E-Commerce and Social Business - What a business owner should know about SEO, Social Media, Email Marketing, and more ..

E-Commerce & Social Business Are you ready to learn? Ready to play well with others?

Be Seen – Don’t expect to be found!!

Take A Risk – Show some Personality

What is E-Commerce? According to Wikipedia: Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-comm, e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at some point in the transaction's lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail as well.

Sea of Shared Knowledge I had (and still have) a dream that the web could be less of a television channel and more of an interactive sea of shared knowledge. I imagine it immersing us as a warm , friendly environment made of the things we and our friends have seen, heard, believe or have figured out. I would like it to bring our friends and colleagues closer , in that by working on this knowledge together we can come to better understandings. Tim Berners-Lee (1995 @MIT)

E-Commerce Overview Is an E-Commerce website right for your business? YES!! Your online focal point of all your online activity!! Fundamental Expectation – Expect to be Googled! A website could supplement the sales of your already established retail store. The Internet provides a global audience of potential customers and never closes. Don’t forget your offline activities – combine efforts!!

Google your name and your company!

People Search / Company Search Brands are not just for companies anymore. We all have our own unique personal brand! How do you want to be remembered?

Money Transactions Consider hiring an experienced web designer to implement payment processing. For now, PayPal … What types of customers will you attract? How will these customers interact with your website? Setting up a shopping cart is a big project. If your site becomes very popular, your e-commerce strategy will need to be scalable to that growth.

Tips For Developing A Successful Site Make your site navigation easy to use and contact info easy to find. Provide useful content: Engage with your customer and Don't just sell. Encourage customer feedback with at least a “Contact Us” page, consider online forms and e-mail. Develop a mailing list – use an email service provider.

Online Marketing & Promotion Search engines: your primary marketing tool Almost 90% of Internet users today use search engines to find information. Utilize “local” search function on search engines. What are people searching for? (Keywords) How does your website rank? Monitor your search engine rankings.

Online Marketing & Promotion Start with a descriptive domain name. Submit to the top engines Focus on a great homepage. Create Landing Pages for each campaign Develop a content rich pages. Keep an eye on your competition. Let other sites know about your site and how to link to it. Consider "pay per click" strategies. Both Google & Facebook Review your Activity logs or "server statistics”.

Setting Up a Website Each website has its own unique domain name, such as Amazon.com. Establish your website's name – GoDaddy.com Every website needs web hosting: Choose based on traffic – options range from a few dollars to hosting your own data center. You can create your website or hire website designer.

All About SEO …. Researching Keywords Selecting the Domain On-site Optimization Off-Site Optimization Linkbuilding Social Media Content Marketing

Keywords .. What is you niche? Write down your words related to niche Group them together as they're related by same words Use names and phrases people commonly search by Caterer – wedding catering, party food provider, your thoughts? Find a ‘pivot point’ – a keyword to form a theme for your website. Research competitors’ keyword strategies for ideas.

Invest in SEO, Not Just PPC Comscore says that 88% of clicks go organic, 12% PPC. In 2009, businesses spent $18B in PPC and only $1.5B on SEO. Companies are spending 10X more money competing for only 12% of the traffic when they invest only in PPC.

Brand Your Domain Name According to Seth Godin: A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. If the consumer (whether it’s a business, a buyer, a voter or a donor) doesn’t pay a premium, make a selection or spread the word, then no brand value exists for that consumer. Things to consider when choosing Domain Names: Brandability, Ranking advantage, Stickiness Tips: Keep it short, Use your pivot keyword, Keep it general Use “.com”, Multiple year registration

Own Your On-site SEO Use keyword title tags for all cross-links: Title=“keyword” Make it so the spider can crawl the whole site through inter-linking. Take into consideration your keywords when naming images. Always use keyword-rich alt tags for images: ALT=“keyword” Make an XML sitemap Keep the richest keyword content highest on the page in the spider’s eyes. Google gives more weight to things more likely to be seen by the visitor. Make your page title catchy for visitors, but keyword(s) ~65 characters max. Make your description KW rich, and make it stand out. This is what people will read on search result pages. Use a custom 404 with rich links and make sure old content is sent to new content with a 301 redirect.

Own Your On-site SEO (2) Target a keyword or a group of related keywords on each page. Image names, alt tags, title tag, header tags (H1, H2, H3), description and content should be focused around that keyword or keywords for that page. Avoid Flash and JavaScript!

Essential for businesses with physical locations Add credibility and trust to any business website Always keep the name, address, URL and phone number consistent across different profiles www.google.com/local/add local.yahoo.com/ ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx www.truelocal.com/ www.local.com/ Link Building – Local Business Directories

Most article sites allow you to use anchor text and give do-follow links. Be relevant and Keep content unique and related to the topic Link Building – Write Articles www.ezinearticles.com/ www.goarticles.com/ www.work.com/ www.articlesbase.com/ knol.google.com/

Blog Comments: Leave a quality a comment and use any opportunity to leave a link related to the subject. News Commenting: Participate and look for sites that allow links. Add value to the discussion. Online Presence: Include your site in your signature and/or profile in online communities, newsgroups, and forums. HARO: Daily email with media inquiries from around the US and abroad. Your business could end up with a media mention and a link. Be sure to have a media mention page on your website and repurpose on Social Media sites. Social Media … LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter matter, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. Link Building – Other Ways

“ If you don’t know HOW to USE Social Media as a Networking Tool, Then You are probably not very marketable in the first place…..” - anonymous

Small businesses depend greatly on relationships with their customers . Besides some search engine optimization (SEO) that can come with the use of social media, the primary benefit can be to deepen relationships with existing customers and finding new customers whom you might not have been able to reach otherwise. Additionally, identifying customers who are evangelists for your business and strengthening that bond can help promote your business further. In advertising the common adage is that it takes seven impressions for someone to decide to buy your product. Social media can help you gain those impressions by providing more visibility to your audience. The downside? Yes, some time, but this can be managed so it might take as little as a half hour per day. The important thing is to have a social media strategy and implementation that is best suited to your business. SocialMediaDynamo.com – Ricardo Guerrero QUOTE:

Small Business Is ABOUT Relationships Compete with the big dogs You know your Customers know Personally Your business DEPENDS on that relationship… Social media deepens relationships… YOU have the advantage in Social Media!

Social Media Profiles – Personal Branding

Keywords and Twitter Together Easy to get started .. Start by Listening and … Search for your keywords in Austin at: search.twitter. com If you don’t get any results, try broader or different keywords or start a new conversation ..

How to use Facebook! Questions? Fan Pages!

Facebook Fan Page Applications

Facebook Fan Pages – New Look

LinkedIn – Overlooked yet Powerful

Write a Bio! Short and Sweet! Positive, people-oriented, and performance-driven Market Detective , collaborator, consultant , and speaker who focuses on understanding the customer perspective . Consulting on a variety of topics, which include web technologies and strategies, social business and media, product management and marketing .  With broad-base experience in multiple industries including both aerospace and IT industries, an expert communicator who can effectively explain complex concepts in understandable terms. Recognized for strong interpersonal skills and delivering high-quality creative solutions to ensure product and customer success. Additionally, actively involved in the community with interests ranging from both the technical and business arenas.   Finished an MBA program at UT-Austin which allowed me to develop additional skills to define what makes a project successful while focusing on understanding, measuring, improving individual, team, and organizational performance all while understanding customer and market needs. What Are Your Keywords?

Powerful Profiles Get Attention

Groups – Participate!!! Can Participate in up to 50 groups!

Post on the job boards …. Of your favorite groups ….

Enhance your profiles with Applications

Careful: Only accept/send invites from/to people you know

Targeted E-mail Opt-in mailing lists are now the preferred method for customers. Consider creating an online newsletter. Consider time-limited online "coupons" that can be redeemed at your site. Each email should also contain instructions for removed from the email list.

eBay eBay is something to consider if you have products. To sell on eBay, you will need to register and verify your identity. There are insertion and valuation based fees on eBay. To direct some of eBay's traffic to your website, create an “About Me” page .

Content Marketing: Being done today by all industries and sectors

Content: Not just words Content : Any form of published information Don’t expect PRIVACY IN SOCIAL MEDIA!!! Not just what is written in the paper!

Content: Not just online Touch Point : interface of a product , a service or a brand with customers , non-customers, employees and other stakeholders – before, during and after a transaction respectively a purchase. Don’t overlook your receipts!

Remind Customers What We Do and Want Them TO DO …

Is this really where I want to be?

Unique Thank You All Info on Biz Visible Survey Coupon for Customer Time Plug for Call to Action!

As a B2B Marketer, why should I care? B2B have their own customer touch points Reference Management Vendor Management Help Desk Error 404 Pages What’s yours?

Secret to Content that sticks! Have a consistent, relevant and valuable message to a targeted group of people. Content is King but has to connect with your customers!!!

Connect with Objectives E - ENTERTAINING I - INFORMATIONAL E - EDUCATIONAL I - INSPIRATIONAL O – OBJECTIVE: What was the point of doing all the work? Source: https://nutlug.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/old-macdonalds-method-for-creating-engaging-content/

3 Days, 180 Video created by team, Highly Interactive Engaging Team – Respond to Fans in Real Time Day 1: Received almost 6 million views (that’s more than Obama’s victory speech) Day 2: old spice had 8 of the 11 most popular videos online Day 3: Had reached over 20 million views Week 2: Old spice had over 40 million views The old spice twitter following increased 2700% Facebook fan interaction was up 800% Oldspice.com website traffic was up 300% Generated 1.4 billion impressions since launching the ads 6 months ago The campaign increased sales by 27% over 6 months since launching (year on year) Total Sales were up 107% from the social responses campaign work Old spice is now the #1 body wash brand for men.

Even the local guys are doing it!

4 Guys – 1 Taco Blog => New York Times!

Engagement – Not just a ring

Relevant (Timely and interesting) The audience cares about and enjoys this content Messages are on brand and reflect the core benefits of the organization in audience perspective Engagement Commitment Time and resources are devoted to building a foundation – content, community, feedback The internal team is invested in the effort, helps generate conversation and feels the benefits of a growing community Talkable: Have a conversation People are interacting more frequently, or more deeply Connection: Build your community Builds connections: People are sharing and make recommendations daily People try things from peer recommendations

Creating Advocates INSPIRE Inspire people to take action that changes the world Engage Passion Story Create Possibilities Connect Open Doors Be Relevant Diverse & Inclusive Innovate Create Relationships EQUIP Equip people with skills, knowledge & abilities Educate Skills Abilities knowledge Information How to’s Leadership Talking Points MOBILIZE Mobilize people & networks to take action. Call to Action Resources Step by step Online/offline Transition Incentives Create Advocates Source: Cultural Strategies - www.cultural-strategies.com Armando Rayo, VP, Engagement - [email_address] om

Advocates and Ambassadors are always real people!

# 1: Never the product always the passion!! Reframe conversation Not about the product Is about the customer What role does product play in customer lives?

# 2: Empower People!! More than just content People want to know the good, the bad, and the ugly Give them what they need to know to talk about you Create Ambassadors

# 3: Know Thyself Well Old Spice has a powerful identity Your identity is not the same as your competition Not everyone will like you. Find your #11(s)

# 4: Never is it just online Buzz is not Twitter Tweets don’t matter Find all Customer Touch Points People believe those recommendations from peeps they know, like, and trust!

# 5: Make your advocates feel like Rock Stars!! Lift up your customers Show your appreciation by acknowledgment Say “Gracias, Merci, …” Not just free trips on American Airlines

More Reading: Love this book!! Available on Amazon: by Robbin Phillips , Spike Jones , Greg Cordell , Geno Church

More Reading: Must READ!!! Available on Amazon: Al Ries and Jack Trout

Word of Mouth & Community Communities form to achieve something that can be accomplished that can’t as individual members Make it easy for members to talk with each other Authentic members create the positive community experience Listen and Respond – engage your customers!

More Reading: An oldie but goodie!! Available on Amazon: Amy Jo Kim

Things to focus on: Create a website to compliment your business. Hire a professional to create your website. Use a .com website domain name that is descriptive and easy. Register your domain name. Develop a mailing list and create all your social media profiles Provide updated useful content – aka own your blog. Encourage customer feedback via online channels and email. Learn how to improve your placements on top search engines. Learn from your competition’s rankings and sites. Consider eBay as a means of selling your product.

Things to watch out for: Don’t assume a website &Social Media will grant success. Don’t turn customers off with an unprofessional website. Do not incorporate unique web design styles. Don’t make it difficult to navigate your site. Do not permit out-of-date content to remain on your site. Do not rely on graphical buttons. Don’t create your own site unless you are well experienced. Do not make it difficult to find your contact information Don’t turn off your customers with unsolicited email. Do not use too much graphics or text. Do not start using Social Media and then Abandon it!!!

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