Color As Branding Element

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Kate Smith (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes

Color has built in meaning and symbolism and can be a strong element of your brand when used strategically.

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast I visit with Kate Smith Color Expert, Career Color Trend Forecaster, and Editor of Sensational Color, a site featuring a wealth of information on the subject of color.

In this episode we talk about the various meanings of color such as red, green, and blue, and how the physiological impact and messages certain colors contain can play out in your business. Kate also reveals her 5 steps for using color in business.

Another great resource for all things related to color is ColourLovers.

In this podcast:
Why Color has Meaning
Common Color Associations
Five Steps for Color and Your Business
Companies that use Color Well
Color Combination and Your Message

Image credit: quinn.anya

The big news you need to know today is this: In the face of February’s class action lawsuit and claims of extortion, Yelp is rolling out a number of major site changes to increase transparency and remove any question of impropriety once and for all.

What’s changed and what does it mean for small business owners and advertisers? Here’s a rundown.

Users will now be able to see ALL reviews left for a business

The first change to Yelp will allow users to see every review that has been on a business profile, including reviews that had been previously filtered out. Yelp’s review filter has come under attack lately as users began to wonder why certain reviews would “disappear” over time. A few weeks ago Yelp released a video on its review filter, explaining that sometimes legitimate reviews that were either overly negative or overly positive were filtered out to create a median effect. This meant that a user was never able to see every legitimate review that was left for a business. With this morning’s change, now they can.

Yelp hopes the increased transparency will help users to see that the review site is not filtering out reviews to favor advertisers and that all businesses are being treated fairly. According to Mashable, the additional reviews will be made available through a new link on all business pages and will show every review left for a business. Of course, be careful what you wish for. With Yelp now showing ALL reviews, it means everything that is left about your business, whether Yelp feels it’s legitimate or not, will be available for public consumption. For example, the nasty review your competitor left you? It’s now viewable. On the upside, all positive reviews that Yelp had previously filtered for being “too positive”  will also be seen.

Yelp will discontinue Favorite Reviews

Much of the controversy around Yelp came from the Favorite Reviews feature which allowed advertisers to select the first review that showed up on the page. There had long been some confusion (and rumor) that advertisers were given preferential treatment and could also have negative reviews removed for the right price or control what appeared on their page.  Yelp has strongly denied these allegations and has now removed the feature to put an end to any further speculation.

From the NYT article:

“Despite our best efforts, there’s still obviously confusion out there about what you can buy on Yelp, so we’re making a change to simply drop this feature,” [Yelp’s co-founder and chief executive, Jeremy Stoppleman]said.

According to reports, the Favorite Reviews feature will soon be replaced by one that allows business owners to post videos to their Yelp page, which seems pretty cool.

Overall, this is a big move for Yelp. As I mentioned, it wasn’t more than a few weeks ago that Yelp released a video explaining the workings of its review filter. Now, users are getting an even larger peak behind the curtain. While I applaud the increased transparency of Yelp here, I wonder if they’re not about to shoot themselves in the foot. By allowing users to figure out which reviews have been filtered out, you start to show your cards a bit in terms of how your algorithm works, thereby making it easier for those with bad intentions to game it. Obviously, the entire Yelp site is based on the integrity of reviews, which is why Yelp is making these changes to begin with.  The more public your filter becomes, the more of your ’secret sauce’ you’re letting out.

From a user standpoint, however, the changes will hopefully shed a bit of light on how Yelp works and show Yelp to be an unbiased source of reviews. As search becomes more local and with services like FourSquare nipping at Yelp’s heels, the review site needs to re-emphasis its commitment to the small business community. And these changes focus on doing exactly that.

Domain Names for Sale: Why You Should Buy a Keyword Rich Domain Name

via Bill Hartzer by Bill Hartzer on 3/21/10

One of the best kept secrets of the search engine optimization and search engine marketing industry is the expired domain name auctions that exist out there. If someone does not renew their domain name, it is frequently put up for auction on by the registrar itself, like Godaddy. If you do not renew your domain name at Godaddy.com, then there is a good chance that the domain name will appear on their expired domain name auctions.

The expired domain name auctions are a best kept secret in the search engine optimization industry because many do not take advantage of these expired domain name auctions. Sure, you may have an existing website. But what if you were able to purchase the domain name of a competitor and redirect all of their traffic over to your website? Whether or not redirecting that traffic to your website helps your search engine ranking is debatable (and may change in the future). But, simply buying an expired domain name of your competitor and redirecting it to your website should bring some more traffic and sales, right?

I do own my share of domain names, and from time to time will list the domain names I am not going to use for sale. Here is a list of the domain names that I have for sale this week and a link to their domain name auction:

AlbanyLawyers.Net – I had plans for this domain name but have changed direction. Last time I checked there were a LOT of cities out there named “Albany”, and the lawyer and legal industry is finally coming around and realizing that keyword rich domain names have a lot of value. This is a great domain name to own, even though it’s a dot net TLD (Top Level Domain).

BloomfieldAttorney.com – Again, this is a great lawyer-related or legal domain name. Could easily be an attorney’s website, and there are lots of attorneys and lawyers in Bloomfield. Use the domain yourself for your website if you’re an attorney in Bloomfield or re-sell it to an attorney in Bloomfield.

BloomfieldLawyer.com – Just like the previous domain, Bloomfield Lawyer would be a good domain to have, as well, if you are a lawyer in Bloomfield. Actually, you should own this one as well as Bloomfield Attorney.com, both of these keyword rich domains would help you rank well in the search engines if you were to have this as your domain name and you put up a website on it.

ChinoMortgage.com – The mortgage industry has suffered lately in this economy, here is a chance to get a good geo domain that includes the word “mortgage” in it. If it’s not related to a particular city or location, it’s definitely a brandable domain for the mortgage industry.

HolidayWineGiftBasket.com - Holiday wine gift baskets are definitely in demand, so is the gift basket industry overall. Even though this is more of a “holiday” domain and it’s not currently the end of the year right now (it’s not the holiday season), now is a good time to grab a great deal on this keyword rich domain name.

HybridSets.com – Hybrid Sets are typically thought of as being sets of golf clubs, in the golf industry. Hybrid Sets are very expensive, and if you were to develop an ecommerce site selling Hybrid Sets of Golf Clubs you certainly could make a lot of money. Even as an affiliate site, you could rank well in the search engines if you were to own this keyword rich domain name.

MontclairLawyer.com – There are a fair number of lawyers in the city of Montclair, here is a good chance to own another keyword rich lawyer or legal related domain name. Use it yourself if you are a lawyer in Montclair, or even resell this domain name to a lawyer.

MortgageLesson.com – This would be a great informational website for the mortgage industry. Consider the fact that if you are a mortgage broker you could have someone write a tutorial about mortgages, giving people a great lesson on mortgages. It could then link over to your website or you could just pitch your services or leave it as a tutorial, as a lead generation website. Visitors looking for information about mortgages could download your free mortgage lesson, and you could capture their contact information in the process.

OklahomaCityLimousines.com – Oklahoma City Limousines is a great domain if you are a limousine or limo rental service in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A large city like this has a lot of limo rental services, you could use the domain yourself as a lead generation service or sell ad space to the limo rental service companies in Oklahoma City. Or just resell the domain to one of those companies.

One of the reasons why I suggest that you buy a keyword rich domain name from a service like the Godaddy Expired Domain Name auction is because keyword rich domain names are going up in value every day. If you just buy a keyword rich domain name as an investment, then you will make money from it in the future. But, if you are looking to develop a website then it is a good idea to find a domain name that contains your keywords, not only for search engine ranking purposes, but because people will know exactly what the website is about.

Related posts:

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2. Why I Gave a Domain Name Back to Its Former Owner With the economy being the way it is right...
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I first heard about John Warrillow’s “Built to Sell: Turn Your Business into One You Can Sell” from Anita Campbell.  She had gotten her hands on a super-early preview copy (still spiral bound) and had stayed up all night reading it.  She was so excited about this book, that I begged her to give it to me so I could take a peek too.

Well, I finally got my very own hard-back copy in the mail last week.  Now I can finally tell you all about this short, easy and entertaining book that will get you thinking more profitably about your business.

“Built to Sell” is actually an allegory-style business novel.  Personally, I like these kinds of books.  I have an interactive learning style and reading a book that gets me involved in the characters really helps me to integrate the lessons in the book.  It’s almost like taking a spoonful of sugar to get the medicine to go down. 

“Built to Sell” Is More About Building Systems Than Selling Your Business

“Built to Sell” almost reminds me of Michael Gerber’s “The E Myth” series.  When I first picked it up I thought that it didn’t apply to me – because I don’t want to create a franchise, nor do I want to sell my business.  But those frameworks are just there to teach me the much bigger and more profitable lesson that a systematized, turnkey business is not only more valuable in the marketplace, but more fun, easier to manage and less stressful than the alternative.

The primary purpose of any business is to make money.  Another goal for  many is to support a balanced life for the owner – and for the employees of that business.  “Built to Sell” will guide you through the process of creating a business model and system that allows you to do exactly that – create a business and not just busy-work.

Is “Built to Sell” Autobiographical?

John Warrillow is an entrepreneur.  He’s started and sold four companies, so he knows a thing or two about what it takes to build and sell a business.  As soon as you start reading the book, you’ll see that it isn’t really autobiographical.  It’s an amalgam of John’s experiences and the lessons he’s learned over time.

In fact, don’t make the mistake that I did and focus on the “story” part of this book.   There are details in the book; such as the fact that Alex, the main character, was able to sell a logo package for $10,000.  That completely spun me out because I’ve never run into a small business that was eager to spend $1,000 for a logo, let alone $10,000!  But that ISN’T the point.

It’s Not About the Service – It’s About the System

“Built to Sell” succeeds in teaching a most valuable lesson: it’s not about the service, it’s about the system.  Running a business without a turnkey process and system is like taking a 300 pound dog for a walk.  Who’s walking whom?

In the story our hero, Alex Stapleton, owns an advertising and design firm.  He is a “victim” of his business.  He has clients that jerk him around and don’t pay on time.  He loses sleep wondering how he’s going to pay his staff.  He doesn’t always like the projects he gets.  And, just when he’s sure he’s going to make a change – life hands him the opportunity of a life time.  Will he take on a client that’s handing him lots of money for work not in his area of strength or will he stick to the lessons he’s learned and build a life and a business and not just his top line.

Ted’s Tips For Building a System.

Ted Gordon is Alex’s mentor.  Ted has bought and sold several companies and he holds the key to Alex getting everything he wants out of the business.

Here are just a few tips that I got from the character “Ted”:

• “Being a generalist forces you to hire generalists and your offering will be average at best.”
• “If you run a service business that’s highly dependent on a single client who depends on you personally to tend to their account and you compete with a lot of other players who provide similar services – your business is virtually worthless.  Make sure that no one client comprises more than 15% of your revenue.”
• Define your service as if it were a product.  “Productize it”  That means that you describe your unique service process as features that are unique to you.
• If you’re selling a product, you can create a flat fee as a price and get paid up-front.
• “Prove that you’re serious about specialization by turning down work that falls outside your standard service.”

I could go on and on because there are many wonderful, practical, easily implementable tips in this book.

Read “Built to Sell” For Sanity and Profits

It might seem counter-intuitive to you to actually focus on a tighter service offering when the economy is on a downward spiral.  But the message of focus, specialization and systems that Warrillow preaches is spot on.

If you’re currently running a service business that totally depends on your being there, then you have a lot to learn from reading this book.  Implement just a few basic principles and you will see immediate improvement in your profitability and your sanity as well.

Pick up “Built to Sell” and by this time next year – you will have your very own money machine!

From Small Business Trends

How “Built to Sell” Could Help You Become a Millionaire

5 Steps to Successful Facebook Advertising

via Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch on 2/18/10

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5 Steps to Successful Facebook Advertising

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Currently Facebook boasts somewhere in excess of 400 million users and growing. You’ve probably heard this line by now, but If it were a country it would be the third largest in the world behind China and India only. There’s a pretty good bet that some members of your ideal target customer reside in and visit Facebook land, but the trick is to find them.

Facebook’s advertising platform is a vehicle worth exploring. The tool allows you to place small display type ads in the right sidebar of Facebook pages and profiles. At this point it’s not as effective in pure response as well targeted Google AdWords campaigns, but it’s not really the same kind of vehicle and you won’t find AdWords in Facebook, at least for now.

Like many things Facebook, setting up and running successful campaigns isn’t as straightforward as it could be. Below is a description of five steps to consider as you explore Facebook advertising. (Bookmark the Facebook Ad Help Center and return to get answers to the Facebook Ads process)

Target

One of the best things about Facebook advertising is the ability select who sees your ad using a number of variables, including keywords. You can target by geography, age, gender, education, relationship status, workplace and keywords. (I know someone who wanted to send a birthday message to his wife and targeted so narrowly that she was the only who would see the ad.) Demographics are pretty straightforward, the real trick is expanding your keywords to the point where you have a large enough audience to get the job done. Facebook used to have a tool that let you search for the hottest topics being discussed but they shelved it as they build a more robust analytics package. Check out all of your targeting options here

Attract and Engage

The first thing you must do is decide whether you want people to be directed to your own web page or something on Facebook like a Page, Application, Group or Event. If you are already the administrator of your Facebook Page, Group, Event, or Application, you can select it from the drop down option. The thing that’s nice about using ads to promote your pages and events is that Facebook puts a “Become a fan” or “RSVP to this event” button right in the ad. People don’t even have to visit your page to take action. There are some pros to sending them to a link on your web site (better tracking options) but by sending them to assets on Facebook you have the ability to multiply their actions through the natural social wall activity that occurs when someone RSVPs to an event. (All their followers automatically see that action.)

Some users find Facebook ads a good tool to promote events or get new fans to the pages. From an engagement standpoint think in terms of using the ads to promote content and value and not so much to sell something. The most successful use of ads on social networks is to create deeper engagement so you have the ability to sell once trust is built. Think about putting white papers on your Fan Pages and promoting that content or creating a free event, like a webinar, and advertising that event. In both of these cases you’ll have the opportunity to sell a bit once you’ve proven you know your stuff. (One quirk of note – when you promote an event created with the Facebook event app the title of the ad will automatically default to the title of the event, so name your event wisely )

You don’t get much space in these ads so use it wisely. Your headline (25 characters) should grab attention immediately with a benefit. You’ll get another 135 characters to describe and entice in the body of the ad. You also have the option to upload an image. Take this option. It may be the most important aspect of your ad so choose wisely. Facebook users are very image driven (it’s the largest photo sharing site in the world) and the visual graphic you choose will make or break an ad. This is an element you must plan on testing (see below)

Budget

Facebook advertising works a bit like AdWords in that you bid for keywords and compete to get your ads shown. How effective you are at this depends upon the competitiveness of your keywords. You can choose between a cost per click (CPC) model where you pay only for clicks or a cost per thousand (CPM) model where you pay per 1000 ad views. Most research I’ve read suggests that the CPC model is slightly more effective in terms of ROI. (Here’s a nice Glossary of Facebook Ads terminology in case this is starting sound buzz wordy.)

To start your campaign you must determine a bid per click and daily budget. You can set both of these numbers very low, but don’t expect much. Initially you are just testing so you’ll want to set your click bid somewhere around the Facebook suggested amount and a daily budget you can live with, something like $50 or more to start. You can always adjust these. Learn about the Facebook Ads Manager here.

Test

No matter where or what you should always test your advertising. Online applications like this make it pretty darn simple. You can and should create multiple ad versions. Once you create an ad you will have the ability to create similar ads and run those as well. You’ll be able to easily view which ad is performing the best based on clicks. Facebook does need to approve your ads so make sure you are familiar with their guidelines.

The simplest thing to test is your image. I’ve seen ads go from no response to mega response with a better picture. Mind you I had no idea it was a better picture or I would have used it in the first place, but testing told me so. Here are some suggestions from Facebook on improving your ads.

Analyze

Once you create and launch your campaigns you need to start tracking and tweaking. Facebook has a tool that gives you some information on actions taken inside the Facebook platform. So, if you are running an ad for an event or Facebook page you can use the Facebook Insights tool to monitor interaction.

Facebook Insights is a nice reporting tool as it can give you information about the actual, not targeted demographics and interests of the people clicking on your ads and keywords that drew that interest. This will help you narrow or broaden your targeting. Page admins can access Insights by logging in and viewing the box titled Insights in the left sidebar. This is only visible to Page admins. If you click on See All you will get full reporting. More information on Insights here and from the very useful blog Inside Facebook.

Facebook does allow you to run ads that point people links outside of Facebook and in order to track these ads you simply and monitor them using your own analytics tool such as Google Analytics. If you are using Google Analytics simply use the URL builder tool in Analytics to create a link to your page that contains tracking parameters and place that in your Facebook Ad as the destination link.

Related Posts:

• Using Facebook Ads for Content Awareness
• 5 Tips For Getting More from Facebook
• Facebook Pages Get More Business Friendly
• 3 Ways for Businesses to Take Full Advantage of Facebook
• Facebook Adds Twitterlike Tagging Feature
• Powered by Contextual Related Posts

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More Trouble In Google’s Local Biz Center

via Small Business Trends by Lisa Barone on 1/13/10

Another week brings some more troubling news for small business owners and the state of their Google Local Business listings.  There are two somewhat concerning stories that have sprung up as of late that you should be aware of. If only so you can make sure you haven’t been affected.

Here’s a look at both.

Google Sends Potential Competitors Your Analytics

Late last week many small business owners and those that work with them began receiving emails about their local business results for the month of November. The emails contained  information about where the business ranked in Google’s local index, how many users clicked on the listing, how many users clicked through to the Web site, how many clicked on ‘more info’, and how many went looking for driving directions. This is all super important information for any small business owner to know and can be used to make sensitive decisions. Problem is, business owners were getting emails about businesses they had nothing to do with. Basically, they were getting other people’s site details. And if you’re getting someone else’s analytics data, well then, who’s getting yours?

Obviously, small business owners were concerned and a little upset. Mike Blumenthal covered the situation, as did search marketer David Dalka, Search Engine Roundtable and The Register. When asked, Google responded that it was “a glitch” and that less than one percent of Local Business Center users had been sent the affected emails. Of course, we don’t really know how many people “one percent” really accounts for.  It’s scary when you don’t know who has access to your information. It’s also potentially dangerous should it fall into the wrong hands.

Google Lets Competitors Hijack Your Listings

Just as small business owners were wrapping their heads around their private information being leaked, search marketer Lisa Myers showed how easy it is for a competitor to hijack your listing in Google Local Business. And she knows how easy it is because she watched it happen to one of her clients.

In her post, Lisa breaks down the exact steps that a competitor would need in order to hijack your listing. Scary is that it doesn’t seem that difficult. Just create a new listing with someone else’s company name but your address, claim and merge the listings, and then verify it via the mail. Once that’s done, any time someone searches for you, instead of seeing your real listing, they’ll see the one for your competitor and be directed there.  And just like that, your search traffic is gone. It’s just that easy and so far Google doesn’t seem to have a solution.

I’m not sure what the “fix” is for either of the issues discussed (Google hasn’t even addressed the latter). To be honest, I don’t think there is one for now. It’s disheartening to see so many issues with spam and hijacking (which sometimes happens accidentally) coming out of the engine’s local indexes with no real action taken.  I often wonder if Google’s policy of no response would be the same if it were bigger brands feeling the impact. Regardless, as a small business owner the best you can do is to be vigilant about monitoring your local listings and reporting anything that looks weird.  We’re louder in numbers.

From Small Business Trends

More Trouble In Google’s Local Biz Center