Become Findable on the Web Class Provides Amazing Reality Check
April 27, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
So we do the “go around the room and tell us who you are and why you’re here” routine at opening night of the 5th iteration of my class (formerly known as Blogging for Business)…and I’m absolutely blown away. Let me set the stage.
- Most in the class are 40+ with a good portion over 50 (sorry team I’ve got to make assumptions
- Most are in business or have been recently furloughed, fired, downsized or whatever the term is these days.
- Most know quite a bit about blogging, technology, and most importantly…”The reasons why becoming findable is so important.”
More and more, people are getting that becoming findable online is probably the most important thing they can do for their business. Additionally, they’re realizing that they must do this FIRST…and small businesses/startups can use rapidly deployed web findability sites to test their ideas and their business concepts.
I’m doing a webinar tonight with UNI on that exact topic in fact. Don’t discount the ability of the web to save yourself time and money by DISPROVING your concept!
Increasing Findability Factor talk at Right Management Session on April 2 in West Des Moines
March 25, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
I’ll be giving a talk on “Increasing Your Internet Findability Factor” for Right Management on April 2 in West Des Moines. I’ve linked to their information below in case you’d like to learn more about how they help people going through career transition or wanting to break out and start their own firms.
To learn more about how Right Management can help you or your organization, visit the Our Services section of our Web site or contact the office below.
6911 Vista Drive
West Des Moines, Iowa 50266
United States
Telephone: 515.223.6200
Telephone: 886.253.6677
Fax: 515.223.8700
rightdesmoines@right.com
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What’s your “I google it” ratio?
January 26, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
I’m at 99% over the last 6 months in my ad hoc sampling when I ask any sized group, “Where’s the first place you go to find information about a person, product, or service?”. The answer, “I google it.” But I did get a new twist on this answer recently.
“My grandpa asks me to Google it and get back to him.” Nice. Google by proxy! Isn’t that a syndrome?
Are you avoiding the use of web video?
December 30, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
If you are avoiding the use of web video to tell your story, promote your business, or communicate with your target market…you may want to reconsider. Comscore has put out a report (thanks Tech Crunch) that states the following:
Video search on YouTube accounts for a quarter of all Google search queries in the U.S., according to the latest search engine numbers from comScore.
‘Nuf said? Do you see how being findable on many fronts is key to an effective web strategy? Video is power. Either do it yourself or engage professionals like us for heavy lifting…but DO IT. Tell/show/live your story.
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Doing less with more in 2009
December 17, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · 5 Comments
We talk quite a bit about doing more with less. Our clients and potential clients are seeking higher return on investment, measurability, and increased Internet Findability. Online marketing/blogging/video provides all of these in one nicely wrapped package.
B2B Magazine just had a feature outlining some goals/strategies/deliverables they believe will be key for companies in 2009. It’s a great read. We especially like 2nd and 7th topics on the list.
Leveraging social marketing
However you define social marketing, this piece is critical. Start with a blogging foundation and build your social marketing strategy around that. Maybe for you Twitter and Facebook are where you need to be. Focus your efforts and get to providing value to the market. Join the conversation.
Video explosion
We couldn’t agree more. As Google begins to integrate video results into “normal search results” you want to be there! When someone searches on “Plumber Des Moines” and there’s a nicely produced video showing what it’s really like to do business with you, your odds just went up.
Let the other guys spend their money being a bigger part of that monstrosity that killed a bunch of trees and gathers dust we used to call a phone book.
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“Become Findable on the Web” class offered in January in Des Moines
December 15, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
My class formerly titled, “Blogging for Business” has been renamed as sort of a test to compare response rates, to “Become Findable on the Web”. It’s being offered for only $50 and is being held at Roosevelt High in Des Moines.
For those of you outside of Des Moines, watch for the same class among many others being offered in our Interactive Learning Environment early next year.
Here are the details and if you have questions of course let me know.
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| Blogging can be the most effective and affordable form of business marketing. Taught by Doug Mitchell, a successful technology entrepreneur, this class will provide an action-packed workshop-style class. Students will learn to search for, subscribe to, create, and effectively write blogs while gaining a clear understanding of available technologies, most of which are simple and low cost (if not free). Most importantly, students will understand how business blogging can translate into more loyal customers and enhanced ‘findability’ on the web. The class will include numerous professional-blogger guest speakers from around the metro. Instr: Mitchell | |||||
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15 tips on improving your Findability from Louis Gray
December 12, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
I discovered Louis Gray via shared items in google reader, shared by our good friends at 48Web. There’s a piece there written by Mike Fruchter of MichaelFruchter.com (Twitter/FriendFeed) called 15 Tips On Improving Your Search Engine Visibility. Michael admits freely (as we do) he’s not an “SEO guru”. We ALWAYS say upfront that we’re not the kind of firm that you can “Pay $1500 to get to the top of search results”. Michael’s list is great and our only modification is that we’d put #6 (start a blog) into the number one slot since our opinion is that a blog built on WordPress with some appropriate plugins can take care of many of the other points on the list.
Again, in the SMB context, we’d like to kill many findability birds with one online stone.
We prefer to take measured and practical steps toward long lived and powerful findability online. We call our approach generating “Organic PR”. Ultimately, these concepts are what formed the basis of our upcoming free report called, “Increasing Your Internet Findability Factor” (due out early January and feel free to subscribe to our email updates in the box at the bottom of this post to get your shiny new copy when it comes out).
Bottom line here is that as a small business who likely does NOT have a cadre of tech nerds at your disposal, you need to be choosey who you work with and what you figure out on your own (vs. what you pay for).
Some of our strategies are DIY and some are best worried about by others.
But we’re here inform, distill, and highlight for you so you can make the smart small business choices about the opportunity costs of tech tinkering!
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Starting a business? Don’t focus on these things
December 5, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · 2 Comments
When you’re starting a business, especially a cool boostrapped biz that frees you from corporate America, it’s easy to get caught up thinking about some key things that are a waste of time in the long run.
- Your company structure, partnerships, percentages, etc. As my attorney and friend Rush Nigut says, “In the end, I promise you, all partnerships WILL come to and end.” Man I love realism. Just put your head down and WORK. Get contractor agreements in place that clearly define that YOU own the intellectual property that’s being developed before that first check comes. MONEY IN = IMMEDIATE change in attitude by participants. Promise. After 6 months it will become obvious who’s takin’ names and rockin’ and who’s already looking to make it big on your back. Buy/sell agreements, etc. are critical when you finally do need to form a corporation, etc.
- Designing “the perfect looking website”. Use a template. Use Wordpress to be more findable. Blog more. Design less. Get the site up fast and invest in making IT more findable with the right plugins and writing. You’ll want to change in 3-6 months anyway.
- Advanced revenue models with a million co-dependent what ifs. Average things out. Simplify. Be basic. You won’t get this right anyway because things will change too rapidly. When you confront the reality of your project (if/when it becomes a business) that rev model will be way off. Let things evolve before u get crazy and use simple online accounting program like Less Accounting to track your progress.
What are your top 3 business start up pitfalls?
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Join Us Tomorrow Night for the Sneak Peak at the Quantitative Internet Findability Factor
November 18, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
If you’re in the Des Moines metro area tomorrow evening, Wednesday the 19th of November, join our Iowa Entrepreneurs Meet up Group for a chat focused on “Increasing Your Internet Findability Factor”. Your friendly host is going to provide a new quantitative approach to measuring and enhancing YOUR online Findability. I somehow knew that my 6 Sigma Black Belt would come in handy.
I knew I was onto something with this topic when Paul kind of had that “Awwwwyahhhh” look when I explained my new approach to this oft discussed topic around the office and with clients. You see Paul is a 6 Sigma Black Belt too and I do think behind his creative exterior…there lies an man who can really appreciate some serious regression analysis. Personally, I like to stick with the Business Process Mapping and Ishikawa Diagrams…but I regress.
You’ll find a huge value to this talk if you are:
- A small company trying to increase presence and credibility.
- A member of a larger company trying to assume brand leadership in the market place.
- A solopreneur/entrepreneur trying to build an online brand.
- An individual trying to create and actively drive a personal brand.
I want you to be one of the FIRST people to receive the special report, “Increasing Your Internet Findability Factor”. Just fill in the form below…and you’ll be in the know.
I really hope we can meet in person. If not, please consider subscribing to our email updates in the box below this post.
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Doug Mitchell’s article just published in Rental Management Magazine
October 10, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
I just wrote an article appearing in Rental Management Magazine called “See You On the Web: Uploading Video Can Build Your Rental Business”
I love the universality of web video and how applicable it is across industries. We are helping companies as diverse as you can possibly imagine. One of our favorite things to do is to take on a typically “old school” industry with “new school” technologies and watch the lights go on all over the house! The heavy equipment rental industry is paradoxical that way. The machines they rent are really on the cutting edge of technology and engineered to extremes. Very exciting. However some of the methodologies and systems used to manage and market the same business…not so much.
If you can find a few moments to read the article, I think you’ll take away some good information to support your plan to embrace web video when you pitch to your executives. If you ARE the executive, consider yourself pitched…now sign off on the plan!
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