Immigrant Entrepreneurs Summit Case Study

November 16, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · 2 Comments 

I wanted to pass on a quick recap.  I posted on my participation in IES this past weekend where I streamed my talk on Interactive Marketing.  I told the participants in my session to Google “Immigrant Entrepreneurs Summit” in 30 days and see where my post was in the results.  The net result is that…

My content (both the post and the ustream.tv recordings of my chat) appears on the first page of results and did so within 24 hours of me hitting “publish”.

Here are the reasons that I see for this result…most of which we talked about in our session.

  1. I have used the 3 key words that define the event. I used “Immigrant Entrepreneurs Summit” in my title and it’s sprinkled throughout naturally.  I haven’t forced the issue or “tried to pack in more instances that the post deserved.”   I’ve also used IES multiple times but there are a lot of organizations and groups out there with that acronym so that will be harder to get on page 1.
  2. I have embedded video that I streamed live and recorded into the post.  This is another “content outpost”.  Why not stream something live and get the recording with almost no effort?  Sure it’s not the best recording but I told my participants as I always do that “I don’t use handouts” but how would you like to replay this entire chat again anytime you’d like to extract the key points?  They thought that wasn’t a bad idea.   Notice that this recording is ALSO on the first page of results.
  3. I am probably the only person using a WordPress based / blog based site to talk about this conference. The conference doesn’t have its own site yet and anyone with information about the conference has a fairly static site.  My blog post was done before I left the conference on Saturday.  Was this a lot of effort?  No.  It took about 15 minutes to write and post.

Summary:  I have the platform that lets met rapidly put out fresh content (WordPress).  Google loves fresh content and since I’ve been doing this a while…the magic Google engine gives my site a little respect.  I used the exact keywords that people will probably search for if they’re trying to get information on this event.  I’ve used multiple forms of content (video, written word) and I’ve pushed that content into additional outposts (ustream.tv).  This blog post will be part of an automated newsletter that goes out occasionally to my email marketing subscribers too.  When I get 5 new posts…the newsletter is “magically created” with no effort on my part thanks to (aweber email marketing). Remember that setting up your infrastructure NOW means you don’t have to think about it later.  I also linked out to many other sites in my post so perhaps these folks know this and are now aware of me…increasing my chances of getting inbound links back from them.

BONUS:  During the conference, I ended up meeting 3 people that I have known and follow only through Twitter.  During the day, they told other people that we’d met and that we were having lunch, attending my session, etc.  10 new people have followed me since the conference and if we consider that they’re ALL Des Moines based…I have just added to my local network in town, solidified some FACE TO FACE relationships that were purely and casually online until now, and created some case study results to share with my audience.

Not a bad 48 hours I’d say.  Now anyone who knows me understands that I’m not your typical, “SEO guru”.  I don’t know the ins and outs that some companies practice to “back door sites  to the top” using buried meta information (did I lose you? me too).  Like a good business person, I worry about that which I can do something about…and I pay to have the rest taken care of.  I let the tools and systems do their job for me like having a WordPress site with the best plugins to say “Hi Google…I’m here”.  Then, I write and create video with rich content with an eye for key words.  See…simple.

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ChampionshipSportsTraining.com Case Study – WordPress Membership Site Startup

October 29, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment 

We have been working with Doug Whipple at ChampionshipSportsTraining.com for a while now.  Doug came to CWM a while ago and had about 8 different possible business models that he was thinking about.  However the foundations for what Doug wanted to accomplish were the same.  createWOWmedia needed to:

  • Build a membership based site using wordpress that give Doug a platform to offer archived video content for sale.
  • Build a site that would allow Doug to offer live video streams privately to members.
  • Build a site that would allow organic PR efforts through blogging and email marketing to happen with ease.

We build Doug’s site using WordPress and a group of other plugins and software solutions.  Total software investment for this powerful site? About $200.  CST just had some GREAT press coverage today in the Des Moines Register as well. This article really highlights that Doug has hit on something.  Why shouldn’t grandma and uncle Joe see their boy play ball in the next city, state, or county…when for the price of a ticket they can watch it LIVE on their computer?  Doug has only begun and this model is really about take off and we’re proud to be driving the technology for his solution.

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Brand Amplification Camp 2009 – July 11, 2009

June 3, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment 

CreateWOWmedia’s Brand AMP CAMP is here!

BrandAmpCamp is…
An intensive total immersion day where you come away with a brand new website, a company intro video, and an Amazing Amount of hands on knowledge…and the appropriate follow up so you can return to your business empowered to become findable and engaging on the web.

For ALL of the DETAILS…please visit BrandAmpCamp.com

Schedule of Events:

7-7:30AM – Registration and Breakfast

7:30AM SHARP – Keynote: Doug Mitchell – Are you Findable and Engaging?

8:00AM – Noon: Morning Learning Labs (labs rotate every 50 minutes)

* The Art of Listening
* Organic Findability Lab
* Intro to Audio/Video Lab
* Blogging with Wordpress
* The Art of Networking

Noon – 12:30PM: Lunch and Work Presentation: Adam Steen – The Human Network

12:30 – 1PM: Question and Answer Session 1

1PM – 5:15PM: Afternoon Learning Labs (labs rotate every 50 minutes)

* Developing Online Communities
* Audio/Video Lab
* Using Social Media Lab
* One-on-One Wordpress Customization
* The Total Brand Experience

5:15PM Capstone: Mike Wagner – “Face 2 Facebook: Connecting Online & Offline Brand Experience”

5:45PM – 7PM: Question and Answer Session 2

7:15 – 9PM: Reception with Drinks and Dinner at Court Ave. Brewing Company

Required Pre-work:

* Prepared elevator pitch script
* Domain nAMe and template selection
* Desired website graphics concepts and color schemes
* Register for google analytics, google alerts, google reader, and youtube accounts
* Deliver written goals and outcomes for the site including keywords

Final Deliverables:

* Wordpress site with selected template
* Graphic Banner and basic site design layout
* Video and Audio Business Introductions
* Links and resources
* Flip CAM and WebCAM
* Follow up Webinar
* The knowledge and resources to continue toward success!


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WordPress is a Red Pill for Small Business

December 8, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · 1 Comment 

poster for The Matrix
Image via Wikipedia

Red Pill…or Blue Pill? The dialog between Morpheus and Neo in The Matrix is more than just a good movie quote…it’s a metaphor for awakening and confrontation of reality of small business versus staying in dreamland where ignorance is bliss.

Here’s the line:

Morpheus: This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

So can you have a little bit of each pill?  The Purple Pill Option?

WordPress is a red pill for small business.

WordPress is an unbelievably powerful website/blogsite building platform that turns even the most timid technophobe into “The One”.  WordPress is…the Red Pill.

But after we start down the rabbit hole and find out how deep it really is, sometimes it’s best to get back some of the blue pill bliss.

Remember there’s ALWAYS an opportunity cost to your futzing around with plug-ins and extension and theme modifications, etc. unless THAT’s YOUR BUSINESS.  Sometimes it’s best to just “Let Go Luke” and let the Jedi’s duke it out with dark side. –dm

Knowing when to take the purple pill…..priceless.

Maybe I feel a new tagline coming on:  “create WOW media, a purple pill for SMB’s”.  Gotta run, the caller ID says, “DEA Enforcement Hotline”.

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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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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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Is an overloaded email inbox any worse than an overloaded social media stream?

October 9, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment 

Sometimes I wonder if the concept of moving “away from the email inbox” as a organizational and informational repository is a good idea.  What happens when we really shift gears towards a larger social media stream to execute our communications and community building?

In many cases, we build a very large and bloated social media infrastructure that resides in many different places.  Each place requires updating and servicing.  Like many of you out there, I have blogs on Typepad…and Wordpress now.  I am subscribed to about 235 RSS feeds and leverage CentralDesktop to manage projects, store documents, and keep track of tasks/milestones for specific projects. The list goes on.

I use ONE email program to manage the email stream.  I use about 15 different social media applications/services to manage the social media torrent.

I’m not complaining and we are out there daily coaching clients and potential clients to take advantage of what social media has to offer.    But we advise being careful and selective about what one takes on in the socialmediasphere because it can lead to overload well beyond “Maxed out inbox syndrome.”

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