Author Archives: Todd Hyten

09.14.10
by

New revamped Twitter is a big deal and good news for business users

Here’s the very artsy video from Twitter showing the new Twitter interface (below). The big news today is that Twitter’s new interface makes browsing streams easier, and with the addition of in-stream video and images, it’s just that much closer to Facebook functionality.

Here are some of the first reports on the new revamped Twitter:

It’s not an absolute killer of third-party apps by any means, and a lot of power users will stick with their favorites, such as Seesmic, Tweetdeck and Hootsuite. These all offer way too many goodies for power users … but more every day users are going to like the new Twitter. The more visual – the better.

This is great news for business users.

Being able to add an image, photo, whatever, not to mention video, makes Tweets that much more business- and marketing friendly. After all, what makes Facebook so great is the ability to easily attach photos and vid. Making Twitter a visual medium means businesses that are already visual and active on Facebook now have yet another visual platform for distribution. The image attachments on the new Twitter are big — or at least in the snaphsots I’m looking at, they appear way bigger than the thumbs you see in a Facebook news feed.

And with the new, bigger interface, one can’t help but think there’s room there for advertising space. Facebook makes over $1 billion on their ad network. Twitter would kill to monetize ad space on their web presence.

09.14.10
by

Small biz basics: Four keys to a good call to action

Call to action tips

Photographer: Francesco Marino

This week I’m focusing on some web marketing topics specifically aimed at small business owners. Small businesses are busy — even in not-so-great economies. There’s just too much to do and too few hands. And there’s a lot to learn about web marketing.

Here’s one of the must-haves for many small business s.

Do you know what a “call to action” is? That’s marketing talk for something on a that tries to get a site visitor to take an action. This may include: signing up for a newsletter/update; fill out a form to get exclusive content (like a white paper); sign up for a webinar; provide info for a service call. You get the point.

No matter what you’re offering, you need to put language and a link on your page to that sign up form.

Here are some insider tips on how to make that “call to action” attractive:

  1. Make your clickable button to the offer big – as in you have to be blind to miss it. No kidding.
  2. Don’t be vague. Don’t describe what you’re offering as “the best” “the fastest” “the least expensive.” Be specific. Try to include some information that is quantitative.
  3. Make your offer exclusive — something only you can provide or that demonstrates your unique selling position.
  4. Make sure your offer is credible. Don’t go overboard and make your offering sound too-good-to-be-true. This is one of the most common mistakes. Remember – everyone has a BS meter in their head.

Imagine your business as a storefront. If you have room for several large signs on your storefront (and let’s say it’s a cafe/restaurant), which sign would be more appealing: a sign that says “Eat Here Now” or “More than 38 kinds of healthy wraps and sandwiches!”

You get the point.

09.13.10
by

Small biz basics: Five things your website needs for success

Five small biz basics

I see a lot of small- and medium-sized business (SMB) s, and it really is amazing how many of these seem to be stuck in a time warp. They seem to be perpetually stuck in time — they never change, they never have anything new to offer.

Which storefront business do you think will get more interest: one that has a changing window display, informing customers of new inventory, sales, and goods. Or one that stays the same. Year after year. Season after season.

Right.

Many business owners don’t know the basics of what makes a work, so here are the five key elements that make even the smallest “work.”

1. A blog.

The evidence here is pretty much conclusive. As Cambridge-based software and analytics company HubSpot has documented, s with blogs get 55% more traffic than ones that don’t. Here’s why: Google likes sites that refresh frequently. Google also likes site that add content that contains key words closely linked to the topic of the . Not “keywords” as in stuff in the meta tags — but words in the headline, the URL and the text of the content. That’s what Google cares about.

2. Inbound links.

What are inbound links? They are links from any other that in turn link back to your site. Google ranks sites with high inbound link activity higher than ones that have a low amount or none. How do you get an inbound link? Well — many ways, but think social media. If you have a Facebook Page (one built for business use) or Twitter page and you are linking back to your , congrats. You’re on the inbound link train. There are tons of other ways to get inbound links.

3. Promoting social media.

You’ll notice I don’t say “social media” is one of the things that make a work. That’s because if you’re not promoting your social media efforts on your … you’re probably cutting the useful potential of social media in half. At least.

4. Email marketing.

Right off the bat I’m thinking a lot of you are thinking “spam” — but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about opt-in, voluntary sign up for an “update” from your site. You want to hook up your to a regularly delivered email that anyone on your site can sign up for. Why? Because it builds loyalty — and not everyone is going to visit your repeatedly. Don’t miss the opportunity to get into their inbox. There are many free, simple email services you can subscribe to. The two biggest: Constant Contact and Mail Chimp.

5. Your “Unique Selling Position.”

This one is different from the other preceding four. It has nothing to do with elements, technology, programs, etc. The “unique selling position” or USP is a term used in marketing that sounds fancy but comes down to this: what are you telling your potential customers that makes you different from the competition? If you can’t think of anything, you’d better start digging harder into your grey matter. Here’s a clue: Be specific. Be very very specific. If you have data and facts to back up that you are better than the competition — put it on your homepage. If your service is driven by your personality — make sure you’re distinguishing yourself.