Archive for Online Business
A Picture Says 1,000 Words – Especially on The Internet
Posted by: | CommentsIf a picture of you appears on Facebook or somewhere else on the Internet, it is likely that just about anyone can see it if they search for you. Right now there is a Facebook application called Photo Finder, powered by Face.com. It uses facial recognition and social connections software to locate a photo of someone – even if it wasn’t identified by name (tagged). You want you and your business to be searchable, but are we becoming too searchable on the web?
According to the exceptionally insightful article in The New York Times Magazine, “The End of Forgetting,” by Jeffrey Rosen (July 25, 2010), as facial recognition software becomes more sophisticated, people will be able to find any picture of you located anywhere on the Internet. Someone could simply take a picture of you with a cell phone, plug the image into Google, and pull up all photos (whether identified or not) of you that are on the Internet. Yikes. What about that fun neighborhood party last weekend where a bunch of adults were swimming… yeah, better not put those on Facebook…
Do You Have a “Reputation?”
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I was growing up, we wanted to avoid being someone with a “reputation.” Today, we want a reputation, but we need it to be positive. However, maintaining one’s reputation is getting harder and harder. As social media and social networking sites continue to flourish, the power of the individual voice is growing greatly. We have to protect our reputations, and have someone (it’s probably you) that is fully in charge of managing our online reputation. It may seem insignificant now, but new things on the horizon will make this a part of any businessperson’s life.
According to an article in The New York Times Magazine, “The End of Forgetting,” by Jeffrey Rosen (Sunday, July 25, 2010), in the near future, people will be rated on reputation (trustworthy, good parent, good insurance risk, etc), similar to the credit report rating services of today.
There are services now that can aggregate information about people from the Internet and social networks. Not your private information like social security or credit card information, but information that is readily available: the movies you like, books you read, search terms you use, blog posts you write, videos you post/watch on YouTube, and people you follow. These reputation and trustworthy ratings could eventually be used to determine employability and other factors. And it can be incredibly positive or incredibly detrimental to your career.
Breaking the “Instant Response” Cycle
Posted by: | CommentsPerhaps it’s because of women’s hard won reputation as excellent multitaskers. Or perhaps its because we all panic that if we don’t put in our two cents instantly, we’ll be ignored. But whatever the reason, too many of us have gotten into the nasty habit of being “overly responsive.”
As soon as our Blackberrys vibrate or we hear the ping of a new email arriving in our inbox (the tiny envelope icon lingering in the bottom right corner of the computer monitor, taunting us), most of us drop whatever we’re doing and check it out – eager to respond first, or at least to have the option to be the first to weigh in.
But, I’m here to tell you that it’s time to stop. Sure, there are times when major projects are reaching completion or you’re waiting to hear back about an important issue with one of your clients, so you need to be instantly accessible. But, most of the time, you don’t need to drop everything at the first sign of an email communication. In fact, waiting might actually help you.
Here are five reasons to wait before checking your email for the twentieth time this hour:
Pitching the Media Correctly
Posted by: | CommentsPart 1 of 7
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a seasoned PR professional or a newbie, you’ll need to know how to pitch the media correctly if you want to get publicity, interviews, articles and write ups about your business.
With all the bad pitches and PR spamming, it is time to teach you how to do it the right way. By pitching the media correctly, you will see your name in ink in no time. Trust me, when I first started, I hadn’t a clue as to how to draft a pitch, but now I’ve become a media professional.
- The first and most important things you need to have are patience and persistence. The media gets flooded with millions of pitches per day.
- You must know your story inside out and backwards before you even attempt to build a media list. Get every angel of the story covered by conducting interviews with the people involved, industry professionals, and any other research you can find. Pursue the story as the same way a journalist would.
- Create variations of the story for different media outlets, but don’t embellish. Keep each variation concise and to the point because media professionals do not have a lot of time to review your story, if it is as long as a book.
How to Create a Squeeze Page that gets Strong Results
Posted by: | CommentsThe Internet is saturated with content, sales pitches and products. As a result, you have to make your business standout from the rest of the businesses out there. Squeeze pages are one of the best ways to do this. They are mini web pages with opt in forms to catch the name and email addresses of prospects. They are used to build email subscriber lists.
Your squeeze page should look something like this:
Use a headline (in red size 18 or larger font), a sub-headline (in black size 16 or larger font), followed by 5 to 7 bullets (in black font)
Keep your sales copy concise. The entire objective is to get the prospect to sign up through the opt in form
Use 200 to 300 words on the page
Use headline generator software to help come up with compelling headlines
Use a keyword selector tool to help pick the best keyword search phrases for SEO purposes
Use video to personalize your message. This helps you connect with prospects. (Check out www.marketingmakeovergenerator.com)
Use product or service benefits as bullet points
Use a simple opt in form from www.aweber.com, www.constantcontact.com or www.verticalresponse.com
