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Content Is More Than Copy

I always have to remind people that content is much more than simply words on a page. Perhaps this is the most important form of online content, but it’s certainly not the only type, especially now. And yes, I did write the book, Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t discuss video, audio and other types of content every day…because I do.

Ask yourself, what types of content does my audience respond to? Who am I trying to reach? Product videos can be very compelling if you sell electronic goods, for example. Videos give your website a nice personalized touch. How about a video from the CEO of your company welcoming people to your blog?  People that see these videos may share them with their friends. If they do, then you have just made an effective social media play!

And what about Podcasts? They are hugely popular. Think of all the commuters in cars – don’t they need something to listen to? Of course.  Many people don’t have time to surf their favorite blogs or watch a video. Using your expert status, you can create a show that covers all the important topics of your industry and make it available to thousands of people who want to know what you think and may even want to do business with you.

III. HOW YOU CAN GET IT ALL DONE Continue reading →

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Other Ways to Link Bait

Contests

Another thing you can do to build link‐friendly content is to run a contest or sweepstakes on your blog (or your Twitter or Facebook page). It doesn’t have to be expensive – you could give away your services, actually. For me, being an online copywriter and marketing consultant, I could give away 10 pages of free content. I haven’t done that yet, but I could. It would probably go off very well. What could you give away? Once you decide, promote it and blog about it like crazy…on every social media channel at your disposal!

Interviews

Finally, to build some high quality link bait or “link friendly” content, you could interview prominent people in your industry. How about that for an idea? You know that these people you interview will link to you, right? Absolutely they will. Most of the prominent people out there in any field appreciate the added exposure. Play off that and get some great traffic as a result! Try this on your YouTube channel next week… Continue reading →

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by Jon Wuebben

II.  Types of Social Media Content

So if social media is any online media that allows users to interact with one another, there are probably many different types of social media right? Yes, that’s right. Here is a list of the unique forms of social media and which sites are the most important.

Social networking – Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn,

Social networking sites allow users to add friends, send messages and share content on either the “one-to-many” or “many-to-many” format. Typically, people on social networking sites get together in communities of like-minded interest. More on Twitter in a bit…

Social bookmarking – StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious

Social bookmarking applications allow users to share their favorite online content with one another while by creating online bookmarks. The bookmarks are on a web site so other people can then see your bookmarks and ideally be exposed to something that they wouldn’t otherwise encounter. Some social bookmarking sites, like StumbleUpon and Digg, use a voting system that allows users to indicate what bookmarks they found interesting. Continue reading →

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by Jon Wuebben

Social Media. Heard of it? Unless you have been sent in a rocket ship to space for the past couple years, you probably not only know about it – but are digging into it and may be a very active participant. It has been the biggest thing to hit the business world since the Internet itself…plain and simple. Whether you are a business with a fan page on Facebook, a Twitter page and a You Tube channel, or a just a regular guy or gal who is re-connecting with old friends through social media, it has affected practically ALL of us.

So, what is Social Media?   Wikipedia says this…

“Social Media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogs (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.”

Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological Continue reading →

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by Jon Wuebben

The new age is all about customer empowerment. Customers and Prospects use the Internet to comment on your business and even suggest new ideas to you. As a result, companies everywhere are learning to form and tap the creativity of customer communities.

Research from MIT professor Eric von Hippel shows that most new products are actually suggested and sometimes even created by customers. Meanwhile, customers are finding solutions to their problems from fellow customers in chat rooms, online forums, Twitter etc..

Businesses organized around the customers typically provide packaging and marketing, such as the online, print-on-demand vanity publishers that have sprung up during the past few years. When Threadless.com prints T-shirts bearing images designed by community members, it is acting as more than a manufacturer. It is allowing community members to reach people outside that community, who don’t go on the Threadless.com website to view the images.

Customers have the power now and they aren’t letting go of that. And this very notion – that the separation between company and customer has diminished means great things for your business. It means more people telling other people about what you do and you not having to pay for that exposure. If you treat your customers like you would your mother, you will be paid back a thousand fold!  Embrace it now and you will never regret it.

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by Jon Wuebben

The rise of small business…it’s unbelievable what has happened. Did you know that there are 6.6 million home based businesses in the U.S.? The number of small businesses is increasing in the United States. According to the SBA, the number of non-employer firms has risen steadily this decade to 21.1 million in 2007, a jump from 16.5 million in 2000.

There are thousands… and in some cases, millions of people out there who want what you are selling. And with the internet, you can be found by anyone searching for you! That’s the real change. You just need to be optimized for search, right?

Not convinced?  Consider this: Google has reported that 20% – 25% of their daily search queries are unique. That means even interest in different niches on the web is constantly changing. Continue reading →

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by Jon Wuebben

Did we ever think that two college students with a gift for rhyming could hi-jack the advertising and promotions department for McDonalds for a few weeks with a clever rap about mcnuggets?  It happened.

Welcome to the Democratization of Self Expression.

What does this mean? It means that your brand is out of your hands. And it should be if you think about it. Your customers are important. What they think has always been important. It’s just that before, corporations loved being able to dish it down people’s throats. And look how far it got us. Chrysler. GM. Others. It doesn’t work, it’s never worked. The reason why Toyota came out of nowhere in the 70’s and 80’s and then eventually went on to dominate the auto market is because they listened to their customers. In a way, they were on the forefront of social media. They gave their customers a voice before they were able to have one on their own! With any news, we can now question it, put in context, analyze it and comment on it. Continue reading →

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