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	<title>The Marketing Eggspert &#187; Web Marketing</title>
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	<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing</link>
	<description>Marketing in a Web 2.0 World</description>
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		<title>Understanding Good and Bad SEO</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/good-and-bad-seo-companies/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/good-and-bad-seo-companies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:18:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[search engine optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/?p=1458</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a sponsored post. I just thought you should know.
So you know what SEO is&#8230;at least that it&#8217;s important. I write about it from time to time, but here&#8217;s a quick definition according to me:
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, includes the techniques used to help a website have better placement in search engines. This [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>This is a sponsored post. I just thought you should know.</em></p>
<p>So you know what SEO is&#8230;at least that it&#8217;s important. I write about it from time to time, but here&#8217;s a quick definition according to me:</p>
<p><strong>SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, includes the techniques used to help a <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a> have better placement in search engines. This might include blogs, article writing, metatags and keywords and web copy.</strong></p>
<p>Now, there are many an <a href="http://www.keywordperformance.com/" target="_blank">internet marketing company</a> that can help you (or purport to help you) show up higher in search engine results. Some are good and some are bad. I&#8217;ve been asked to review <strong>Keyword Performance LLC</strong>, which offers a variety of white hat (think good guys) services to improve your search engine placement.</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1459" title="loupe" src="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/loupe.jpg" alt="loupe" width="300" height="200" /></p>
<p>First let me tell you about the bad guys of SEO: there are companies who will <strong>promise </strong>to get you to the #1 position in the search engines. It&#8217;s crap. No one can guarantee where you&#8217;ll be in search engine results. Often this means you&#8217;ll be #1 for your company name or other search term that no one&#8217;s looking for. That&#8217;s not what you want. You want a company that uses ethical search engine  optimization efforts to organically move you toward the top.</p>
<p><strong>Keyword Performance </strong>tells you flat out that they don&#8217;t use spam techniques and <a href="http://www.keywordperformance.com/about_kp.cfm" target="_blank">website optimization</a> doesn&#8217;t happen overnight. It&#8217;s true. A successful campaign will take a few months. They work with their clients to customize <a href="http://www.keywordperformance.com/seo-reports.cfm" target="_blank">SEO reports</a> to show the client how they&#8217;re moving up the ladder.</p>
<p>From what I can tell, Keyword Performance is on the up-and-up. They&#8217;ve got tons of great tools and resources, so if you want to learn more about SEO, it&#8217;s a great site to start with. My only complaint is that their <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a> is very wordy and maybe not easily understood by the average non-techy person. Some shorter paragraphs and bullet points would be nice. But hey, that&#8217;s what ya get over here on my blog, so it&#8217;s all good!</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Secret to Getting Great Web Traffic</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/the-secret-to-getting-great-web-traffic/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/the-secret-to-getting-great-web-traffic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:21:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web traffic]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/?p=1390</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I, like many internet business owners, have been struggling to get more web traffic for years. It&#8217;s hard to stay on top of constantly producing content, updating my site&#8217;s look and just paying attention to what&#8217;s going on out there.

Then we launched GiveDaddy. Given my past experience in launching websites and blogs I expected it [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I, like many internet business owners, have been struggling to <a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/how-to-tuesday-generating-traffic-for-your-website/" target="_blank">get more web traffic</a> for years. It&#8217;s hard to stay on top of constantly producing content, updating my site&#8217;s look and just paying attention to what&#8217;s going on out there.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/c/co/cobrasoft/991665_queue_line.jpg" alt="" width="238" height="178" /></p>
<p>Then we <a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/my-newest-endeavor-givedaddycom/" target="_blank">launched GiveDaddy</a>. Given my past experience in launching websites and blogs I expected it to be months before things really got hopping. Well, they&#8217;re hopping now. After just a week we&#8217;re getting a steadily increasing flow of traffic.<strong> I realized the secret to getting web traffic:</strong></p>
<p><strong>Make a site people want to go to.</strong></p>
<p>It sounds simple, but it&#8217;s not. I have a <a href="http://www.eggmarketingpr.com" target="_blank">marketing firm</a>. I think that <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a> is pretty darn good. But it doesn&#8217;t offer much more than a resume of my work. It&#8217;s not a place people want to <strong>hang out.</strong> <a href="http://www.givedaddy.com" target="_blank">GiveDaddy </a>on the other hand, is. People love free stuff. We have <strong>no agenda</strong> (at least not for our subscribers. Companies will be presented with our numbers once they&#8217;re stellar and can buy advertising).  We&#8217;re <strong>not selling anything.</strong> We&#8217;re just offering fun giveaways to people who are interested.</p>
<p>Now that I&#8217;ve had this epiphany, I want to look at my other sites and see how I can provide something people <em>want</em> to visit. Maybe I can add an interactive component to my marketing site. I can write about different things on this blog (suggestions anyone?). I want to become a destination and not feel like I have to go out and recruit people to visit my sites!</p>
<p><strong>What&#8217;s your experience with this? How do you create a site people want to go to?</strong></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Link Love: Ads for the Environment</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/ads-for-the-environmen/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/ads-for-the-environmen/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:39:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[environment ads]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Link Love]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/?p=672</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just a quick note here. I found a great page with creative ads for the environment. Some of them are a little graphic, but they succinctly illustrate their point:
http://webecoist.com/2008/12/27/creative-ads-environment-humanity/]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Just a quick note here. I found a great page with creative ads for the environment. Some of them are a little graphic, but they succinctly illustrate their point:</p>
<p>http://webecoist.com/2008/12/27/creative-ads-environment-humanity/</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/ads-for-the-environmen/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Importance of Keywords</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/the-importance-of-keywords/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/the-importance-of-keywords/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:02:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Press Releases]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[keywords]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[press release]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/?p=463</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You may not be into the technology behind search engines, but Google and pals have some very sophisticated algorithms that help them see patterns in what people are searching for. Think about it. You probably think in keywords. If you’re looking for someone to fix your sink, what do you type in? Probably “Plumber Orlando” (or whatever city you’re in.)]]></description>
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<mce:style><!   /* Style Definitions */  table.MsoNormalTable 	{mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; 	mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; 	mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; 	mso-style-noshow:yes; 	mso-style-priority:99; 	mso-style-qformat:yes; 	mso-style-parent:""; 	mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; 	mso-para-margin:0in; 	mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:10.0pt; 	font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} --></p>
<p><!--[endif]--></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In a sea of Internet noise, how do you stand out?</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Keywords. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You may not be into the technology behind search engines, but Google and pals have some very sophisticated algorithms that help them see patterns in what people are searching for. Think about it. You probably think in keywords. If you’re looking for someone to fix your sink, what do you type in? Probably “Plumber Orlando” (or whatever city you’re in.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Keywords are useful in web copy, blogs and press releases. Anything that search engines can look through to pick out the good stuff.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not sure how to figure out what keywords apply? Think of how you describe what your company does. Boil that down to a few words. What words are left? Those are likely your keywords. As an example, let’s pretend I own a marketing company (</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Wingdings;"><span> <img src='http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">):</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Orlando marketing</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Marketing company</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">PR firm</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Marketing and PR</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Online marketing</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">From this list, use this amazing tool my friend <a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/believer-in-balance/" target="_blank">Shannon Hutton</a> introduced me to, <a href="http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/index.php">SEO Tools</a>, to better hone in on what people are searching for online. Input your keyword (I did Orlando marketing) to see what the similar keywords that people are searching for are. I got:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Online marketing Orlando</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Web marketing Orlando</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/seo-tools.bmp"><img class="size-medium wp-image-464 aligncenter" title="seo-tools" src="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/seo-tools.bmp" alt="" width="456" height="129" /></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">So when I write copy for my <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a>, blog or a press release, I might want to use these keywords since they get better results than mine.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">TIP: </span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Don’t overlook both singular and plural words. People search for both, so use both.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Once you have your keywords, sprinkle your copy with these words. This will help the search engines assist people in finding you as the solution to their problem!</span></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>5 Title-Writing Lessons You Can Learn from Naked Beds</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/5-title-writing-lessons-you-can-learn-from-naked-beds/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/5-title-writing-lessons-you-can-learn-from-naked-beds/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:57:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media, Marketing & Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[headline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[title writing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[titles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/?p=312</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We're bombarded with titles and headlines every day. It's mind-spinning how much media we have access to. So how do you decide what to read? Chances are titles play a big part.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Darren Rowse over at Problogger is holding a Group Writing Project about <a href="http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/08/25/killer-titles/" target="_self">writing killer titles for blogs</a>.  Titles are the thing that make us want to read more, be it in a blog, a press release, email or newsletter.  I&#8217;m entering his contest/project, and along the way, you&#8217;ll learn a thing or two about writing titles/headlines that get the attention of your reader.</em></p>
<div id="attachment_314" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 173px"><img class="size-medium wp-image-314" src="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/naked.jpg" alt="Naked Bed? It's Not What You Think." width="163" height="230" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Naked Bed? It&#39;s Not What You Think.</p></div>
<p>We&#8217;re bombarded with titles and headlines every day. It&#8217;s mind-spinning how much media we have access to. So how do you decide what to read? Chances are titles play a big part. Say you&#8217;re scanning the newspaper and you see a headline that says &#8220;Politician X and Dog Make Strange Bedfellows.&#8221; Hm? You&#8217;ll read on to find out what in the world it&#8217;s about. It may be just an article about a politician adopting a stray dog, but it caught your attention.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s the same things with blogs. Especially with so many people signed up for RSS feeds. If the title doesn&#8217;t catch their attention, they don&#8217;t click it to read the post.</p>
<p>Press releases and emails: ditto. You have very few words to make a good impression. Here&#8217;s an example. I had a PR client that sold headboards. We developed a campaign that raised a few eyebrows. &#8220;Is your bed naked?&#8221; was used in press releases, videos and articles. While the word &#8220;naked&#8221; brought to mind things of a, ahem, risque nature, the phrase &#8220;naked bed&#8221; actually referred to a bed without a headboard.</p>
<p>You can see that we took a clever concept and integrated it into our titles for press releases. Here are 5 lessons you can learn from this example to increase clicks, readership, exposure, whatever you&#8217;re looking for:</p>
<p><strong>1. Ordinary is out. </strong>I detest headlines like &#8220;So and so announces new CEO to head the company.&#8221; Why do I need to read the article? I already know what I need to. Think beyond what you need to say to find a way to catch readers&#8217; attention. Naked beds certainly does that.</p>
<p><strong>2. What&#8217;s in it for me? </strong>As I&#8217;ve stressed before in <a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/press-release-101-24-reasons-to-toot-your-own-horn-2-2-6/" target="_blank">previous posts</a>, giving your reader a reason to read on is key. You need to show that you have information, resources or something to give away in your blog/newsletter/press release with just the 5-7 words in your title. Hard, but not impossible.</p>
<p><strong>3. Words are the key. </strong>If you blog or do any kind of search engine optimization, you&#8217;re familiar with keywords. You know they help people and search engines find you better. I used to write really crappy blog titles, thinking I was being cute, and my husband would add keywords to them. Now I get it. Find the core of your post and use that as a base for finding keywords for your title.</p>
<p><strong>4. Don&#8217;t be afraid to ask questions. </strong>As Darren says in this post on<a href="http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/08/20/how-to-craft-post-titles-that-draw-readers-into-your-blog/" target="_blank"> writing killer titles</a>, questions are good to draw people in. Take Wendy Piersall (Sparkplug CEO)&#8217;s post <a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/sparkplug-ceo/ask-emom-what-is-the-best-way-to-start-a-home-business-online/" target="_blank">What is the Best Way to Start a Home Business Online?</a> It&#8217;s simple, but it&#8217;s a question many people have, so using it as a title is effective.</p>
<p><strong>5. Use your numbers. </strong>For some reason people like posts with numbers (i.e. 5 Lessons&#8230;10 Tips&#8230;Top 8 Reasons). Implement them in your blog to show that you have that number of concise points that are easy to read.</p>
<p>How do you use titles to draw more readers? Does implementing any of these lessons show you increased readership?</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/5-title-writing-lessons-you-can-learn-from-naked-beds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
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		<title>Eggcerpts from Natalie: Are You an Online or Offline Marketer?</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/online-markete/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/online-markete/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 May 2008 20:58:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/?p=182</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Offline marketing includes leaving brochures, business cards, and catalogs at high traffic places. Newspaper ads are another great example that some people decide to use. Online marketing consists of pay-per-click ads, press releases, social networking sites, and purchasing leads. Of course there are plenty of more examples one can use, but these are just a few important ones. ]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>by Natalie Grbic</p>
<p>Many business owners contemplate over which type of marketing technique they should utilize to market their product or services. In my opinion, both online and offline marketing will produce results. The answer is completely up to you.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Offline marketing</strong> includes leaving brochures, business cards, and catalogs at high traffic places. Newspaper ads are another great example that some people decide to use. <strong>Online marketing</strong> consists of pay-per-click ads, press releases, social networking sites, and purchasing leads. Of course there are plenty of more examples one can use, but these are just a few important ones.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your business belongs to you, so deciding which method fits your company is your choice. You may encounter some trial and error, but trial and error is good because it gives you insight on which technique works and which does not. Many people find that online marketing works for them and have no desire of changing. However, it could be the opposite for people who use offline marketing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Both online and offline marketing techniques produce results.<span> </span>Although, keep in mind that the key point is that the more you expose your business, the faster things will go and the cash will start rolling in.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><em>Susan:</em></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Here are some questions to ask yourself to see if online or offline marketing is better for you (likely you’ll have a hybrid of the two).</p>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal">Are my customers mostly      local?
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="circle">
<li class="MsoNormal">If yes, there are more       offline techniques that will work, such as networking, local ads in       publications and phone book ads. You can also include online       pay-per-click ads targeted at a geography</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Do I have a product I can      sell anywhere?
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="circle">
<li class="MsoNormal">Online is the answer for       you. You should have an online store and advertise on search engines and       sites related to what you do.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Do I have a small budget?
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="circle">
<li class="MsoNormal">If so, more online       techniques will fit your budget and get you more results.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/online-markete/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Eggcerpts From Natalie: Why You Need Publicity</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/publicity/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/publicity/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:08:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Press Releases]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Publicity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2008/04/24/publicity/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[by Natalie Grbic
From a marketing standpoint, publicity is one component of promotion.  Publicity is a very important factor when it is linked to public relations.  It is a purposeful attempt that manages the public&#8217;s perception of a subject. A subject can include people, goods and services, or entertainment.  Publicists cannot sit around [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>by Natalie Grbic</p>
<p>From a marketing standpoint, publicity is one component of promotion.  Publicity is a very important factor when it is linked to public relations.  It is a purposeful attempt that manages the public&#8217;s perception of a subject. A subject can include people, goods and services, or entertainment.  Publicists cannot sit around and wait for news to approach them; therefore, they must create their own news.</p>
<p>Some forms of publicity include:</p>
<p>-Television<br />
-Radio<br />
-Newspapers<br />
-Magazines<br />
-Contests</p>
<p>These are just a few forms of publicity that are valuable, but there are other sufficient forms of publicity that may be useful to your specific business.</p>
<p>Since new technology of web blogs, web cameras, and web affiliates have emerged, publicity has become fairly low cost and an effective means of &#8220;getting your name out there.&#8221; Millions of people surf the internet each day; as a result using this new technology will give your business a sales boost.</p>
<p>There is a theory stating that <strong>any press is good press</strong>. Go out there and explore which type of publicity will give your business maximum exposure.</p>
<p><strong><em>Susan:</em></strong><br />
Natalie brings up a good point: any press is good press. It&#8217;s all in how you handle it. Now, publicity comes at you from every angle.  Someone may comment on your company on their blog (for better or worse) or review your services in a magazine. Stay on top of where you&#8217;re covered.</p>
<p>A good tool for knowing who&#8217;s talking about you is <a href="http://www.google.com/alerts">Google Alerts</a>. Enter your company name as a search and any time something appears online with your company name, you&#8217;ll get an email.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/publicrelations/prcolumnist/article182286.html">great article</a> on managing bad press.</p>
<p>-Susan</p>
<p><!--adsense#marketing1--></p>
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<script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></p>
<p><!--adsense--></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>Eggcerpts From Natalie: Living in a New School Marketing World</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/new-school-marketing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/new-school-marketing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:35:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Email Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[old marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2008/04/09/press-release-101-24-reasons-to-toot-your-own-horn-2-2-9-3/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[y Natalie Grbic
Over the years, marketing has transformed immensely.  Old school marketing has been outdated with today&#8217;s &#8220;new&#8221; emerging marketing strategies. Press releases, search engine optimizers (SEO), and pay per click ads are taking over the marketing world. Old school marketing, such as direct mail and print ads, was generally used in previous years; [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>y Natalie Grbic</p>
<p>Over the years, marketing has transformed immensely.  Old school marketing has been outdated with today&#8217;s &#8220;new&#8221; emerging marketing strategies. Press releases, search engine optimizers (SEO), and pay per click ads are taking over the marketing world. Old school marketing, such as direct mail and print ads, was generally used in previous years; however is still used by a small population of marketers today.</p>
<p><a title="no-junk-mail.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-176" href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/time-management/jottlogo/"><img src="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/no-junk-mail-150x150.jpg" alt="no-junk-mail.jpg" /></a></p>
<p>Most marketers used a direct mail campaign to target a certain market. They would research a specific mailing list in order to convince consumers to buy their product/service.  Direct mail is a difficult way of advertising because most consumers consider direct mail junk mail and immediately toss it in the garbage.  On the other hand, a print ad speaks to your audience strictly through visual means. Most marketers used print ads in magazines and newspapers to try and motivate the consumer to purchase their product/service.</p>
<p>Press releases, search engine optimizers, and pay per click ads are blowing up today&#8217;s marketing world. Most businesses use these three to market their product/services on the internet since today&#8217;s 21st century is internet savvy. These three strategies are inexpensive and effective. Businesses get the maximum exposure they need.</p>
<p>Being a college student, I learn about the different types of marketing techniques that are useful and give the most exposure to businesses. Internet marketing has become a major tool; therefore I believe that using press releases, search engine optimizers and pay per click ads is not only &#8220;New School Marketing&#8221; but &#8220;Future School Marketing.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong><em>Susan</em></strong><br />
See my post from last year on <a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/old-marketing-vs-new-marketing" target="_blank">Old School vs. New School Marketing</a>.<br />
<!--adsense#marketing1--></p>
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<script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></p>
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		<title>Take the Quiz: Are You A Caveman (in an Era of Social Media and Technology)?</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/are-you-a-caveman/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/are-you-a-caveman/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:29:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media, Marketing & Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Viral Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing & Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2008/02/01/are-you-a-caveman/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As something fun for Friday, I thought I&#8217;d write up quiz: Are You a Caveman (in an Era of Social Media and Technology)? Have fun with it!

1. Do you think Digging refers to making a hole in the ground?
2. Does the term &#8220;social networking&#8221; bring to mind wine tasting events at the country club?
3. When [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As something fun for Friday, I thought I&#8217;d write up quiz: Are You a Caveman (in an Era of Social Media and Technology)? Have fun with it!</p>
<p><img src="http://www.eggmarketingpr.com/images/blog/caveman.jpg" alt="Are you a caveman in the Technology Age?" /></p>
<p>1. Do you think Digging refers to making a hole in the ground?<br />
2. Does the term &#8220;social networking&#8221; bring to mind wine tasting events at the country club?<br />
3. When you want to talk to someone, do you call them rather than IM or email them?<br />
4. Does a blog sound like something unpleasant you wouldn&#8217;t want to step in?<br />
5. Do you still use a paper phone book?<br />
6. If you miss a tv show, do you just give it up for a show you&#8217;ll never watch?<br />
7. Do you think YouTube is something your daughter should not wear on a date?<br />
8. When people talk about MySpace, do you tell them you like Your Space too?<br />
9. Do you think Search Engine Optimization is only for train engineers?<br />
10. Does viral marketing sound like something you don&#8217;t want to catch?</p>
<p><!--adsense#marketing1--></p>
<p>If you answered yes to these questions, here are some resources that will bring you up to speed on the wonders that are available to you online!<br />
<a href="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2008/01/23/7-days-on-hubpages-2/"><br />
</a><a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/7-days-on-hubpages-2/">Going Viral</a><br />
<a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/these-are-the-new-rules-of-marketing/">The New Rules of Marketing </a><br />
<a href="http://chrisbrogan.com/a-sample-social-media-toolkit/">Sample Social Media Toolkit</a><a href="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2008/01/30/web-20-vs-web-30/"><br />
</a><a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/web-20-vs-web-30/">Web 2.0 vs. 3.0</a><br />
<a href="http://promomaker.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-get-started-with-seo.html"><br />
</a></p>
<p>-Susan</p>
<p><!-- feedburner subscription --><br />
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<p><!-- stuff for digg --><br />
<script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<title>Web 2.0 vs. 3.0: Is There Really a Difference?</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/web-20-vs-web-30/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/web-20-vs-web-30/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:53:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interactive Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2008/01/30/web-20-vs-web-30/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s interesting trying to research something before it&#8217;s officially defined (Web 3.0). I remember not long ago doing the same for Web 2.0 and now it&#8217;s fully upon us. But for those of you who just don&#8217;t plain understand what these numbers signify, let me try to break it down (and hey, I can&#8217;t be [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s interesting trying to research something before it&#8217;s officially defined (Web 3.0). I remember not long ago doing the same for Web 2.0 and now it&#8217;s fully upon us. But for those of you who just don&#8217;t plain understand what these numbers signify, let me try to break it down (and hey, I can&#8217;t be wrong because 3.0 hasn&#8217;t happened yet!).</p>
<p><strong>Web 2.0</strong> is the era of communication and Internet that is upon us now. It&#8217;s social bookmarking (Digg), it&#8217;s blogs, it&#8217;s social networking (Facebook). We&#8217;re starting to see these tools interact, but that&#8217;s early days.</p>
<p>For marketers, <a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/marketing-20-explained-in-5-points/">Web 2.0</a> means we&#8217;ve shifted away from traditional, old-school marketing like billboards and phone book ads. We&#8217;ve taken on new channels like email marketing, blogs and viral marketing.</p>
<p>So what&#8217;s in store for us with <strong><a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2102852,00.asp">Web 3.0</a></strong>? Well the jury is still out but think of it as taking your communication off the computer. Mobile, for example, is a great way for Web 3.0 to go with us in our pockets. You can now receive reminders of a doctor&#8217;s appointment, donate to charity or check your bank accounts using your phone. While this technology is available, I believe it has yet to be fully adopted (that will be when we consider ourselves in 3.0).</p>
<p><img src="http://www.eggmarketingpr.com/images/blog/phonedrink.jpg" alt="Phones are the future of Web 3.0" /></p>
<p>I heard a commercial on the radio that said you could download songs from an HDTV radio to iTunes. That&#8217;s a great example of Web 3.0.<br />
<strong><br />
Think of Web 3.0 as portable, interactive and collaborative.</strong></p>
<p>In marketing, this opens so many doors! Web 2.0 shifted our thinking from the old stagnant marketing we&#8217;ve been doing, so I think we&#8217;re better prepared to move into this next era where marketing is flexible and universal. I believe we&#8217;ll see television commercials change (who watches them anyway with DVR?) and advertising become more ingrained with media.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m thrilled to think of the opportunities that will be available to businesses in the immediate future. Aren&#8217;t you?</p>
<p><!--adsense#marketing1--></p>
<p>-Susan</p>
<p><!-- feedburner subscription --><br />
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<p><!-- stuff for digg --><br />
<script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></p>
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		<title>Chicken Sandwiches and WiFi? How Chick-fil-A is Riding the Social Media Wave</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/press-release-101-24-reasons-to-toot-your-own-horn-2-2-4/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/press-release-101-24-reasons-to-toot-your-own-horn-2-2-4/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2008 12:57:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Branding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interactive Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2008/01/03/press-release-101-24-reasons-to-toot-your-own-horn-2-2-4/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s a perfect example of how a company should use social media and Marketing 2.0 to advertise.
Chick-fil-A is sponsoring a contest, its &#8220;Biggest Fan Video Contest.&#8221; Entrants make a video one minute long showing why they&#8217;re the restaurant chain&#8217;s biggest fan. They upload the video to Chick-fil-A&#8217;s website and viewers vote.
Let&#8217;s see if you&#8217;ve been [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here&#8217;s a perfect example of how a company should use social media and Marketing 2.0 to advertise.</p>
<p>Chick-fil-A is sponsoring a contest, its &#8220;Biggest Fan Video Contest.&#8221; Entrants make a video one minute long showing why they&#8217;re the restaurant chain&#8217;s biggest fan. They upload the video to Chick-fil-A&#8217;s <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a> and viewers vote.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s see if you&#8217;ve been paying attention on this blog. Why is this a great use of Web 2.0 for <!-- google_ad_section_start -->marketing<!-- google_ad_section_end -->?<br />
<img src="http://eggmarketingpr.com/images/stories/cow.jpg" alt="Chick-fil-A cow" /><br />
<!--adsense#marketing1--></p>
<p>&#8211;<strong>It&#8217;s <a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/marketing-that-works-interactivity/">interactive</a>.</strong> Anyone who is a fan of Chick-fil-A (or anyone who&#8217;s just creative and has a little time on their hands to make a video) can participate. Rather than just dropping an entry form in a box, the participants are, well, participating.<br />
&#8211;<strong>It&#8217;s <a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/web-20-marketing-is-nothing-to-fear/">affordable</a>.</strong> Even though Chick-fil-A could probably afford to spend quite a bit on advertising, it chose to go this route, unveiling a whole slew of chicken fans (who knew they existed).<br />
&#8211;<strong>It puts the customers in <a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/old-marketing-vs-new-marketing/">control</a>.</strong> Giving power to consumers creates a stronger brand, and Chik-Fil-A understands that.</p>
<p>But most of all, this contest is fun! Who can resist those cows? Now go eat some chicken!</p>
<p>-Susan<br />
For even more on interactive marketing, read David Meerman Scott&#8217;s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Marketing-PR-Podcasting/dp/0470379286/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1246194194&amp;sr=1-2&amp;tag=eggmarpubrel-20">The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly</a><!-- feedburner subscription -->.<br />
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<p><!-- stuff for digg --><br />
<script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Resolutions for your Business</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/press-release-101-24-reasons-to-toot-your-own-horn-2-2-3/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/press-release-101-24-reasons-to-toot-your-own-horn-2-2-3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:39:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Mix]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business goals]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2008/01/01/press-release-101-24-reasons-to-toot-your-own-horn-2-2-3/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I know, I know, New Year&#8217;s resolutions are so cliche. But I&#8217;ve been making them for about 15 years, and unlike many people, I strive to achieve them all year long (well, at least until July). I already have my list of my personal resolutions, so here are mine for both my blog and my [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I know, I know, New Year&#8217;s resolutions are so cliche. But I&#8217;ve been making them for about 15 years, and unlike many people, I strive to achieve them all year long (well, at least until July). I already have my list of my personal resolutions, so here are mine for both my blog and my <a href="http://www.eggmarketingpr.com">business</a>.</p>
<p>1. Increase readership of blog to 5,000-10,000 unique readers per month.<br />
2. Make blog profitable.<br />
3. Expand <a href="http://www.eggmarketingpr.com">Egg Marketing</a> into <a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/press-release-101-24-reasons-to-toot-your-own-horn-2-2/">marketing coaching</a>, <a href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/never-write-another-crappy-press-release-again/">ebook</a> products, and classes.<br />
4. Listen to my husband/business partner&#8217;s good ideas for my businesses.<br />
5. Continue to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.<br />
6. Translate blog readers into Egg clients.<br />
7. Exceed my revenue projections for Egg.<br />
8. Get in touch with my blog readers.<br />
9. Continue to network, both in person and online.<br />
10. Have my business run itself while I relax on a beach in another country!</p>
<p><!--adsense#marketing1--><br />
You&#8217;ll notice most of my resolutions are pretty tangible. That&#8217;s the secret to making resolutions you can keep. We all know about the overdone &#8220;lose 5 pounds&#8221; resolution. Why not make your <!-- google_ad_section_start -->business resolutions<!-- google_ad_section_end --> ones you want to keep and believe you can?</p>
<p>When it comes to your business, where do you want to be in one year? What are your wishes about your business? If you never declare them, you&#8217;ll never make them come true. Sometimes all it takes is writing them down to get you on your way.</p>
<p>Please, share your resolutions with us!<br />
-Susan<br />
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		<title>Marketing That Works: Interactivity</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/marketing-that-works-interactivity/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/marketing-that-works-interactivity/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2007 03:22:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Budget Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/11/12/marketing-that-works-interactivity/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Marketing That Works: Interactivity
I am a fan of the show, &#8220;The Office.&#8221; One day at the end of a recent episode, there was a commercial with a website on the screen: www.dundermifflininfinity.com.  Curious, I checked it out. The site is set up as a complement to the television show: it&#8217;s your chance to become [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><!-- google_ad_section_start --><br />
Marketing That Works: Interactivity</p>
<p>I am a fan of the show, &#8220;The Office.&#8221; One day at the end of a recent episode, there was a commercial with a <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a> on the screen: <a href="http://www.dundermifflininfinity.com">www.dundermifflininfinity.com</a>.  Curious, I checked it out. The site is set up as a complement to the television show: it&#8217;s your chance to become an &#8220;employee&#8221; of Dunder Mifflin, the setting of the sitcom. You can apply for a job and complete tasks in exchange for Schrute Bucks, the <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a>&#8217;s form of currency. It&#8217;s basically an amusing timewaster, but one that keeps you tied to the t.v. show.<br />
<!--adsense--></p>
<p>Television stations realize that they&#8217;re losing out to the internet. The smart stations are figuring out ways to link television and the internet. A few years ago, it wouldn&#8217;t seem possible, but now I can watch any shows I didn&#8217;t DVR on the internet. With minimal commercial interruptions.</p>
<p>Magazine advertisers too are joining Marketing 2.0 with interactive features. Gone are the days of filling out a postcard to win the latest lipstick from your favorite fashion magazine. Now mags like Redbook send you to their <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a> to register for sweepstakes (and oh yea, they get your contact info in the process). Magazines also offer blogs, quizzes and forums to better capture the online market share in their industry. Cosmo has even launched its mobile magazine site, <a href="http://m.cosmopolitan.com/">M.cosmopolitan.com</a>.<br />
<!--adsense--><br />
No matter what industry you&#8217;re in, there are ways to engage your audience. Think of how your readers can better interact with your brand or product, through your <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a>, blog, or mobile site.<br />
-Susan<br />
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/eggmarketingblog">Like this post?  Subscribe to the Egg Marketing Blog RSS Feed<img src="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/feed-icon.png" alt="Subscribe to the Egg Marketing Blog RSS Feed" /></a><br />
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Should I use Social Networking as a Marketing Tool?</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/should-i-use-social-networking-as-a-marketing-tool/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/should-i-use-social-networking-as-a-marketing-tool/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:20:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/10/24/should-i-use-social-networking-as-a-marketing-tool/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Should I Use Social Networking as a Marketing Tool?
Many people who are just getting into Marketing 2.0 assume if there&#8217;s an internet-based tool available for marketing, they should use it. Not always the case. When it comes to social networking (Facebook, Myspace, Friendster), it&#8217;s not always the best use of your time when it comes [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Should I Use <!-- google_ad_section_start -->Social Networking<!-- google_ad_section_end --> as a Marketing Tool?</p>
<p>Many people who are just getting into Marketing 2.0 assume if there&#8217;s an internet-based tool available for marketing, they should use it. Not always the case. When it comes to social networking (<a href="http://www.facebook.com">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://www.myspace.com">Myspace</a>, Friendster), it&#8217;s not always the best use of your time when it comes to marketing (and it can be pretty time-consuming). I myself wasted a lot of time setting up a <a href="http://www.myspace.com">Myspace </a>account for <a href="http://www.eggmarketingpr.com">Egg Marketing</a> only to find that the few people that were interested in our services really couldn&#8217;t afford them. It&#8217;s important to know the demographic of these networking sites (the highest percentage being teens) before determining whether they&#8217;ll be useful in your marketing efforts.<br />
<!--adsense--><br />
I just read this article, <a href="http://chiefmarketer.com/passikoff_10162007/">Engaging Consumers in the Virtual Neighborhood</a>, by Robert Passikoff, Ph.D. It had some pretty good points I&#8217;d like to summarize and expand on.</p>
<p>1. Don&#8217;t join these sites just because you can and because everyone else is doing it. Really developing a presence on any one of these sites is labor intensive, so have a purpose for doing so.</p>
<p>2. Most of these sites aren&#8217;t business-oriented (teens could care less about your paper company) so don&#8217;t be intrusive with your product mention. Find a way to work it in.</p>
<p>3. Just like anywhere else, your brand needs to represent something important to the consumer.</p>
<p>4. Creating an emotional connection with your audience, as usual, is important. If your target market frequents <a href="http://www.myspace.com">Myspace</a>, make them want to be your &#8220;friend.&#8221;</p>
<p>5. There should be a logical connection between the viral marketing you&#8217;re doing and your brand. If you sell typewriters, social networking (on computers) won&#8217;t make sense.</p>
<p>6. Many companies offer incentives for people who join their social network. Think twice about this. Will that bring loyal customers or kids who just want a free ring tone?<br />
<!--adsense--><br />
Carefully consider whether your ideal customer would want to be reached through social networking. For business-to-business companies, these are probably the least effective tools you&#8217;ll find (<a href="http://www.linkedin.com">LinkedIn </a>would be more up your alley). But if you sell Hello Kitty shirts or music, by all means, explore the magical world of social network marketing!<br />
-Susan<br />
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		<title>Resistance is Futile:  Why you shouldn&#8217;t wait to implement social media into your marketing</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/resistance-is-futile-why-you-shouldnt-wait-to-implement-social-media-into-your-marketing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/resistance-is-futile-why-you-shouldnt-wait-to-implement-social-media-into-your-marketing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Sep 2007 01:24:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Mix]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/09/25/resistance-is-futile-why-you-shouldnt-wait-to-implement-social-media-into-your-marketing/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Many businesses are afraid to step into the wonderful world of technology and marketing.
This is a shame, because their competitors are indeed moving into this technolosphere. Ironically, it seems that consumers or end users are more embracing of social media and technology when used in marketing than businesses are. Here are some reasons I believe [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;"><a title="rif.jpg" href="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/rif.jpg"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/rif.jpg" alt="rif.jpg" /></a><br />
<!--adsense-->Many businesses are afraid to step into the wonderful world of technology and marketing.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">This is a shame, because their competitors are indeed moving into this technolosphere. Ironically, it seems that consumers or end users are more embracing of social media and technology when used in marketing than businesses are. Here are some reasons I believe businesses are afraid to adopt new technology in their marketing efforts.</p>
<p>1. <strong>Businesses think starting a blog or podcast is harder than it really is.</strong> Without real understanding, no decision maker ever wants to take on integration or implementation of a new technology.</p>
<p>2. <strong>Executives don&#8217;t have time to learn the technology.</strong> If they don&#8217;t understand it, they won&#8217;t advocate it.</p>
<p>3. <strong>No one knows whose role it is to implement a blog or podcast.</strong> Is it the IT manager&#8217;s job? Marketing? Secretary?</p>
<p>4. <strong>The benefits aren&#8217;t apparent.</strong> If it doesn&#8217;t net new sales right now, many businesses can&#8217;t see the big picture.</p>
<p>So how do you help your business overcome these obstacles and join the growing number of companies who are already using <a href="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/06/25/marketing-20-explained-in-5-points/">Marketing 2.0</a>?<br />
<!--adsense--></p>
<li><strong>Dumb it down</strong>. Pretend you&#8217;re talking to fifth graders. The simpler something is to understand, the more likely a company will adopt it. For instance, to a group of women networkers, I recently described blogs as a source of information. That&#8217;s all they needed to know initially. If they won&#8217;t be involved in the technical detail, why bog them down with it?</li>
<li><strong>Show them the money.</strong> You may understand the tools, as Chris says, but business owners and execs are only interested in the results. Explain in detail the cost savings, increase in brand recognition, growth in sales, whatever it takes to pique their interest.</li>
<li><strong>Prove that implementing the new tool won&#8217;t be time or <a href="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/04/29/marketing-your-business-with-little-or-no-money/">cost-consuming</a>.</strong> Blogs are cheap to start, and don&#8217;t take too long to get up and running. Explain this, and compare to other marketing strategies that take longer to show reward and are more expensive to implement.</li>
<p>-Susan<br />
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Why Your Business Should Blog</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/why-your-business-should-blog/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/why-your-business-should-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:47:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Mix]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Viral Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/09/10/why-your-business-should-blog/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why Your Business Should Blog
I realized that even though we had the week-long Blogging &#38; Your Business event, I&#8217;ve never actually taken the time to explain why I believe your business needs a blog. I frequently pitch blogs to my Egg Marketing customers, so it&#8217;s apropo that I post my reasons.

I talk a lot about [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Why Your <!-- google_ad_section_start -->Business Should Blog<!-- google_ad_section_end --></p>
<p>I realized that even though we had the week-long <a href="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/08/13/blogging-your-business-day-1-promoting-your-business-through-your-blog/">Blogging &amp; Your Business</a> event, I&#8217;ve never actually taken the time to explain why I believe your business needs a blog. I frequently pitch blogs to my <a href="http://www.eggmarketingpr.com">Egg Marketing</a> customers, so it&#8217;s apropo that I post my reasons.<br />
<!--adsense--><br />
I talk a lot about how times, they are a changin&#8217;. It&#8217;s inevitable that we will not be able to reach customers in the ways we did in the past. To successfully grow any business, you have to be open to change. Customers adapt faster than businesses, and that&#8217;s the downfall of many companies. It&#8217;s a tiresome race, always trying to find the new way to market before the consumer discovers it, but it&#8217;s a necessary evil.</p>
<p>Blogs are the future. Now, if your idea of blogs is someone&#8217;s journal about what they ate that day, that may have been true in 2000, but it&#8217;s not true now. But you know that because you&#8217;re reading this. Blogs are meant to inform. Rather than buy a set of encyclopedias from a door-to-door salesman, you can have any type of information you seek with a few clicks of a button, and much of it is on blogs. <a href="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/05/02/marketing-tip-4-market-your-business-by-writing-articles/">Consumers like free information</a>. Provide that to them, and their sales will follow.<br />
<!--adsense--><br />
Think about the places you get free information. A newsletter, <a href="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/05/18/perfect-storm-at-the-post-office-how-will-it-affect-your-direct-mail-marketing-campaign/">direct mail</a>, television &#8211; whatever the source, chances are there is a company who sells things behind it. And if you know this, and appreciate the information you are given, you are more likely to buy from that company than its competitor. Blogs are no different. I write about marketing because it&#8217;s what I love. I would probably blog about it anyway, but I also run a marketing and PR firm. While I&#8217;m of course not pushing anything on you, it is my hope that if you need marketing one day, you&#8217;ll think of the woman who writes such useful articles on <a href="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/06/25/marketing-20-explained-in-5-points/">Marketing 2.0</a>.</p>
<p>Consumers are in a hurry. Blogs provide easy access to information that people can quickly digest. People don&#8217;t even sit down to read the newspaper any more, so it&#8217;s important to get readers&#8217; attention quickly, offer what they&#8217;re looking for, and let them go on with their lives. But be assured that somewhere in the back of their minds, they know where that information came from. If you provide an <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/eggmarketingblog">RSS</a>, it&#8217;s even more convenient for them, since they have to do virtually nothing to get your updates.<br />
<!--adsense--><br />
If you have frequent news about your business, where better to let consumers know than on a blog? While it&#8217;s hard to track readers from sending out a <a href="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/08/30/press-releases-in-a-technology-driven-world/">press release</a>, your results are measurable with a blog. You can track how many visitors are on your site, and even how many people read a particular post. You know how many people you&#8217;re reaching at any given time.</p>
<p>With all that being said, please understand that a blog isn&#8217;t going to generate sales overnight. A blog takes months to get up and running (and to grow your readership), so consider it always a work in progress. The more frequently you post (2-4 posts a week) the faster it will grow and help your bottom line.</p>
<p>So let&#8217;s review your reasons for starting a blog so you have no excuse not to:</p>
<p>1. You have to roll with the punches. Marketing is constantly changing, and so must your technique.<br />
2. Blogs are growing in popularity and are accepted as common marketing tools.<br />
3. Giving consumers free information will increase your brand recognition and sales.<br />
4. Making it easy for consumers to find information makes them appreciative, and they will reciprocate in purchases.<br />
5. You can measure your results.<br />
6. And did I mention, it&#8217;s pretty affordable to have a blog. You can DIY or pay a writer/blogger to post. Beats the cost of a billboard!<br />
-Susan</p>
<p>Need more resources?<br />
<a href="http://www.wblogger.net/2007/02/13/what-is-business-blogging/">Wblogger covers the basics of business blogging.</a><br />
<a href="http://freshcoatofpaint.co.uk/2007/04/12/your-business-needs-a-blog/">Fresh Coat of Paint covers Why Your Business Should Blog</a><br />
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/eggmarketingblog">Like this post?  Subscribe to the Egg Marketing Blog RSS Feed<img src="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/feed-icon.png" alt="Subscribe to the Egg Marketing Blog RSS Feed" /></a><br />
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		<title>Press Releases in a Technology-Driven World</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/press-releases-in-a-technology-driven-world/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/press-releases-in-a-technology-driven-world/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Aug 2007 01:03:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Branding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Budget Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Mix]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Press Releases]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Promotion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/08/30/press-releases-in-a-technology-driven-world/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve always been a big proponent of press releases. They&#8217;re short, simple, and to the point. But lately I&#8217;ve been asking myself if they&#8217;re relevant in a world where journalists are bombarded with releases and there are thousands of releases online at any given point online.
I decided, yes, they are relevant. Here&#8217;s why.
 1. Press [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href='http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/newspapers.jpg' title='newspapers.jpg'><img src='http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/newspapers.jpg' alt='newspapers.jpg' /></a>I&#8217;ve always been a big proponent of press releases. They&#8217;re short, simple, and to the point. But lately I&#8217;ve been asking myself if they&#8217;re relevant in a world where journalists are bombarded with releases and there are thousands of releases online at any given point online.<br />
I decided, yes, they are relevant. Here&#8217;s why.<br />
<strong> 1. Press releases boost SEO</strong>. Anything that helps move your business up that legendary search engine list is worth doing (short of paid placement). News is fleeting, but press releases will help move and stay up in rankings, especially if you put them out regularly.<br />
   <strong>2. Press releases make it seem like you&#8217;re important.</strong> There&#8217;s no real secret to writing and distributing press releases (look for my upcoming ebook on how to do it yourself), but people seem mystified by the process. So if your business has releases out, it seems like you&#8217;re moving and shaking. Even if you&#8217;re not.<br />
   <strong>3. You gain exposure in new places with press releases.</strong> While it does seem impossible that a journalist will find your release among the millions and write a story, it is possible. It&#8217;s even more likely that a <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a> related to your industry will pull in feeds from major distributors like PRWeb and your release will end up there. New exposure=new clients.<br />
<!--adsense--><br />
With all that said, I always feel the need to include a disclaimer. I do not believe in writing press releases for no good reason. I have worked with companies that sent out releases of products that weren&#8217;t even new! They were just rehashed info sent out each week. Save this for an email promotion or direct mail. Your news release should be just that: news.</p>
<p>Here are some examples of newsworthy events:</p>
<p>    * grand opening of business<br />
    * launch of new <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a><br />
    * secured new client or major contract<br />
    * won award or recognition<br />
    * upcoming presentation or speaking engagement<br />
    * donation to charity<br />
    * noteworthy promotion<br />
<!--adsense--><br />
To keep a string of releases going, send a release before the event, during, and after to maximize coverage. If you don&#8217;t have anything newsworthy to report, make something! Marketing is an ongoing effort, and if you&#8217;re doing enough of it,you should always have a press release topic available.</p>
<p>-Susan<br />
Need more resources?<br />
<a href="http://www.briansolis.com/2007/01/social-media-killed-press-release-star.html">Brian Solis talks about Press Releases in an age of Social Media</a><br />
<a href="http://hideinmy.com/?p=29">6 Types of Press Releases</a><br />
<a href="http://www.smbtrendwire.com/2007/05/31/use-online-press-releases-to-get-prospects">Using Online Press Releases to Get Prospects</a><br />
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		<title>Email Marketing Is Dead, Long Live Email Marketing</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/email-marketing-is-dead-long-live-email-marketing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/email-marketing-is-dead-long-live-email-marketing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:40:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Budget Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Email Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Mix]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/08/23/email-marketing-is-dead-long-live-email-marketing/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Is Email Dead or Alive?
So I keep hearing email is dead. That spam killed it. And while, despite trying to run by opening new email accounts, spam keeps finding me and hunting me down while it breeds like bacteria, I don&#8217;t believe that email is dead. I just read an article in Revenue Magazine called [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><!-- google_ad_section_start --><br />
<strong>Is Email Dead or Alive?</strong><br />
So I keep hearing email is dead. That spam killed it. And while, despite trying to run by opening new email accounts, spam keeps finding me and hunting me down while it breeds like bacteria, I don&#8217;t believe that email is dead. I just read an article in <a href="http://www.revenuetoday.com/">Revenue Magazine</a> called &#8220;Old Dog, New Tricks,&#8221; about how email is in fact alive and kicking. It says that Web 2.0 is breathing new life into email campaigns.<br />
<!--adsense--><br />
The article says that according to Datran Media&#8217;s December 2006 annual email study, 83.2% of those surveyed chose email marketing as their primary marketing strategy for 2007.  That says a lot. It says that business people are getting sales out of email campaigns, so how could email be dead?<br />
<!--adsense--><br />
<strong>A Mature Medium Undergoing Change</strong><br />
Email has definitely evolved in the 10 years it&#8217;s been around. Now the focus is on user generated content (UGC). Rather than pummeling subscribers with sales messages, more businesses are offering content from customers, which creates a better tie between company and subscriber. Businesses are also using email to promote their blogs, RSS feeds and videos. The less like advertising it looks, the better received it is. And if readers enjoy the emails, they&#8217;ll always come back and become customers.<br />
<!--adsense--><br />
<strong>How to Make the Most of it</strong><br />
I think email is a great tool, if used right. I put out a newsletter for Egg Marketing once a month (<a href="http://www.eggmarketingpr.com/">subscribe to it!</a>) that has some of my better articles from this blog as well as news about what&#8217;s going on with the company. If I or the company has been involved in something noteworthy (i.e. my becoming an SOB on Liz Strauss&#8217; blog!) I&#8217;ll put that in there too. I&#8217;ll include a coupon at the bottom for my services, but overall the newsletter isn&#8217;t blatantly screaming &#8220;buy from me!&#8221; I am actually considering putting out more emails, because it seems the consensus has changed about how frequently to send out messages.</p>
<p><strong>So what are the rules for making email work for your business? They&#8217;re simple, but good to review:</strong></p>
<li>Build your own database of contacts. Collect email addresses from every business card you&#8217;ve received and every email you get. Put an opt-in widget on your <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a>. This greatly increases the likelihood that readers will stick with you and not unsubscribe, if they have even a remote connection to you. I&#8217;m not a fan of buying lists. It&#8217;s taken me over a year to get 200+ contacts, but they&#8217;ve stayed with me for the most part. </li>
<li>Offer free information. People love digestible bits of knowledge. Make it relevant to your business. </li>
<li>Offer &#8220;exclusive&#8221; specials just for your subscribers. Watch and see if sales don&#8217;t pick up after you send one out. </li>
<li>Use a program like <a href="http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp">Constant Contact</a> to make your emails professional and appealing.<br />
ALWAYS proof your emails before they go out! And send them to yourself to see if there are glaring errors first.</li>
<p>-Susan<br />
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		<title>Blogging &amp; Your Business Day 5: Top Tips From Our Panel</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/blogging-your-business-day-5-top-tips-from-our-panel/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/blogging-your-business-day-5-top-tips-from-our-panel/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Aug 2007 01:15:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Viral Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.eggmarketingblog.com/2007/08/17/blogging-your-business-day-5-top-tips-from-our-panel/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
This forum has been a lot of fun! I hope all of you enjoyed it as well. Iâ€™ve learned a lot from our panelists! Maybe we can make this a regular segment every few months on Egg Blog.
Iâ€™ll end the week with all the tips our Blogging &#038; Your Business Panel gave me. Enjoy them!

Finding [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><!-- google_ad_section_start --><br />
This forum has been a lot of fun! I hope all of you enjoyed it as well. Iâ€™ve learned a lot from our panelists! Maybe we can make this a regular segment every few months on Egg Blog.</p>
<p>Iâ€™ll end the week with all the tips our Blogging &#038; Your Business Panel gave me. Enjoy them!<br />
<!--adsense--><br />
<strong>Finding Your Voice</strong></p>
<li>Have something different and better to say; a unique perspective and/or expertise. </li>
<li>Make sure itâ€™s relevant for your readers/subscribers/prospects/clients/colleagues. </li>
<li>Speak in a natural &#8220;spoken&#8221; voice and let people into your values &#038; style. </li>
<li>Find your own voice.  People will be drawn to read and come back if you are authentic and offer useful and/or interesting information.</li>
<li>Do what you love doing and have every detail reflect that. </li>
<li>Know who loves what you love doing and <a target="_blank" title="design" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">design</a> every blog experience to serve them. </li>
<li>Know what you will promise and be prepared to deliver it. Then think about marketing.</li>
<p><strong>Know What Youâ€™re Doing</strong></p>
<li><strong>Be real about how much time you really have to blog </strong>- To be successful as a blogger, it takes time and effort. Look at your business and see if you have the time to give to it. If you don&#8217;t, try to rearrange some things to free up your time to blog. </li>
<li><strong>Blogging can open many doors</strong>, so I&#8217;d almost always advise you to blog. Just make sure you understand what&#8217;s involved. </li>
<li><strong>Contact a few bloggers that you enjoy reading </strong>and ask them how much time they spend and how that time is used. You&#8217;ll find a wide range of answers so see what fits best for you.<strong></li>
<li>Be real about what you expect from your blog</strong> &#8211; Your blog will change your business. But it won&#8217;t do it overnight, so if you expect it to, you&#8217;ll likely be disappointed. It&#8217;s best to consider what real expectations you can put on your blog. Again, ask a few bloggers about how their business has changed due to blogging and how long it took.</li>
<li><strong>Be real with your readers</strong> &#8211; I always remember that people do business with people, not with businesses. Keep that in mind as you write posts and respond to email and comments. Let your readers get to know you. I&#8217;m not suggesting writing about your family, necessarily, but rather you let them read what it&#8217;s like to work with you both in your writing style and in the content of your posts. </li>
<li><strong>Don&#8217;t start unless you are committed</strong>. It isn&#8217;t going to help your business or your image to post a blog and promote it, then stop writing in 2 months (or perhaps worse, starting one and posting at very long intervals).</li>
<p><strong>Practice (and Patience) Makes Perfect</strong></p>
<li>If you aren&#8217;t a writer, you might write posts for a couple of weeks just in a Word document.  That will get you used to the discipline and perhaps give you some great posts to fall back on (unless you are writing about very timely topics.)</li>
<li>Post on a regular basis.</li>
<li>Write to the individual, not the group audience. </li>
<li>Know WHY you are blogging and WHAT you hope to accomplish, to keep the blog focused and relevant to readers. </li>
<li>If you get frustrated with constantly writing for your blog, or the lack of results, step away from the blog. Take a fresh look at it the next day. A blog is an act of love, so if you hate it, itâ€™s useless.</li>
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<strong>Technical Details</strong></p>
<li>Optimize the blog with Web 2.0 tools, and promote it using those same tools. </li>
<li>While providing links to other blogs/sites is attractive in a blog, remember that your customers will navigate away from your blog to follow those links. Itâ€™s best to keep them within your sphere of influence as long as possible, at least until you have conveyed your message. </li>
<p><strong>Marketing Your Blog</strong></p>
<li>Refer every contact you meet to your blog. For many, it may be their first experience reading one. Theyâ€™ll be impressed, and could be your next clients.</li>
<li>List your blog everywhere: business card, <a target="_blank" title="website" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">website</a>, forums.</li>
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<p><strong>Meet a Panelist</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.successful-blog.com/"><strong>Liz Strauss</strong></a> has worked over 20 years in print, software, and online publishing, and strategized with publishers in Europe, Australia, the UK, and Ireland. She has worked with entrepreneurs, small businesses, companies in crisis, and corporate giants. Liz led the vision behind last year&#8217;s SOBCon07 â€” THE Relationship Bloggers&#8217; Conference that gained the attention of BusinessWeek, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Innovation Initiative of the Kellogg School of Business.</p>
<p>Her blog â€“ <a href="http://www.successful-blog.com/">Liz Strauss at Successful Blog</a> â€” has been called both a destination and an event. Open Comment Nights, a Blog-to-Blog Conversation, a Blogger&#8217;s Cafe, single questions, and on-the-blog strategy sessions keep readers returning to conversations that often last for days. Her blog has tens of thousands of comments.</p>
<p>Professionally, <a href="http://dmiracle.com">Dawud Miracle</a> is a blog and marketing consultant, business coach, teacher and web developer. His main passion is helping business owners &#8211; at any level &#8211; learn how to use the internet to grow their business. His ideal client is one who&#8217;s eager to learn the fine art of using social media to engage an audience in conversations that lead to mutually beneficial relationships. These relationships often branch out into all sorts of business opportunities.</p>
<p>Personally, Dawud is a devoted husband and father to two, soon to be three, children. To meet Dawud, you can <a href="http://dmiracle.com">visit his blog</a>. Or, if you&#8217;d like to talk about how Dawud could help you with your business, contact him to <a href="http://dmiracle.com/contact">schedule a free 25-minute phone consultation</a>.</p>
<p>A special thanks to my panel for all their hard work!<br />
<a href="http://www.newmediava.com/"><strong>Tammy Munson</strong></a><br />
<a href="http://www.successful-blog.com"><strong>Liz Strauss</strong></a><br />
<a href="http://people.senecac.on.ca/beth.agnew/"><strong>Beth Agnew</strong></a><br />
<a href="http://www.kevineikenberry.com"><strong>Kevin Eikenberry</strong></a><br />
<strong><a href="http://viksmarketingblog.com/">Vikram Rajan</a></strong><br />
<a href="http://dmiracle.com/"><strong>Dawud Miracle</strong></a></p>
<p>-Susan<br />
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		<title>Blogging &amp; Your Business Day 4: Free Advice From the Experts</title>
		<link>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/blogging-your-business-day-4-free-advice-from-the-experts/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/blogging-your-business-day-4-free-advice-from-the-experts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:58:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Susan Payton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Viral Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Marketing]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Blogging &#038; Your Business Day 4: Free Advice From the Experts!

Everyone loves free advice. Thatâ€™s why youâ€™re here, right? We dig down and get the best advice from our panel on blogging and promoting a business.

Give Us Some Great Blog Advice.
Tammy Munson: Remember that having a blog is just another tool in your marketing toolkit [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><!-- google_ad_section_start -->Blogging<!-- google_ad_section_end --> &#038; Your Business Day 4: Free Advice From the Experts!<br />
<strong><br />
Everyone loves free advice.</strong> Thatâ€™s why youâ€™re here, right? We dig down and get the best advice from our panel on blogging and promoting a business.<br />
<!--adsense--></p>
<h4>Give Us Some Great Blog Advice.</h4>
<p><a href="http://www.newmediava.com/"><strong>Tammy Munson</strong></a>: Remember that having a blog is just another tool in your marketing toolkit you also need to use a variety to really make an impact. Donâ€™t just depend on your blog to do it all for you!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.successful-blog.com"><strong>Liz Strauss</strong></a>: If you&#8217;re not blogging, you&#8217;re missing a major opportunity. However, it easy to get caught up in blogging for other bloggers so stop each morning and remember the people you want to reach.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://viksmarketingblog.com/">Vikram Rajan</a></strong>: Nobody cares what you know, until they know how much you care.</p>
<p><a href="http://dmiracle.com/"><strong>Dawud Miracle</strong></a>: Write about what you love. Forget monetizing and money making initially and just write about what you love. Don&#8217;t put the pressure on yourself to build a business or increase your income through your blog. Just write about what you love. I&#8217;ve said it three times on purpose. When you put your knowledge of a topic together with your passion, amazing things can happen in the blogosphere.</p>
<p>Of course, if you have a business, you want to be writing about what you do and what you know. But if you&#8217;re not passionate about that, you may need to take a long, hard look at what you&#8217;re doing for a living. Other bloggers, and blog readers, will respond to your love and your passion &#8211; as well as your knowledge. Look at all the successful blogs out there and you&#8217;ll find this.<br />
And don&#8217;t think that blogging is a fix-all for your business troubles. I&#8217;ve had plenty of consulting and coaching clients start with me thinking all they need to do is drive massive traffic to their blogs and the clients will just poor through the phone. But it&#8217;s not that simple. Traffic to your site isn&#8217;t everything. If you have a business, you need to look at every part of it. You need to know, for instance, why it is you&#8217;re not &#8216;closing&#8217; deals on the phone when prospects do call or why no one is responding to the offers you put on your websites. Having a viable, successful long-term business centered around your blog means looking at all the places your business could be doing better and making it work better. Not all at once, mind you, so don&#8217;t get overwhelmed. But certainly, with a consistent, clear approach to getting from where you are to where you want to be.</p>
<p><a href="http://people.senecac.on.ca/beth.agnew/">Beth Agnew</a>: Be very clear on what your blog is supposed to accomplish. Vanity blogs are not for business use, a <a target="_blank" title="business blog" href="http://websitehabitat.com/">business blog</a> should focus readers on the core competencies of the business and the people involved with the business to build credibility and get revenue.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.kevineikenberry.com">Kevin Eikenberry</a></strong>: Read blogs, follow links, and read more blogs both before you start and as you are blogging.  This activity will make you a better blogger.<br />
 Keep a focus for your blog &#8211; and make that focus match the needs and interests of your Customers/Clients.<br />
<a href="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com"><strong>Susan Payton</strong></a>: Never stop learning. Blogging (and technology in general) changes every single day. The day you decide not to read a blog or read about blogs could be the day your businessâ€™ competitors do read something valuable and get that edge on you. It may not seem like blogs are everywhere, but they will be before you know it. Do you want to adopt the technology after the fact??</p>
<p><strong>Meet a Panelist</strong><br />
<strong><a href="http://people.senecac.on.ca/beth.agnew/"><em>Beth Agnew</em></a></strong> is a writer, educator, laughter leader, and business consultant. She solves business problems by improving communication, marketing, and people. She also helps businesses and people grow so they can achieve their potential and enjoy life. Check out the Beth Buzz!</p>
<p><strong><em><a href="http://www.eggmarketingblog.com">Susan Payton</a></em></strong> runs <a href="http://www.eggmarketingpr.com">Egg Marketing &#038; Public Relations</a>, in addition to this blog. She specializes in working with small businesses to come up with a marketing strategy that fits their needs and budget. She is passionate about Marketing 2.0 and shoestring marketing techniques.</p>
<p>-Susan<br />
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