Helping Past and Present Warriors Do Business on the Internet
I am offering free small business training and coaching for active and retired United States military soldiers and officers. If you know anyone that may be interested in starting a new small business, please have them email me at bootstrapacademy@gmail.com. Thanks!
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Recent ArticlesThe article below is from the Duct Tape Marketing Newsletter. If you don’t receive it yet, you should sign up now.
I don’t really think that the MySpace’s and Facebook’s of the world are essential marketing plays for the typical small business as they stand today.
There are some very practical business reasons for some to actually use these and other, what are called social networks, for business gain, but most people that have jumped on the social network bandwagon have found themselves left with a “is this all there is” kind of feeling.
To those I say this, the value of the current public social networks for business folks is not what you can get out of them for gain today, but what you can learn by using them for practical gain tomorrow. That’s why experimenting with social media and social networks makes so much sense for you right now.
The Facebook’s of the world are busy teaching millions and millions of business folks how social networks work, how social networking works, how shared applications can be viral and ever-present. The real payoff in my opinion is that the wave to come is the “personalized business network.” Once everyone of your customers and prospects knows how to use what are easily replicable social networking tools, like building profiles, sharing video and connecting based on mutual interests, your job of building your own social business network around your own very specific community of niche will get a whole lot easier.
I think 2009 will be known as the year of the personalized social business network. So, if you’ve decided to take a pass on the whole social networking trend, I would suggest that you use this handy list to start learning to ride this bike with the training wheels on.
Ten ways to get started with Social Networking.
1) Read 10 blogs - sign-up for a Bloglines or Google Reader account and search for and subscribe to 10 blogs about social networking - you can return daily to your page on Bloglines to find and read all the new content on your 10. Of course you can add blogs about your industry and interests here too.
2) Comment on 10 blogs - posting relevant comments to blogs you read is a very simple form of social networking. It’s also a good way to get some extra visitors your site or blog.
3) Join Facebook - Join and create a profile. Find and friend some of your existing contacts using tools on Facebook. You’ll be surprised how many people you already know have Facebook accounts. Facebook has some real value for you because of the rich set of tools and large amount of active users. This is a great place to experiment with how people interact in social networks. Once you get your feet wet you may also find that Facebook is a great way to connect with business contacts you may never bump into otherwise.
4) Create a MySpace page - this service is really embraced primarily by musicians and the younger set. It also happens to have a large underbelly contingent so be warned, but it is a great tool for learning how to build a presence outside of your web site.
5) Join LinkedIn - this is a service that’s been called Facebook for professionals. It is really about meeting and connecting with like-minded business folks. It is a great service for people looking for a job or to make connections with people who may be out of reach without an introduction.
6) Visit Ning - this is the largest custom social networking service that allows you to create your own community using a variety of tools that can be branded to match your current site.
7) Create a Workbench profile - this one’s a little self-serving as this is my social business networking site but it’s a good example of the personalized business community that’s the next wave for small business.
Create a Twitter account - this tool is pretty silly on the surface, it allows you to type in 140 characters or less what you are doing right now. It feels like a giant waste of time but a very large and active community has grown around this kind of micro-blogging and you should understand how people are using it.
9) Create a StumbleUpon profile - This is a social network built around discovering and recommending sites that you like. Active stumblers can send a lot of traffic your way
10) Create a Digg account - this site allows you to keep up to the minute with what’s happening in the world of business. Users submit and vote on what is believed to be the most important content.
You might also consider Mixx, Squidoo, Delicious, and Flickr as places to find and develop niche related communities when you’re ready to really get out there.
Think of MySpace, LinkedIn and Facebook as your labs - get in there and experiment for the future. then start planning your own personalized social business network.
Here is a great post at Noupe.com that outlines some sites that you can use to check on competitors and improve your own site.
I use several of these sites, and I’d be happy to try to help answer any questions that you may have about them. Let me know if they help!
Technorati Tags: noupe.com
This free page is a HUGE resource for small business owners. Please check this one out and let me know how you use the links.
Technorati Tags: The Internet Marketing Handbook
Here is a link to a great post by Chris Pirillo. I have used Google Apps for over a year now, so please let me know if you have any questions about using it for your business.
Technorati Tags: google apps, chris pirillo
Seth Godin has just released a free EBook that will compliment his new book Tribes. You can download it here. I will be reviewing the EBook and the book in future posts. Please let me know your thoughts!
Technorati Tags: seth godin, tribes, ebook
Another great post from Andy Sernovitz that poses some questions from Howard Mann of The Business Brickyard. How can these questions help your business?
Howard Mann of The Business Brickyard share 16 really smart questions that every business should ask. The answers aren’t as easy as you thing.
1. What products or services do you sell?
2. What is your core purpose?
3. What are the biggest opportunities for your organization/product/service?
4. What are the biggest challenges/dangers to overcome?
5. What are your unique abilities/strengths?
6. Who are your customers?
7. List your top 5 primary competitors and their specific strengths as you and/or your market see them
8. Who do your target clients think of first when “shopping” your category?
9. What is the biggest issue that is dragging down your entire industry?
10. What do you dislike most about your market and/or your industry?
11. What makes your business a “tough business”?
12. What is your organization’s durable competitive advantage? In other words, what can you say that no one else can say?
13. Your “Skyscraper” Business. Describe (In as much detail as possible) what you would want your business to be like 20 years from today. Revenue, profit, offices, clients, staff,etc…
14. What are the medium term goals of your organization? (Within 3 years)
15. What are the short term goals of your organization? (Within 12 months)
16. If we were sitting one 1 year from today, what (specifically) would have happened with your business to make you VERY happy with the results?
Here is a link to a video on HubSpot that helps explain how to use Twitter for Marketing and Public Relations. The video is from a Free Marketing Webinar they conducted on Friday, Oct 10 at 2 PM EDT.
Michael Martine is the blog guru that can help you learn how to drive traffic to your blog. His Growing Blog Traffic teleseminar is only $67 and will be held from 3-5 PM EST on Saturday, October 18. I attended his WordPress SEO seminar and even though it cost about twice as much as this one, it was well worth the time and money.
Click on this hyperlink to learn more about his Growing Blog Traffic Live Teleseminar. Also, be sure to sign up for his newsletter and add his RSS feed to your feed reader. Follow Michael on Twitter @remarkablogger. You will be glad you did!
According to MyBizHomepage founder Peter Justen in BusinessWeek, now may just be the perfect time to start your business.
Money is tight, but affordable online resources are plentiful. Office Applications like Google Apps and ZOHO can help you get started for free in a matter of minutes.
No matter what you need to get your business started, odds are that there is a an online resource that will help.
Technorati Tags: google apps, zoho, businessweek, justen
