This is a sponsored post. I thought you should know. All opinions are my own.

So I understand SEO. I can write mean SEO copy. But beyond that, the technical analysis, jargon, etc., I’m just not into. I hear myself in the back of my head right now: “Do what you do well and hire someone else to do the other things.” Okay, okay, point taken.

I was asked by Shimon Sandler, SEO consultant and guru extraordinaire, to share some of the great info he has on his site with you guys. I’ve been approached by so-called SEO experts before, so I was leery. There are some pretty shady ways to get to the top of Google, or at least there used to be.

But Sandler’s on the up and up. His techniques are legit, and help search engines find you organically (the way Google intended it to be). He does what’s called an SEO Audit, which is an in-depth analysis of where you are in terms of keywords and findability, and then he makes recommendations on how you can improve your SEO.

Now, I’m not saying you have to hire an SEO consultant. If you have the budget for SEO Consulting, then do it. It’s well worth the money, because in this economic climate, findability is key. If someone searches for keywords that relate to what you do, you must be in those results. Otherwise you’ll just dry up and blow away, like so many other businesses.

It is possible, if you have the time and energy to learn, to teach yourself SEO tactics. Shimon’s blog is a great place to start. I subscribed to it and plan to catch up on my SEO homework.

Share your thoughts or questions about SEO with us. Do you understand it? Use it? Succeed with it?

I have a confession. I’m great at building strategy. This year I’m going to do this and this and this to grow my business! But after that I tend to flounder, not sure how to go about reaching those goals. This year is going to be different.

I already told you how amazing Allison Maslan’s book, Blast Off, is but the thing that resonates with me is how she breaks down the goals into tiny manageable tasks. Literally. 5 minutes. Who can’t spend 5 minutes on something? (By the way, if you haven’t entered my giveaway to win her book, enter now because I’m picking a winner this afternoon)

The fact that my husband by talent is a project manager also helps. He helped me create a spreadsheet to keep me on target. So when I say:

“I want to get more fans to my Facebook page.”

He says,

“How many do you want each month? And how will you get them?”

Magic and unicorns is not the appropriate response to this question.  Trust me. So we created this spreadsheet where I filled in numbers (ahem, arbitrary numbers) that I thought I could hit. I then go in at the end of the month and fill in actual numbers:

I’m also building plans for how to reach these numbers. Scheduling tweets about my Marketing EggSchool to get the word out. Inviting people to be fans of its page. To remember these tasks, I put them on my Outlook calendar. I hate that “ding” that says “you need to do something” but I’m pretty good about leaving it up until I do it.

I’m just not a numbers person, but I’m learning to be, since it helps me better plan my company’s future.

What about you? How do you stay organized when you’re working on your business? Share tips so we can use them too!

This is one of the posts based on the Small Business Trends list I’ll be blogging about this year.

PS Don’t forget to enter to win Allison Maslan’s book, Blast Off!

For this post, I’m supposed to compare my industry to my favorite show. Hands down, that’s Ugly Betty. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about a young woman who is trying to climb her way up the ladder at a fashion magazine. She’s had braces for about 4 years and has pretty bad fashion sense, despite working in fashion.

If you’ve followed the show over the years, you don’t notice many things changing from episode to episode. Like in marketing. It’s hard to see the changes from the micro picture. We’re still sending out press releases and emails with the goal of getting the attention of consumers and media.

But if you look at the larger picture, Betty is slowly evolving. She’s still got the braces, yes, but her clothes are slightly better (still wearing colored socks with heels) and her hair is styled. She has graduated from assistant to assistant editor. Look back over marketing in the past 5 or 10 years, and you see the huge leaps and bounds we’ve had. Social media, for one. Who would have thought we’d be communicating in 140 characters or less with potential customers and business partners?

Ugly Betty is full of interesting characters. There’s her sister, Hilda, who has big dreams and aspirations, but still manages to make mistakes. Or Marc and Amanda, Betty’s so-called friends who live to tease her. Everyone has a story that we love. In marketing, the big players tell their own stories. Take Chris Brogan, the master of the ceremony, without whom we’d be lost in marketing. Or Guy Kawasaki, who gives us an edge when it comes to marketing. There are dozens of others in this sitcom we call Marketing 2.0.

The best part of Ugly Betty is the storyline. From sex changes to jail time, viewers are kept on their toes each week. In marketing, it’s exciting to see what’s just around the corner (and there’s always something).

What about you? What’s your marketing story? What character do you play? For me, I think I’m the lovable marketing geek, ready to spout knowledge on passersby. I’m also the character most likely to trip over a blade of grass. Good for the laugh factor.

Congrats to Faythe, who won the copy of Allison’s book! Hope you get good use out of  it!

January 26, 2010

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Allison Maslan, author of “Blast Off!”. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am a firm believer that people and books come into your life at a specific time on purpose. Every  book I’ve picked up has come at just the right time when I needed it. So it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that I was asked by SocialSpark to review Allison Maslan’s book, Blast Off! The Surefire Success Plan to Launch Your Dreams into Reality.

I am working on growing Egg in a major way this year. This book was perfect to help me visualize what I want and help me develop steps toward my goal.

It is the best book on change I have read since E-myth Revisited.

Allison mentions this at the start of the book, but I’ve read a lot of self help or change books that get me feeling really positive about whatever it is I want to change, but leave me flat because they don’t tell me what to do next. Blast Off! is the exact opposite of that. It walks you through visualizing your goal and gives you little assignments in each chapter to help you achieve those goals.

I love this book. I don’t say that much. I plan to reread it every time I have something I want to change.

The book was just launched on Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble websites on January 19, so it’s still brand spanking new. It will soon be found in your local bookstore too. The book is available on Amazon for about $16 right now, but I think that’s a sale and it’ll go up to $24, so get yours now! That’s an amazing price for a book that is so valuable. Also Allison is giving away some gifts to people who buy the book, so after you buy it go here and follow the steps to get your free gifts.

Allison also gave me access to her Blastation Interactive Software, which lets you complete those assignments and store them in one easy-access place online. I preferred using this to writing in my journal. There is a tab for each component of your life:

• Wealth
• Career
• Relationship
• Spiritual life
• Health
• Personal fulfillment

You just fill out the tasks under each one. You can add an image to help you visualize what you’re aiming for. Overall pretty useful software. You can get a 30 day free trial and then it’s $19.95 a month.

So now I have a copy I want to give away (I actually have 2 but will be giving one away on Twitter today so make sure you’re paying attention). If you want to win, leave a comment telling me what you want to change about your life (you don’t have to go in extreme details if you’d rather be private about it, but let us know why you want and need Allison’s book).

I’ll choose a winner Friday, January 29. Good luck!

This is one of the posts based on the Small Business Trends list I’ll be blogging about this year.

When you’re submersed in new and ever-changing technology, you often don’t look back to reflect on how much has changed in your industry. Today I want to look back at public relations and reflect on the changes and improvements (and even the challenges) that have come as a result of social media and internet tools.

1. We don’t mail press releases. I’ll never forget a former boss telling me how they’d mail every single press release to the same editors, wasting a ton in postage in the hopes of getting just one mention. And this was back in 2005, when I thought it couldn’t get any better than PRNewswire (not to knock the service, but even it’s evolved since then).

2. PR is affordable. Sure you still have to pay a PR staff member or consulting firm like Egg, but without the cost of printing and postage, and the heavy use of email and social media, your costs are a lot lower than they used to be.

3. PR is instantaneous. Got news right now? You can alert journalists right now and get coverage online immediately. You don’t even have to wait for a newspaper to go to print.

4. PR is casual. There used to be this huge separation between journalists and public relations professionals. Now we interact, follow one another on Twitter, and are able to help one another in mutually beneficial ways.

5. PR is flexible. The old rules are out, but the new rules are still in the making. Or rather, there are no rules. You can use social media, email or the phone to reach a journalist. It’s up to you. But pay attention to how the journalist wants to be contacted.

6. Press Releases are evolving. I need to write a post about how awesome the new interface on PRWeb is, but I’m happy to see the whole social media release thing being integrated into what we’re already doing. Add a photo or video to your release. Put your company’s Twitter and Facebook profile on there. Share your release. It’s all super easy and increases the value of any news.

7. Bloggers are part of PR. 10 years ago no one knew what a blogger is. Now they get media status at conferences (and the free pass that comes with it). A large part of what Egg does is reach out to bloggers to get them engaged with our client’s news. They’re today’s reporters, and they don’t come with the attitude (yet) that so many busy journalists have toward PR pros.

8. There’s more than 1 way to skin a PR cat. A good PR strategy involves getting a release on PRWeb or other distribution site, reaching out to traditional media and connecting with bloggers. It’s also key to share the release through social media. All these add up to smart PR.

9. The space is getting bigger. Everyone moved away from PR to become social media experts. Boy, I’m glad I didn’t, because now people need companies that understand press releases and media relations.

10. Tools make PR easier. Tracking web traffic, now a key component of PR, is easy with sites like Google Alerts. You can measure your results exactly. And PRWeb does a fantastic job of offering analytics on releases.

What other changes have you seen in public relations over the past few years? Please share with us.

And if you want to learn how to build media relationships the right way, check out our Media Relationships ecourse on The Marketing EggSchool. It’s just $10 for a limited time.

I just finished reading Jack Trout’s book, Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change and Crisis. As many of you will be looking to reposition your brands in 2010, I thought it apropo for today’s topic.

First off, the book provides some great examples of successes and failures in repositioning that we can all relate to. Apple. Kodak. Ford. Because it’s a recent book, it talks about the necessity many companies are facing to reposition or die. If making the same thing and marketing it the same way for the past 30 years isn’t working for you anymore, read on.

Trout talks about price, and how it’s hardly ever a good way to reposition yourself. People who shop based on price are never loyal, but those that shop based on experience or differentiation are. Which would you rather capture?

He also talks about the fact that repositioning takes time. It’s an effort across your company and one that will be rewarded if you put the work into it. I love that he says “advertising second,” meaning you should take up any and all PR opportunities before you invest a dime in advertising. Amen, brother. He says, “PR plants the seed. Advertising harvests the crop.”

If you want to shift your focus for your company, get this book. It’s a great read.

My Favorite Quotes

• “Price is often the enemy of differentiation.”
• “Big isn’t more efficient.”
• “Don’t solve a nonexistent problem.”
• “Don’t mess with tradition.”
• “It must be better.”

I’ve taken my time on this review (oh who am I kidding? I take forever on every book review and still have about 10 books to read!), but it’s not because it wasn’t good. I met the author, Paul Chaney, at BlogWorld 2008. He knows his stuff. So I was pleased to hear he’d put all his knowledge into this book, The Digital Handshake.

This book is a great starter if you’re new or relatively new to social media. Here are some of my favorite highlights:

If you want to exert influence through social media:

• Express servant leadership. Do unto others. Lead by example.
• Provide valuable content. This should go without saying but apparently there are people who don’t get it.
• Think in terms of what will benefit the community. Probably not your sales pitch.
• Research. I tend to rush through everything because I don’t feel like I have enough time to research. I could do better.

Paul gives you 7 strategies to grow your business. I won’t give them away, but chances are you’re doing at least a few. He’s definitely more knowledgeable about video than I am, so I paid careful attention to that section. He gave 6 ideas on how to use video, and I look forward to implementing them for Egg and our clients.

He also talks about the social media release, which is interesting, because it used to be so separate from a press release. But these days, I love the fact that companies like PRWeb, Press Kit’n and PitchEngine are integrating social media components automatically. Soon “press release” and “social media release” will be synonymous!

Paul also addresses how to measure the effectiveness of your social media efforts, which has been a hot topic of conversation. Reading this chapter, you’ll see it’s not hard to measure at all; it’s just a matter of shifting your thinking of what’s important to measure.

All in all, great book. I highly recommend you read it, even if you think you know “everything” there is to know about social media!

This is a sponsored guest post written by Dmitry Pivovarov on behalf of CleverStat. Post powered by Sponzai.

SEO has many delicate aspects that might be not easy to grasp. There are also many contradictory facts about SEO and website promotion. “Content is the king” some say, “Keyword density is extremely important factor” say others, “Put your efforts into the link building instead” say a guru on the forum you’ve just read. Who should you trust? How can you put up all these things into your head and concentrate on what is really important?

We are glad to let you know about our Ultimate SEO Tutorial 2010 – the long and detailed overview of what is important in the nowadays SEO methods, what is useless (like the keyword density) and what should be avoided. We expose all working and white hat techniques and tell you about on-site and off-site strategies that can improve your position in the search engine and provide a constant flow of targeted visitors.

No magic really, don’t expect miracles. This isn’t a usual marketing stuff that simply tries to sell you something. This tutorial is free, no strings attached. Our goal was to systematize the fragmentary and contradictory information and classify it into the single SEO tutorial. Enjoy!

As you know, I’m in the process of branding Egg. It’s a long process. But what does that really mean?

• It means honing in on what Egg is good at.
• It means saying no sometimes, even if the money’s good.
• It means picking a few things and getting even better at them.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed being along for the ride. But the time for sitting back and watching Susan work hard at branding is over!! Now it’s your turn. Does your company have as strong a brand as you’d like? Are there components you can shave off and focus on your core strengths? I’m willing to bet you could do a little work to help your company be even stronger. Am I right?

So today I put the onus on you. I want you to work on your company’s branding or rebranding. Here are a few things to get your wheels churning.

• What products or services that you offer bring in the least revenue?
• What products or services do you not like?
• Get rid of them. No “buts!” They’re not your strength and don’t contribute to your brand.
• When people think of your company, what are you known for? Is that what you want to be known for?
• If it’s not, think about how you can push the message of what you want your company to be known for. It may require shifting gears and getting rid of what’s not working. See above.
• Is your imaging professional and consistent? Do you have your logo on your website, business card, collateral? If not, hire a designer today and get it done.
• Are you reaching out through all the channels your customers use, like social media, email and blogs? If not, you’re missing valuable opportunities to brand yourself.
• For other ideas on branding read my past posts.

I’d love for you to share your branding challenges or goals for 2010. Let’s brainstorm for one another!

This is one of the posts based on the Small Business Trends list I’ll be blogging about this year.

I wanted to start the new year out right by giving you a list of some great resources and blog posts that relate to marketing, PR and social media. If you have others, please share in the comments.

Social Media

137 Small Business Twitter Tips from Small Business Trends

42 Million U.S. Women Use Social Media: Blogs Most Influential by Small Business Trends

Write Your LinkedIn Profile for Your Future by Chris Brogan

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business by Chris Brogan

Twitter Guide Book by Mashable

Facebook Guide Book by Mashable

Social Media Marketing in the Restaurant Business by Justin Levy

Is Social Media A Fad? by Justin Levy

Public Relations

HOW TO: Use Social Media in Your PR Pitch Plan by me on Mashable

Publicity Hound’s Best of 2009 Tips

13 ways to use royalty-free stock images in a PR campaign by the Publicity Hound

Bad press releases outed by journalists with blogs by the Publicity Hound

Top 10 SEO Tips for Public Relations byJolina Pettice on The Online Marketing Blog

How to Create Killer Press Releases and other ecourses by me on The Marketing EggSchool

Marketing

Email Marketing in Small Businesses: Adoption, Budget, and Challenges by Small Business Trends

Creating Honest Content Marketing by Chris Brogan

How to Reach and Influence Prospects by Chris Brogan

Develop a Strong Personal Brand Online Part 1 and 2 by Chris Brogan

HOW TO: Become an Expert in Your Industry by me on Mashable

HOW TO: Set Up a Winning Facebook Fan Page by me on Mashable

What’s your marketing lagniappe? by Drew McLellan on The Marketing Minute

Trends that will influence 2010 and beyond by Drew McLellan on The Marketing Minute