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Brand Equity: The Biggest Challenge Facing Businesses Today


Friday September 20, 2019

Reading Time: 7 minutes

When you run a company, there are countless moving pieces to supervise. Your marketing efforts and brand presence, while only serving as small pieces of your overall business, are the two areas which can have the greatest impact on your sales, growth, and success. Unfortunately, many business owners are currently operating on an outdated understanding of brand equity. Read on to learn how to manage this critical component of your digital strategy.

What is Brand Equity?

The American Marketing Association defines brand equity as the value of a brand beyond what can be explained by a product’s functional features. When handled expertly, this can boost sales and lead to greater consumer preference over your competitors – ultimately, this generates lasting loyalty and increasing profits.

Benefits of creating a strong brand include:

  • Financial advantages
  • Brand recognition
  • Customer loyalty
  • Improved margins
  • Lower sensitivity to price changes
  • Ability to set higher prices for goods and services
  • Lower vulnerability to competition

How do you boost this relationship with customers? Regardless of your industry or the size of your organization, there are many approaches available. It can be built within a specific niche, or by making a name for yourself as a local alternative to big-name corporations. Social media advertising efforts, celebrity endorsements, valuable sales promotions, and sponsorship of charitable or local events are all popular avenues for building brand equity. However, one of the most challenging aspects of marketing lies in discovering how to quantify success in this arena.

How Do You Measure Brand Equity?

There has recently been a change in the process of measuring a company’s brand equity. Previously, it was sufficient to state that strong brands are just “more preferred.” Today, we know that brand equity is a shifting, fluid concept. It is bolstered by marketing and worn down by time.

In an article from Marketing Tech News, Professor Eric Bradlow – faculty director of Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative – shares the modern perception that there is more to this model than mere favorability. This includes:

  • Understanding how brand equity impacts customer choices
  • Customer experience is the new brand
  • Appreciating that strong brand equity leads to improved marketing productivity

He cautions that a data model ignoring these factors may lead to erroneous pricing decisions, which can negatively affect your bottom line. Of the above, the most critical component is customer experience.

Why Customer Experience Matters

It’s no secret that your clients’ opinions will be shaped by their experiences with your products or services. In the digital age, customers have developed higher expectations; with the world at their fingertips, a single negative incident can cause them to seek out an alternative company to support. Beyond boosting product ratings or decreasing wait times, the job of an owner is to fully understand the customer journey. By developing a thorough grasp on client pain points, you can optimize your services and prevent defection to a rival business.

There are numerous benefits to a customer-first approach.

  • Research shows that it’s more expensive to find new customers than to keep existing ones.
  • Existing customers spend about 67% more than new customers.
  • Data and analytics tools allow you to fill the gaps in your customer journey.
  • Optimized customer journeys lead to improved customer satisfaction.
  • Increased referral sources: a happy customer is the best marketer.
  • Positive customer experience impacts brand differentiation more than price and product.

What you may not consider is that every single choice you make as an owner impacts this perception: the way you market, conduct research, and communicate are all vital variables. As mentioned in the article, focusing on customer experience “may be the single most important investment a brand can make in today’s competitive business client.”

Increased brand equity and its resulting loyalty yields profitable results for businesses and customers alike. Consider creating a highly tailored customer experience that exceeds their expectations – you won’t regret it.

To learn more about digital marketing and branding your business, contact Webconsuls today.

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Many business owners feel an extra incentive to advertise their products and services at the beginning of the new year, and many more have made a moment of “back to school” beginning in August. However, recent research indicates that merely focusing on mothers and fathers of the back-to-school crowd is a missed opportunity for marketers. Instead, the fall also serves as a time of health, positivity, and refreshed routines. The experts at MarketingTech call this phenomenon “back to life.”

Back to Life: Another Beginning

The “new” new year is a groundbreaking opportunity for marketers. Statistical data from Pinterest indicates that those who set long-term goals in the late summer follow through with major purchases in the fall. These trends extend to consumers in Japan, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France, confirming that Back to Life is a universal phenomenon.

When polled about their mindsets at the conclusion of summer, over half of adult respondents state that they are seeking ways to maintain their summer positivity throughout the seasons ahead. 45% of British respondents feel more inclined to make several small improvements that will increase their happiness at the end of the season. The same percentage would like to declutter and reorganize, while a smaller amount feel they would benefit from starting new routines.

How Brands Play a Role

During Back to Life, brands have a unique chance to positively impact the lives of consumers. They’re able to contribute to healthy habits and encourage personal transformation. If your company provides services with the potential to renew one’s verve for life, this is the optimal time to begin your messaging.

Industries that may particularly benefit from the Back to Life include addiction treatment and recovery, healthcare, fitness, and lifestyle brands. If you offer a good or service that could assist someone with their new start – whether in household organization, health, or self-improvement – this is a prime opportunity to begin motivating your audience to affect positive change.

Motivational Marketing

One way that your company can participate in the movement of the “new” new year is to begin offering motivational content. This is a successful strategy utilized by many brands looking to resonate with change-centered customers, and it works for several reasons.

First, beneficial content that adds value to your customers’ lives will bring them in. This honest offering doesn’t require cold calling or sales-forward advertising; instead, it’s more likely that your audience will decide to repeatedly engage with your content over and over again. The reason for this, according to Forbes, is simple: “motivation is something anyone can agree with, and as such, holds a valued place regardless of what your company is selling.”

Secondly, motivation is tied to the Self Discrepancy Theory: our sense of self-belief is tied to a relationship between emotion and motivation. Because people sometimes have difficulty believing in themselves, it is beneficial to offer marketing messages and content that inspires your audience.Finally, this approach encourages your customers to share and engage. They may comment with their personal stories and develop an affinity for the brand based on the positive messages you are distributing each day. When this occurs, you have developed a relationship with potential clients, making them more likely to reach out and learn more about your products and services.

Back to Life: Content Marketing for Fall Success

Now that we know there is a Back to School equivalent for adults, there is no reason for business owners to overlook the importance of Back to Life. Consider revamping your social media presence for the beginning of this new season by incorporating messages of motivation that could benefit your audience. With just a little content strategy, you can take advantage of the “new” new year.

Webconsuls is a digital marketing agency based in Nashville, TN.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Instagram Explore Ads

Instagram’s “Explore” tab is one of the most engaging parts of the image-sharing app: it shows users content that they may enjoy, algorithmically tailored based on photos they’ve engaged with previously. The social media platform announced last month that they plan to introduce ads to this portion of the app “slowly and thoughtfully” over the coming weeks.

 

Instagram Statistics and Usage

In the U.S., Instagram usage is expected to reach over 117 million people within the next three years, according to recent research. The announcement of ads in the Explore feed means that the Facebook-owned platform can expect its revenue to grow even further beyond the projected $15.7 billion within that time frame.

A majority of users are under the age of 35 (34% are millennials), and 72% of American teens use Instagram, making it the top social media platform for those under 20. There are also users in all income brackets, meaning that there is a market for just about any product at any price point.

The app is used heavily, with over one billion people using it each month, and 22% of all users logging in at least once a day. Of these, more than 50% of accounts use Explore every month. With numbers like these, it’s no wonder that Instagram seeks to capitalize on its rapt user base.

 

Explore Ads & Your Strategy

Photo and video ads alike will appear among Explore posts with images. Sponsored posts will be integrated seamlessly, easing user transition into the new content. One of the most challenging aspects of app development is avoiding an interruption in user experience while also ensuring that advertised content will be seen.

Instagram has assured its users that they have control over the ads they see, and that advertisers will need to contribute to “what’s culturally relevant and trending while reaching new audiences who are looking to discover something new.” That probably means that low-effort or unoptimized posts won’t see great success on the app.

Because Instagram is a heavily visual platform, companies will need to ensure that their ads are aesthetically pleasing and offer value to potential customers. Video ads in particular will stand out, since the Explore feed algorithmically prioritizes this type of content. Because users spend more time with content on this tab, it is recommended to consider long-form video or engaging captions for ads placed here.

Advertisers may begin placing ads in the Explore feed by opting in to use automatic placements.

 

Webconsuls is a digital marketing company headquartered in Nashville, TN and Los Angeles, CA.

Reading Time: 6 minutes
I remember the first time I encountered a “traffic circle“. It was 1988; I was 39 years old and living in New Hampshire. A business associate told me to meet him at a car dealership near the “rotary” in Portsmouth (or thereabout). But there was one problem with his directions. By “rotary” I thought he was referring to a ROTARY(as in the organization) office building. When I finally found him at the car dealership I told him I didn’t see the ROTARY to which he responded: “What are you talking about? You drove through the rotary!” Again I queried and finally he adequately described the nightmare that I had just been subjected to: A traffic circle!

So there you have it. Traffic circle, rotary or roundabouts “a circular arrangement constructed at the intersection of two or more roads in order to facilitate the passage of vehicles from one road to another.”

Recently someone (a client) asked me why I read blogs and why do I comment on the blogs I read. The obvious answer to the first part of this question is that I read other blogs to learn about the SEO and SMO industry, hoping to share the knowledge I glean with our clients and co-workers. I comment on the blogs that I regularly read if I have something to add to the conversation or if I have a question about the subject matter. The by-product of this process is that I develop social media relationships and links with relevance and reputation.

Here’s how I visualize blog commenting as a virtual traffic circle:

  1. A blog post is written
  2. I am notified of the post via an email or RSS feed (it is ok to start into the circle)
  3. I read the post
  4. I write a comment and identify myself with a link to our domain address or blog address – “the intersection is constructed”
  5. Other readers or the blog writer read my comment and perhaps click on the link to our domain address or blog address
  6. New traffic comes to our site – a visitor who may read our blog or search for a service we offer
  7. New visitor leaves a comment (with a link to their site) or sends us an email

Virtual Traffic Circle: “a circular arrangement constructed at the intersection of two or more blogs/websites in order to facilitate the passage of web traffic from one business to another.”

Lately I have read a number of really interesting posts about blogs and blog commenting. Here are a few I would like to share with you. I hope you will take the time to read these posts. You will learn so much.

Drive Traffic to Your Site with a 6-Step Blog Comments Blueprint 

Blogs As Loss Leaders

Value Your Blog Real Estate

Are Blog Comments Dead?

One last thought:

If you are not accustomed to traffic circles (real ones), they can be intimidating. You need to learn about them, understand them, know when to merge, know how to exit to your destination. The same applies to blog commenting and virtual traffic circles, don’t you think? I would love to hear from you on this…merge into the traffic circle and comment!
Reading Time: 7 minutes
story in life
A great photo to highlight the importance of story! Joann Eagen, Agnes Eagen, Pat Kimball, and Judy Eagen, Winter 1951

I am writing this blog today because Chris Brogan has challenged his readers to write about the “importance of story in your life.” Chris was talking about Don Miller’s latest book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life and from this came the challenge. Apparently if I am timely enough with this post I might receive a free copy of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life. In an earlier post, February 21, 2010, Chris Brogan encouraged his readers to use social media to “Turn your lens on your family. Tell family stories for future generations.”

For those of you who know me (i.e., my immediate family, team members, relatives, friends, previous co-workers, blog readers), I am most generally known as the storyteller. If you give me a subject I can probably tell you a story from my life that relates to that subject. While many may roll their eyes, get the “hook” or give me the old wind-up signal when I start to tell a story, these are the same people who will ask if the yearly holiday letter is ready to mail or have I posted to the Webconsuls’ blog lately.

When I was assigned to be the Saturday morning blogger for Webconsuls I allowed myself the freedom to write about any topic, it did not have to be technical in any fashion. So you can imagine my blog topics have been all over the map.

My father liked to share stories about his life and I liked listening to him tell a good story. Today I am thinking back to couple of years ago when I shared with my two sons a letter that had been written by my father in 1950.

The day I shared this was Father’s Day 2008 and since my father had passed away in 1979 neither of my sons had the opportunity to know my dad. I decided that I would send a copy of this letter to Aaron and Daniel, so that they might have some insight into their maternal grandfather, Joseph Raymond Eagen. The letter was written to my mother on December 16, 1950, addressed from Hungnam, Korea. My father was aboard the USS Kaskaskia. According to Wikipedia “During December she arrived off Hungnam to service ships engaged in evacuation operations in that area. Throughout the harsh winter months, Kaskaskia continued vital fueling missions between Japan and Korea.” If you choose to read the letter it is here. Just click on each jpg and they will enlarge.

Page 1 Daddy's Letter December 16, 1950
Daddy’s letter, page 2

 

Page 2 Daddy's letter December 16, 1950
Daddy’s letter, page 1

Happily both Aaron and Daniel enjoyed reading my dad’s letter. Aaron referred to it as “fascinating” and Daniel called it “amazing, like nothing I ever read before.” A story well received, all brought about because my brother, Michael Eagen, found the letter, created jpgs, emailed me the letter and I was able to email it to my children. Fabulous.

I must tell you that if you read the letter you will know that my dad talks about buying and mailing some special jackets. Daniel wanted to know if I still had the jacket! Well, I don’t, but I do have a great photo of me with my sisters and Pat Kimball. Now you know the story behind the photo at the top of today’s post.We are all wearing our “jackets”. It is Winter 1951.

So this is today’s important story. Enjoy! And, by all means, let me know what you think of it.

Reading Time: 5 minutes
we are the world
My photo of 1985 “We Are The World” Album

This week we are the world. The world was all a twitter with tweets about the death of three American icons. These were three people from three generations.

On Tuesday our blogger honored Ed McMahon, who passed at age 86. McMahon was a gentleman that we welcomed into our homes for more than 30 years as Johnny Carson’s sidekick among other roles.

Yesterday, our blogger honored Michael Jackson, who passed at age 50. This iconic legend who most of us have watched for the past 40 years, from a little boy to a grown man, always surprised us with his talent and creativity, among other things.

I will not let the week go by without honoring Farrah Fawcett, who passed at age 62. For those of us who are Farrah’s peers by age, we remember her smile and her gorgeous hair. All the women wanted hair like Farrah and all the men wanted the women in their lives to have hair like Farrah. She was a fine actress and you would know this if you saw some of her more serious movies. Now she will be remembered as a brave woman who was willing to share with all of us her struggle with cancer to the end.

In this world filled with technology…twitter, plurk, tagged, YouTube, my space, facebook, emails, blogs…today is Saturday and it is just a day to remember that in January 1985 Michael Jackson collaborated with Lionel Richie and produced with Quincy Jones a song that touched us all. We are the World! (United Support of Artists for Africa) We listened intently, we bought the album and together we tried to help save a continent, most particularly Ethiopia.

As this day closes, I will remember that Dennis and I played this album with our children when they were quite young. The album is still in our home carefully preserved for whatever reason. Maybe because it made us think, hope and assure ourselves that we are all part of this world and this week We Are The World making a choice.

Enjoy this remarkable YouTube video of the studio recording of We Are The World. I’d would love to hear from you!

….change can only come…when we stand together as one!

Reading Time: 17 minutes

The current economic downturn in the U.S. is hurting many clients. We think that you can not just wait for the storm to pass, but must work to survive in the rain. We also think that our clients who take a long view and who work hard now will be in the best shape when the economy recovers. Lastly, we think that the Internet is the most cost effective way to promote many businesses.

In this newsletter we discuss a free offer from Webconsuls, some ideas that may help your web site generate more business, and a case study of a site revision done with one of our clients, the Lodge at Moosehead Lake. We also highlight new clients well as the redesigns for some current clients.

A Free Offer From Webconsuls

We know that the text on many of our client’s sites is outdated. We also know that many of our clients have been very busy running their businesses and just have not had the time to review their sites and bring their text up to date. And we have had nominal charges for text revisions.

In this downturn you may be less busy and may have the time to review your site. We are suspending our charges for text updates on our clients’ web sites.

So go through your site, see what text needs to be changed, what can be enhanced. Do you have new testimonials to add? Prices to change? Services to add? Staff members to change?

Email your changes to Dick (dickfay@webconsuls.com), Judy (judy@webconsuls.com) or Dennis (dennis@webconsuls.com). We will review them and schedule the changes as soon as possible. If your change request is beyond just a text change, then we will discuss any possible charges before making the change.

Improve Your Web Site

Your web site can probably be enhanced. While we can not make major changes for free, we will try to do them as inexpensively as possible. Here are some ideas:

  1. Start and maintain a blog:  A blog is a relatively easy way for you to add content to your site and provide current information. Since the search engines love content, more relevant content could bring in more visitors and more visitors could be more business. Your blog is only limited by your creativity. A hospitality site may want to write about seasonal changes in the area, a lawyer may want to write about a successful resolution to a case or perhaps the implications of a major ruling. You could use a blog to mention special limited time pricing. Our experts can help you set up the blog and teach you how to maintain it. We provide an on-line tutorial for participating clients. The maintenance is easy and you might even find it to be fun.
  2. Add video to your site and/or youtube.com: The search engines are starting to integrate video results with their search results. So a video may provide more visitors and then more business. Visitors may also stay on your site longer to look at an interesting video and that could enhance your sites performance. There are relatively inexpensive video cameras that do a great job for web video. Our experts can discuss the process with you and get your started. Again you may find it to be easy and fun.
  3. Upgrade Your Website:Does your site reflect well on your business today? Does it reflect well on you? How does it compare to your competitors? A site that looked great in the past may be outdated today. So when you are reviewing your text, also review your look. We can not build new sites for free, but we can work with you to upgrade your look and we will do our best to keep the costs down. Another advantage to a redesign is your site may have built in a way that is considered old-fashioned today. The sites we build today take advantage of techniques that were not available a few years ago which do not change the look of the site but allow the site to load faster which makes it more “search engine friendly.”
  4. Get involved with Social Media: You have probably heard of the most popular social media sites, such as facebook and myspace. Once mainly associated with teen and young adults, these sites are now used by people of all ages. The social media sites are not used to directly market your business, but to reach people, make them aware of your business, and then they may make the people they reach aware as well. Some of the popular Social Media sites: LinkedIn: Facebook: Twitter:

A Case Study in Refreshing Your Website…

Lodge at Moosehead Lake Buying an existing business in today’s world also includes inheriting a web presence. On June 1, 2007, Linda and Dennis Bortis left the corporate environs and fulfilled a life-long dream by purchasing The Lodge at Moosehead Lake and becoming innkeepers. As if this change in lifestyle were not enough, what with learning a new trade and familiarizing oneself with this beautiful property, Linda and Dennis soon felt that their website did not do the property justice. But what to do?

When Linda and Dennis first contacted Webconsuls, we explained that the current site had been designed and built per the specifications of the previous owner/innkeeper. Our best advice was to take time to get to know the website, its contents, navigation, good features and not so good features. In other words, get comfortable with your new life and keep copious notes on how you want to enhance the site.

Over the past 20 months, Linda and Dennis have done just that. They prioritized their goals and learned the business of inn-keeping. As time went by, Linda sent us new text, new photos, had us create new pages and became a blogger. But in December 2008 Linda approached us with her vision of a redesign of her home page. Given the economic times we all now face, Linda and Dennis felt sure they could not and should not invest in a whole new website, but they could tell their story better. That is, they could offer their website visitors dramatic photos of both Moosehead Lake and the lodge. Linda also new she needed to make the home page a virtual invitation to “check out” the entire site.

The lesson here is that Webconsuls cannot run your business and we certainly cannot know every detail about your business. The relationship that Webconsuls seeks to have with their clients is one of mutual respect and coordinated effort to present your business in its best light. Linda and Dennis represent some of the best in understanding this symbiotic relationship. Here are a few helpful hints:

  • Really study your site, not just the text and photos, but the flow
  • Learn about how to reach new guests, like newsletters, press releases, join organizations and associations. Don’t be afraid to brag about your property.
  • Study your statistics and analytics
  • Learn how to take good photos and how to upload them in your Picasa account.
  • Obtain feedback from your guests or customers.

The new look and feel of the home page is dramatic. It took a while to get to this point with many phone calls, emails, documents, testing, but now Linda reports: “I’m getting a lot of great comments on my home page. The lodge was full for Valentine’s but one room and we had 38 for dinner – higher than any other special dining night since we got here.” This is all great news and while the website refresh was not free, it was affordable and obviously it is producing a good return on their investment (ROI).

New Clients

We welcome some new clients:

Affirmations is a private alcohol and drug abuse treatment center located in Scottsdale, Arizona that treats various addictions in a uniquely non-judgmental and affirming manner.

Agua Dulce is a women’s extended care facility whose program is designed to further strengthen recovery, minimize relapse potential, address lifestyle changes, and develop a complete aftercare plan.

Octopus Pool Cover Safety Frame is the only pool cover safety cover frame that securely fastens any safety cover without the need to drill rivets, bolts or anchors into the pool deck.

Synergy Group Services is a family/physician owned and operated drug and alcohol rehab center, located in beautiful West Palm Beach, Florida. Their caring physicians and trained rehab specialists provide the nurturing environment needed for effective addiction treatment.

Unity Recovery Center in Hobe Sound, Florida has an objective of providing the highest quality personalized drug and alcohol addiction treatment services available at an affordable price.

Hope by the Sea is a Southern California Drug Rehab center located in San Juan Capistrano that offers individualized treatment programs for drug rehab at reasonable cost because addiction and alcoholism affect everybody.

Wonderful Windows does window cleaning in Orange County California. They have told us : “In the first week of putting my new website online I received three new customers that can turn into regular business. Webconsuls rocks !!!”

Redesigned Sites

In addition to the Lodge at Moosehead Lake we have recently redesigned several client sites.

Lasting Recovery is San Diego’s Premier Intensive Outpatient Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center. Lasting Recovery helps men and women interrupt the emotional turmoil and destructive pattern of alcohol and drug abuse. We assist individuals to reclaim their health, build self-esteem, heal their relationships and develop strong relapse prevention skills.

Sea Cliff Hale is a beautiful vacation home in Poipu on Kauai and perfect for large family vacations, family reunions, group golf getaways and or just a visit to paradise.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

It is important to keep your web site current and up to date. Telephone numbers, employee names, addresses and other details change and need to be replaced with the current information. Searching your site first for all the edits to be made can save you considerable back and forth time with your Webmaster.

  • Find all the changes to be made
  • evaluate the text on the page for need to rewrite
  • send changes in one Word document to your Webmaster.

 

Here is a handy search tip to help you find those items which need to be replaced or updated.

In Google’s search box:

  • type the exact text you are trying find
  • space
  • site:www.yourwebsiteaddress.com (using your address and leaving no space between the colon and the www)

For example, if I were searching www.webconsuls.com for “Darin” …

Returned will be a list of all the instances where that term appears.

If you click the link labeled “Cached” the cached page will come up with your terms highlighted for easy spotting.

Send your list of changes in a Word document to your webmaster.

After the changes are made remember to refresh your page to see the changes. This is especially helpful with larger sites with lots of text and those with blog entries.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

One of the joys of having a child in the house is how they can be so easily impressed by simple adult skills and knowledge. I know this phase will pass, in our house this period of time is passing very quickly. The other day I realized that I had an analogy for why blogs are so helpful when placing in the search engine results as I was asked to locate a small misplaced toy. 

When I returned with the small bobble I was met with wide admiring eyes and a WOW, how do you always know where EVERYTHING is? (Trust me when I tell you that I am being sure to enjoy these moments of alleged omniscience as it will surely pass.)

Knowing my time is limited and that I had her undivided attention I decided to explain to the little one just why I usually have the answer to where everything is.

 

“I scan.”

“Huh?”

“I am always scanning the house.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, as I walk through the house I am always scanning. I just automatically make sure things are in their place and I take note of what I see.”

 

Replace scanning with spidering and house with World Wide Web and I am just like a search engine spidering links, exploring and noting where everything is so as to find it later!

Well, imagine you have just arrived home and the grocery shopping had just been done, or someone came home from a trip, or for some reason new items have been added to your home. What will you most likely need to do?

You will need to put your stuff away and you will want to know where it is so you can find it when you need it. Search engine spiders will not put your digital files or your groceries away. Deciding where items go and putting them there is still your job.

 

So why will the search engine be draw to your blog? How does a blog help me?

Blogs feed the purpose of search engines.

That search engine is going to investigate to see just what you added and where. It is the search engines’ job to know what material is available on the World Wide Web. Whether it be Google, MSN, Yahoo, Dogpile, you name it,  the search engines must familiarize themselves with fresh timely material in order to return the most relevant search. Search engines must keep up on new additions in order to perform the job they were designed to do.

Using a blog to consistently add useful relevant content is a powerful method to draw the search engines to spider (or scan) your site and index the timely information you post.

For help on how to add a blog to your web site or blog training to make the most of your blog please contact us at Webconsuls, LLC.

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Over the course of any week I receive a number of SEO/Webmaster newsletter emails. I try to read through them for hints, myths, SEO/SMO news in general. This past week one of these newsletters had a link to a video in which Sally Falkow was discussing Internet marketing. I don’t know Sally Falkow but I found what she had to say very intriguing. She sited an old mantra “Tell, don’t sell”, which I believe applies to blogs, in that blogs should tell a good story.

Now you are probably wondering where I am going with this idea. After all it is Saturday morning and you no doubt, if you are reading this at all, are thinking to yourself with a sigh, “doesn’t Judy always tell a story in her blog post?”

It is very easy for the Webconsuls’ team to suggest to a client that the client should have a blog, but most clients go into panic mode because they don’t trust themselves to be able to write. What our clients sometimes forget is that every business has a story to tell and all they have to do is relate the story for their guests, customers, or clients to read. Just tell a good story.

Finding your niche in storytelling can take some time. Let me give you an example. In June 2007 Webconsuls built a blog for Alice and Len Schiller, owners/innkeepers of The Inn at Stockbridge. Darin McClure coached Alice on how to do blog posts and she did a nice job. She frequently would write about events and attractions in the Berkshires. All very interesting, but might have served the local attractions more than the inn.

On December 29, 2008, Alice came up with a clever idea and she posted it: “The Inn at Stockbridge blog is going to put a new spin on things. Alice Schiller feels that she is fortunate enough to have owned and run the inn for over fourteen years. Over the years we have had a great variety of guests visit us and each one has a wonderful story to share. We are now going to share their stories. Guests who visit the Inn come from all walks of life, are a varied age group and have met in a myriad of ways and have wonderful tidbits to share with you the readers of this blog. We are fortunate enough to have them share their experiences at the Inn as well as their stories with you.”

Wonderful…the stories have begun, complete with photos, so interesting to read and the best part is Alice and Len are involving their guests (read customers). As a former innkeeper I know that relating stories about your guests is a great marketing tool. People love to be part of something and future guests secretly hope that they will also be featured at some later date.

You may recall, on September 20, 2008, I wrote a blog post called “The benefit of being a ‘blogger-in-chief’?” In that blog I talked about how I wrote a newsletter for our inn, Cranmore Mountain Lodge. This was the old fashion way of staying in touch with our customers. Just this past week I came across a copy of the last issue of Inn-Ovations that I wrote in the Fall of 1997. You might enjoy reading the front page. Click on the image and it will get bigger!

Today I hope you will check the Inn at Stockbridge’s blog. Read the stories about their guests. Leave a comment. And if you want to preview the inn, here is a video that tells the Inn’s story in another way.

I have a feeling Sally Falkow has not come up with something unique. Storytelling is as old as mankind ~ it is the fabric that keeps our cultures, our families, our nations moving through time.

Reading Time: 9 minutes

Webconsuls’ SMO team works hard to keep our clients and us up to date on all of the latest “gadgets” that seem to offer some benefit either for our website marketing or general business tools. I will admit that I am not always the first one to try out or sign up for the latest and greatest, but I do try to glean from my co-workers their reviews of these new tools. So today I want to talk about Yammer. To Yammer or not to Yammer, that is the question.

I first learned about Yammer on November 5, 2008. I received an email from Lisa inviting me to join the Webconsuls.com network. This email arrived at 7:53AM, then at 8:56AM I received an additional invitation from Malik Moosa. On November 5 I had a very good reason for not responding to these invitations, as I was flying from Tucson to Albany, NY, and the laptop was not accessible for most of the day. Five weeks went by. I was busy with many client’s projects and I waited to see if any other team member would invite me to join webconsuls.com yammer network.

December 8, 2008, the wait was over. I received another invitation from Dick Fay. Now this impressed me. Dick is not only my co-worker he is also one of my business partners, and I decided that Dick’s invitation offered some validity to yammer.com. So, I signed up!

It was easy to do, I followed the steps and what do you know there I was part of the TEAM. On the home page you can easily see “posts” or “updates” from your team or group members. But what startled me was that, aside from the automatic post showing that Dick Fay had joined the “network”, all other updates were from Darin, our SMO director. Hmmmm! What does this mean? Where were Lisa’s updates and Malik’s updates? I didn’t understand.

If, as the Yammer.com “about us” page says: “Yammer is a tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: ‘What are you working on?’ As employees answer that question, a feed is created in one central location enabling co-workers to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions, and share links and other information. Yammer also serves as a company directory in which every employee has a profile and as a knowledge base where past conversations can be easily accessed and referenced.”; then why is only Darin posting updates? And for that matter, is anyone listening?

confederacy of dunces

I am reminded of a winter day in 1989, when I was the co-owner and innkeeper of Cranmore Mountain Lodge. Our chef at the time was a colorful fellow named John Littlefield. (Picture Ignatius J. Reilly, the main character in the Pulitzer Prize winning fiction novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole.) John was a superb chef, but let’s just say he had some idiosyncrasies and someday when I write my expose about innkeeping I will devote an entire chapter to John.

But back to my story. I was in the laundry room with my youngest son Daniel

aaron & dan
Aaron & Dan 1989

(he had just turned five years old). The laundry room had a doorway to the country kitchen and John was in the kitchen busying himself and talking. Daniel watched John for a few minutes and then turned to me and in a soft voice inquired: “Momma, who is John talking to?” To which I responded: “He is talking to himself.” Daniel considered my answer and then in turn responded: “But who is listening?” I didn’t have an answer, except a knowing smile.

Now almost 20 years later, I find myself asking the same question when it comes to all of the new-age technology. I know that people read blogs, I know that the Internet and SMO can be very powerful on so many levels. But I also know that I can write this blog every Saturday and I don’t really have any idea who is listening. So should I Yammer?

I would like to invite all of my readers to learn more about yammer.com, but at the same time I worry about even the name of “yammer.” According to Websters’, yammer means to utter repeated cries of distress or sorrow, to utter consistent complaints, to talk persistently or volubly and often loudly. So why would Yammer.com founders choose such a name? I don’t know.

What I do know is that I am going to give it a try, but I am going to use it strictly for business questions. I am going to try to solicit input from my team members about business questions regarding SEO, SMO, web design, etc. I will let you know how this works out. In the meantime, here is a video that gives you a pretty good overview of YAMMER. And if you are looking for a good read, try A Confederacy of Dunces, you will laugh yourself silly.

Reading Time: 11 minutes

What is a Kindle?

A Kindle is an portable reading device which connects to the internet. The Kindle can download books, blogs, magazines and newspapers wirelessly.

I enjoy playing with new devices and having worked with DAISY books, a digital format created for accessibility purposes, I was very curious about this product from Amazon. The following is a list of pros and cons from my user experience. It is not an exhaustive list but one from my direct experience with the device.

What the Kindle Excels at:

  • The Kindle is great if you like to burn through lots of paperback books and general reading material. Paperback novels, books with very few illustration and not too much organizational formatting are ideal for this device.
  • The Kindle is the ideal device to use for casual reading while traveling. When I do occasionally travel I never know what book I am going to want to read. A Kindle enables you to have over 200 titles and only one 10.3 ounce device to carry.
  • Kindle books are generally cheaper than their traditional version. Best Sellers and New Releases are $9.99 unless marked otherwise. Currently 105 of the 112 New York Times Best Sellers are available on Kindle.
  • The Kindle is very immediate. You can download a novel from the online store in seconds and be reading. Finish the book you brought, visit the Kindle store right from your device and pick a new read. Amazon was not being foolish when they enabled this device with full time internet access.
  • Want to take a peak at a book. One of my favorite treats with the Kindle is being able to download the first chapter of any Kindle version for free. You have a sample of the book to try before you buy.
  • Kindle books are saved and could be made available if you ever accidentally erased or lost your Kindle.
  • The Kindle is a wireless internet device with no monthly fee. You can access your email, your social networks and browse the internet all from your Kindle.
  • You can subscribe to newpapers, magazines, and blogs and have them delivered to your Kindle.
  • A built in dictionary looks up words with a push of a button. I love this feature and wish I had it when I read the book “All the Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy.
  • The Kindle is also a full encycolpedia. Access to Wikipedia.org, your online encyclopedia, comes with your Kindle.
  • An easy to read screen which excels in the elements, especially bright sun and wind.The Kindle’s screen is “electronic paper” and does not glow like a computer monitor. The screen of a Kindle is more like the etch-a-sketch of the my childhood. The “digital ink” is magnetic. The electronic ink is easy on the eyes and reads well even in direct sunlight. Reading the humongous and unweily New York Times in a slight breeze is much easier on the Kindle.
  • The text size is adjustable.

Drawback that I found

Sharing
The downside is that if you are accustomed to sharing your paperbacks with other readers you can’t really lend or trade your Kindle books as you would a dogeared paperback.

Diagrams
The Kindle is not great for books which contain diagrams. I read a lot of “how to” books. The most recent book I purchased was on photography. I would never even considered buying the Kindle version as the color photographs and illustrations would not be shown full size or in color. Computer instruction and technical books don’t render well for the same reason.

A book in the hand …
When I start a book I read all the front material, the table of contents, all the back material, then I start the book. A Kindle book will display all the same material but it just never feels as easily contained as a book in your hands. Call me old fashioned but I do find comfort in that tangable property of books.

Availability
Not everything has a Kindle version at the moment. There are more than 190,000 titles. You should be able to find something.

Can Kindles replace books?

Kindles and electronic devices can create digital copies of the text in books. Where the representation of the straight text is all you need the Kindle serves its function well. Will it replace books? Not in my lifetime and not for me.

There are the books that you carry around from childhood. I lost my original copy of my beloved book “Happy Horsemanship”. A copy of my favorite book on the Kindle would be a poor substitute. There are the books you have given to you by your parents. My copy of “Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson”, the inside cover contains my Mother’s handwriting “to Lisa, Love Mom and Dad, Christmas 1984” or “My Dog Skip” given to me by a friend and past student are not only stories but mementos. Another favorite and useful book never far from my desk “Reader’s Digest Family Word Finder”, a thesaurus of sorts, but one that is actually intuitive and immediate to use. I have turned to this resource for help since junior high school. Paging through this reference that I have had for so many years, even the breaks in the binding serve as bookmarks to pages I have referenced repeatedly. Kindles can’t do that.

On the other hand … I can’t access my email with my copy of Emily Dickinson.

There are books you will keep forever. There are books you want to touch and pour over. There are books you want to just consume with one read. The Kindle is for the later.

In my opinion and experience the ideal Kindle candidate is one of two people, a traveling bookworm who frequents the best seller section and devours newspapers and/or the gadget infatuated individual who will thrive on squeezing every functionality they can out of an internet device that happens to also read books.

Will you buy a kindle for a gift … well not right now because they are currently sold out. There are Kindles available for resale on ebay, but some of those are asking for as much as twice the retail prices. OUCH!

Reading Time: 5 minutes

On our recent excursion to Las Vegas for Blog World Expo I sat in on an interesting panel discussion on “Mommy Bloggers”. There are blogs of all persuasions but the mommy blogger niche is really a category unto itself. The “Mommy Blogger” phenomenon has been grabbing the attention of marketers for quite some time as Moms are generally the holders of the purse strings in most households.

Listening to the discussion and reflecting on my blog reading habits I started to think about what I like to find in blogs, what keeps me coming back and what we can aspire to as we try to develop our blogs.

Here is one of my favorite “Mommy Bloggers” and why her blog(s) keep me coming back for more.

Lela Davidson

I originally was introduced to Lela’s writing on Hub Pages. Her hubs, individually written articles, ranged from household hints, parenting tips, vacation spots for families, holiday celebrations and harder issues such as drug abuse and creationism in public school cirriculum.

  • Lela’s profile is engaging and natural. When I read “about Lela” I can imagine her in her world. This is how Lela introduces herself to her readers:

I am a Mother. I cook, clean, wipe noses, push Benadryl, check for nits, help with homework, and iron tiny polo shirts. I used to have a real job with a degree framed on my office wall, but I gave it up for this glamour. I also write, hang out with my husband, and drink wine with my friends on the driveway. I believe parenting is the hardest job in the world as well as the most natural thing we do. I screw up. Daily. And I banish guilt relentlessly. I believe it’s your moral responsibility to find the thing that makes you lose track of time, the thing that empties all the racing thoughts from your head and leaves you deaf to the oven timer so you forget about the cookies until the smoke finds you. Writing is my thing. Here’s to hoping you find yours and go do it.

  • Many of her posts are simple “how to’s and lists.”

How to Know if Your Kids Are Huffing
Top Five Midwest Family Vacation Destinations

  • She is always very timely. She has already begun posts in preparation for Halloween.

  • Lela keeps you involved in the process. Recently Lela has been working on a novel. She keeps her readers abreast of her progress and her plan. Novel in Six Months Plan

  • Lela writes regularly.

All these elements keep me coming back, but of course I subscribe to Lela’s RSS Feed so I don’t miss a post.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Before there was radio, and television, and computers people used weekly literature to connect with the world at large. From August 4, 1821 to February 8, 1969, The Saturday Evening Post was what people looked to for: current events articles, editorials, human interest pieces, humor, illustrations, a letter column, and poetry; readers were even encouraged to write articles for the Post. People would sit around their homes on Saturday evening to read the Post, they would discuss the articles and what was taking place in the world with friends and neighbors. Norman Rockwell became a main cover illustrator for The Saturday Evening Post; he would illustrate certain events or activities of the American Family in a beautiful way.

As time went on, the post lost its popularity and people started looking other places for their information. Newer magazines and the advent of T.V. made the Post less popular, the Post had to cut costs and started using photographs as opposed to illustrations. Today the Post is still published six times a year by Benjamin Franklin Literary & Medical Society (a non-profit), because The Saturday Evening Post descended from The Pennsylvania Gazette, founded in 1728 by Benjamin Franklin.

I had the privilege of going to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. On display were many Rockwell paintings that were featured on The Saturday Evening Post’s cover, art of a bygone era where life was painted and encapsulated in time. Norman Rockwell’s art was a staple of the Post up until 1963.

Today, Weblogs have taken the role of the Saturday Evening Post; readers and the writers share the same role for spreading information to the masses. The public follow blogs much the same way they followed The Post, blogs today are the conversation pieces. Blogs may not have the same artistic appeal that the Post had, but blogs travel along the same lines with regard to started discussions. I am not sure that it is a coincidence that when we publish something on a blog it is called a post. Blogs allow the reader to be the writer, and the writer to be the reader in the blogosphere.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Writing a Weblog is one thing, writing a good one is something else altogether! Some people write a blog for themselves and others write them to appeal to a particular audience. It is the latter which I am concerned with, reaching out to the people so they will read what you have to say; when people finish reading your post you want them to have a desire to come back for more. Know Your Audience! Seth Godin says “You only get one chance to make a second impression”.

The key to blogging is choosing a topic, once you have chosen your platform you need to reinforce it with good content. One’s topic and content should appeal to a targeted audience in the field of what you are trying to sell. Most websites today, especially business websites, have a blog affiliated with their site. It gives companies the ability to reach out and have a conversation with their consumers. It is what I like to call “injecting life into your website”. What was once inanimate is now animate, people can get involved in the conversation like never before; this gives the consumer a “it’s all about you” feeling, and by giving the consumer the feeling of involvement you can go a long way .

Whats good for the blog, is great for the website! Once you have created something worth reading you want to make your blog’s presence on the internet greater; in other words you want your audience to be able to find your blog even if they have never read or heard of your blog before. The thing worth noting is that blogging is a means to an end; when people find your Weblog (the means), they also find your website (the end). Google rewards you for a good blog and they reward your website even more for one!

Blogs are the perfect ingredient to making a high page rank in Google! Blogs are updated more often then websites which allows them to be “spider’d” more often by search-engines. Coupled with great topics and content, loyal readers equals high page rank. Keeping search engines in mind is the key to people finding your blog, and thus finding your website; keywords and key phrases are of great importance because ultimately it is those which allow search engines to find your blog and place it where it belongs for your target audience to locate your information. Create a list of keywords you want to be found for and incorporate them into each of your blog posts. The title you assign to your post is the most important place for you to implement your keywords/phrases; search engines place all lot of value on the title of your web page; therefore, how you title your blog post is of great importance for the fact that your blog is a web page in itself.

In summation I believe that there is not one right way to go about creating a Weblog, but there are definitely wrong ways. You will not become an expert blogger overnight and patience will be in order to become successful. As long a you update your Weblog often while always keeping in mind rich content that directly relates to the topic at hand you will succeed. It is completely acceptable to refer to other blogs for guidance as far as ideas and content; look for what’s worked for other people and find a way to make it work for you and your company. Blogging is the voice of your business…it is your billboard on the internet highway!

Reading Time: 14 minutes

In this newsletter we discuss…

  • New designs or redesigns by Webconsuls 
  • Mobile Phones and hand held devices Blogs 
  • 508 Compliance 
  • Getting listed on Google Maps and Yahoo Local Search 

New Web Designs by Webconsuls

Over the past few months, Webconsuls has been working on new web designs or redesigns for a number of our clients. We invite you to view these sites. Morningside Recovery An addiction and recovery treatment center in Newport Beach, CA. Pacific Coast Recovery Center A 30 day hospital based program which includes medical detox and hospital inpatient chemical dependency and pain track, located South Coast Medical Center in Laguna Beach, CA Delytes Catering and Event Planning located in Temecula Valley, CA, serving Riverside and San Diego Counties. Your Best Look Michael Nelson, M.D. providing Lipotherapy and Mesotherapy, serving the greater Kansas City, MO area.Temecula Divorce Gina Famularo is a family law attorney practicing in Temecula, California.

Mobile Phones and Hand-Held Devices

Your web site may display beautifully on a PC, but how does it look on a mobile phone? You may be very surprised and a bit dismayed by the result! If you are curious, there is an easy test at: http://emulator.mtld.mobi/emulator.php

Simply access the URL shown above, select the type of device in the drop down and type in your URL without including the “www;” just the domain name.com/.net/.org, etc.

Fortunately, a solution is available. You can have Webconsuls design your site for mobile devices and use a specific “.Mobi,” top-level domain for the mobile site. “.Mobi” is dedicated to delivering the Internet to mobile devices via the Mobile Web. Google Mobile and Yahoo Mobile’s OneSearch will undoubtedly grow in popularity, given the projected sales of hand-held and mobile devices. Current estimates are that 1.3 billion people will connect to the Internet via mobile phones by 2008.

Several of our Clients are already moving ahead at this time to position themselves early in mobile advertising and / or marketing. These include Morningside Recovery, Visions Adolescent Treatment Center and Captain Lord Mansion. Several other clients have already requested quotes and are close to placing orders with us.

To view how well .Mobi works. via a Browser:
A. Open a Web Browser and access: http://emulator.mtld.mobi/emulator.php
B. Select Nokia or Sony Skin
C. Type in: “captainlord.mobi” or “morningsiderecovery.mobi.” or “visionsteen.mobi.” After the http://, it is best to omit the “www.”
D. Click on Submit and wait for the phone screen shown to load.
E. There is a thin gray scroll bar inside the phone display. To navigate, place the cursor on any of the dial numbers and click.

(The best approach of course is to actually use a mobile device for viewing).

Special features included in our .mobi design packages are auto-dialing your business’ phone number. Even better, the mobile device will automatically recognize the .mobi extension availability as well. Images can be displayed and links work quite well. Sites that attain a rating of 5 out of a possible 5 in design quality get into the .mobi Directory and all of our designs meet that rating. Call today for details!

Important Note: In case you didn’t know, Domain age is a huge factor to Google’s rankings. How long you’ve been around, how long you’ve had people link to your site, how old are the sites that link to you, what has your back link growth and history been, etc, etc…..it’s all about Time and Age Factors. In a small way, the age of a domain gives the appearance of longevity and therefore a higher relevancy score in Google. Our recommendation to all clients is that no matter your current .mobi intentions, you should have us register “yourdomainname.mobi” for 5 years, to immediately start “the aging clock.” Cost for five years, with free-parking is only $125.00.

Call or write us if you wish to have a .mobi site developed or if you want to purchase the .mobi domain extension.

Blogs

As mentioned in our press release sent to you earlier this month, Webconsuls is anxious to help our Clients benefit in a variety of Social Marketing Optimization (SMO) opportunity areas. One of its components is “Blogs” or Blogging. For the uninitiated (or for those in Dennis’ generation who know what a slide rule is), a Blog is an online, regularly updated journal or newsletter that is readily accessible to the general public by virtue of being posted on a website. Why all the interest? A recent discussion by Site-Reference about benefits from Blogs (cut and pasted below) should “hone” your interest and attention:

  • Blogs are a great medium for your customers and prospects to get to know you and your services better. 
  • When you post information to a blog the blog software automates the process of updating your website with the new information and archiving old content; simplifying the chore of keeping your website fresh and relevant. 
  • Blogs can automatically announce (ping) to the world whenever new content is added. Again, this automated process simplifies the all-important (and normally time consuming) promotion process. 
  • Through the use of syndication methods your blog postings (writings) can be monitored easily by fans of your services/writing. 
  • Blogs provide a wonderful platform for readers to interact with you by leaving comments. 
  • Due to the highly social and interactive nature of blogs it is possible that links will begin to appear to your posts from other websites. This can increase your website’s link popularity and will only happen if you write engaging and source-worthy content. 

Call or write us to have a Blog added to your web site.

508 Compliance

Congratulations and kudos to Attorney Edna Deeb http://www.ednadeeblaw.com. Edna holds the distinction of being Webconsuls’ first Client to request, order and achieve overall accessibility compliance with regard to section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act.

Compliance is designing or modifying a web site to be usable by persons with visual or physical disabilities, often with the help of a screen reader device, captioning, etc. While not yet a requirement in most fields, (except government sites), this topic closely mirrors the more familiar ADA considerations and regulations. It is almost certain to become a consideration in new web site designs. Google already is testing “Accessible Web Search for the Visually Impaired.” A parallel benefit in achieving compliance is that many required enhancements also meet standard browser conformance (W3C) recommendations and therefore should help with traditional SEO and positioning rules.

Call or write us if you wish to have your site modified to be section 508 compliant.

How to List Your Business in Google Maps and Yahoo Local Search

Have you ever tried to search for your business in Google Maps or Yahoo Search? The easiest way to do this is to type in your business service or product and the name of the city and state where your business is located. What will be displayed on Google is “Local Business Results for…” and on Yahoo it will say “Local Results…” Did you find your business listing? You may find that if you type in the specific name of your business with the city and state, your listing will appear, but it may need to be updated with more details about your business. According to the Site Reference Newsletter, “Even if your business is done completely online, you may benefit from getting listed in Google Local or Yahoo’s local listings. People often feel more comfortable doing business with someone who is local; and potential customers may stumble across your business while searching for other things.”

We know that many of our clients are already listed in Google Maps and Yahoo Search, but for those of you who are not, we have found that this is one area of internet marketing where you need to register your own business. The reason for this is that both Google and Yahoo go through a security process to determine that you are a real business at that location. They either verify the information submitted by phoning your business or sending a postcard addressed to the business, which requires that you sign back into Google Maps or Yahoo Search and enter a PIN number.

As always, if you have additional questions, please feel free to call us and we will make every attempt to assist you with this value added feature.