Yes, You Do Have Time to Blog!

One of the common refrains I hear from people is that "I don't have time to blog."

On the surface, this seems believable. What small business owner isn't over-worked, whether it's with marketing, sales, bookkeeping, managing people, making the coffee, buying the computers, sending out proposals, answering the phones, taking out the garbage, and every other task that fills our days from the moment we hit the office (whether in or out of our house) to the moment we shut down the computer for the day?

And still, I call "B.S."

Because if you're a small business owner like I am, then blogging is something you can always fit into your day. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm not octomom (dignity in check, thanks), but my wife and I do have kids, and a work/life balance is important to us.

You see, blogging isn't some self-indulgent activity; it's investing in the future of your business. Blogging increases your search engine visibility, establishes your credibility, and generates inbound leads. In my opinion, it's probably the best marketing tool you have at your disposal, and once you get it set up it's nearly free.

Unlike other required tasks (phone calls, meetings and making the coffee, for example), you can blog any time. In fact, I recommend doing it in the off hours so you can follow up on all the leads active blogging will deliver to you during your normal business day.

Here's how to get it done:

• Write a blog post before the kids get up, or after you've put them to bed. (No kids? Then no excuse. Seriously, this is the time to be blogging like there's no tomorrow because feedings in the middle of the night can kill your creativity.) 
• Give up one night of TV a week and pump out two or three blog posts, and deliver them Monday, Wednesday and Friday the following week. 
• Review your Google alerts for your targeted keywords and write brief posts while eating at your desk two days a week.
• Use a voice-to-text tool while on the treadmill and speak your next blog post (85% less weird if you have a home gym.)

Listen, this is your business. You're an entrepreneur. No one said this was going to be easy. A blog isn't some toy, it's a business tool that's going to deliver qualified leads to your Web site. If you'd rather watch American Idol that's fine; just hope your competition feels the same way you do.

Rich Brooks
Blogging Past Midnight

The Web Takes No Prisoners: The Death of Gourmet Magazine

You may have heard that Gourmet magazine will stop publication after the November issue. 

In a world where "gourmet" has been replaced with the more egalitarian "foodie", over-scheduled families prefer 30 minute meals, and search engines serve up (no pun intended) more than one million different recipes, it may have just been Gourmet's time. How can a print magazine compete against a search engine that will provide recipes based on what you have in your cupboard?

Gourmet is just one business that has been upended by the Internet. Travel agencies, newspapers, independent bookstores, realtors, the local video rental store...the list goes on. 

And yet, within each of these groups certain people and businesses survive. Instead of seeing the Internet as a threat, they adopt their business plans and leverage the new tools available.

Some newspapers have abandoned print entirely, others have leveraged local bloggers and added community elements to their online editions. Some realtors have created video walkthroughs of homes and posted them to YouTube. Some local bookstores have partnered with Amazon, or formed a co-operative to compete.

Unfortunately, for each of these nimble businesses, there's 10 or 50 or 100 other businesses that do everything they can to hold onto their outdated business models, squeezing out every last penny from the buggy whip business.

Many business block their employees from using social media while at work. They often do this in the name of security or productivity, although I feel there are holes in both these arguments.

Tweets and Facebook updates aren't the only ways to share proprietary information; it's easier to put something a thumb drive. Likewise, the very tools that employees often need to do their job better are the ones being blocked.

The bottom line is that the Web and social media are changing the way we communicate and how we work; no one's going to argue that anymore. If your customers are on social media, then you have to let down the castle gates and talk with them.

You must learn to engage with them the way they want, be it through blogs, podcasts, YouTube or social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. If you're not willing to meet with them half-way, they'll find someone who is.

If your customers suddenly start communicating through smoke signals, then you better light a fire.

The Web takes no prisoners; if you don't adopt, if you don't take risks, your next issue may be your last.

You can follow, engage and argue with Rich Brooks on Twitter.

Book Review: Why Now is the Time to Crush It – Gary Vaynerchuk

I bought Gary Vaynerchuk’s first book, Crush It! Why Now Is the Time to Cash In On Your Passion, on the way to the airport today. Cracked it as we were pulling away from the gate at the Portland Jetport. Finished it somewhere over Ohio. (South of Columbus is what the captain told the flight attendant I asked—I know you demand accuracy.)

That’s no complaint against the length of the book. It may top out at 142 pages but it’s got more ideas than books three times its length.

The book now has a few dozen dog-eared pages, is filled with black underlines, and is littered w/a number of client’s names followed by exclamation points next to passages that inspired me to think about building there businesses using social media tools. (Chantal, Harbor Fish, and new person who knows she should be working with us, we have to talk.)

The book is part inspirational, part instructive, all Gary. He talks about how passion, hard work and social media tools can be used together to create an unstoppable force. He’s a walking poster boy for his line of thinking, the quintessential coming-to-America story. You can’t look at his history and think he had any advantage over you.

Through 13 chapters he walks you through how to brand yourself no matter where your passion lies. He has real life and hypothetical stories about gardeners, accountants, wine merchants and soccer players. There are chapters about how to create great content, which medium is best for you (blogging, video or audio), how to build a community, and a very short chapter—one word in fact—entitled “The Best Marketing Strategy Ever.”

In Gary’s world it’s not the size of your niche, it’s the depth of your passion.And you know what? I’m drinking the Kool-Aid. (Or maybe the Merlot.)

This book isn’t for everyone. If you’re not willing to take risks, if you’re not willing to share your passion, if you’re not willing to work hard—really, really hard—this book isn’t for you.

But if you’re entrepreneurial in spirit, I strongly recommend you run to your local bookstore or buy it here at Amazon, and soon you too will be able to Crush It!

Rich Brooks
Ready to Crush It!

Gary Vaynerchuk Tells You How to Cash In On Your Passion

Just in case this is the first time you you've used the Interwebs, let me introduce my guest.

Gary Vaynerchuk is a 33-year-old entrepreneur whose dual identity as both business guru and wine guy has made him known as the “Social Media Sommelier.” He's a dynamic speaker and passionate about everything he does. It's almost enough to forgive the fact he's a Jets fan.

********************************

Rich: I'm very excited you’ve got your first book coming out - Crush It! - on October 13. It’s about how to create a career around what you’re passionate about.

Obviously, the economy is not great. Some people might think this is a pipe dream. What are your thoughts on that?

Gary: I’m not really interested in convincing. I think my arguments and my thoughts are compelling. I know what it’s about. I’m not looking to do something that’s not real.

Anybody I know that’s in the internet space or social media space that really knows what they’re doing is up 35%, 50% or 80% in ad revenue, things like that.

The economy is bad for traditional places. It’s never a bad time to build a great business, right?

I love this time. I think that this is where the real players step up and win. I feel that if you come from a place of passion, you’re going to love the process. The results become almost secondary.

Clearly you need to pay rent, take care of your family and things of that nature, but I think people need to start wrapping their head around how much opportunity there is right now.

Rich: You talk a lot about passion. Do you think that passion is something that you can develop over time or is it just something that’s innate in that some people have it and some people don’t?

Gary: I think everybody has it. I think the innate thing is that some people see it and others don’t. What I’m good at is communicating and trying to force people to see it and understand it. That’s what I’m passionate about.

Rich: What happens if you’re passionate about something that’s kind of unlikely or odd or just a very narrow niche? How do you turn that into a business that’s going to help you make a living?

Gary: Mixed martial arts was a small niche seven years ago. If you came out and owned that space, you’d probably be sitting as a content provider and be in the half million or million dollar a year business right now.

My thing is to stick to your passion. I don’t understand how you can do something you don’t love. If you love it and you’re only making $40K and you were making $75K before, figure out how to subsidize the other $35K. Get a second job, a lightweight $35,000 a year job that may be at McDonalds.

Give as much time to what you love the most. You can grow with it. You will be bigger than you could ever imagine if you do the thing you love the most. It’s just the way it is. It’s so frigging obvious.

Rich: I had actually never heard you speak until I heard you do one of the opening presentations for the Social Media Success Summit and I was just really blown away.

You obviously have a very natural innate ability to attract people to your passion. But I know a lot of people who just don’t seem to be able to do something like that. What tips can you give people who might have a hard time attracting a crowd?

Gary: I attract a crowd, not because I’m an extrovert or I’m over the top or I’m oozing with charisma. It’s because I care.

I promise you that if you break down the people that you know that are in the content game right now and they aren’t building an audience, they’re spending more time reading about how to do it, trying to figure out how to do it, working on the content and are not putting in the 15 hours a day into the community. I promise you. I’ve never seen anybody put in a crap load of effort and time into their community and not grow. Never.

Rich: That actually brings up another question because I see a lot of people, especially lately on Twitter it seems, and I’m not sure if they’re people or bots some of the times, but they seem to be jumping into social media with the idea that it’s some sort of get rich-quick-scheme, that it's easy money and it doesn’t take a whole lot of work.

I know you have a strong opinion on this. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Gary: Yes, there’s a bunch of bull crap everywhere. People don’t want to work. That’s it. There’s nothing else to say.

I do not believe that people want to work hard enough and they want to find the quick Twitter, SEO. Anybody who's obsessed with SEO has lost already, period. I believe that firmly.

I just think that people need to think about big pictures. It’s a race.

I’m sitting here and I’m thinking about this. People are not running marathons, they’re running sprints. They’re looking for quick cash. They’re obsessed with things like buying AdWords and then converting on an affiliate program quicker and making cash. They’re looking for easy outs.

There’s only one true way to build a big business and its hard work, differentiating products and really giving a rat’s ass about your community.

Rich: I once called Twitter the 'Swiss army knife' of business communications. You had a great quote where you called it a 'caveman’s club'.

What do you think social media tools are going to look like in the future and how are they going to evolve?

Gary: I have no idea because that’s not what I do. But what I do is when I see them, I use them.

I don’t really want to invent a fork. I don’t want to invent a baseball bat, but I want to swing that bat better than anybody did. I didn’t want to be Louisville Slugger. I want to be Ted Williams and that’s what I’m good at. I recognize that. I’m not an inventor. I’m somebody that understands how to use products and tools to accomplish what I want. I know that there are going to be more and more connections and I find that fascinating.

I like that transparency is at an all time high because good people win and that’s a game I know I can win.

Rich: It’s interesting that you mentioned Ted Williams because I believe you’re actually a New York sports fan, aren’t you?

Gary: I am, but you’ve got to respect the sweetest swing. The best hitter, the person that saw it the clearest from all accounts is Ted Williams. It’s funny I didn’t pick a home run hitter, which I’m going to think about all day now. It's interesting that I didn’t pick Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron or what have you.

I’m just a slow-and-steady, singles-and-doubles kind of guy. I just don’t want to strike out. It’s a step back. I want to get on base. I’m an OBP kind of guy.

Rich: Exactly, small ball.

Gary: That’s right.

Rich: You’ve got a very interesting story to tell, your parents being Russian immigrants and working in liquor store. You also talk about the importance of storytelling. Can you talk to us just for a few minutes about why storytelling is so important?

Gary: Storytelling is the game. It’s what we all do. It’s why Nike is Nike, it’s why Apple is Apple, it’s why Walt Disney built Disney World and it’s why Vince McMahon makes a billion dollars.

Storytelling is the game. If you’re unable to convey your story, consumers will not consume your product whatever that may be, whether it’s content or entertainment or food. Whatever it may be, if you’re not capable of telling a story, you are not in the game with human beings because that’s what they want, that’s what they do, that’s how they roll and it’s the main principle of marketing in our society.

Rich: I also know that you’ve talked about authenticity. How far can one go to tell their story and still be true to what actually happened? In other words, you’re not suggesting that people make up a story, like make up something out of thin air. You’re saying you need to be able to tell your own story in a compelling way, right?

Gary: Yes, we’re not talking about fiction here. Absolutely, you need to create and invoke emotion around the reality of your product. I’m not looking for people to scam. You’ve got to tell a story. You’ve got to connect with people, but around authenticity and transparency, of course, because it’s the only game left now in the way that this has all been built.

Rich: Excellent. In the last couple of minutes we have, do you want to tell us a little bit more about Crush It?

Gary: I find it fascinating that a lot of business books that do well are from people who’ve never made any money in business. It's not that that’s wrong because I’m sure that they're intellectually smart and they get it and that’s phenomenal.

I just find that I’m excited that I’ve used these tools and I’ve made it happen. It’s real. It’s a very authentic story and I’m excited about that. I just feel like I pulled off a good book and I didn’t think I was going to. I’m not kidding. I feel like I was able to articulate what I wanted and I just want people to be happy because it’s so damn easy in today’s world.

Three years ago, no. Everything I believe in, three years ago, no. That’s powerful. That’s interesting to me.

I find it completely fascinating, Rich, that everything I believe in, every core principle, was not executable 36 months ago.

Rich: It sounds like you were just born at the right time or you just entered the scene at the right time and that could be part of it.

Gary: It could be. I’d like to think that I’m an explorer and I have my eyes wide open and I would have used different platforms. But the fact that this game is not predicated on cash but on sweat is very attractive to anybody listening to this.

Rich: Where would you suggest people go and check you out and learn a little bit more about what’s going on and learn a little bit more about Crush It?

Gary: I’d love for anybody who’s listening to this to go to Facebook.com/Gary and say, "What’s up?’" and definitely Crushitbook.com.

Rich: Gary, thank you very much for your time today. I really appreciate it. I look forward to reading the book when it comes out on October 13.

Gary: I appreciate it, my man. Thanks for your interest.

*********************

You can follow Gary Vaynerchuk on Twitter here.

You can follow Rich Brooks on Twitter here.

What Is Web Marketing, Anyway?

Although businesses and organizations have different goals and purposes, most would like to achieve the following:

• increase their online visibility
• drive more qualified prospects to their site
• convert that traffic into business or membership.

These days, almost everyone will agree that a company's Web site is the hub of their marketing; TV ads, print ads, even billboards, will include a URL to drive interested parties to for more information or to order.

While different people have different opinions of what Web marketing is, I feel there are four major components:

• Attraction: How to you drive qualified prospects to visit your site
• Retention: How to keep the lines of communication open after they've left your site
• Conversion: How to get visitors to take a desired action on your site (buy now, picking up the phone, etc.)
• Measurement: How to track your success and continually improve on your site and marketing campaigns.

There are plenty of tools at our disposal as small business owners and entrepreneurs to accomplish this, including search engine optimization, email marketing, blogging and social media to name a few.

If you'd like to learn more in a classroom setting, I'll be teaching Web Marketing for Small Business at the University of Southern Maine starting this Thursday evening from 6 - 8pm, and three additional classes after that.

Just remember to bring the teacher instructor an apple.

Rich Brooks
Web Marketing for Small Business

Should You Charge for Your Webinars?

At flyte, we put on monthly Web marketing Webinars that cover everything from search engine optimization to Google Analytics to promoting a business blog. We actually put them on twice.

The first one is free, and available only to our clients as a value-added service/thank you for doing business with us. The second is a paid one available to anyone (with an Internet connection, a phone line and the cost of entry.)

I've definitely heard some good arguments for not charging for Webinars; however, whether you should charge or not should be based on what your goals are.

When You Should Give Your Webinars Away For Free:

• You have a product or service that can be enjoyed by the masses. Think Ben & Jerry's vs. Red's (which sells ice cream in South Portland, Maine, and is only open when the weather is good.)
• You have the bandwidth to distribute your product or services to the masses. For example, if you're a solopreneur photographer, you're not going to be able to do the amount of business that Sears Portrait Studio can, regardless of how much better your product may be.
• Your goal is to build up your business. If you don't have a following already, and if you don't have  a proven track record, it's difficult to get people to pay for your Webinar when there is so much free information out there.
• You are rewarding behavior. As in, we give our clients free Webinars because we want to thank them for choosing and sticking with flyte.
• You want to get an important message out. If you're not a for-profit business, or if you have an important cause and want to get your message out as far and wide as possible, a free Webinar is (probably) the way to go.

When You Should Charge for Your Webinars:

• When you want to qualify your audience. I found this when I first started giving presentations: when you don't charge for them you often get a room full of tire-kickers, people who don't have anywhere better to be, and people who don't appreciate the value of what you're providing.
• When you want people to show up. Another lesson I learned from presentations: when a seminar or webinar is free, something more urgent invariably comes up. Case in point: our most recent free webinar had 14 people sign up, but only 4 got on the call. The paid webinar also had 14 people sign up, and approximately 16 got on the call. Hmmm...will have to look into that.
• When you don't have the bandwidth to work with everyone. One of issues with being a small botique Web design and Internet marketing company is that you can't work with everyone. I like the fact that through our webinars we can help a lot more small businesses and entrepreneurs than I could ever work with.
• When you want to establish your value. Whether real or not, a paid event is perceived as having more value. Even if people can't attend (whether due to time or money), your value and the value of your material goes up in their eyes.
• When you want to make money. It's nice to get paid for your hard work and your expertise. If you're providing value that helps another person accomplish their goals or helps another business grow and expand, there's nothing wrong with getting paid for it.

So, before you decide whether or not to charge for your next Webinar (or seminar), review your personal and business goals...and then set your price.

Rich Brooks
That Webinar is How Much?!

Dear AT&T, What's the Real Cost of a $699 iPhone?

The other day I jumped into the pool, fully clothed, to save my daughter who had gotten in over her head. Unfortunately, I hadn't removed my iPhone from my pocket before doing so.

I don't tell this story to brag--everyone reading this would have done the exact same thing. I only mention this because I want to make it clear that this wasn't one of those situations where someone drops their iPhone in the toilet while they're drunk at a party.

The good news is that I had Apple Care for my iPhone 3G. The bad news is that getting it wet--no matter how noble your purpose--isn't covered. The best Apple could offer me was to repair my iPhone for $200.

Next, I called up AT&T. I had only bought the iPhone about 6 months ago, so I didn't qualify for any kind of upgrade. I said I was more than willing to add two years to my contract to get the discounted 3GS price, but they wouldn't do it. They would, however, be happy to sell me the iPhone 3GS at the non-discounted price of $699.

So, if you're scoring at home, AT&T could have kept me happy by locking me into their service for an additional two years of profit to them! Instead, I'm in the market for a used iPhone and counting the days until my contract with AT&T is up. If the iPhone/Verizon rumors are true AT&T has convinced me that they're not interested in keeping my business.

There must be some convoluted bean-counter logic to all this, but I can't find it. Instead, I'll be patiently waiting until I can get onto a network where I can get more than one bar at my house.

Rich Brooks
Frustrated AT&T Customer

Happy Ending: Me--being me--had tweeted my iPhone's demise, and the cause behind it. At the same time, the company behind SimplyTweet, a Twitter iPhone app, was running a contest on Twitter. The grand prize? A $200 iPhone gift card.

I only heard about this because Tyler Strange (aka @attractiveideas) entered me in the contest, and I was selected!

Although I still couldn't upgrade to the 3GS I was able to trade in my wet 3G for a dry one thanks to Tyler and SimplyTweet. You can follow SimplyTweet on Twitter, as well.

The Trouble with Crowdsourcing

Recently we decided to have some flyte bumper stickers made up. Ryan Goan, our creative director, created a bunch of variations (click on the image to the right for a detailed look) for me to review.

I decided to get some additional feedback, so I crowdsourced the review process. According to wikipedia (aka the Word of God according to many geeks):

Crowdsourcing is a neologism for the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call. For example, the public may be invited to develop a new technology, carry out a design task (also known as community-based design^[1] and distributed participatory design), refine or carry out the steps of an algorithm (see Human-based computation), or help capture, systematize or analyze large amounts of data (see also citizen science).

The term has become popular with business authors and journalists as shorthand for the trend of leveraging the mass collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 technologies to achieve business goals. However, both the term and its underlying business models have attracted controversy and criticism.

So I threw it open to my followers on Twitter and my friends on Facebook. When people gave two answers I split the vote. Here are the results:

• 1: 14.5
• 2: 6.0
• 3: 5.0
• 4: 6.0
• 5: 1.5
• 6: 10 

Well, 1, then 6 seems to be the big winners, but there's certainly some variables in there. Personally, I'm not a fan of 6 because the traditional oval bumper stickers have a border. There was also a lot of discussion around whether we could "pull off" a bumper sticker that didn't include our name and had our URL so tiny.

However, I don't think a lot of people make a buying decision based on bumper stickers.

"You know, I was going to vote for Obama, but that 'McCain/Palin 2008' bumper sticker makes a lot of sense. I think I'm voting for them."

I've always felt the plane was a pretty cool icon, and people who see it might be intrested to learn more about the story behind it, a.k.a. flyte.biz.

So, at the end of the day I'm no closer to a decision. I do like #1, although I'm thinking of dropping the www off the URL for additional white space, or even perhaps just leaving ".biz" in small letters below. I also like #3, perhaps with the www-less URL.

Anyway, if you'd like to confuse me further, please feel free to add your own thoughts below. It still hasn't gone to the printer.

Rich Brooks
Consensusless

Social Media FTW: Call for Speakers & Presenters

Save the Date! On Wednesday, 9/23/2009, we'll be hosting an all-day, roll-up-your-sleeves social media conference at the University of Southern Maine. (For more on who "we" are, see below.)

If you've been looking to move past the hype and learn how to integrate social media activities into your sales and marketing and to put social media to work for your business, then this is the event for you.

• There will be strategic workshops led by some of the most experienced, well-known social media marketers around, targeting both beginners and advanced users.
• There will be panels that focus on small business, large corporations, non-profits and traditional media.
  
• There will be "social media kiosks" open throughout the conference with volunteers who will help you setup or improve accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and others.
• There will be plenty of networking opportunities, both at the event and afterwards.

In the next two weeks we'll be launching the Web site and announcing more details and pricing as well as opportunities for exhibiting and sponsors.

However, right now we're announcing a call for presenters. If you have experience in social media to market your business we're interested in hearing from you.

While we're looking for ideas on what you'd like to speak on, here are some suggested topics to get you started:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• MySpace
• YouTube/video sharing
• Flickr/photo sharing
• Blogging
• Podcasting
• Social Media for small business/large companies/non-profits/traditional media
• Social media and time management
• Social media and ROI (return on investment)

Remember: the purpose of this event is for attendees to go home with specific actions they can take to grow their business, engage their membership, network more effectively, and integrate social media into their sales and marketing activities.

No hype, no pitches, no B.S. If it's not going to help attendees we're not interested. If you would like to exhibit at or sponsor the conference to be able to reach an audience of experienced marketers and business people, please send inquiries to socialmediaftw@gmail.com.

Speakers will receive full access to the conference, promotion at the Web site and access to an affiliate program.

We're accepting submissions through June 19th, 2009.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Who "We" Are:

Social Media FTW is the brain child of Jaica Kinsman (http://twitter.com/jakks), Chrystie Corns (http://twitter.com/ccmaine) and Rich Brooks (http://twitter.com/therichbrooks). Our goal is to get businesses, non-profits and traditional media professionals in Maine and beyond to understand and leverage the power of social media.

Social Media & Time Management: Yes, It's Possible

The question I can most reliably count on during any presentation I give on blogging or social media is "how do you find time for all this?" or "how long does this all take?"

Recently, when I was presenting to the National Association of Professional Organizers, I mentioned that I was about to write an article on time management and social media. Almost everyone in the room wanted a copy of that article.

Although the use of social media marketing is going mainstream--every news organization sports a variety of pro-am blogs, the "graying of Facebook," and Oprah jumping on Twitter--it can still seem overwhelming to small business owners and entrepreneurs who already have too much on their plate.

In this month's issue of flyte log, our email newsletter on Web marketing for small business, you'll find a three-step process to get your social media activities under control.

Whether you're using social media for research, networking, sales & marketing or some combination of the three, you'll find advice on how to better manage the time you spend with these powerful new marketing tools.

If you're concerned with how much time you're spending on Twitter, or have been avoiding Facebook or LinkedIn because you're concerned other work will suffer, check out 3 Steps to Better Time Management of Social Media Marketing.

For additional resources on time management and social media check out these sites:

• Time Management in the Age of Social Media - BusinessWeek
• Social media time management strategy « one cool site: blogging tips
• Lifehacker - Get Productive with Social Media (and Stay Sane) - FriendFeed
• How To Avoid The Social Media Time Suck
• FriendFeed Filters Are The Star Of The Beta | Bwana.org

Rich Brooks
That Social Media Guy