Social media professionals everywhere will spend their next several days developing strategies and building branded pages on Google+ now that the company has officially opened the doors to busineses and brands everywhere.

Vic Gundotra, Goole’s Senior Vice President of Engineering, introduced the new brand pages in a post where he explains the team’s inspiration for the new product, “So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands—so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.”

Gundotra continued, “Google+ has always been a place for real-life sharing, and Google+ Pages is no exception. After all: behind every page (or storefront, or four-door sedan) is a passionate group of individuals, and we think you should able to connect with them too.”

Google also introduced a new feature called Direct Connect that links Google Search to Google+ brand pages.

Direct Connect works for a limited number of pages today (like +Google, +Pepsi, and +Toyota), but many more are coming. In the meantime, organizations can learn more about Direct Connect in our Help Center.

A number of pages are already available (see below), but any organization will soon be able to join the community at plus.google.com/pages/create.

Not sure if you realize that Google did a Panda update recently…Sept. 28, 2011

Understand search engines want to provide users relevant information. When your content is created properly with the right keywords, videos, and images. The search engines will be all over it!

When you provide valuable content for your audience expect the search engines to like it as well.

More Traffic = More Leads

Take a look at this graphic if you are not convince that content for SEO if vital: This infographic created by Brafton:

So hopefully you see the power of content creation. Now go and start creating some content!

Here’s a great list of common Facebook mistakes and misconceptions when it comes to your business and social media marketing, check this list and make sure you’re not making any amature mistakes!

Fan Page Mistake #1: Assuming People Go To Your Fan Page (Versus Seeing Your Posts In Their News Feed)

Most people, if they ever go to a fan page, only go there once. Some highly interactive pages get more visitors, and you can bring fans back to the page or to specific tabs with posts or ads, but usually fans see your page’s posts via their news feed.

One of the biggest surprises to me, was that most business owners don’t understand how people use Facebook:

• When you log on to Facebook, what you see is your news feed, and this is all Facebook is, to most people.
• Your news feed doesn’t contain every post from all your friends or all the pages you’ve liked.
• You can change your news feed to show more, or everything, or the most recent from everyone, but fewer than 10 to 20 percent of people do this.
• If you have a Facebook page, all your fans do not see all your posts. The fans who have liked or comment on your page’s posts will see more of your posts.
• If you’ve done a poor job getting people to interact, you may need to rehabilitate your fan base by paying for sponsored stories.

This is also a good reason to look at Facebook Groups, because every time any Group member posts or comments, everyone gets a notification.

Fan Page Mistake #2: Expecting Welcome Tabs To Get You Lots Of Fans

Reveal tabs, aka Fan Gates, are very popular. Some people think they possess magical powers. But they don’t help most businesses very much because:

• For a welcome tab to get you fans, you have to get non-fans to go to your Facebook page, because only non-fans see the pre-like version of a fan gate.
• If you have a website with a lot of traffic, you may get a significant number of people who do this by clicking on a Facebook icon from your website.
• If you use a like box to get fans on your site, these new fans will never see your welcome tab.
• If you get new targeted fans the cheapest way there is (via Facebook ads), most of these like the page by liking the ad, so they also never see the welcome tab.

See that big circular diagram from the last mistake? Notice how many fans go to the actual page? That’s the percentage of people likely to see your beautiful welcome tab. Actually, less, because once they’re fans, they’ll go straight to the Wall.

Fan Page Mistake #3: Overestimating Apps and Tabs

Some people also seem to think creating a Facebook app is a magical move that will create all kinds of buzz and engagement. While this may be true for big companies who can get mass media coverage for deploying a clever new app, for most companies this the long way around to less results.

The Facebook app’s fatal flaw is the ominous opt-in page that requires you to share your Facebook data with the App. I can’t find any authoritative percentage of how many people bounce away from that page, but anecdotally, I know the number is high. I only became more willing to allow once I knew where to go to remove App access from my account. But this extra step means at least 25 percent and maybe as many as 75 percent of people who go to try an app will not carry through with it.

What that means is- you spend all kinds of money and time programming a new app (and programming efforts, especially if you’ve never been involved in one, are always more money and time than you expected), and may come out with less results than if you just use the incredible tools Facebook has available.

Think about it, if 100 percent of users already interact with posts and pages and groups, won’t you have a better chance of getting engagement by using those, than by using a weird new app that they have to give up privacy to opt-in to?

Fan Page Mistake #4: No Budget For Ads To Acquire Fans

As discussed above, the cheapest way to get targeted fans for your page (fans who are likely to be good customers), is with Facebook ads. The power, depth and precision of the Facebook ad platform is unrivaled and historic. And you can get fans for anywhere from 1 cent to $1.50, depending on your niche and parameters. You can’t get email subscribers that cheap anywhere, and this is the same kind of owned media.

But so many companies go to ridiculous lengths to avoid spending money on ads, or they just don’t have ad spends in their paradigm. They use a ton of time on roundabout tactics that yield fewer and less qualified fans. They forget about the cost of the employee time required to do so. And then when their fans don’t produce a return on investment, they wonder why. Well, because you went cheap and you didn’t get good prospects. That’s why.

Fan Page Mistake #5: Posting In A Self Centered Way, Not Trying To Get Likes And Comments

You’ve seen it on hundreds of corporate blogs: post after post about them, them, them, and few comments, if any. Comments from sycophantic employees who want their company to look good. You can see it on Facebook pages too: me, me, me posts, and very few likes and comments, especially compared to the fan base. Your actual active fan base is about 100 times the number of likes and comments you usually get. How does that compare to the number of fans you have?

You would think by now that everyone would understand the lessons of web 2.0; push and pull, conversational marketing, etc. But no. So many marketers have never learned to care about what their audience cares about. You can’t communicate effectively until you know your audience. You can’t get responses if you don’t ask for them. You can’t get enthusiasm until you stimulate it.

And if you don’t get responses, you become invisible.

Fan Page Mistake #6: Not Optimizing For Impressions And Feedback Rate

If you don’t have a metric for every stage of your marketing, you simply can’t optimize your tactics for that stage. Your goals for the fan page should include:

• Visibility to as many of your fans as possible, calculated by dividing post impressions by your total fan base
• Responsiveness to your posts, calculated by feedback rate, which is the total number of likes and comments divided by post impressions

If you aren’t getting at least a one percent feedback rate, you probably are missing the mark in connecting with the bulk of your audience. Think about what passions and interests your fan base has in common, and speak to those. If you used Facebook ads to grow your fan base, you should know exactly what interests comprise the bulk of your fans and which ones were most passionate (measured by ad CTR).

A couple of caveats: I haven’t seen pages with more than 100,000 fans get one percent feedback rates, but I also don’t see pages that size using best practices in post content. Also, for pages of any size, when you post blog posts or sales-focused discounts, the clicks to your website or blog aren’t counted in this feedback rate. In those cases, a lower feedback rate is acceptable, if you’re getting sales and ROI from your efforts.

Fan Page Mistake #7: Over-Selling and Hard-Selling Without Conversing Or Arousing Desire First

This is very similar to the “me, me, me” selfish mistake discussed in #5.

Think about the typical conference. There’s a reason they have a separate area for vendors: The selling approach doesn’t always jibe with the conversational focus of the main part of the conference. And similarly, a fan page is a bunch of fans who typically are fans of something besides your offering. What they’re fans of is related to your offering. You have to continue to fan the flames of desire around that passion. My rule of thumb is to engage, converse and stimulate four times as much as you sell. Go for 80 percent interaction, 20 percent selling. There’s a wisdom to this that goes beyond Facebook.

Why does Corona sell relaxation and the beach rather than just show people drinking beer? By reaching beyond features and benefits to sell the dream implied by the offering’s benefits, playing with follow-through, focusing on the vision beyond, companies knock the ball out of the park.

Conversely, companies that focus on themselves and selling immediately end up disappointed, much like the college freshman looking for a one night stand. Not knowing the value of romance, he ends up rejected and alone. There’s a reason why it’s called foreplay and there’s a reason that flowers are a billion dollar business.

Brian Carter is CEO of the Facebook Marketing Training Company, FanReach.

Photo/Image Credits:

• All Smart Art diagrams by Brian Carter
• Homeless by jswieringa, message modified by Brian Carter

The truth is that you can reach a larger audience with online content marketing for your business, it has never been easier to reach out and gain new prospects or customers locally or world-wide using online methods. Knowing you don’t have to spend an ample budget on old fashion, retired marketing tactics or buy into the latest “get rich quick scheme” , that alone should get business owners excited and motivate you to consider devoting a little more time on a content marketing structure.

Understand though, just having a website is not enough to gain more customers. You’ll need a method to promote and educate visitor on your products or service with consistent, fresh, content marketing.

Are you thinking “What is Content Marketing”?

Most marketers know what is content marketing, whether they use the term or not.  This article is geared towards those that own a business and have little or no idea of what content marketing is.

If you’re not familiar with this technique, google your niche market, and sift through the endless data stream of content that is relevant and high-ranking.  That my friend, is your competition.  The relevant content of your industry is attempting to steal your prospect and customers right out from underneath you.

Take the time to study these feeds, and consider how you could utilize these sources to distribute information about your product or service over the internet.  Likewise consider what technique works best for you:
1) Getting to the top
or
2) Using a top ranking network

What you’ll want to focus on is informing people on what you have to offer and how your service or product is a must-buy for the everyday consumer in your target niche. By educating people over the internet, you are able to reach out to the masses and expose your business to a greater audience.

One of the key components of content marketing is not to sound like a greasy used-car salesman when promoting a service or product.  This can be challenging!

You’ll need to come across as if  you were having a normal conversation with someone in a room, or even as if you were telling a friend about something that you bought and fell in love with.  It’s your passion for the product or service that will sell to the audience.  Everyone is looking for the next great thing, they just don’t want to get scammed or feel like they’re being taken advantage of.

There are several  different strategies that will find you success when trying to reach out to an audience using content marketing:

1. Blog Marketing
2. Video Marketing
3. Social Media Marketing
4. Article Marketing
5. Email Marketing

As you can see these are totally different from your typical newspaper, magazine, yellow page, or TV advertisements that most individuals believe are the only way to market.

Hands down, content marketing strategies are a powerful tool in your strategic arsenal, used to gain a new audience and new customers.

If you own a business and want to know how to take advantage of these cutting edge marketing techniques, but just don’t know where to start.  Send us a message on our contact page or simply get started by connecting with us on Facebook.

You could say that in-text links allow us to apply a degree of functionality to written content. If they’re used appropriately, links can achieve their goals without confusing—or losing—the user. They can also support a good search rank for your content. If they’re used poorly, they can frustrate users, undermine your credibility, or create gaping holes in your site, SEO efforts, or sales process.

When we’re talking about in-text links—links that aren’t part of your site’s buttons or navigation—it’s important to remember also that the links aid scanning. Well-used links can boost your posts’ readability, as well as reader comprehension. While some argue that a scanner finding an interesting link will simply click away from your site, ending their engagement with your content, I’m not so sure. I have the feeling that’s only likely to happen if the user is looking for something specific and their scanning suggests that your content doesn’t provide the answer.

If, as I’m scanning, the page content looks good, and the links seem interesting, I’ll go back and start to read the page content itself. Often, scanning is used as a means to gauge the page’s value and relevance to the individual, so if your links’ text, which jump out at a scanner, doesn’t help to communicate the content’s value or relevance, you’re missing a golden opportunity to connect with readers at first glance.

So let’s look at the link text specifically. I’ve noticed three broad approaches to using text links:

• the minimalistic approach
• a call to action
• the descriptive approach.

The minimalistic approach

The minimalistic approach links a single word—maybe two—to the external content.

There’s a variation of this approach which links individual words in a phrase to multiple, related examples or sources of the information being discussed.

You guessed it—I’m not a fan of the minimalistic approach. Firstly, for scanners, or those using screenreaders, the words “click here” aren’t exactly indicative of what we’ll get when we click on that link.

In the second case, readers may not even realize that different words are linked to different sources—a number of web developers and content creators (i.e. heavy web users) I’ve spoken to over time have said they’ve never noticed this technique in use, even though I see it often. Perhaps they’re just not realizing what they’re seeing when they come across these kinds of links?

A call to action

Once upon a time, when the web was young and users weren’t always sure what was possible, there was a school of thought that said every link should involve the words “click here”.

A scanner scanning this page would only notice the words “click here”, so they wouldn’t know how relevant (or otherwise) this content was to their interests. We could link the entire sentence, but again, that makes it difficult for scanning readers to discern the important information in those first, split-second glances.

The words “click here” do form a call to action, and are certainly justifiable in cases where we want readers to take action, but in cases where you have no vested interest in the reader clicking on the link, I think it’s best to avoid “click here”.  These days, when web users know what a link is, and what it does, this kind of link text can be boring at best, and patronizing at worst.

If you believe that the words “click here” do actually create impetus in the reader to take that action, you’ll use “click here” sparingly, saving it for links that make a difference to your bottom line, rather than verbally encouraging users to leave your site every time you reference another source (which may be often).

The descriptive approach

The descriptive approach indicates to readers—and to scanners, screenreader users, and search engines—what they’ll get when they click on the link.

To me, this approach seems appropriate, at least in any case in which you want to link to another page—on your site, on someone else’s—that doesn’t impact your bottom line. You may also choose to use it as a softer, more subtle sales link in cases where the content in which the link appears isn’t primarily related to the product you’re promoting.

Text link composition

There’s one last consideration we haven’t touched on yet: the composition of your text links. If you’re going to treat them, at least in part, as scanning aids, you’ll want to keep links short and pertinent. Try to include the description or title of the linked document in the link, and if you’re not using the document’s title, include the most important words at the beginning of the link.

This version would also work in cases where the nature of the linked content wasn’t as important as what it was delivering, it puts the information first—catching scanners’ attention—and the content type last.

Link text is important.  Do you spend time honing your in-post links to communicate clearly with your readers? What tips can you share?

There are countless blogs and articles on the web that proclaim the importance of building a unique brand.

But how, exactly, do you create a brand that’s irresistible to your audience and positions you as an authority?

And how do you do it if you’ve never built one before?

The tips in this list will help you gather research, and take the specific steps necessary to create a brand that’s unique to your personality.

How to use this list

To help walk you through the process of creating your brand, I’ve grouped this list into five categories: know yourself, know your audience, know your competition, building a brand experience, and implementation tips.

In order to build an irresistible brand, you need to take what you learn about yourself, your audience, and your competition and blend that research with your own personality to create a style that attracts your audience.

The first three sections ask you questions that help you pull together the information you need to create your style, while the rest of the list gives you specific steps you can take to turn that style into an irresistible brand.

Ready?

Know yourself

1. What drives you? Is there an emotion, need, desire, or past event that motivates you to take action? How can you infuse some of that energy into your brand?

2. What are you passionate about? What gets you excited, angry, or motivated to take action? How can you let your passion come through in your brand?

3. What are your strengths? Everyone has specific skills or personality traits that they are especially good at. What are yours? How can your strengths help support your brand?

4. What are your weaknesses? Weaknesses are nothing to be ashamed of. It just means you’re not as strong in those areas. In fact, acknowledging your weaknesses instead of hiding them makes your brand more human.

5. What is your personality type? Are you a “type-a” personality? A “pleaser?” Maybe you’re an extroverted sanguine or an ambitious choleric. Getting to know your own personality traits is the first step to infusing your brand with your personality.

6. What is your story? Everyone has a story. Yours might be a “rags to riches” story or maybe an inspirational “beating the odds” story. What elements of your story can you bring to your brand to make it more interesting?

7. What is your background? Where did you come from? What are your training, your education, and your experience in your niche? Did you change careers when you got started in your current niche, or did you grow up doing what you do now? Where does your background fit within your brand?

8. What are you most talented at? What is the one thing you do better than anyone else you know? Is it part of what you’re doing now? If not, why not? Can you integrate your special talent into your brand?

9. What do you have the most experience doing? Sometimes what we’re talented at and what we have the most experience doing for a career are two different things. Does your experience match up with your talents? Where does your career experience fit in your overall brand?

10. Why did you choose your career / niche / topic / market? Why did you start doing what you do now? Was it by choice, or were you forced into it? Are you passionate enough about it to build a brand around it?

11. What do you plan to offer? What products / services do you plan to promote? Are you going to be providing information as a resource only? If you are going to sell something, what will be your flagship product? How does that decision affect your branding?

12. What makes you unique? Are you a punk rocker who munches apples and writes about stories? Maybe you’re a reclusive hermit who writes about social media. What elements of your personality, experience, skills and niche can you blend together to put a fresh spin on your topic? How can you build a brand around that uniqueness?

13. What hobbies or interests do you have? What interests and activities do you enjoy outside of your niche? How can you integrate elements of those interests into your brand to help make it unique? Can you become the “skateboarding CEO” or the “mountain-climbing granny” to infuse some personality into your brand?

14. What are your core beliefs? Remaining true to your core values is an important part of making your brand authentic. How can your brand reflect what you believe and live by?

15. What makes you uncomfortable? Are you afraid of public speaking? Does confrontation make you squirm? Knowing what makes you uncomfortable will help you prepare your brand for dealing with those situations when they arise.

16. If money were no object, and you could do anything you wanted for “work,” would you still do what you’re doing now? This is more of a “gut check” question. Before you spend the time and money building a brand around what you’re doing, are you sure you want to continue in that niche?

17. What are your favorite colors? Colors convey specific messages and affect response rates, so choosing the right colors for your brand is important. How do your favorite colors compare with the colors preferred by your audience?

18. Is there a specific design style that you really like? Do you prefer modern, futuristic, minimalist, or some other design style? How does the style you prefer compare to the style preferred by your audience?

19. What emotion(s) do people associate with you? Do the people around you describe you as happy, impatient, angry, or some other emotional trait? Does that emotion come through in your brand?

20. What brands / designs from other companies make you jealous? Don’t try to copy the look or style of someone else’s brand. However, looking at other brands may help spark some ideas for your own.

21. How do you describe what you do? If you had only one sentence to describe what you do, what would you say? Are you using the same words your audience uses to describe what you do?

22. What are your goals? It’s important to plan for the future when creating your brand so it will stand the test of time. What are your plans for the future, and how does your brand fit into that picture?

23. What is your message? When your audience sees your brand, what is the primary message you want the brand to convey? Is there a specific emotion you want them to feel when they see it?

24. What are you really selling? Someone once said “people don’t buy drill bits, they buy holes.” What is your audience really buying from you, and how can you reinforce that with your brand?

25. What is your level of commitment? This is another “gut check” question. Building, implementing, and maintaining a brand requires commitment. How committed are you to the brand you’re building? Will you still feel confident you made the right decisions about your brand five years from now?

Know your audience

26. What gender is your audience? Are they mostly male, female, or a pretty even mix? How does that affect the styling for your brand?

27. How old are they? The age of your audience makes a big difference in the styling and presentation of your brand. It also affects the voice and message you use when you connect with your audience.

28. What generational values do they have? Baby Boomers respond to brands differently than Generation X does – and Generation Y (the Net Generation) responds differently than either of them. Do you know what generation profile your audience is from?

29. What is their household income level? Is your audience middle-class, wealthy, or barely able to pay the bills? How does price and affordability affect the brand you’re building?

30. Where do they live? Is your brand targeted to an audience that’s national, worldwide, or just your local neighborhood? Will that affect how you present your brand?

31. What are their hobbies and interests? Does your audience share any of your hobbies and interests? Can you convey that with your brand?

32. What is their marital status? Are they married, single, divorced, widowed, or engaged? Does their marital status affect they way they will perceive your brand?

33. Do they have kids? Having children changes the way you think about life and money. If your audience have kids, will that help your brand or present some challenges?

34. Do they have pets? For many pet owners, their pets are their “surrogate kids.” How does pet ownership figure into your brand? Does it present any advantages that will help your audience connect with you?

35. What kind of computer are they likely to own (if any)? As you build your brand it’s important to think about what type of technology people are most likely to be using when they interact with you. For example, will your audience spend more time with your brand on a laptop, iPad, or smart phone?

36. Do they have any special needs or health issues? It’s important to take special needs into consideration when developing your brand. For example, some people who have sustained a traumatic brain injury can have seizures if presented with bright, flashing colors. Does your audience have any special needs you need to be mindful of?

37. What TV shows do they prefer? Which television shows people watch can tell you a lot about their personality. For example, according to a study done by Mindset Media, people who watch the hit show “Mad Men” are creative and socially liberal. Knowing what shows they watch can give you clues about how to build a brand that they relate to.

38. What blogs do they read? Is your audience avid blog readers? Do they even know what a blog is? Knowing what blogs your audience frequents will help give you insight into the topics that interest them so you can incorporate that into your branding.

39. What other websites do they visit most often? Again, knowing what websites your audience spends the most time on helps you understand what topics, issues, and leisure activities are important to them. It also gives you some clues about how and where to promote your brand.

40. Are they active in social media? Is your audience addicted to Twitter and Facebook, or scared to death of them? Does your audience intentionally boycott social media as a frivolous waste of time or invasion of privacy? How does that affect the plans you have for your blog?

41. What career level are they at? Aspiring college graduates that are new to the workforce have a different perspective than experienced “veterans” of the corporate world. Where does your audience fit into that spectrum, and how does that affect your branding?

42. What is the highest education level they’ve achieved? Is your audience high school dropouts, college graduates, or do they have a PhD? How does their level of education change the way you present your brand and its sophistication?

43. How much of their shopping is done online? Knowing how comfortable your audience is making purchases online is important if your brand will have a heavy online presence, or if you plan to sell anything online.

44. Do they subscribe to any magazines or publications? Knowing which magazines your audience subscribes to can be a great source of research. For example, most magazines have media kits available on their websites that detail the demographics and lifestyle of their readers.

45. What is their greatest fear? Developing your brand around something that reduces or eliminates the fear your audience feels over a topic or situation is a powerful means of attracting them to your brand.

46. What is their greatest frustration? If your audience is frustrated over a problem, how can you build your brand around the solution? If you can do that, your audience will feel excited they’ve found the answer to their problem in your brand.

47. What is their greatest hope or dream? Does your audience have a common hope or dream you can incorporate into your brand that they relate to?

48. What event or need causes them to search for what you offer? Do you know what causes your audience to seek your help in the first place? What problem or event triggers their initial search? How can you position your brand as the solution to that problem?

49. Are there any products or services they buy regularly? Does your audience always shop at high-end luxury retailers, or technology stores? Knowing where your audience shops will help you craft a style that feels familiar and inviting to them.

50. Is there anything you have in common with them? Sharing a common interest, problem, skill, or passion with your audience can give you a huge advantage when building your brand. The common ground you have will help your audience identify with your brand and engage them faster – encouraging interaction and more sales.

Know your competition

51. Who is your competition? Everyone in every niche has a competitor. Even if you don’t have someone in your niche that offers the same products / services / information as you do, there’s always someone you compete with in search engine rankings for your keywords. Know who they are.

52. What makes them a competitor? Are they offering the same things you are to the same audience, are they competing with you for the same keywords, or are they a friend that you compete with for fun?

53. How do they describe what makes them unique? What words and tone of voice are they using to convey what they do? How does their description differ from yours? Do you need to adjust your branding to make your description more appealing to your audience than theirs is?

54. What do they offer? What services, products, and information do they offer to their audience? Do they offer anything you don’t? How can you adjust your branding accordingly so what they offer seems outdated, inferior, or irrelevant?

55. Do they charge for what they offer? If so, how does their pricing compare to yours? Do you need to tweak your brand to look more / less expensive than what they offer, or look like a better value for the money?

56. Are they marketing to the same audience as you? If it appears they’re marketing to a different audience, you might need to re-evaluate whom your audience really is.

57. What are they better at than you? Take an objective look at their business, their services, and their brand. What do they do better than you? How will that affect your branding? Do you need to compensate for that weakness, or display it proudly?

58. What are you better at than them? Which of your strengths can you emphasize in your branding to give yourself a competitive advantage?

59. What colors do they use in their brand? Pay attention to the colors your competitors are using. If they’re all using similar color schemes, it could be because your audience prefers those colors. You also want to make sure you don’t use the exact same colors as a competitor and confuse your audience about who’s who.

60. How would you describe the design style of their brand? Is it modern, conservative, futuristic, or funky? How does their style compare with what you’ve learned about your audience’s tastes? Do you need to adjust your style to connect with your audience at a deeper level than they do?

61. What kind of Internet marketing presence do they have? Do they seem to be everywhere, or do they barely have a functional website? Does that make it easier for you to launch your brand online, or more challenging?

62. Are they trying to attract an audience from a specific geographic area? Are they targeting a local, regional, national, or international audience? Where do they have gaps in their coverage that you could fill?

63. How active are they in promoting their brand? Is their brand a household name in your industry, or has nobody heard of them? How can you position your brand as the leader in your niche?

64. Does your niche have a national or regional trade association? Are they a member? Trade associations are great sources of research on your niche. Many of them have online membership databases that let you view the websites for each member, giving you a wider sampling of data.

65. What “voice” do they use in their branding? Do they communicate with their audience in a formal or informal manner? Does their style seem to be more conversational or professional? How does that compare with your brand?

66. How much of a “threat” are they as a competitor? Do you expect to be competing with them for the attention (or money) of your audience, or do they pose no threat to you? Is there an opportunity for you to position your brand as the leader in your niche?

67. What is their value proposition? Is the value they provide their audience obvious, or is it difficult to find? Can you do a better job of conveying value to the same audience with your brand?

68. What are they really selling? Just like you, what they offer and what their audience really wants may be two different things. Does it look like they understand this point, or is there an opportunity for your brand to outshine them in this area?

69. What is their style? Are they corporate or informal? Do they seem cold, distant, and mechanical, or do they seem warm, approachable, and human? Do you see any obvious reason they chose that style? How does their style compare with the one you’ve planned for your brand?

70. Why do you think their audience likes them? This is somewhat speculative, but do you notice a predominant reason their audience is drawn to them? Does that need to be addressed with your brand?

71. Is there anything they might have overlooked? Is there something they’ve overlooked in their branding you can capitalize on to connect with your audience better, and make them irrelevant at the same time?

72. How strong is their relationship with their audience? Is their audience highly engaged with them, or is there an opportunity for your brand to take the top spot in their audience’s mind?

73. How responsive are they? Do they keep their audience waiting and wondering, or are do they have stellar communication skills? How will you need to address responsiveness with your brand to be competitive?

74. Is what they offer readily available? Does their audience have trouble getting what your competition offers, or can they easily get their hands on it? How will you position your brand in relation to that level of availability?

75. What emotional need do they fill for their audience? Are they satisfying the core need their audience has, or is there room for your brand to provide a higher level of satisfaction?

Build a brand experience

76. Branding is more than just design and corporate identities. Branding is about the experience your audience has when interacting with you, in addition to the identity elements like your logo, colors, etc. Don’t just stop at developing the logo, build an experience if you want an irresistible brand.

77. Be accessible. Nothing frustrates your audience more than not being able to reach you when they have a need for what you offer. Make it easy for them to get in touch with you.

78. Build goodwill. If you want to build referrals and word-of-mouth advertising for your brand, you need to foster goodwill with customers and your general audience. This involves delivering positive experiences and being a good “corporate citizen” with your brand.

79. Create positive experiences. You can’t please everybody, but try anyway. Always do your part to give your audience the very best experience you can each time they interact with you. Give them the “rockstar treatment” and make them feel special.

80. Keep your word. If you promise something to a customer on a certain date, make sure you deliver on or before that date. Following through on your promises is important if you want a positive reputation for your brand.

81. Deliver more value than they expect. What can you do to surprise them with added value they weren’t expecting? It doesn’t have to be anything big. Making your customer smile is the goal. For example, I once ordered a pair of shoes from Zappos with standard shipping, and received an e-mail about an hour later saying they had upgraded me to express shipping at no extra charge.

82. Be a good “citizen”. Don’t be the type of brand that people only hear from when you’re selling something or want something from them. Contribute to the larger community by being a “giver” as well.

83. Show up. Don’t get lazy about your brand. If you want to build a brand that your audience respects as an authority, you need to put the work in to earn that respect. Be there when your audience expects you to be, and put your best effort into everything you do.

84. Try to help people. One of the most powerful ways to connect with people is to help them. If you can incorporate this into your brand, you’ll find your audience much more receptive to you. But your efforts must be based on a genuine desire to help. People can spot selfish generosity in a heartbeat.

85. Be generous. Don’t be stingy with how you share your time or talents. Incorporate a little generosity into your branding and it will help you build trust and goodwill with your audience.

86. Be gracious. You will encounter people who are rude, irate, or misunderstand your intentions. Be gracious in how you respond. By taking the “high road” you’ll gain the respect of your audience, and might even convert that rude naysayer into a true fan.

87. Cultivate relationships. Don’t think of your brand as a facade or decoration to what you do – that’s what paint is for. Build relationships with your audience if you want to foster brand loyalty.

88. Seek feedback. Let your audience know, in no uncertain terms, that you want their feedback so you can improve and serve them better. And when you get feedback, don’t be shy about letting your audience know you’ve acted on it.

89. Be honest. Most people instinctively know not to lie outright, but many more are willing to conceal facts or bend the truth to suit their needs. Once your brand’s reputation is damaged, it’s time consuming and costly to repair. Be honest with your audience and maintain their trust.

90. Encourage participation. Acting on the feedback of your audience in a public manner helps them feel like they’re involved. For example, Conan O’Brien recently made a public change to the opening credits for his show based on a YouTube video from a fan. You can check out the story here. Get your audience involved and they’ll quickly become fans.

91. Keep the big picture in mind. Always consider your overall brand in everything you do. Make sure that what you provide your audience, whether content, services, products, or free stuff serves to build your brand, not detract from it.

92. Relax. Avoid presenting yourself in a stiff, formal manner unless your audience is also stiff and formal. You want your brand to seem human and approachable, not cold and aloof. So relax a little and let your audience see your human side.

93. Have fun. Victor Borge used to say, “a smile is the shortest distance between people.” The same is true for your brand. If you’re having fun, your audience will sense it and start to have fun themselves.

94. Connect with people who can promote you. Tooting your own horn will only get you so far. If you want to gain exposure, build authority, and get more people interested in your brand, take the time to connect with people who can promote you.

95. Take the lead. Your audience doesn’t always know what they need from you, they just know they have a problem they need solved. Guide them. Help them understand how you can solve their problem or meet their need.

96. Always give your best. To help build positive experiences, always put forth your best effort. I once hired an attorney at the rate of $250/hr who kept overlooking important information I had already provided him because he was rushing through his work. Bring your “A game” to everything you do for your audience.

97. Be informative. Help your audience see you as a resource by providing them with information that is useful to them. Keep them informed of your progress on their project. Help them understand your niche and what you do. Educate them about what you offer.

98. Be accommodating. Everyone’s life is hectic these days. Sometimes the best way you can create a positive brand experience for a customer is to just be accommodating to their situation. Maybe they can only meet after hours, or need a few extra minutes with you to understand how to use what they purchased. Regardless of their need, if you make it easy for them to do business with you, they’ll remember it and tell their friends.

99. Be reassuring. Understand that when your audience buys something from you, they’re vulnerable to a certain amount of buyer’s remorse. Help them feel good about their decision by reaffirming the reason they bought it in the first place.

100. Avoid hard sell tactics. No one likes those “in your face” salesmen. If you get pushy about your sales, your audience will back away. Stay away from hard-sell tactics if you want to keep your audience interested and buying.

Now, implement

101. Be consistent. A key component to any successful brand is consistency. Always present yourself and your brand in the same manner in whichever media you’re using. That means using the same imagery, tone, style, and message in print, on air, in person, and online.

102. Develop a logo. Your brand needs an identifying mark. It can be artwork, nicely styled text, or a combination of the two – but create a logo so your audience can visually identify your brand.

103. Create a corporate identity package. You may never use them, but develop a business card, letterhead, and envelope design for your brand anyway. Doing this step will help you solidify the design style for the rest of your brand, and you’ll have the designs ready to go if you ever need them.

104. Use colors that convey the message you want to send. Each color of the rainbow conveys a specific meaning, and affects how people respond. Make sure the colors you choose for your brand will have the desired effect with your audience.

105. Use a design style your audience relates to. Your audience is likely to respond better to one design style over another. Use the research you’ve done on your audience to craft a style that resonates with them.

106. Choose a design style that enhances your credibility. In addition to creating a style your audience likes, you need to make sure your design strengthens your brand and its position in your niche.

107. Develop design elements that can be used on all your marketing. As you create your design style, develop specific design elements that will work across your whole brand to tie it all together visually.

108. Be original. Don’t try to copy what someone else did with his or her brand. Create your own style based on your research and your personality if you want to build a brand that’s interesting to your audience.

109. Let your “freak flag” fly. Don’t be afraid to infuse your brand with your personality. Your individual personality is what will make your brand unique and interesting.

110. Create a web presence that is consistent. Make sure your Internet marketing is inline with the rest of your brand. Build your website using the same design style and colors as the rest of your brand. Customize your social media profiles and avatars in the same way.

111. If you struggle with creativity, find help. Your brand will be central to your marketing, and will be at the forefront of your audience’s attention. If you’re not good at creative thinking, invest in some outside help. You’ll enjoy better response to your brand with a professionally designed style than something you settled for because it was the best you could do on your own.

112. Keep your audience at the center of all you do. Never lose sight of your audience and their needs. Without them, your brand is worthless.

113. Get specific with your style, right down to fonts. The style you craft for your brand needs to be specific and detailed. You should drill it right down to the specific colors, fonts, and even paper stock you plan to use. Being that specific will help you maintain your branding down the road.

114. Create a “creative standards manual”. A creative standards manual is a simple document that spells out the design details of your brand. This manual becomes indispensable for making sure your branding is consistent when you need to hire a different designer, printer, or other creative services company.

115. Be mindful of your stage presence. Whenever you’re in the public eye (in front of your audience), make sure you present yourself in a manner that’s consistent with your overall brand. Never make the mistake of diminishing your brand or damaging your credibility by getting careless with your actions.

116. Use the language your audience uses. If your readers use industry jargon, you should too. On the other hand, if they’re confused and annoyed by industry buzzwords, shape your copy accordingly. Make it easier for your audience to understand what you do by using the same terminology they do.

117. Never roll out a new brand in stages. Conducting business with part using your old brand, and part using your new brand will confuse your audience. Wait to roll out your new brand until you can rebrand everything with your new look.

118. Don’t try to promote more than one brand to the same audience at the same time. Again, promoting multiple brands to the same audience will only serve to confuse that audience. Pick one brand to move forward with and promote that.

119. Develop brand ambassadors. Put extra effort into encouraging, educating, and supporting members of your audience who send you lots of referrals. They are your brand ambassadors and are better at developing quality leads for your business than a sales team.

120. Never settle for good enough. Mediocrity is the cancer of branding. As soon as you start to settle for “good enough” instead of your best, your brand will begin to decline. Always insist on excellence.

121. Be informal. Remember that people buy from people, even in the business-to-business world. Make sure your brand doesn’t distance you from your audience. Instead, focus on building a brand that’s warm, informal, and inviting to your audience.

122. Don’t go overboard. Some people take the advice to “be unique” too far and create things like business cards that don’t fit in any Rolodex or cardholder, or promotional mailers that can’t be saved for later reference. Make sure your uniqueness is balanced with usefulness.

123. Adapt. Over time, your audience will grow and change. Make sure the brand you build will be able to grow with them if you want it to remain relevant.

124. Give your brand a face. There’s a reason corporations hire spokesmen and create mascots. Your brand needs a “face” your audience can connect with. That might be you, an employee, or a mascot you create, but you need to give your audience someone that can be the face of your brand.

125. Infuse everything you do in your brand. Your brand needs to permeate every aspect of what you do in order to have the desired effect. Make sure nothing slips through the cracks unbranded or displaying an old style.

Hey, here’s how to weave a “web of links” that will automatically attract more traffic to your blog – using the hidden power of backlinks.

“What are backlinks and why do I care?”

Simply put, backlinks are links that lead back to your website.

The more backlinks you have, the more popular you are, the more web traffic you get, and the more Google loves you.

Sometimes they’re called “incoming links” or “inbound links”.

If you think of your blog or “nerve center” as a spider then your backlinks are the threads of your web. And visitors are juicy flies waiting to be devoured.

O.K., that went to far. Anyway…

1. * Comments – You don’t have to spam.
2. * Forums – Put your links in your signature file.
3. * Twitter – Share some of your links on Twitter.
4. * Facebook – Link back to your site from Facebook.
5. * Bookmarking – Start social bookmarking on StumbleUpon.com, reddit.com, del.icio.us, or Propeller.com. Whichever sites fit your category.
6. * Directories – Submit your site to popular directories like dmoz.org . Avoid directories that charge you for their services. They’re usually not worth the trouble.
7. * Links – Swap links with other bloggers
8. * Articles – When you write articles link back to your site.
9. * Video – When you post videos link back to your site.
10. * Content – Create content that people actually want to link to.
11. * Ask – Ask people to link back to your site.

A Strategy So Simple It’s Stupid…

If you link back to your site an average ten times a day for the next five years you’ll have 18250 links leading back to your website.
I’m not even counting the number of times people will link to your site on their own.\
Now, imagine how much web traffic that would drive to your blog.
It’s not even sane.
Sure, some links will disappear over time. Some links get thousands of visits while other get zip.
But realistically you could expect more web traffic every single month.

And you can do this in two 10 minute breaks a day:

1. Reply to 3 forum posts.
2. Comment on 3 blogs.
3. Write 3 tweets.
4. Put a link in 1 article.
5. Done.

The problem is, most people don’t have it in them to do this every day.
They’re sprinters not marathon runners.
When you know this, it’s easy to dominate the competition.

P.S. One more tip: Did you know that every time somebody “retweets” a blog post they’re building your backlinks? Yep, it’s another reason why your Twitter “retweets” and Facebook “shares” are a vital part of your traffic strategy.

When it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and the task of building links, you can never have too many tricks up your sleeve or references with which to build quality links. After all, you don’t just want to build any old link on any old site; you want to find strong, authoritative pages to build links on. One such trick I’ve found immensely helpful throughout my endeavors has been searching for sites that use content management systems or platforms that use common denominators. What exactly does that mean? Follow my nose!

There are new content management systems popping up all the time. Invariably, the majority of them contain some type of common denominator — typically within the footer — that says something to the effect of “hey, my Web site is powered by this terrific product!” Long story short, let’s say you’ve built a “dofollow” link on a page that uses some type of CMS (content management system) you’ve never heard of. Well, what are the chances that particular CMS has enabled “dofollow” links in comments by default? Why not try to search for something in the footer or elsewhere that looks like a generic identifier — hoping for it to be a common denominator placed by default on pages powered by that particular CMS?

Let’s assume you’ve found the jackpot: A CMS that allows “dofollow” links in comments by default… and that particular CMS is a widely-used one. Well, let’s take things a step further here. Getting a “dofollow” link is great, but it’s even better if you can place a comment on an article that’s relevant to both the article and to the site you’re building a link to! With that in mind, why not pick some keywords to add to your searches when searching Google for sites utilizing the CMS you’ve just discovered? Bam. All of a sudden, you have relevant pages where you can leave “dofollow” links within the comments section! Sound too good to be true? It’s not.

I found one such CMS earlier this year and it just kept getting better and better with what all I could squeeze out of it. The control I had as a person leaving a comment was just… incredible. An absolute dream-come-true for an SEO (and no, I’m not going to give it away here; some things are sacred ). I could leave a comment, edit it, format it, up-vote it a number of times, anonymize my user account so people couldn’t see all the comments I’d left (only the one they were looking at on any given page), and perhaps best of all, the comments weren’t moderated on 95% of the sites. These were high-trafficked, constantly updated sites, too — all on different IP addresses spanning the globe. I’m telling you, it was (and still is) a GOLD MINE. Having said that, such luck with a CMS is rare. I just happened to have an idea that I rolled with and I hit the jackpot.

So, with that said, I’d like you to bare in mind that this method doesn’t necessarily have to revolve around content management systems, blog comments, or anything of that sort. Seeking out common denominators can take you a long way in your SEO endeavors and creativity is the key to making the most out of such methods. Mixing and matching with other methods can result in techniques like this. So, what will you potentially discover today? Best of luck with your link-building endeavors!

In the above chart, I have plotted the change in CPCs since January 2009. These are robust numbers as they are derived from the more than $1 billion in online marketing spend that we manage. The regression line shows that on average CPCs have increased by 1.34% per month since the beginning of last year. Over a year this amounts to a 16% increase. We can expect these trends to continue next year albeit at a slower pace. By my estimates CPCs will increase by 12-15% on a year over year basis.

Trend #2: Cross Channel Optimization Will Become More Important Than Ever

Until now, search marketers could operate in their own silo and do a good job managing their campaigns. However, with the advent of social media advertising, cross channel reporting and optimization becomes imperative.

The following graph shows Facebook performance for a retailer. When one looks at conversions that involved Facebook, only about half were conversions where Facebook was the last click. The other half involved Facebook as the first touch but another channel as the final touch before conversion. If the marketer was only looking at the last click, he or she would have underestimated the performance of Facebook by a factor of two! Similar analysis for display funnels reveal that up to 60% of display conversions have a search overlap. Thus, as advertisers look to grow their social media and display programs they will also have to pay attention to the cross-channel piece of the puzzle.

Trend #3: Bing Will Continue To Gain Marketshare After A Short-Term Marketshare Loss

From Q1 2009 up to the alliance with Yahoo, Bing had quietly but remarkably increased its market-share from 3.5% to 7.3% in 7 quarters. The chart below shows that it had done so very steadily without any erratic jumps or drops.

However, I had anticipated a temporary market share loss for Microhoo for a few reasons. For one, lower quality Yahoo traffic would be subsidized by higher quality Bing traffic in the unified CPC marketplace. Second, many smaller advertisers that didn’t pay attention to their Bing campaigns would suddenly have all their Yahoo-Bing traffic served through adCenter. Third, due to the difference in Yahoo’s and Bing’s algorithms, many advertisers will underserve ads due to keyword coverage issues. My preliminary research shows that there has indeed been a short term market share loss.

However, I expect these trends to reverse for two reasons. First, smaller advertisers should catch up with the change and improve the quality of their Bing campaigns. Second, I expect Bing to continue to innovate. Microsoft’s recent announcement of merging social data with search results will benefit them in the retail vertical (where it has a disproportionately low market share).

Trend #4: A Smarter, Bargain-Centric Customer

The 2008 recession fundamentally changed consumer behavior. Consumers went from using search as an intent channel to a research one. Where once a single search would have led to a transaction, the new bargain savvy consumer searched multiple times and across channels before making a purchase. The chart below tracks the average impressions per click over time. The upward trend implies that consumers are less prone to clicking on an ad than they were before. The new consumer is savvier and is willing to do a lot more research before making a purchase.

Trend #5: Mobile Will Finally Take Off

Yes, every year is anticipated to be the year of mobile. But I really think next year will be different. As things stand now, mobile queries represent about 10% of all queries made on Google. However, very little of this monetizes. This should all change soon. Several start-ups are working on enabling mobile e-commerce. Google itself announced that it is working on a phone that will replace credit cards. I think that after years and years of anticipation mobile e-commerce will have finally arrived and will take off next year.
How To Leverage These Trends

So this begs the question, what should marketers do to anticipate these trends? Here are some recommendations.

Plan for an increasingly competitive marketplace. While CPCs are increasing, and thereby affecting the bottom line, consumers are looking for a better deal thereby pressuring the top line. In the face of this increasingly competitive marketplace, it is important like never before to focus on the basics: ad copy testing, landing page optimization and SEO (to get “free” traffic as well as helping SEM CTRs).

Optimize your Bing campaigns. Bing should now represent 20-25% of your volume. Ensure that these campaigns are running optimally with full keyword coverage, if you haven’t done so already.

Plan for mobile. If mobile starts to monetize in a big way next year, you could see 10% or more conversions coming from mobile. It’s prudent at this time to start testing mobile via the AdWords platform.

Put cross-channel infrastructure in place. As an advertiser of reasonable scale, chances are that you are using Facebook as an advertising channel. Ensure that you are looking at Facebook data in a cross-channel context to fully understand the efficacy of the channel.