This is a guest post by Tom Harris, Your Marketing Coach. Tom helps entrepreneurs and small businesses develop and execute marketing plans. He specializes in website usability and effectiveness.

If you have a business website, the information in it is free to whoever wants to come read it. Maybe you have a blog, and everyone in the world can read your blog posts for free. But it bothers you that you never know WHO is reading your site content or your blog posts. If you did know, then you could market to them. And you certainly want to build up your email list.

So, you have this great idea – you’ll come up with a document containing a generous amount of detailed, valuable and really useful information (an e-book, a whitepaper, a whatever), and you’ll give it away for free to promote yourself and your business, BUT you’ll ask for a person’s email address in exchange for letting them download the information. How logical – they get the information, you get to add a new contact to your email list. Good trade, right? Why wouldn’t everyone want to take you up on this offer? I mean, you’re just asking for their email address, not their name and phone number and detailed driving directions to their house!

Well, a number of studies suggest that merely asking for someone’s email address will result in about half as many downloads as not asking for any information at all. And don’t even think about asking for MORE than an email address, as many companies still do.

How good an idea is it to say, “OK, I’ll give you something, but you gotta give me something first.”?
Here’s the big question: Which would you rather have – (a) a number of email addresses that you can send unsolicited/unwanted messages to, or (b) twice that many people who now have your information in their hands? If you think the most important thing is to simply “get your name and message out there”, then consider making the information really, totally free.

This is a guest post by Sarah Worsham, CEO & Web Strategist at Sazbean Consulting and blogging at Sazbean.com. Sarah is passionate about helping companies reach their business goals by using the web effectively. Sarah provides guidance through Internet Marketing, Strategy & Business consulting.

Sometimes the best ideas are actually old ones which are brought back with a new twist (or they were just forgotten and seem new again).

Ever heard of Osteopathy?  Me either.  But it was developed here in the United States almost 150 years ago.  It’s a fairly big practice in Canada and Europe.  Here’s a short description from Wikipedia:

In most countries, osteopathy is a form of complementary medicine, emphasizing a holistic approach and the skilled use of a range of manual and physical treatment interventions in the prevention and treatment of disease. In practice, this most commonly relates to musculoskeletal problems such as back and neck pain. Osteopathic principles teach that treatment of the musculoskeletal system (bones, muscles and joints) facilitates the recuperative powers of the body. – Wikipedia

Have you been to a doctor and they’ve dismissed your symptoms as non-important or they’ll treat only specific symptoms?  American medicine is very symptom and specialty focused.  But, often something in one part of the body is affecting things elsewhere.  Getting a whole world (body) view can help more effectively treat the problem and lead to a much healthier patient.

So why has this practice, which was created here, fallen out of practice?  Who knows?  But I think it’s something that would be beneficial both to patients and to doctors.  The US, the birthplace of this practice, is starting to see a resurgence in interest in this type of medicine.  (By the way, if you have a chance, spend a few minutes with Helen Wilson-Welch to learn more about this fascinating practice – disclaimer – she’s my client and I’m hers).

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.

What’s something old that you can make new again?

So often we are in a hurry. We have to get the next thing done, the next task accomplished, the next hurdle jumped. Have you ever gotten so wrapped up in moving forward, living for the future, and constantly looking for what’s next, only to look around you and realize you are missing right now? Sometimes we are in such a hurry to get ‘there’, but where is ‘there’ and how do you know when it’s right ‘here’?

When life is so busy, moving at such a fast pace that you wonder where the time has gone, that is the most important place to find the moments that you have. The peace and stillness that happens is where you find the reward. Worry about today and tomorrow will take care of itself. Often it is in the holding on to what we think we need that is the very thing we need to let go of.

There for me is right here, when I sit still long enough to allow, appreciate, and acknowledge.

Where is your ‘there’?

There are so many ways we can either be proactive or reactive in our lives. Sure, we all have days where we’d rather not take the iniative, and wait and see what happens. Is that an effective way to run lives or businesses? I am often surprised when people talk about what they’d like to be doing, or the success they’d like to be seeing, and when asked are doing nothing about it.

We (here at InSights) are surrounded by proactive, positive, growing, changing, striving for success people. I believe it starts with a mindset, that translates into action, and is rewarded by experiences.

What do you think?

p.s. Proactive, positive people can find a list of our upcoming events in the events tab. Think about taking the 2 day Setting Your Media Strategy Boot Camp June 11 & 12. Money Back Guarantee! See what these positive proactive people have to say about it!

Often time we fear things because of their size, reputation or some other reason. The reality is that the fear really is just a story we tell ourselves. We associate  something we hear, see  or witness in some other way, with a story. This story creates your world. The story controls everything you do!

How about a bumble bee. It is the largest bee we have around here and yet it is harmless. We are conditioned that bees are bad and that they hurt  you when they sting. Therefore the story is created. I would dare each of you to hold a bumble bee one day. Then you will know that just because it is big, that doesn’t mean that it will hurt you!!

This is a guest post by Sarah Worsham, CEO & Web Strategist at Sazbean Consulting and blogging at Sazbean.com. Sarah is passionate about helping companies reach their business goals by using the web effectively. Sarah provides guidance through Internet Marketing, Strategy & Business consulting.

Building on Tom’s great post yesterday - The Mustard Stain on Your Website – your website is clearly an important part of your corporate image.  It’s also important for your company to have a face.

What if you were at a large party and you were standing in the corner not talking to anyone, wearing bland clothes and trying not to be noticed.  Would anyone bother talking to you?  Probably not.

But that’s exactly what a lot of businesses do.  They’re bland.  They’re faceless.  They’re not interesting.

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.

Look at what Scott Monty is doing with Ford.  People can talk with someone at a huge company to voice their opinions and feedback.  Scott puts a face on a large company.

Social media and the Internet make it pretty easy to get your voice out there.  But don’t just shout out about yourself.  You should act like you’re at a party and you’re having conversations.  Remember the Golden Rule from Kindergarten?  It still applies.

Have a personality.  Be remarkable.  Don’t be faceless.

This is a guest post by Tom Harris, Your Marketing Coach. Tom helps entrepreneurs and small businesses develop and execute marketing plans. He specializes in website usability and effectiveness.This is a guest post by Tom Harris, Your Marketing Coach. Tom helps entrepreneurs and small businesses develop and execute marketing plans. He specializes in website usability and effectiveness.

You’re about to go into an important meeting – a sales call, a presentation, a negotiating session, or a job interview. Whatever it may be, there will be people in this meeting who will affect your future. People that you need to impress, because they will make decisions based on YOU, and your words and your demeanor and your appearance. People who will judge whether they want to do business with you – to hire you, to accept your proposal, to buy your products or services, to contribute to your cause.

Would you go into this meeting totally unprepared, having done no research, having given no thought to what you might say, or to what questions might be asked of you?

Ladies, would you go into this meeting with your hair looking like it did when you woke up this morning? Would you go to the meeting directly from the gym, in your sweats and sneakers and headband?

Guys, would you go into this meeting wearing your favorite ripped-in-the-knees blue jeans, with grease and dirt under your fingernails? Or how about a big mustard stain on your necktie?

And if you did any of those things, do you think you’d be able to make the right impression, and get the job, or close the sale?

Then why is it that some businesses continually ignore the content and appearance of their websites?

In the aforementioned meeting, maybe one or two or a half-dozen people will see the mustard stain on your necktie. But you wouldn’t think of allowing that to happen.

So, by comparison, how important is it that your website look good and make the right impression? It’s not just one or two or a half dozen people that will see your website, and judge whether they want to do business with you – it’s thousands or tens of thousands.

How would you like tens of thousands of prospective customers to see the big mustard stain on your necktie?

Yet, that’s exactly what too many business websites look like.

How many chances do we get to make a first impression? Let’s see… one?

It’s time for you to review your site and ask: Does it really make a good first impression?

Through social media people often have the misconception that getting a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account will make business happen, immediately. Just like any other type of networking activity, it’s all about creating the connections. We need to take the same steps to create relationships that start online or off.

One of the things that I have found with social media is that just as in person it is okay to let the relationship take time to develop. Sometimes we try to jump into the phone call, or the meeting. It takes time to find common ground and establish the reasons. Social Media and active networking make the curve quicker. Use the tools for research, follow up, and active conversation. Do your homework and make the connections count.

What’s your take, or take away from social media. Is turbo charged best?

This is a guest post by Tom Harris, Your Marketing Coach. Tom helps entrepreneurs and small businesses develop and execute marketing plans. He specializes in website usability and effectiveness.This is a guest post by Tom Harris, Your Marketing Coach. Tom helps entrepreneurs and small businesses develop and execute marketing plans. He specializes in website usability and effectiveness.

I have a theory that many (most?) small business owners spend so much time trying to sell things that they don’t even have time to think about marketing. But of course we have to sell things. No choice about that, right? Right. And of course it’s true that actual “selling” activities generally have a quicker payback than marketing. Marketing is just too nebulous, takes too long, and results are too unpredictable and hard to measure. Come to think of it, maybe we’re not even totally sure what “marketing” is…

Let me give you my pet definition of Marketing: Imagine a continuum. At one end of the continuum is where nobody knows you exist. Nobody’s ever even heard of you, your company, or your products or services. At the other end is where you’re sitting down with a prospect and trying to close a sale. Marketing is everything that happens between those two points.

This definition suggests that we should spend a high percentage of our time on marketing.

But we still spend way too much of our time scrambling to find the next person that we can sell something to.

Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth, talks about business owners who work IN their business when they need to be working ON their business. We could say that selling is working IN your business; and it’s certainly a pretty darned important function. But it’s a treadmill. Sell it, then build it, then deliver it. Repeat. Endlessly. When does the frantic search for new buyers abate? Answer: when marketing becomes the most important thing we have to do. It’s been said that when you do the job of marketing well enough, then there’s not very much selling that needs to be done.

We too often think this way: Here is what I sell, and, oh yes, I guess I need to do some marketing, don’t I?

We need to think this way: I’m a marketer, and this what I market.

We need to be marketers first and foremost and primarily.

Marketing is building relationships, becoming known, becoming an expert in your field, developing a reputation, creating a tribe of fans and followers. Marketing is working ON your business. It’s an investment, and yes, it has an uncertain and unpredictable return. But once a good, solid marketing program takes hold, it can develop a life of its own. That’s when people seek you out, and the frantic search grinds down.

And maybe then you can relax. Just a little.

What do you do? What do you love about your business? Did you choose the line of work you are in, or did it choose you? What got you involved in the first place?

The answer to this questions you are asked are a great source for inspiration for your next blog post, to write in story form within your social media profiles, and a great way to break the ice with people who meet you and want to know more.

Here’s a part of our story..

What is the InSights Group?

We are a small business support community helping people launch and grow their new ideas as a business. We help existing businesses grow through Organic Marketing programs, including the use of social media for business marketing. Our facility offers shared office space for people to use to work, meet clients and and learn together.

What do I do? Smile, Laugh, Hug and help people focus on where they want to go, share the tools and groups that the InSights Group has to become a part of, and offer suggestions, and help for growth, success, and positive business building.

What do you do?