Zenith Exhibits

Business blogging increases search engine visibility through keyword focus in a text based presentation.

So how does a small business use their blog to find new customers?

A typical mistake is to write about your great deal, product features and benefits, or all the money one can save.  Those are called sales pitches.  American consumers do not like a sales pitch.

Write about your customers, your passions, your history in your profession, ways your product improves lives, your charitable efforts, and your feelings.  Yes feelings.

All things being equal, people prefer to do business with people they know and like.  Keep it professional and avoid any topics you wouldn’t discuss at a Chamber of Commerce meeting in a mixed crowd.  Writing about your feelings is not writing a diary, rather your feelings as they pertain to your chosen profession.

Your blog can be a product announcement, so long as you say so right up front.  Mixing press releases, product announcements, research and development progress with personal growth in your business will help give your readers some insight they can not find anywhere else.

Unlike all other forms of print media, your business blog is an informal marketing medium where you can lower your guard and speak from your heart.  When you, you’ll find the comments and feedback you receive will go a long ways towards increase customer connections and higher search engine rankings.

Ed
Zenith Exhibits, Inc.

Get a FREE business blog site at PDXchat.com

Before diving into business blogging, we need to compare and contrast Personality Based Marketing with Traditional Social Networking. While not an exact science, we can use basic math to weight each marketing model to determine which has more potential.
Traditional Social Networking Model
Traditional Social Marketing Connection Diagram
Traditional Social Marketing Connection Diagram

The strategy behind business blogging is to create multiple points of entry for your company website AND establish a connection with a target consumer market.

Looking at traditional social networking, the multi-connection opportunity exists in the relationships between friends. For a complete list of the connection relations, click on the diagram.

Social networks are classified as word of mouth marketing. With word of mouth marketing, success is dependent on the openness of the relationships between online friends. For our example, we will assume person 1 grants full social network access to person A AND because of person 1′s relation with person 3, person 3 grants access to his social network to person A. Last assumption is we do not count person 1 in our formula because we are assuming he to already be a customer of person A and therefore is not the target audience for the sales presentations.

Conversion rate expense is the time it takes to navigate the network from node to node and while it seems extensive the actual expense is unknown and therefore ignored in our equation.

Conversion success is dependent on the qualification process, but using a traditional one out of ten conversion factor, person A would need to convince person 1 to grant access to all six of his friends AND convince person 3 to grant access to his one friend.

With only seven people in the network (in our example) there is a 70% * 10% or a 7% chance of closing a deal. Put in terms of out one to ten close rate, there is a 70% chance that the marketing effort will produce a conversion.

Social networking only works one sales presentation at a time. There is little to no long term value in the introduction. Person 3 has no direct connection with person A and therefore no emotional influence towards doing business. With each new sales presentation there is a one in ten chance of a conversion. With our 70% conversion factor:

* two presentations equal 1.4 conversions
* three presentations equal 2.1 conversions
* four presentations equal 3.5 conversions

Ignoring the possibility of SPAM tagging, we will assume best case scenario.
Modified Traditional Marketing Connection Diagram
Modified Traditional Marketing Connection Diagram
Actually, person 3′s business relationship with person A is also emotionally tied in with his business/personal relationship with person 1. If the relationship between person 3 and person 1 dissolves, there is no further connection between person 3 (and and person A.

If person 3 drops out of person 1′s network after your first sales presentation, then the formula changes:

50% * 10% = 5% conversion percentage or a 50% conversion rate. so here is our new conversions chart:

* first presentation, 7 people .7 conversions
* second presentation, 5 people 1.2 conversions
* third presentation, 5 people 1.7 conversions
* forth presentation, 5 people 2.2 conversions

By losing one member from person 1′s network, your conversion rate has dropped 38%
Social Networking Theory
Dr Robin Dunbar theorized humans have the cognitive ability to maintain stable relationships with 150 people. These 150 people are considered ones Social Network. While other scientists has suggested numbers higher than Dunbar’s, 150 is a good enough number to use for our exploitative purposes.
Six degrees of separation
Six degrees of separation

We have all heard of the theory called Six Degrees of Separation. Putting Dunbar’s theory together with the six degrees theory, we can conclude that every social network will have 25 people in common. While there is incredible value in the value of any one person’s social network there is great expense to gaining access to the network. While we ignored the actual time expense value we can conclude the value is number of sales presentations * X (representing time).

In our example above, our time expense would be 22X or 22 sales presentations times the amount of time it took to make the sales presentations.

Social marketing is the act of using common relationships as evidence to support expanding access to your social network in exchange for access to the other parties social network.

Most social networking sites automatically report friends in common, but the sharing of unique friends is voluntary on the part of the member. Because of SPAM abuse and predatory horror stories on the internet, the sharing of social networks is reserved for teenagers and other non-business people.

A new system of connecting business people together must be developed. One that is more efficient, higher success rate, and less SPAM.
Personality Based Marketing Model
Personality based marketing connection diagram
Personality based marketing connection diagram
Personality based marketing is using topic based information to build multiple connection points through the major search engines.

In this diagram, website A has four categories (a, b, c & d). Each category has five articles (1, 2, 3, 4 & 5). Each article is the primary point of entry and is open to everyone who search for the topic of the article. Success using this marketing approach is dependent on topic focus so the search engines can verify classification. High relevancy will improve organic search result listing. All paths from the internet to the website count as a point of entry.

Each article has an author and those authors become associated with the category and topic of the article. These become connections between people with similar interests.

From a conversion point of view, building a relationship with the reader prior to making a sales presentation improves the conversion factor. Conversion improvement is dependent on writing style and quality in relationship to the product or service, but there is a disconnect from the author if the subject is only about the product or service being discussed, so there is an unknown point where conversion success drops off exponentially. To simplify our equation, well assume the article is written correctly.

If the same seven people in person 1′s direct and indirect social network are browsing the web and come across person A’s article, then all things being equal there is a 70% chance of a conversion right from the start; but the conversion rate is actually higher.

Because each person who reads the article found the link in an organic search result and not through a word of mouth connection, the emotional impact of the presentation is higher than our previous sales example. Now instead of relying on the chance of interest we know with absolute certainty there IS interest.
Transaction Stool Concept
Transaction Stool Concept
If we view each transaction as needing legs to support the decision, our stool would need at least three legs.

By searching for the specific topic which brought the searcher to your article, the prospect has already shown a need or want and thus has a 33.3% conversion rate.

Building trust or likability between you and the reader (i.e. consumer) improves your close rate to 66.6%.

In our previous example it required 22 sales presentations to close 2.5 deals; using the Personality Based Marketing Model we need only make 8 sales presentations to achieve the same close rate.
Multiplier Effect of Business Blogging
Multiplier Effect of Business Blogging
The effort that went into making the 22 sales presentations we determined was 22X. In the Personality Based Marketing Model the time investment is higher, we will call it Y and we will assume Y is greater than X, but where X increases with each sales presentation Y remains constant.

Since Y represents the time it takes to create one article, 2Y represents the time it takes to create two articles. Using the traditional social networking model our target market never changed, they were the same individuals. Using Personality Based Marketing, each article can target a different market segment and because every article remains indexed on the search engines, the long term search value of the article continues making sales presentations to anyone who searches no matter when they search.
Business Blogging Concept

Blog articles are a reflection of you. Your believes, ethics, and thought process become searchable marketing material. When balanced against equal options for your product or service, knowing your believes, ethics and thought process will help sway the consumers purchase decision.

What if the consumer doesn’t agree with your believes, ethics or thought process? Then they will probably not do business with you. However, for every person that chooses one way there is a consumer that will choose another way. Putting your believes, ethics and thought process in a searchable manner will attract consumers with similar believes, ethics and thought processes.
Business Blogging in Practice

Business blogging can be a way to increase consumer awareness, customer satisfaction, or industry recognition. No matter how you slice it, business blogging is about building relationships.

Typical marketing experts will tell you to use features and benefits based or solutions based presentations. While these marketing approaches are very valid and work in most every other internet based presentation, business blogging is a perfect platform for a personality based marketing approach.

Originally created as a social communication medium, blogging was a way for people to tell their story. While political discussion forums, news outlets and and other social blog sites have flourished, business blog sites have struggled to gain readership traction. Why? Because, unless your business is social in nature, using a social marketing approach is foreign.

Like any language, learning how to adopt a social slant for business blogging is a relatively straight forward process. First you find your voice and then you practice. To help find you voice, you need to know what consumers want to hear, so keyword selection should be an ongoing process for you to learn what searchers are searching for on the major search engines.

Once you identify your primary keyword selections, it is time to focus your article text to capitalize on search engine visibility strategies. Writing for search engine visibility is more of an experiment than an exact science. While there are very clear, industry recognized, techniques for getting seen by Google, Yahoo and a like; you won’t really know what works until you try. This means you will need to make a concerted effort to find the right language for you and your product or service offering.

If you need assistance building or improving your business blog we can be reached at (503) 709-1454 or via eMail.

You can’t win the game focusing on the scoreboard.  Focus on the game of engagement and the traffic will come.

Social networking, by definition, is designed to get you involved AND keep you involved.  Building a large following, in a sense, becomes a game.  In business, it is not about who has the most followers, but are you gaining more customers?

While it is important to build your following; your following is NOT the business building activity, communicate with your network is.  No matter if you are on Twitter, Facebook or you own blogsite, knowing your audience is always the best approach.

Answer the following questions:

1. Who is your desired audience.
2. What topics interest your desired audience.
3. Why are they interested in that topic?

Create a social marketing plan (or a business blogging plan), stick to the plan, feed you audience’s desires.

Ed Bejarana
Zenith Exhibits, Inc.

BusinessBlogging.net is the internet marketing business division for Zenith Exhibits, Inc.  We specialize in providing face-to-face and internet marketing to small and medium size business and we love saying, “we affordability do for you what you can not afford to do for yourself.”

A business blogging plan is a written strategy guide for your social marketing effort.  Like all business documents, your business blogging plan is a living document!  Expect and plan for frequent changes.  It is reasonable to expect your plan to change at least seasonally (based on business seasons).

Goal

What do you want to achieve? While you can achieve multiple goals, narrowly defined objectives allow for easier and quick success.

• More search engine visibility (SEV)
• High Google page rank
• Increase company buzz
• Instigate online discussions
• Capture customer input

Your goals can be anything, but it must be documented!

Measurement Matrix

How you measure your effort will often dictate where and how you blog.

• Phone Calls, eMails, Online Forms Completed
• Analytics Software or Web Log
• RSS subscribers, Links, and/or Pings

Many FREE blog sites don’t allow for the installation of analytics software.  Knowing how people interact with your website is very important, otherwise future topics are little more than a shot in the dark.  i.e.: without a measurement system in place, you will never know how many people consume your knowledge.

For example: if you are going to measure your effort by the number of phone calls you receive, then include a call to action that drives people to the telephone.

Target Audience

Who are you writing for?

• Age, Gender
• Social Activities, Religious Beliefs, Political Leanings
• Financial and Marital Status
• Favorite Books, Movies, etc.

The intent is to understand as much as possible about who you are writing for.  It may not be apparent what information is relevant until you are struggling with developing content.  Spending time up front to create a complete demographic profile will save you time over-coming writers block.

Income Connection

If the goal is NOT to directly generate income, what is the connection to income?  In business blogging there must always be an income connection, else the effort is not “business” focused.

For example: if your goal is to increase company buzz, then your income connection is the product or service you sell.  While this sounds trivial, compare company buzz to writing about new employees.  Blogging about your staff will generate company buzz, but what consumer capture opportunity have you gained?

Note:  while we are listing the income connection, we are not business blogging sales pitches!  A sales pitch, like personal blogging, is not “Business Blogging”.

Time Commitment

How much time can you realistically commit to writing per day?

Depending on your writing skills and organization, the typical 200 word business blog article will require 20 to 30 minutes to write, revise, proof, edit, link and publish.  Your blog site should publish at least once per week.  To be successful, like other marketing activities, you must set aside appropriate time.

Competitive Advantage

What sets you (or your product) apart from your competition?

These points will become your major keyword qualifiers.  For example, let’s say you sell trade show displays.  One of your competitive advantages may be very low overhead–which translates into lower priced displays to meet small business budgets.  Your competitive advantage keyword distinction becomes “affordable trade show displays for small business”.

Reaction Plan

Business blogging is not an exact science because it is social in nature.  Trends and fads will impact your blogging approach and potentially adversely affect your consumers’ perception.  You must always be on guard for negative user input AND be ready to respond.  What will you say when someone complains online about your product or service?

Sample Business Blogging Plan

Goal:

To improve SEV such that every blog article gets index on Google by one of the companies

Measurement Matrix:

Primary measurement will be time on site from visitors finding the article on Google.  Seeking an increase of 30% longer on site.

Target Audience:

Women owned small business.  She leans slightly to the right of center politically and values less government impact on her business.  She is in her mid 40’s to late 50’s, recently divorced or widowed.  Her children are grown and married.  she loves to read mystery novels and watch drama movies.  She is financially secure, but seeks an affordable solution from someone she can trust.  She values working with men over women.

Income Connection:

Design and sale of trade show displays

Time Commitment:

I will allocate 30 minutes per day to blog on ZenithExhibits.com and promote my blog postings on LinkedIN, Facebook, CraigsList, and Twitter.

Competitive Advantage:

No overhead equals lower prices for small women owned business.

Reaction Plan:

I pledge to not fight negative reactions, but rather focus my time on resolving the complaint publicly.

Twitter can be an excellent web traffic tool to help you improve your:

1. Customer Conversion Optimization
2. Number of Inbound Links
3. Search Engine Optimization

The first step is to visit Twitter.com and click on “Get Started – Join”

Enter your real name (unless anonymity is required).  We feel personal branding has a huge internet marketing benefit.

Create a Twitter User Account

Enter your eMail address.  We suggest you create a special eMail account for Twitter messages so you can isolate the increased eMail traffic.

Complete the rest of the form and click “Create My Account”.

Your first option will be to invite your friends to follow you on Twitter.  We suggest you skip this step.

The next option is to following some people.  We suggest you skip this step too.  We will use The Twitter Yellow Pages to follow a select group of people based on the industry they self-identify with.

This is a good time to mention the goal for your Twitter account.  Build more web traffic AND more links on Google.  While you could use Twitter as a communication tool, we feel the time commitment for this strategy out weights the ROI.

Once your account is created, the first step is to update your profile.  This is the information screen people see when they visit your Twitter account.  It includes your account name, real name, web address, location, and 160 character description.

Your profile description will be the content evaluated for most Twitter searches.  While your tweets are also index by the search engines, your profile is an important information section for starting to identify you with your business industry.

The picture tab is where you upload your avatar.  We suggest you use a photo of yourself.  A head shot helps build a personal connection with people.

The Design tab is where you can manage your Twitter background.  You can use one of the default patterns or create your own picture.  We suggest you create a pic that measure 1400 pixels by 1200 pixels so that you background completly fills most all computer monitors.

The two most important Twitter tasks is managing your following/followers and broadcasting messages.

Twitter does not like SPAM anymore than you.  To try and control SPAMMERS, Twitter puts limits on the number of people you can follow.

The main idea behind building a large following is first following people who in-turn follow you back.  Over time you will find in your “Followers” screen that people are following you and you are not yet following them in return.  You can tell that you are NOT following a follower because the option to follow is shown under the Twitter account name.  See image below.  To follow the person back, click on follow.

The question of limiting who you follow to protect your reputation is a personal decision you will need to make.  While we suggest you follow anyone who follows you, your personal or business needs may dictate otherwise.  As you will alter see, Twitter is a numbers game and your account will receive preferential treatment as your follower count increases.

Since you will, more often than not, first follow someone, you will need to (eventually) unfollow those who don’t follow you in return.

Why?  Because Twitter limits the number of people you can follow until you have enough followers.  For example, you can not follow more than 2,000 people until at least 2,000 people follow you back.  After 2,000 followers, you are only allow to follow a few hundred people more than are following you.  The message is your will need to spend time daily managing your followings.

When you click on the following tab, you will see the people you are following.  To make room for more people to follow, you need to unfollow those who don’t follow you back.  How often you do this clean-up is up to you, but we reccomend you do this task daily.  If you have the ability to “Direct message” a follwoer, then that follower has opted to follow you back.

• Protective
• Supportive; encouraging
• May be provocative
• Skilled interpersonally; more concerned with people than with ideas
• Seeks situations with other people
• Altruistic; attends to others
• Intelligent; shies away from physical skills
• Generally outgoing
• Satisfied with career; likes work; likes to exert influence
• Practical
• Slightly inhibited
• Slightly compulsive

Source: Writer’s Guide to Character Traits – second Edition by Linda N. Edelstein, PH.D.

Discussion

When trying to gain government contracts you’ll more than likely start with someone who can be classified as a Social Worker.  When communicating with Social Workers your safe zone topics are those which help other people.  They generally prefer to work with extroverted people and appreciate politically savvy people who don’t appear to be playing politics.