Home: Message List - Shall I take advantage of the new web technologies for marketing my business?

Re: Shall I take advantage of the new web technologies for marketing my business?

studio 525 — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 18:20:27 GMT

The trend on the web now, known as web 2.0, is creating communities and sharing, much as we are doing here right now. A blog is a good way of doing this. You need to put effort into motivating your community (potential and existing customers) with intriguing and useful information, nurturing your community by participating in and motivating discussions and monitoring your community to make sure it stays healthy, useful and enjoyable. This takes a great deal of effort and time. It's not like an automated e-mail campaign that runs by itself once you create it. It needs continuous care and effort.

You can hire people to do this, but be aware that they are representing your company in a critical way and will be seen as the heart and soul of your company. They also need to be seen as scrupulously honest and selfless individuals whose only goal is to help those in the community. And, of course, they need to have encyclopedic knowledge and the wisdom of a Buddha .

With all that in place, you have an incredible marketing machine. Many large companies have tried and failed to take part in and create on-line communities. And their failures were quite painful. People in on-line communities are very sensitive to marketing messages that sound like marketing messages. This is not the traditional advertising medium (push advertising). This is two-way communication with the focus shifting to the customer. Listening is more important than speaking.

It is a major shift in attitude and thinking.

But success in this brave new world, especially for a small company with limited advertising resources, can be huge. Very little $, but a whole lot of sweat equity required.

I've had 30 years in the advertising and marketing game as a Creative Director, copywriter, designer and commercial film director. Now I'm plugged into the web and, believe me, it's different in many ways. Tools like Google Analytics (free), show you exactly how people are responding to each page on your website. Testing is now incredibly fine-tuned and immediate. The traditional copywriting skills of talking one-to-one with your prospect through the media are the same, but since this is a two-way conversation, and sometimes three-way (watch out for that), you have to be incredibly sensitive about every single word and most of all your attitude. It needs to be about helping and sharing, not selling. Yet it still has to accomplish the same goal, which is, of course, selling.

On the positive side for me and my business, most of the people who are deeply attuned to the web sensibilities also don't know how to sell. It's not easy finding someone who can do both. That's my niche.
If you'd like more info, discuss it here.

Or you can reach me directly at peter@studio525.com

If you'd like to visit my website, it's http://www.studio525.com.

Peter Cutler
studio 525
We don't just create websites.
We create results.

Re: Shall I take advantage of the new web technologies for marketing my business?

Campbell — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 01:46:38 GMT

Nice, I've never seen sphinn.com, but it's already being added to the RSS... Thanks!

Re: Shall I take advantage of the new web technologies for marketing my business?

NatOnline — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:15:57 GMT

Bravo DomainDiva, http://www.searchenginewatch.com/ is an excellent ressource

You can add this one http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/internet/google-ranking-factors.htm

Re: Shall I take advantage of the new web technologies for marketing my business?

LUCKIEST — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:47:47 GMT

Interesting, You posted this question to us on Oct 15.
It is now Dec. 12. There have been several answers to your question and no feedback from you.
What's happening, LUCKIEST

Re: Shall I take advantage of the new web technologies for marketing my business?

nathan@ds — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:27:33 GMT

Check out sphinn.com, its like digg.com but for search engine marketing/optimization crowd. Understanding how to drive relevant traffic to your site will help you regardless of you niche. Another great resource for everything web is sitepoint.com.

Re: Shall I take advantage of the new web technologies for marketing my business?

mandrean — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:59:48 GMT

Check out a one-stop show video email, video IM, video podcasting, video blogging service called HelloWorld at http://www.videoemailiseasy.com. It's what everyone will be using in the near future, but you'll be using it today!

Re: Shall I take advantage of the new web technologies for marketing my business?

DomainDiva — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:03:58 GMT

Go to: www.searchenginewatch.com

This website has all of the latest news on web search and advertising.

Re: Shall I take advantage of the new web technologies for marketing my business?

LUCKIEST — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:48:25 GMT

It would be helpful if you told us more about you, your business and your plans for growth.
Web sites are great (sometimes). What are you going to put on the web, and how are people
going to find out about your product.
Do you have a Marketing Plan??
LUCKIEST

Re: Shall I take advantage of the new web technologies for marketing my business?

WEBillions — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 03:50:04 GMT

Yes, of course! I don't know much about the specific website you mentioned, but there are lots of services to get you online fast and for a reasonable price.

Once you get a site, you can starting blogging about things relevant to your product which will help drive people to your site.

Shall I take advantage of the new web technologies for marketing my business?

wt1818 — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:23:18 GMT

I am not familiar with the new web technologies. I've heard people talking about blog, wiki, etc. And a close friend of mine even recommand a site http://wisteme.com that provides a platform for businesses to effectively targeting customers by sharing knowledge and expertise. Any recommendations on what I should do?