This morning Google is launching Google Video for business, a customized video platform aimed at businesses for internal use. Think training vides, HR videos, etc. (anything that isn’t outside facing). The product is included in Google Apps Premier Edition for free, with 3 GB of storage per user account. - TechCrunch - Google Video Launches for Businesses

This launch will obviously have a limited use for now, but if you’re looking for a video service/vendor for internal use, Google might be a good vendor to check out, especially if you have users who are familiar with YouTube (it has similar functionality).  I’m guessing that Google will look to expand this in the future and possibly become a competitor in the online video industry - it’s just a logical jump from owning YouTube.

If you’ve had any success with using social media to increase the traffic to your website, you may have noticed that you usually get a spike in traffic which often goes back to original levels.  While getting a spike in traffic might be nice (or not nice if it crashes your website), if your traffic goes back to the original levels, you’ve lost an opportunity to convert some of those people to long-term visitors.  Traffikd has a good article with some ways to try to convert traffic spikes from social media into long-term visitors - Social Media Marketing: Getting Long-Term Results.  A summary of things to consider from the post:

• Subject of your posts
• Tone of your Posts
• Targeted Social Media
• Timing
• Potential Impact
• The Needs that are Met by the Post

While Traffikd’s post focuses mostly on blogs, these techniques can also be used on your business website.  It is important to maintain a customer-centric design by keeping the needs of your customers in mind with your content (and your design, layout, etc.).  The customers who visit your website are who provide the return on investment (ROI) for your website.

What’s worked for your business website in terms of social media?  Please share in the comments below.

Joshua Porter is offering a free chapter of his book, Designing for the Social Web.  The book is geared towards web designers and developers, but this chapter has some great tips for what to put on your website or social network to entice visitors to sign up.  Most importantly it shows you how to put yourself into the shoes of your visitors to understand what information they need in order to understand what your website is about and what they’ll get out of signing up.  Next is understanding how the site works and how to sign up…. worth checking out.

If you offer advertising (or want to) on your business website or blogs, you may have been holding off because of the cost of using online ad management systems.  Sure, there are “free” ad networks, but most of those don’t allow you full control over the ads that show up on your site.  Google’s Ad Manager allows you to sell ads, but also to supplement those ads with ads from Google AdSense and other ad networks.  TechCrunch has more information: Google Will Now Manage Your Website’s Ads, as well as Ad Operations Online: Google Ad Manager out of Beta; All AdSense Publishers Can Use It.

There has been quite a lot of press lately about whether or not you need a PR firm for your business.  At the top of the current buzz is a blog post Jason Calcanis, CEO of Mahaolo, wrote: Jason Calcanis On How To Get PR For Your Startup: Fire Your PR Company.  An excerpt:

My philosophy of PR is summed up in six words: be amazing, be everywhere, be real.

You don’t need a PR firm, you don’t need an in-house PR person and you don’t need to spend ANY money to get amazing PR. You don’t need to be connected, and you don’t need to be a “name brand.”  Silicon Alley Insider - Jason Calcanis On How To Get PR For Your Startup: Fire Your PR Company

Obviously this post has caused a bit of a storm of PR and marketing folks looking for blood.  But the fact is that most small businesses (tech startups or otherwise) don’t have the budget for an expensive PR firm.  Jason has some great tips that businesses of any size can put to use - whether or not you use a PR firm.  An overview of the ten tips:

1. Be the brand
2. Be everywhere
3. Always pick up the check — always
4. Be a human being
5. How to bond with a journalist
6. How a CEO should e-mail a journalist
7. How a CEO should speak to a journalist
8. Invite people to “swing by” your office
9. Attach your brand to a movement
10. Embrace small media outlets

Do you have your own tips for PR?  Please share in the comments….

If you’ve been blogging for awhile or have a good number of posts, you may have noticed that there are particular older posts that still get pretty good traffic.  Usually these posts are popular either with search engines or social media.  These older posts are a great place to connect with new readers and Traffikd has a great post with some tips on how to keep these old posts working for your business: 7 Ways to Improve Your Old Social Media Posts.

Is blogging right for your business? If you’re considering adding a blog to your business website, Marketing Moves to the Blogosphere from the Washington Post is worth a read. It includes information from Bill Marriot’s blog for Marriot International and the blog for Viget Labs.

“It’s a phenomenal promotion vehicle for a company, or a great crisis tool or a great customer service tool,” said Geoff Livingston, a public relations strategist and social media expert.- Washington Post - Marketing Moves to the Blogosphere

Matt Cuts, who works for Google, also has 3 Tips for “company blogging”.

These are somewhat scary times at some B2Bs.  Despite expert advice about becoming more aggressive in a downturn (some of it summarized in our posting “B2B Marketing in a Recession”), their top management is more inclined to be cutting marketing expense than approving increased spending.  Leads are harder to come by and taking noticeably longer to close. - B2B Web Strategy - Fast fixes for B2B marketing in a sour economy

The slow economy may have given you a little bit of extra time on your hands.  Now is a great time to take a look at your business marketing plan and procedures and do some housecleaning.  B2B Web Strategy has some good information to get started, which can apply to both B2B and B2C companies.  Here are some more suggestions:

• Measurement - Take a look at your analytics and sales measurement tools and make sure you are getting the information you need to make good decisions.
• Advertising - Re-evaluate any advertising you’re doing - display, print, AdWords, etc.  What’s working well and what’s not?  Are the ways to improve what isn’t working as well?
• Customer List - Spring clean your CRM or customer list.  Are there some customers/potential customers who should be moved to the bottom shelf?  Are there customers you should be spending more time with?
• Lead Generation - Are your lead generation processes working well? Are there improvements you can make to increase leads or the quality of leads?
• Sales Funnel - Once you get qualified leads, are they becoming sales?  What can be improved to increase the percentage of leads that convert to sales?

Remember that to increase sales on your website (and in general), you need to increase traffic to your site (and keep the same conversion percentage) or increase the conversion percentage (for the same amount of traffic) or both.  Periodically re-evaluating your business marketing plan and how well it is working can help you achieve whichever goal you choose.

What fast fixes work for your business marketing?

Technorati Tags: business marketing, marketing, internet marketing, internet consulting, internet business strategy

The perils of preroll appear to have been vastly overstated, according to Nate Elliott, research director at Jupiter, who suggests audience loss as a direct result of prerolls could be as little as 5%. - Advertising Age - Fear of Preroll Ad Eases

If you’re considering advertising your business on online video, this study shows that viewers are not likely to leave just because you advertise before the video (a preroll ad).  However, viewers will leave if they feel that the content is not valuable.

If you are wondering about using Twitter for your Business, Web Strategist has a good article on the steps involved - Web Strategy: The Evolution of Brands on Twitter.

Here is a synopsis of the steps:

Babysteps:

• Identifying if this is the right marketplace
• Listening to clean insight
• Registering the namesake

Walking:

• Decide on the persona
• Decide on the method of engagement
• Examine the digital communications policy

Running:

• Integration with other tools
• Aggregation and joining conversations
• What’s next

Technorati Tags: twitter, social networks, social media, internet marketing, internet consulting, internet business strategy