May
29
2009

Make Something Old New Again

insightslogoGreat business ideas and practices aren’t always something new or innovative.  Sometimes they’re something old that just needs to be brought back.  In my weekly article over at Insights Group, I discuss this idea of making old things new again:

A long time ago, most humans lived in small villages and towns – where everyone knew everyone else and all required goods and services were provided, sold, bought and traded.  In the town’s general store, people would gather for the news and shopkeepers knew everything about their customers – anticipating future purchases and provided exceptional customer service (even though the customer was pretty much stuck with what they could offer).

Today, the Internet has once again made it easy for companies to communicate with their customers – and for customers to communicate with each other.  Exceptional customer service is once again important. – Make Something Old New Again – Sarah Worsham – Insights Group

I hope you’ll head over to Insights to read the whole article – it may help get the creative juices flowing…

May
29
2009

Internet Marketing, Strategy & Technology Links – May 29, 2009

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May
28
2009

Set Your Content Free

flyShahramSharifI’m still amazed by how many businesses have only partial RSS feeds from their blogs or websites.  A partial RSS feed usually just has the title and a excerpt with the hopes that it’ll entice you to click to the website to read the rest of the post.  We’re all busy people.  I read my RSS feeds in Google Reader because it allows me to catchup on lots of different sites without having to spend the time visiting them all.  What makes your content so different from TechCrunch or the New York Times that I should bother visiting your site to read it?

With the proliferation of various mobile devices – smartphones, the Kindle and others yet to be released, it’s important for people to get to your content as easily as possible.  One of the easiest ways to create a mobile website is to use a service such as MoFuse or Unity Mobile and provide them with your RSS feed.  If you only have a partial feed, people on the mobile devices will have to click to go to your website.  Is your website optimized for mobile visitors?  Why make people click from one place that’s made for their device to another that many not?

Unless you’re selling your content, why be so protective of it?  If you set your content free and allow people to view it however they want, they’ll be more likely to read it, and more importantly, share it.  It makes your content easier to view on many different devices and platforms.  And it doesn’t annoy people who you want as your customers.  Most businesses are selling something other than their content.  By freeing your content you get your name and brand and reputation out to a much larger audience, which is much more productive than forcing people into a funnel.  Even if you do happen to sell your content, or sell advertising on your blog, there are ways to advertise via RSS or other methods.  By freeing your content, you are giving readers a reason to trust you.  Which will make it much easier to sell them something later – an ebook, study, webinar, whatever.

Free your content.  Connect with your readers.  Allow them the freedom to share, read, comment and repurpose what you write.  You’ll build trust and reputation and your message will spread much further.

(photo by Shahram Sharif @ Flickr CC)

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May
28
2009

Internet Marketing, Strategy & Technology Links – May 28, 2009

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May
27
2009

Mobile & iPhone Versions of Sazbean.com in Just Minutes with MoFuse

mofuselogoI’ve been investigating various mobile applications and services, and one of the most fascinating are services that easily create mobile versions of websites.  As more people have smartphones, it will be extremely important to have a website that is usable on mobile devices (and others).  Luckily, RSS feeds make it very easy to port content across different platforms.

Previously I took at look at Unity Mobile, which was fast, but I enjoyed the experience with MoFuse much more.  Creating the site was as easy as giving the RSS link for my blog, uploading a logo and changing some colors.  The interface was very similar to WordPress or other blogging software.  I was able to preview the site before it launched, and there’s a WordPress plugin which will automatically direct mobile traffic to the MoFuse site.  I can also monetize the mobile site with ads (revenue sharing) and MoFuse has neat features like click-to-call.  For the full review, head over to New Media Hub.

The Sazbean.com mobile site is here.

iPhone Sazbean app can be found here.

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May
27
2009

Internet Marketing, Strategy & Technology Links – May 27, 2009

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May
26
2009

Sazbean on Kindle

sazbeankindleIf you happen to be lucky enough to have a Kindle (or the Kindle app for iphone), Sazbean is now available through the Kindle store: Sazbean on Kindle. While I don’t expect this to generate a bunch of money, I thought it was an interesting avenue to explore as far as marketing. Amazon recently opened up the Kindle store to blogs, so if you have one and you’d like to take a look at it, here’s the link.

It still remains to be seen if people would be willing to pay for blog content on the Kindle, but it is an interesting experiment, and certainly another way to monetize content.  If you have a Kindle and download my content, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.  Likewise, if you have your content on the Kindle store, I’d be love to hear what you think as well.

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May
26
2009

Internet Marketing, Strategy & Technology Links – May 26, 2009

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May
22
2009

The Faceless Company

insightslogoI wrote a post yesterday at Insights Group about giving a face to your company.  Customers no longer want to just purchase a product from your company.  They want to know something about you.  They want your company to have a face and a personality.

People are more likely to do business with a company if they have some sort of connection.  Be it a referral or emotional attachment or just some type of experience that puts a face behind a company. – The Faceless Company – Sarah Worsham – Insights Group

Does your company have a face? What kind of face does your company have?

May
22
2009

Internet Marketing, Strategy & Technology Links – May 22, 2009

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