Learn about our new social media coaching program. You can read the transcription below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hey, it is Patrick Allmond from JustAskPatrick.com, and today is Wednesday, February 15th, and I just finished up a very exciting session here in Oklahoma City that you need to know about. For awhile now, there’s been kind of a gray area that’s been missing in our offering of services, and I feel it has been doing a disservice to the other local businesses here in Oklahoma City.

There are various ways you can learn about social media and learn about online marketing and learn about SEO. The easiest way is to just go to one of these little chintzy $20 seminars that you see, and you sit down with somebody for an hour and you learn just the very basics. You learn Social Media 101 or you learn WordPress 101, but your whistle just gets wetted. You don’t really walk away with the skills that you need, and you don’t really walk away with any personal advice on your situation.

The other end of the spectrum is you sit down with someone like me on an hour by hour basis, and I’m going to change you probably $175 an hour for my time, if not more. But that’s where you get the best attention. And another option even still is paying $49 a month for a marketing mojo inner circle membership, which if you’re interested in that, I would definitely considered that because that’s a good deal also.

But there’s been kind of a middle area there where maybe you’re on somewhat of a tight budget but you still need some personal one on one attention or maybe some attention from a group. It’s almost like a coaching group. Well guess what Focus is going to do? Focus has a coaching group starting. We just did an hour long session over at MACU, and we covered the basics of the coaching group. If you missed it, then this video is really going to help you out.

And here’s what we’re going to be doing. For four hours a month, we’re going to be meeting together with a social media coaching group, and everybody in the coaching group is going to be exclusive in their industry. In other words,
there may not be two realtors in there or there may not be two of a particular kind of industry in there, just to make sure that people are comfortable. Each group is going to be limited to five people max, to make sure each person gets plenty of time. You’re going to have a coach like me, Patrick Allmond or someone from Focus Consulting, and we’re going to put together a curriculum for that four hour class. Each person in that four hour session is going to be able to cover their particular situation, their social media, their website, and some issues or challenges that they’re having.

First of all, you’re going to get one-on-one feedback from me in a group situation, which everybody else is going to benefit from, but you’re also going to get some immediate, great feedback from other people in the coaching group. So I don’t have a particular date for these starting yet, but, again, these groups will be limited to five people max. Now nobody will be able to walk in off the street.

All the group members will be able to approve each other. So if there’s somebody you’ve had a bad business relationship with in the past and you don’t want them in your group and you disapprove, that person won’t be in your group. It will be behind closed doors. Each person will also sign a confidentiality agreement saying that what we discuss in this room stays in this room and you don’t share it with others, and that includes me. If I give you advice for your industry in your room, I promise to not talk about your business in another group of mine.

We’re going to have multiple groups ongoing. All these groups are going to cover the things that you see in the online marketing mojo circle, which you can see right there on the homepage of AllAboutFocus.com. So this is something very exciting for us. There are going to be some other features as a result of being part of this group. We’re going to host your WordPress website and back up your WordPress website for free. You’re going to get access to the membership area as part of this. This is all going to be for a very nice, low monthly price. It’s not going to be your $20 or your $49 a
month seminar, but compared to spending four hours with Patrick at $175 an hour, plus the $49 we charge for hosting, plus the $49 we charge for the membership site, you are going to be getting a steal. I’m not kidding you.

If you are interested in something like this, hit me up on social media @PatrickAllman.com or on Facebook or on email. You can always email me at Patrick@AllAboutFocus.com. Facebook you can hit me up. Twitter you can hit me up. LinkedIn you can hit me up. You can always just call me at 405-283-6287.

We had a pretty good turnout for our overview meeting, and I definitely have some people that are interested. We also had some people come down from another city, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and they are also interested in starting a group up in Tulsa, which means, guess what Tulsa? You’re going to get Focus Consulting Services there in Oklahoma.

I can see me starting to travel up the turnpike every month or so to do a coaching group up in Tulsa also. Once that expands, we can have multiple groups there, and then the sky’s the limit for us. We can start opening coaching groups in other cities. I can see us going to Dallas. I can see us going to Kansas City. I’m very excited about this, because the online marketing and the social media is a topic that I absolutely love to teach.

So again, if you’re interested in this, hit me up at Patrick@AllAboutFocus.com. Please make sure you’re serious about this. Don’t kind of be hemming and hawing. Make sure you’re dead serious about your success. Make sure you’re ambitious and make sure that you’re convinced that Focus Consulting is the right solution for you, but you want a budget solution and you’re comfortable working in a group environment.

This has been Patrick Allmond from AllAboutFocus.com. Please don’t forget to subscribe to this YouTube channel and follow me on Twitter and Facebook, and I look forward to talking to you soon. Have a great day.

Related posts:

1. The TRUTH about the Social Media Fad
2. Video: Finding your Social Media Mojo
3. Classic Social Media Monday from KSBI TV

To read this post on our site: New Social Media Coaching Program To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

Have you ever been at a loss as to what to talk about when it comes to making videos for your business. Patrick Allmond takes some time and gives you some quick tips on “Behind the scenes” video marketing ideas and tricks that you can use at your business.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related posts:

1. Video: Why haven’t you started your business yet?
2. New Video: The one where I give away stuff
3. Video: Ain’t Marketing a Niche?

To read this post on our site: Video: Video Marketing Ideas for your business To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

2011 marks the thirteenth year that Focus Consulting and Training has been in business. As I look back at all of the brilliant and less-than-brilliant moves I’ve made over the years, there is always one that sticks out.

I wish I had started my email marketing list on day one of my business in November of 1998.

The ability for you to capture one-time web visitors and stay in touch with them is relationship and marketing brilliance. When someone is initially shopping  they will visit several websites. On each of those websites the average user will stay less than 30 seconds. They will leave and never come back again. In a couple of minutes they will have forgotten all about the most recent sites they visited .

Your online presence needs to have a built-in way to capture and stay in touch with shoppers. And you need to take action TODAY to do this. A good long-term email strategy requires planning and multiple toolsets. But there are steps you can take today to get on the right track. If your competition is taking those steps and you are not, they have an advantage over you. When the prospect is shopping and comparing your two companies and the prospect signs up for your competition’s email list, your competition can immediately start building a long-term relationship with that prospect. As opposed to you who lost them after they left your website.

Check out the impact of email on this infographic from SmarterTools . Click on the graphic to see it full size. And then keep reading below to learn how you can get started today on your own for free:

If you are interested in more information about planning and building great email campaigns visit our Contact Page and let us know about any questions you may have.  We use Infusionsoft for our email campaigns because it is an amazing platform that can make your life easier and make your days go by stress-free.

What you can do today on your own to fix this disadvantage (This is the oversimplified version. Contact us if you need help setting this up):

1. Design a 5+ page report on inside information that you would share with a hot prospect that you took to lunch. Get that report proofread and looking great. Make sure you include plenty of visuals . Ensure  your contact information and website is all over that report (in the header and footer). Save it in PDF format.
2. Get a free Mailchimp email marketing account. Create a new empty email list in your account.
3. Set up an “autoresponder” for that new list. This means when people subscribe to your list Mailchimp will automatically email that report.
4. Use your new list to design a sign up form for the left or right side of your site.
5. Add that Mailchimp form to your site. Offer that report that you designed for free. All the prospect has to do is fill out your form.

Even though this is oversimplified I hope you get the basic idea. You want to offer your brilliant report for free if they give you their contact information. I use this method and generate a continuous stream of new, free leads every day.

So what are you waiting for? While you have been reading this blog post it is likely new visitors have come to your website, shopped around, and then left. Don’t let that keep happening. Get your email marketing list started today. Trust me – you don’t want to regret it 13 years from now.

Take care my friend,

Patrick

Related posts:

1. 3 lies+6 truths: Email marketing is alive and well
2. In Depth List of Services
3. Why Our Infusionsoft Email Marketing Now Rocks

To read this post on our site: No email list? You are at a marketing disadvantage To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

When you have a holiday Monday like we did in the US, your mind plays tricks on you. Since you are relaxing your body feels like it is just Sunday again. Then on Tuesday you go into work on you are in that Monday state of mind. At best it’s just confusing. At worst all of that Tuesday stuff gets screwed up because your mind is in Monday mode. That continues to mess with your mind until you get to Friday which feels like Thursday, and then you end up happy at 5pm when you realize that you’ll have the day off on your Friday which is really Saturday.

Or you could be like a lot of business owners and completely forget that it was a holiday. That is what I did. But you will benefit from it.

The great part about this is that I scheduled 13 new “Marketing Mojo” webinars for you to join. You can see the complete list by visiting –> Focus Consulting Online Marketing Mojo Webinars

Sign up for one or for all. We’d love to teach and share what we know on the call.

– Patrick

P.S. See that form over on the right side of our site to get our Marketing Mojo book? You should fill that out. Not because I want to email you in the future (Which I do). But I ask for a brutal, honest critique from everybody that reads it. I take all of that feedback and revise that book every couple of months. I’d love your feedback to add also. Thanks.

P.P.S. If you don’t want to attend any of the webinars but know someone who does then share this post with them. Thanks.

Related posts:

1. Video: Finding your Email Marketing Mojo
2. New Video Section Added
3. Video: Introduction to the Marketing Mojo System

To read this post on our site: Yeah Baby! 13 Marketing Mojo webinars added To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

I am far from a tin foil hat kind of guy. But pretty soon you will start seeing ads on Facebook that are very specific to your area.

As of two weeks ago Facebook allows advertisers to target their marketing campaign to specific zip codes. This will only work if you have zip code information in your profile. You should take the time right and check that information. Remove your zip code if you don’t like the idea, but also consider adding your zip code if you’d like to see better advertising. Your zip code information is in your Facebook profile under ‘Contact Information’. Ads are only annoying when you get the ones you don’t want. Now you have a chance to fix that.

About a year ago I wrote my first Facebook application to specifically loop through all of my friends information and show me their zip codes. At that time less than 10% of my friends had filled in that field. So while I think this is a great feature for targetted advertising, I think it will also cause ads to show up less frequently for advertisers.

What is next for Facebook? I’d make an guess here and say that Facebook has a lot more area code information than zip code information. This is due to the fact that many users access Facebook via their phone/mobile application and in some cases the mobile applications require you to validate your mobile number. I can see Facebook turning on area code based advertising in the future. But that will not give the marketing too much more information that they cannot already get by targeting you via your state and your city.

[ Original Facebook Zip Code Targeting article is here ]

Related posts:

1. Facebook Marketing : The book has arrived
2. The new realistic Facebook Terms of Service
3. 3 lies+6 truths: Email marketing is alive and well

To read this post on our site: Pay Attention: Facebook now allows ad targeting by zip code To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

(Welcome to the 3rd post in the online marketing mindset series of 6. Click here to read the original summary post and Part 2)

Rule #2: You Have to be Very Loud

I am going to have a lot of people that are going to disagree with me on this point. But I have seen it be a major factor in the success or failure of companies that build online marketing campaigns.

You have to be constantly talking about how good your business is, and how you do it better than your competition. This is why there are so many cases of a great company with no marketing performing poorly while their competition that provides mediocre service but has great marketing is prospering. One of the many functions of marketing is to spread your message repeatedly to as many people as possible. Once or twice is not enough. Your potential client base needs to your brand in their head as the one that solves their problems. They need to think of you whenever they encounter somebody that has a problem that they know you solve. And your company name needs to be on the tip of their tongue at all times. The only way this happens is by demonstrating your expertise on a frequent basis. You cannot rely on the hope that people will find you and just give you money. That might happen occasionally. But the best and loyal customers are the ones that think of you first, trust you, and will buy from you without question when you have a problem that they need fixed.

Once you hit a marketing tipping point you don’t have to worry about talking about yourself as much. Your raving repeat customers will do all of your marketing for you. But until that happens you have to constantly work at putting your message into the consumers head. Example of ways to get that message out over and over: Make sure you have an active email campaign that hits your database between once a week and once a month. Start looking into paid advertising that is very targeted towards your market.

I’d like your feedback on this issue in the comments below. What are other online marketing methods (outside of your own website) that you can drive your value message repeatedly but still be cost-effective ?

Related posts:

1. Top 5 Rules of the Online Marketing Mindset-Rule 1 of 5
2. Focus on Marketing: Text Message Marketing Experiment
3. Facebook Marketing : The book has arrived

To read this post on our site: Online Marketing Rule 2 of 5: You Have to be Very Loud To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

(Welcome to the 2nd post in the series of 6. Click here to read the original summary post)

Rule #1: You have to be dramatically different and dramatically fast about it

You are boring. Compared to the other one million businesses who do your same job on the internet you lack any substance. I was shopping for someone who does what you do and I found your website. But I am unimpressed by your skills and your presentation. I have been at your site for 10 seconds. I’ve had my fill and I’m moving on. I am closing this browser tab and I’ll never see your site again.

This is how shoppers think when they find most businesses on the internet. And they are right. Look at your site. Your colors. Your pictures. Your videos. Is there anything particularly unique about them ? Is there anything on your site that people will mouse over, click on, and say “Wow. Hey honey come look at this. This is cool.”. If not you have homework to do after reading this post.

Be Different

People will buy personality over skill any day of the week. Either get personality fast or hire someone who has it. Start making videos that stand out in your field. Do some ridiculous (but educational) things with your products or services. Is your website boring? Find a creative graphic designer who has created out-of-the-box websites. Ask for a few free ideas from them to see if they have thought of some things you never considered. Don’t ask them to work for free. But ask them for a simple idea or two to get an idea of where they would go with your site.

Simplify Your Home Page

This is an exercise we completed recently on the Focus Consulting home page. I was very frustrated with our page having the same sidebars and links as everybody else in our field. I had Allographics and Design sit with us to see how we could strip away everything but most necessary items from the Focus home page. The first thing we decided we would do is strip away any sidebars. Since I use Genesis by Studiopress (affiliate link) I can choose the sidebar layout for each page. I made our home page all content with no sidebars. They next thing that I decided to fix was our message. Was is possible for someone to land on our home page and instantly figure out what we do. No ? Then that needs to become crystal clear. Your home page needs to be like your elevator pitch. Except on the internet you don’t get fifteen seconds. You get three.

Your Homework From This Blog Post

Take the time today to study your website home page. Imagine if a visitor had three seconds to look at your site to figure out what you do and how you do it different. Start stripping away all the extra “stuff” that does not instantly communicate your main marketing message. You can put it on other pages. But keep that home page clean.

Now go be different.

Related posts:

1. Top Five Rules of the Online Marketing Mindset – Part 1
2. Online Marketing Rule 2 of 5: You Have to be Very Loud
3. The New Rules of Viral Marketing

To read this post on our site: Top 5 Rules of the Online Marketing Mindset-Rule 1 of 5 To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

Have you seen the reports about the amazing wonders of text  message marketing ? The latest hype I’ve heard is that people open up 99% of text messages. That is the future. Email marketing (just like newspapers) are dead. There is no sense in building an email list any more. The world is mobile so that is the area you should be focusing on.

If you believe any of that then you are really being snowballed. Email marketing is alive and well. And if you are not taking advantage of this (almost) free method of reaching out to your clients then you are throwing leads and money out of the window.

The 3 lies of SMS Marketing/Mobile Marketing:

1. People open 99% of text messages. What do you expect? Your phone is beeping at you and you have no choice but to acknowledge it. It blocks everything on your screen until you do. So messages are being acknowledged but not acted upon. It is similar to your doorbell ringing. 99% of the time when your doorbell is rung you answer. But you rarely buy from the salesman if there is one on your porch.
2. The world has converted to mobile shopping. While mobile shopping is growing, it is still in the infant stage. Any great mobile experience takes a smartphone made in the past couple of years to be effective. And there are still plenty of mobile users with plain old flip phones. Don’t forget the old market out there that you cannot control.
3. You must use QR codes. See the previous item. While QR codes are slick, they take a smart phone and the appropriate software application to use them. In addition you are requesting the consumer to take proactive involvement in your marketing. They are doing the work to get your message. Try them out for fun, but don’t bet too much money on them yet. If you do choose to experiment with them make sure that they offer the user a special deal or experience as a result of making them go through the effort of scanning your code. Put some sort of explanation next to the code as to the benefits of scanning. Experiment with the Microsoft alternative also to see which works better for you.

The 6 Truths of Email Marketing:

1. Everybody (almost) has an email address. Are you 100% certain that everybody has a cell phone ? Or that they have a text messaging plan? Or that they want to pay every time you send a marketing message to them ?
2. Every social network relies on email. If we are going social that means that we need email more, not less. The only way I find out that I have private messages on any social network is when they drop an email in my inbox.
3. People are reading email on their phones. For the people who do have smart phones and a data plan they are likely also checking email on their phone. And they don’t have to pay extra for it. So give them the same rich experience that they are used to at their desktop.
4. Emails are easy to forward and save. And it takes more time to read emails. If people are anything like me I sometimes save emails for years. I’m also very good about saving and organizing old emails. I delete all of my text messages immediately.
5. You can give people more options in email. Since emails can be just about any length you have more options than you do with a short text message. You can style emails to make them more attractive . You can give people multiple links. And you have a better chance of putting a call to action or pleading your business case in an email.
6. Email marketing is free. Head over Mailchimp.com. You can get a free account to start emailing up to 2000 of you current customers and leads. You can never use cost now as a reason to not start.

So get out there and start experimenting with email marketing. You can get a free account at Mailchimp today. If you really want to do amazing things with your email marketing check out what I use – Infusionsoft (I am a customer and affiliate). Either product is a winner – as you will be once you get rolling.

Related posts:

1. No email list? You are at a marketing disadvantage
2. Episode 21 – 16 Ways to Screw Up Your Email Marketing
3. Why Our Infusionsoft Email Marketing Now Rocks

To read this post on our site: 3 lies+6 truths: Email marketing is alive and well To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

This post is short and sweet – Facebook finally released the “Best Practice Guide to Facebook Marketing “. This is your rule book for the world of big blue. Go forth and conquer. The link is below. Use your new power wisely.

Facebook Marketing Best Practices Guide

For those of you that only have a Facebook fan page the message is clear: There is a lot more that you can be doing. One of the most misunderstood (and therefore scary) parts of Facebook adverting is the pay-per-click portion. We have done countless walkthroughs with clients on what they can be doing in this area and I will personally assuring that Facebook Marketing this ways is very simple. Poke around in the advertising portion of Facebook Marketing sometime and you will find an amazing tool that allows a level of targeting marketing unmatched on any other platform on the internet.

If you’d ever like a demo or a walkthrough let me know and I’ll be happy to help you out.

Related posts:

1. Pay Attention: Facebook now allows ad targeting by zip code
2. The new realistic Facebook Terms of Service
3. Episode 9 – Wild West Marketing Show: the Facebook Show

To read this post on our site: Facebook Marketing : The book has arrived To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

We’ll take a break from our normal exciting talk about social media and the online marketing world. This video should make you take pause and enjoy the amazing things that we have available to us. Like that computer screen you are looking at right now. Or the car in your driveway. Or that cell phone right there next to your computer.

Enjoy. Peace & Out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related posts:

1. New Video: The one where I give away stuff
2. Five Amazing Things About WordPress
3. 3 lies+6 truths: Email marketing is alive and well

To read this post on our site: Everything is Amazing Right Now and Nobody is Happy To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

Of the 50+ books that we have on the shelf here at Focus is the amazing David Meerman Scott titled “The New Rules of Marketing & PR”. We’ve read our copy several times and I’d suggest you pick up yours if you are looking for some eye opening information about what our world is turning into. There are new rules to the online marketing game and this should be one of your rule books.

We just found out that Mr. Scott now has a follow free ebook titled “The New Rules of Viral Marketing”. If you have any doubts about using social media or the amazing things you can achieve with it then this book should clear them up.

Click it. Get it. Read it. And share this post on your Twitter and Facebook page. Free books are great, and free ebooks are great and faster.

Peace. Out.

Related posts:

1. Top Five Rules of the Online Marketing Mindset – Part 1
2. Top 5 Rules of the Online Marketing Mindset-Rule 1 of 5
3. Is your website playing by the rules?

To read this post on our site: The New Rules of Viral Marketing To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

Focus Consulting works with companies across the world helping them expand their online marketing footprint online. But if you are located in Oklahoma City you can take advantage of our consulting and training services at a discounted rate.

Click here to see a list of the services that we offer. We are a leader in the Oklahoma City Web Design, Oklahoma City SEO/Search Engine Optimization, and the Oklahoma City Social Media services area. In addition we also provide Tulsa Web Design Services, Tulsa SEO/Search Engine Optimization, and Tulsa Social Media Services.

We have been in Oklahoma City for over 20 years and we love our local client base. If you’d like to see how we can make your business look amazing online pick up the phone and call us today at 405 283 6287.

Related posts:

1. Need our Tulsa Social Media Training Services?
2. Oklahoma City Social Media Training Schedule
3. Oklahoma City Social Media

To read this post on our site: Need our Oklahoma City or Tulsa Training Services? To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

I was inspired after watching the Infusionfoft Infusioncon conference for the past 2 days. Check it out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Were you at Infusioncon? Tell me about how good it was so I can be jealous in the comments below.

Related posts:

1. Video: Video Marketing Ideas for your business
2. Video: Are you missing free opportunities every month?
3. Video: Hate email marketing? Don’t watch this video

To read this post on our site: Video: Ain’t Marketing a Niche? To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

I have fallen in love with this book called The Referral Engine.[Affiliate Link] . Here is why:

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can pick up a copy at Amazon.com [affiliate link]

Related posts:

1. Video: Patrick Allmond chats with Lyn Hester at KSBI
2. Video: Hate email marketing? Don’t watch this video
3. Video: Ain’t Marketing a Niche?

To read this post on our site: Video: Patrick Allmond on The Referral Engine To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

It was something that I had been working on and growing into. And it finally came to fruition this week. My application to the National Speakers Association was received and accepted.

What does this mean for you and your business?

The quality of the content that we present to your business is on the rise. We are not a fly by night organization. We are here for your long term success whether it is for an hour long lunch presentation or a full day seminar on how to skyrocket your business with social media. We believed it before, and now it has been reaffirmed by an internationally recognized professional speaking organization.

Let’s start growing your business today.

Warm Regards,

Patrick

Related posts:

1. Video: Patrick Allmond on The Referral Engine
2. OVAC 4-2-2011 Session with Patrick Allmond
3. Video: Patrick Allmond chats with Lyn Hester at KSBI

To read this post on our site: Patrick Allmond recognized by National Speakers Association To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

Are you measuring your marketing online ? – As the old saying goes: “You can’t improve what you can’t measure”. This holds true whether you are working in the real world or the online world. But what should you be measuring, and how do you get started? First – get a Google Analytics account and have your webmaster add that to your website ASAP. Any good webmaster can do it in a matter of minues. Then once you’ve had that installed for week start tracking the following numbers every week on a spreadsheet or a piece of paper: Number of visitors (should be going up), pages per visitor (shoud be going up), how much time each visitor spends on the site (should be going up), and your bounce rate (should be going down). If you need help tracking these numbers (or even need a website to get started tracking these numbers) contact us at Focus.

How to piss away a 20 year career in 140 characters and 30 seconds – We here at Focus love to share examples of social media gone bad. Why? Because we don’t want you to kill your personal reputation, your company’s repuation or worst of all to lose your job. How fast can it happen ? One bad Facebook update or one bad Twitter update and you are history. A CNN reporter found out the hard way this week when she was fired for a Twitter message she posted. Remember the cardinal rules: If you would not say it in a bullhorn on a rooftop or say it with your mom/dad around don’t say it online. And don’t let other inexperienced people do your updates.

Want First Page Google Results? Danger Danger – It is everybody’s dream – to have their service or product show up in the top 10 positions of the very first page of a Google search . It has been shown time and time again that this can make or break you online. There are companies out there that promise they can do this for you. (We are not one of them because we know you cannot do it cheap and organically at the same time). But we were pitched by one this week that said they could do it – and that they were those only ones around that could. What made it pretty funny for us is that we had seen the same pitch from a different company exactly a week before. It is definitely doable if you have the money to afford the ads at that level. But please be very careful of companies like this one that are paying hefty fines for misleading companies when promising Google page one results. If you’d like more information on Google or Facebook advertising contact Focus and let’s chat.

Related posts:

1. Search 101: How Google Works
2. Google Plus Resources
3. Video: Google Plus, Mastermind, and the new CD

To read this post on our site: Measuring, Getting Fired, And Google First Page Search Results To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

Do you have a mailing list on your site? Mailing lists and newsletters are one of the best ways to build customer loyalty and communicate with your clients on a regular basis. We use Mailchimp here at Focus and we recommend it to all of our clients. Why? Because your cost is ZERO until your email list gets over 500 members. There is no reason for you to not sign up. You can have your own mailing list form on your site in a matter of days. Click here to see how they work and get your own account today.

Focus Beginner Marketing Private Membership Coming - We have a lot of people that come to us that are just getting started in marketing online. And they have no clue as to where to start. Do you start with Social Media? Do you build your website first? But what about the Facebook Fan page? These are all questions that Focus can help you with. And we are building a private paid member area just for you to be able to learn more about this topic . Our private communty will be geared towards the person that has no time to learn online marketing, or that wants to learn it but needs to start at square one. Stay tuned! This is exciting stuff.

Have you ever wanted to offer LIVE help on your website? This week we discoverd a great FREE utility that allows you to offer a live chat session to people browsing your products and your site. And you can also proactively initiate a chat with the shopper. That product is called Livezilla! and can be found HERE. Do you love free? We sure do. This product does some amazing things. You can see exactly what part of the country the person is browsing from. You can see what page they are browsing on your site. If you are chatting with them you can send them an exact page to browse. This is great if people are hunting for something on your site that is hard to find. Check it out and let us know how you like it.

Related posts:

1. Episode 15 – Help! My Website Needs a Medic
2. Is your website playing by the rules?

To read this post on our site: Mailing Lists, Private Membership, and Website Live Help To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

I saw something this evening that was disturbing. It is one of many ways of not being transparent online and risking your reputation and the trust of your current and future customers.

One of our local news outlets NewsOK has a contest called the Readers Choice awards. They are one of several in the area that have this sort of contest. It is a marketing tool for the news outlet, and it brings in great press to great businesses. Businesses that people already knew were good and that are able to stand on their own merits.

As I was catching up on my Twitter stream I saw that someone had voted for “Jeff Click Homes” in the NewsOK Annual 2010 Readers Choice awards. I was thinking “Great” as I moved my mouse over to click on the link in the tweet. As far as I know they are a great company that produces good looking homes. I’ve always been a fan of their work.  I clicked on the link that person posted after their vote and it took me to this page:

http://jeffclickhomes.com/story/our-2010-readers-choice-ipad-giveaway

Basically Jeff Click is having a giveaway for an iPad if you vote for them, tell everybody that you voted for them so then your friends can vote for them and also have a chance at winning an iPad?  This is also part of the FAQ for the contest:

Do I have to live in Oklahoma City to participate?
No, not at all.  However, each state has different laws regarding giveaways.  So, as they say, “Void where prohibited.”

In the middle of me reading up on this I was sent a DM or two about  other companies that are doing the same thing for this same contest. Customers and employees are being rewarded with prizes, casual days, food, etc. if they vote up for their company in the contest. What? You offer to give your employees food if they vote for you?

To any companies that participate in this practice: Please reconsider. If you believe you are good enough to win said contest then encourage your customers to vote for you based on your merits. Make sure they see the full slate of who they can vote for and let them vote their conscience. If you are truly worthy of winning you will have no problem getting votes and you can look yourself in the mirror in the morning without a problem. By offering a prize (like a very popular iPad) you are encouraging people to vote for an iPad,  not vote for you. People that don’t know who you are and don’t care will vote just to win this piece of lovely hardware.

To NewsOK: I was not able to find any rules about your contest online. If they are there then I am sorry. . If you don’t have any rules online about this then please get some. But only do it if you care about your reputation also. If you are not going to post any rules about this then when listing the winning consider adding the disclaimer that “winners may or may have not offered awards in exchange for obtaining votes”. I think that your rules should state that any company involved in this practice should be disqualified from winning. As of 1:03am Tuesday morning I know that you have at least two companies doing this. I would not be surprised if there are more.

In the grand scheme of things this is trivial. A lot of life is a popularity contest. But I would not have gone through this exercise if I didn’t think that the parties involved should not be held to high standard of business. That is why I care. Not for the iPad but for the standard.

Let’s set the bar high and keep it there.

6/20 Follow Up Disclosure: I have done marketing work with other Oklahoma builders in the past, and I will probably do so in the future.

No related posts.

To read this post on our site: Set a higher standard of business: Don’t try to buy popularity To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?

It seems that sometimes social media should just be called “I need to be on the internet all of the time” media. If you are like us you realize pretty fast that any slowdown or delay in your internet speed really stresses you out.

We just found this great page over at BigContacts that will help you speed up your web browsing – no matter what browser you are using.

Check it out

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We had a chance to go up to Bartlesville and speak to them about the joys and perils of Online Video. There was standing room only in the room and we could have gone for 6 hours on the subject. But, alas, they only gave us one. Here is a post seminar review.

Quote from the article:

“We’re in an age of relationship marketing,” he said. “A business does a lot better trying to build up relationships and giving out free information than it does trying to sell somebody something.” By sharing information in a personal way through video, potential customers become comfortable with the business owner. “They’re already sold before they ever walk in the front door,” he said. Allmond said he’s not a fan of the company spokesperson, however. Customers want to see who will be in the business when they go inside.

Click here to read the full article

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To read this post on our site: Online Video and our seminar in Bartlesville To read all of our posts: Ready to Learn?