Business Blogging Excellence

Buzzoodle Buzz marketing is a book by Ron McDaniel that is designed and written to inspire employee evangelism.

One of the best ways to create more buzz is to get your enthusiastic staff excited about the organization, and empower them to use the tools that are out there to create higher visibility and become a champion for your organization.

Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing has 57 Buzz Challenges for the entire workforce.

Here are some ideas for you:

1) Group blog - Get everyone to contribute to a company blog. Of course you set standards and have someone with good editing skills moderate it.

2) Online Communities - Encourage staff to participate in online communities. Let them know what topics are off limits and what to do if they encounter a negative situation or complaint.

3) Networking Events - Not everything is online. Instead of just sending your sales and marketing people to events for networking, give everyone a chance to go sometimes. They will be better at customer service, creating buzz and be better advocates for your organization if you get them more involved.

These are just three of the ideas that you can use to start an Employee Evangelism movement in your organization. Buy the book Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing and find out more.

Thinking about launching a Virtual Assistant Business or another home-based business?

I started writing this eBook as a members-only resource for the virtual buzz assistant netowrk.  Then I realized it could be very valuable to anyone starting any kind of home-based or small business.

People were getting lost in what seems like overwhelming issues, so we lay it out day by day and make it easy to move from idea to income in 30 days.

We are giving it away.  Click here to get your copy.

Since we have launched several ventures, we know the basic stuff you need to do, and how important it is to focus on generating revenue quickly.  If you are thinking about starting a business or are trying to figure out what things need done for a business you recently started, this resource is for you.

If you have set up a wordpress blog or are considering it, make sure you put the basic SEO tools and settings in place first.  Visit the buzzoodle blog for an introduction to wordpress seo basics.

When you first started your business, it was simple.  You had a checking account and it had a few expenses every month, and if you were lucky, some deposits.

"Today you are trading in social currency.  You may be rich, or you may be poor, but it is the currency of the future whether you like it or not."

If the IRS came knocking at your young business, you gave them the shoe box of transactions and brewed them some coffee while they sat at your kitchen table and reviewed a whole year’s worth of transaction.  If you have been in business for a while, you know how quickly that changes.  Multiple checking accounts, automatic transactions left and right, loans, credit cards, balance transfers….

For a more mature company, an audit is a hassle if you have to do it yourself.

Social Networking seems just as confusing and out of control as finances can be.  It all started out easy.  No need to keep lots of records, you are just trying out that new social media tool…

Doing taxes, and auditing your own financials is not fun.  But if you were not forced to do it periodically, imagine what a mess you could have after a few years.

Your Social Media Efforts Need Audited

Your social media efforts produce important things for you, even if you are not taking full advantage of them.

1. Connections - Also known as lists
2. Feeds - via RSS - Avenues to publish information other people see
3. Access - Permission to publish on other web sites

Much like scheduling auto-payments for a bill, many of these tools automatically publish information or grow your network.  It is easy to forget it is happening.

Here are recommendations for getting the most out of your social media effort.

1. Have a real strategy - Who would you like to connect with and what do you have to offer them?
2. Have a reason for them to sign up to an email list - email is still #1 when used correctly.  What can you offer people in your many online groups to entice them to sign up directly with you for email?
3. Track all your accounts - Keep a spreadsheet of accounts, when you signed up, password, etc.
4. Audit your profile and settings at least twice per year.  You will find all kinds of things have changed, but you have not updated them.
5. Look for new integration opportunities - Social media is doing a better job of integrating and standardizing than financial tools are, in my opinion.  (Yes, financial is a bit harder, I know)

Perpetual Beta Social Sites

Social media sites are constantly evolving.  Many never leave Beta.  If not the tool itself, then some other tool that will take data from a site and display it within another tool.  Crazy!

You have to keep up, or your image will get muddled or stale.  The good news is that there are social media bookkeepers.  A good virtual assistant can help you organize the tools, track progress and outcome, grow your connections and audit your profiles -  often in a few hours per month.  The Virtual Buzz Assistant network was created because of the incredible need for this kind of help.  It helps people develop their own Virtual Buzz Assistant business and help busy professionals that understand the importance of social media to find the help they need.

No sales pitch here - you can do it all yourself right after you update Quickbooks and finish your weekly payroll.

I cannot stress enough the importance of registering and maintaining your own domain name.  I just got a call from a client that had let a previous host register his domain name for him, and every year it has been a huge headache and far more expensive than it should be.

This year he finally is transferring it to his own oversight, but he waited until the last day and now it is stuck in limbo because he cannot access his email, which is tied to the domain (he should have used a different email that would not go down if the domain did.)

I know many people are not technical and they just want someone to take care of it for them, but this is kind of like letting someone else manage your telephone number.  It is better to just pay that bill on your own because your phone is too important.

You can register and manage your own domain name at www.outstandahosting.com - and you will get 100% control of either hosting it there or hosting it elsewhere.  So when you are no longer happy with your website host, they cannot hold you ransom - you just log into your domain management account and chance where it points.

Here are 5 tips to keep your domain safe.

1. Use One Account
   You may register a domain in one place, then find another place that is $1 per year less.  Don’t do it.  Just keep all your domains in the same place so you can manage them well.  Any price $10 per year or under is fair.
2. Never Use the Domain email
   If you use the domain email and the domain goes down, you are stuck because you cannot approve changes that come via email.  Set up a gmail account or use different emails in the different contact areas.
3. Register for Multiple Years
   Google likes to see that you register your domain for more than one year.  It is also easier to manage if you just pay for a few years up front, and will often save you a little money.
4. Multiple MX Records
   Your email gets forwarded to an email server by the MX Record.  You can have multiple MX Records as a failsafe for your email.  I have never seen an email host without at least two options.
5. A Record
   Your A record is where everything gets sent that is not otherwise specified.  In many cases, you only have to set up your A Record and your MX Record, and your hosts will take care of the rest.  Then if you later chance hosts, you just change these addresses - they cannot hold your domain hostage and overcharge you for changing.

I am writing this because it really is important that you take the 1/2 hour or so to understand it and do it yourself.  Even if it is a free add-on from your service provider, go straight to a registrar like www.outstandahosting.com and do it yourself.  Then things will just stay simple and you will never experience the frustration of transferring a domain.

Blogs are the best networking tool I know.  Better than conferences, clubs, etc.  Not because of volume of business cards, but because of strength of relationship.

I do not expect my blog to help me reach a lot of CEO’s, but neither do I expect that from BNI, IRN or other networking groups.

Five of us showed up for the Akron Bloggers Community (ABC) yesterday.  Here is a picture.  Blogging starts on line, but spills to real life all the time.  People meet you in person for the first time but already feel like they know you.

The picture above, left to right - Ron (me) McDaniel, Stephen Hopson, Chris Brown, Norma Rist and Deborah Chaddock Brown.

With no real agenda we were all shooting ideas back and forth on Blogging, Podcasting, Monitizing Blogs and tools that help enhance the audience experience.  I could have stayed for hours, but I think some of them have real businesses. 

Deborah is currently a member of our Virtual Buzz Assistant network where she is a freelance writer.

blogging is hard work.  The technology is not hard, but the daily commitment to creating quality content is hard work.

And it does not stop there.  If you produce great content but do not get your blog linked to, talked about and visible, your excellent content will probably still go unnoticed.

Virtual Buzz Assistants are people that are certified in online buzz marketing and can help create buzz for a blog.

Virtual Buzz Assistants work just like other virtual assistants, but they have chosen to specialize in Internet marketing.  They work at building great relationships and they become experts in the tools that you can use to create more buzz and visibility.

bloggers that want to be successful have to have a great niche, interesting content and they have to either spend a lot of time promoting the blog, or hire a Virtual Buzz Assistant to help them.  The assistant could be hired to keep fresh content on the blog, and this is especially important for businesses that may get busy and let their blog effort slip.  The assistant can also promote your blog by using the many tools available online to grow your audience.

Here are 5 ways a Virtual Buzz Assistant can help you on a monthly basis.

1. email people about your article - By emailing people to point out an interesting article on your blog to people that run similar blogs, you can generate links and more traffic.
2. Upload blog information into blog Catalog and other blog directories, and link to people there.
3. Use micro-blogging solutions like Twitter or Tumblr to highlight your blog posts each week.
4. Social Bookmarks - Virtual Buzz Assistants can bookmark your blog posts to get them more inbound links and traffic.
5. Interview opportunities - Your Virtual Buzz Assistant can look for opportunities for you to be interviewed on other blogs or podcasts, and they can conduct interviews to add more interesting content for your blog.

These are just some of the areas that a Virtual Buzz Assistant can help you be a more successful blogger with less of your time going towards promotion.  To request a Virtual Buzz Assistant, click here.

I was reading a post by Seth Godin on the new Harry Potter book this morning and something he said about the book got me thinking about what people really buy. He said, “Holding and owning the book, remembering when and how you got it… that’s what you’re paying for.” Exactly. As any good marketer would tell you, you are not just buying a product, you may be buying buying ideals, memories, image, prestige, friendship, or more. As a fun exercise, let’s take some no-name products and associate them with motives for purchase:

• Sports Drinks: Energy, determination, commitment to fitness.
• The Latest MP3 Player: Makes me hip and cool, tech geek bragging rights, I look expensive, and therefore, important (if you buy the high end ones), people will like me more.
• Convertible Sports Cars: I look rich, I want to be young, I want to feel the wind in my hair, I’ll be a hit with the ladies.

These are just a few quick examples. What other ones can you, the reader think of?

Ron McDaniel from the Buzzoodle Blog pointed to an article yesterday on the making of an expert. To be a true expert, you must constantly learn, and always be a student. Sound strange? Not really. Times change, new things evolve, and you have to keep up. Also, you are never done learning. There are always ways to improve your knowledge and ability in something, and evolve it. As one person always told me, “The best teachers are also students.”

A true expert knows both theory from all their textbook learning, etc., and application.  That is where all that practice and work in the nitty-gritty come in.  Who would you trust more, a surgeon who read a bunch of books on surgery for 10 years, but never did it, or someone who has read and performed operations for the same time?

Long story short there is no shortcut to being an expert. I have seen a lot of schemes where there are “instructional videos” and such to make you a pro on something.  Not going to happen.  Knowledge, experience, and true dedication makes you a true professional.  You have to do it for years, and people can instantly spot a true pro from someone green a mile away.

This 4th of July exceeded my expectations. My family and I watched a spectacular fireworks show. It had all the great things you would expect to see, and it outdid the city’s fireworks from years before, and lasted longer, to boot. Here’s the thing, though: they weren’t the city’s fireworks. These were from a guy two houses down from my parents. The man has a license for creating and shooting off his own fireworks, and has done so professionally for years. A display of this caliber was definitely beyond the expected. If someone were to tell you to watch the fireworks of some random guy in the neighborhood or the city’s, you would probably choose the city’s, assuming it would be the best. This man proved me wrong.

This got me thinking about small businesses as well. How many small businesses release great products that are never tried because the assumption is that the bigger company’s version is better? Sometimes it is really worth looking into the small companies. You may just find a gem.