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Know what to do when someone tags you in a game of bleme.

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blog memeI’ve been “tagged” in a blogging meme – or a “bleme” by Besty Wuebker of the magnificently educational and entertaining blog Passing Thru.

In the tag – Besty writes that I “can make a business lesson out of anything :)” and that was BEFORE I had posted about testicular cups and helmets in hockey and how that’s a lesson for building trust in your business! So before I begin –  a quick “lesson” on blogging memes.

Blogging Memes are simply a form of “internet memes” – used by bloggers. From Wikipedia: “The term Internet meme (pronounced /mi?m/, meem) is a phrase used to describe a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet.”

Viral videos – just another form of internet meme. Those horrid emails that promise some “payload” if you forward it to 50 friends – yet another form of internet meme.

I appears that blogs were created with  the internet’s unique ability to effectively carry “memes” in mind. When a blogger “tags” you in a blogging meme, they allow their blog to notify you of the incoming link.  Again, “static” websites can’t do this because – unlike blogs – static websites don’t easily “notify” you of incoming links.

So blogging memes are not only fun, they also help to spread “link luv” which is just ONE of the many reasons why bloggers should love them so.   However,  blog memes biggest appeal is they give bloggers a chance to connect.

Each “bleme’ or blogging meme has a pedigree so to speak.  One blogger gets an idea – starts the bleme and others who are tagged participate as well.  Each participating blogger “tags” others to keep the tree growing.   The “pedigree” of this bleme (blogging meme) includes such bloggers as Tara, Blogger Dad, Writer Dad.   It has been passed along by Patricia of Patricia’s Widsom who tagged Betsty… who then tagged me – as well as about four others.

Some blemes are complex and have “rules” to follow.  This one is simple – which is probably the reason for this particular bleme’s success.  I love Tara’s take on the “rules” of this particular bleme – she writes:

I’d really like to get to know you better. Answer these questions. Pass them on. End of.

Since most bloggers are Conversationalists (see the 3 types of bloggers), it’s not hard to see why they are a popular “device” used by creative bloggers to connect, converse and play.

On to the “meme” portion of this post…

This particular bleme has ten questions…  each designed to reveal more of the real “you” to your readers.  Here are this bleme’s questions…

1. Who is the hottest movie star?

Darn you Besty – you are such a class act!  Do I lie and name some star from before my time – or do I tell the truth. Since blogs are all about authenticity and transparency, I’m going to give my “honest” answer to question … Jason Statham.

Admittedly – watching any movie in which he appears is guaranteed to lower your IQ by at least 20 points – but I’ve found that your viewing pleasure won’t be distracted by a pesky distracting plot. You can even turn off the sound to watch without missing much too boot!

2. Apart from your house and your car, what is the most expensive item you ever bought?

A 39 foot Class A mobile home – it was a car AND a house- all in one. By the way, it’s just like a boat in the fact that the second happiest day of your life is the day you PURCHASE the RV.  The happiest day – the day you SELL it!!

The most expensive thing I ever did with said RV – back it into my house. I put a healthy dent in both on that fateful Mother’s Day.  My oldest son was “directing” me as I backed it into the driveway at the time.  Obviously “stop” was not part of his 12 year old vocabulary – while “oh shit” was!

3. What is your most treasured memory?

If I had to choose just one, I’d have to say it was our first hurricane here in southeastern Florida. We spent a week without electricity after the storm passed.  From trying cook half frozen pizzas on the grill (not a success) to playing every board game we owned multiple times- including Monopoly and Risk – we chose to view the experience as a “mini” wilderness vacation.

Life is all about choices we make and we CHOSE to enjoy that experience.

4. What was the best gift you received as a child?

The first “best gift” was my dog, a cocker spaniel named Carmel. My father was “upwardly mobile” and we moved with each promotion – but Carmel was my best friend through it all. When we finally “settled down,” my parents finally indulged my life long love of horses by providing not only horses but riding lessons, transportation to and from, boarding, etc.

Talk about gifts that kept on giving. I learned so many lessons from those animals. I trained Carmel in obedience and competed through 4-H and later on I competed with my horses.

Not only did I learn how to care for another living creature – I also learned how perseverance and dedication are an essential part of “winning” – no matter what the competition.

5. What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made?

I used to say “not having more children” was my biggest mistake but my children are VERY vocal in responding that three is enough for all of them.  With two of the three in college now – the oldest has her sights set on graduate school – I finally agree!

My wish for you is that you will come to realize that your biggest mistake “wasn’t” as well!!!

6. Four words to describe yourself.

Sardonic, yet caring – discerning yet accepting.

7. What was your highlight or lowlight of 2008?

Highlight: My son’s first appearance in the national finals of the Kicking.com combine series in January and qualifying again for the 2009 finals that July.

Lowlight(s): Dealing with the massively [over] inflated ego of said son.

8. Favorite film?

Current favs – Madagascar 2, Star Trek and Up.

Long time favs – Coneheads, Back to the Future, Fight Club, and …ugh – time to be transparent again- Idiocracy. The opening five minutes are what makes it my favorite. It’s definitely not a cinematic work of art – but as time marches on I’m afraid it may be positively prophetic.

9. One thing we don’t know.

I HATED my one and only computer programming class in college- FORTRAN!!!

10. If you were a comic book/strip or cartoon character, who would you be?

Easy – Mystique Be anyone at any time- and choose to stand out – or blend in – at will. It’s the ultimate power.

Now for the final phase of the blog meme … tagging. I’m trying to think of bloggers who are up for a game of “blog tag” who haven’t been tagged yet-

My apolobies if I missed tagging someone who wants to play.  Even if you’ve got a “serious” business blog – there’s still value in participating in blemes.  Remember – blogging is all about making connections.

Trust is Worth Protecting

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Hockey arenaThe first testicular guard “cup” was used in Hockey in 1874 -the first helmet was used in 1974.

It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is  worth protecting as well.

There’s something that is frequently overlooked in the “rush” to sell people things – something that is important – takes time to nurture and is definitely worth protecting… it’s trust.  However, sometimes business owners, in the rush to “make a sale”, overlook the importance of establishing trust.

Establishing trust is the REAL reason why you should be using “social media. Social media tools such as blogs do a great job of building trust with potential customers.

In Persuade Someone in 5 Steps AJ Kumar over at Persuasive.net writes…

It doesn’t matter how good of persuasion expert you are, if the person you are trying to convince doesn’t trust you, you won’t sell them on anything.

Trust is tough to win yet easily lost.

In Effective Selling Using Social Media I wrote:

Trust – trust is the foundation of making sales in the new millennium.

Social media is as viral as it is transparent.  Just try being less than “authentic”  in the realm of social media and you’ll quickly discover how brutal the new social media based web can be.

While it’s never been a “good marketing strategy” to use deception – resorting to deceptive marketing practices in an age of social media is even more detrimental now than ever before in history.  Check out my post on Exposing Deceptive Marketing Tactics with Social Media on how social media is becoming a huge “whistle blower” when it comes to uncovering and exposing deceptive marketing tactics both on and off the web.

Relationships and trust are the KEY elements in social media marketing.

If there is any  “magic” in social media it lies in the fact that social media builds relationships – and relationships are the foundation for trust.

For a century hockey players did all they could to protect their “family jewels”.  It took almost a century before they began trying to protect their second most important asset.

As AJ points out – it’s almost impossible to be persuasive without establishing trust.   Since “sales” is just another way of saying “persuaded customers”…  then it makes sense for any business interested in achieving healthy sales needs to be equally interested in creating and preserving trust as well.

Blogs and the Art of Deception

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trustIt’s no secret that I love social media marketing.  I view social media as a natural and predictable “evolution” of the web.

Things have gotten very “wild wild west” on the web and social media is the “natural” next step in the never ending pursuit of an answer to the question, “Is this for real?”

If you’re “for real” – if you’re starting a “real business” offering goods and services- then social media marketing is going to be your new best friend.  Just ask Jannie Funster …. who has recently released her first CD.  Jannie received flowers from fellow bloggers Patricia of Patricia’s Wisdom and Davina of Shades of Crimson to celebrate the CD’s release.  These women are “for real” – as are the dozens of blog commenters who hang out at Jannie’s blog for their daily dose of music and fun like Betsy Wuebker and J.D. Meier.

What a STARK contrast to an ugly “seedier” side of the internet upon which I stumbled this morning – which is the ANTITHESIS of social media marketing.  This site tries to emulate social media’s favorite tool – a blog –  to trick you into trusting the site’s owners enough to easily part you with your hard earned money.

Brief Background….In the early days of the web,  geeks gathered online and communicated freely with each other. In those early days – communication was good – commerce was bad. Slowly but surely, commercialization took root on the web.

Enter the internet marketing gurus. “Make easy money on the internet” was their battle cry.  They set up single “squeeze page” websites on domain names ripe with keywords, set up a Google Adwords campaign on long tail (a.k.a. cheap) keywords, sit back and watch the money roll in.

Then, Google got wise – and the gig was up.  Around this time, the new battle cry began to sound “Blogs are the way to easy internet wealth!”  However, it wasn’t long before the “easy money via the internet” marketing guru wannabes discovered TWO ugly truths about blogging….

  1. Blogging is labor intensive.  Creating original, quality content takes time and talent which are definitely not attractive ingredients in a recipe for easy money.
  2. Blogging is transparent…  with a real blog – people can leave comments.  While the blog owner definitely has the ability to moderate said comments – comments are definitely a way for a blog owner to gain credibility with readers.

I shouldn’t be surprised to see the latest “internet marketing” creation – the FAUX blog.  Maybe it’s been around for a while, but this is my first faux blog encounter.

This “faux blog” I found is truly a marketing masterpiece and definitely a study in the art of deception.

I don’t want to offer an endorsement of this product so I’ll use the time honored “screenshot” to illustrate.  (As an added “bonus”, the screenshot will live on for as long as my blog remains active – while I strongly suspect that the site in question will not.)

I found this faux blog via an ad placed on a REAL blog… the first in many brilliant moves by a marketing genius.

fauxblogad I have to confess – I LOVE this marketing tactic!   This ad really stood out in a sidebar cluttered with various ads.  Even though I usually ignore such “get rich quick” kinds of ads – I had to see what was going on with such a great design on an eye catching ad.  I was taken to my first “faux blog”:

faux blog screen shot It sure looks like a blog, doesn’t it?

It’s not.   It’s faux through and through – even down to the “google adwords” box to the far right which is just links to other “articles” on the website a.k.a. faux blog.

This “faux blog” is a study in marketing genius.

If you scroll to the bottom of the faux blog you’ll even see “comments” – just like a real blog.  Since I’m not linking – I’ll include yet ANOTHER screenshot –

fauxblogcomments21

Every comment – down to the avatars – is hard coded.  Those “user avatars” are simply images living in the images folder on the site.

The “comments” are all carefully crafted as part of the “sales pitch”. Even the fact that YOU can’t leave a comment is “explained” by the blog owner “closing” comments – due to spam.

This “faux blog” is a work of art – the art of marketing AND deception.

I was going to link to this blog as an example of one of the three types of blogs and illustrate the Capitalists use of a self hosted WordPress blog – until I looked at the code.  (Hey, then it’s officially “work” related – right?)

To say that the site is working would be an understatement.  The links on the faux blog take you to another site where you are greeted with an opportunity to see if you “qualify”…  in the internet marketing biz, this is known as a SQUEEZE PAGE:

squeeze

If you fill out that form – and I’ll bet that you’ll find you are “qualified” to give them your money as I was!!!

(Note:  I didn’t give them a working phone or email address – I don’t suggest you do either.)

Next, you’ll see a similar screen where you have the opportunity to give them your credit card info where you can pay $1.97 to have this VALUABLE information sent your way.

When it comes to giving a REAL credit card number, I quit playing.  “I’m out.”

However, the site creators anticipated that – which is the reason for the initial “qualification squeeze page”.  At least they got my phone number and email address out of the advertising dollars they spent to get me here.

Oh, I’m in good company arriving at the squeeze page site…according to reliable online traffic spying tools,  the site has gotten almost 3 MILLION unique visitors over the past three weeks.  The faux blog is just ONE of many referring sites contributing to that flood of visitors.

Barbara Swafford over at Blogging Without a Blog wrote a post, “What If?” where she asks if her readers are prepared for their blog to go “viral”.  I acted like a party pooper in the comments and stated that most blogs aren’t set up to take full advantage of a “surge” in popularity and pointed out that even a mild traffic surge can cause huge problems for the blog owner.    For example, when one of Cath Lawson’s post went “viral, her web hosting company shut her down her site without warning.

It takes a lot of planning and preparation to take advantage  of (a.k.a. make money from)  a viral blog post.

Right now, I’m kind of feeling like an honest politician because I’m an “ethical marketing consultant”.  On the one hand, I really appreciate the planning and strategy behind the faux blog.  It really is a work of ART when it comes to science of marketing.  However, I HATE the deceptive nature of the piece.

I actually started to think I was being naive in my belief that telling the TRUTH about your products and services is the path to marketing success until I remembered all the REAL people I’ve worked with who achieved REAL success by doing just that.

How many of them got 3 million visitors to their site in three weeks?  None.

However, unlike the faux blog above and the ensuing squeeze page site- their blogs will still be around this time next year and beyond.

If you wonder how I can confidently predict this site will be short lived, read more about the future of marketing in the land of social media in Why Coming “Social Commerce” Era Should Terrify Brand Marketers.

Your thoughts are welcome below….

Why Ask Why – a Tale of 3 Bloggers

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social media marketing success“Why are you blogging?”

If you haven’t asked yourself this question lately, maybe you should.

Recently, I had back to back conversations in a single morning with three different types of bloggers and was struck by how different their individual blogging goals were.

While each fit a similar “demographic” profile and all three were business owners, their answers to the question, “Why are you blogging?” were all dramatically different.

The Conversationalist – blogging to build community and connection.

The first blogger’s journey into blogging began because she wanted to be able to easily update the content on her website.  Enter the WordPress self hosted blog as CMS (content management system).

However, as time has progressed, this client has been feeling “called” to begin blogging with building community in mind.  She wants to begin engaging in a meaningful conversation with prospective clients and visitors to her website.  Because we’re already using WordPress as the CMS for her site, this will be an easy transition.

Creating a community conversation blog means installing some plugins to encourage conversation (a.k.a. comments) – WordPress plug ins like:

It also means adding some “social media” plugins such as:

The change in direction also means setting up Feedburner for the “new” information sharing style web presence. (The easiest way to make sure all RSS feeds go through Feedburner, use the FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin.)

All of these plugins are designed to make conversation and community “easier” on a WordPress self hosted blog.

This client has begun regularly “blogging” about a new “life design” she’s implementing.  She’s started blogging regularly and making sure that her blog posts encourage others to join in on the conversation.

While it’s possible that this will blogging project will ultimately net her more clients – right now, the primary reason this client is blogging is because she really wants to connect with others and have them join her on this journey.

The Capitalist – blogging to achieve superior SERPS

The next client’s reason for blogging was entirely different.  When I asked this client the question – “Why are you blogging?” –  there was an uncomfortable silence as she considered her answer.

I “rescued” her by interjecting, “if you goal is to make the cash register ring – it’s OK! It just means there are some elements that you won’t want to embrace in your blog.”

The Capitalist knew that creating search engine friendly content is WAY easier when you build your web presence using a WordPress self hosted blog – and I think she was afraid that I would “condemn” her for not having “loftier” blogging goals.

In my book – a blogger who knows WHY he or she is blogging is already breathing rarefied air!!!

For the Capitalist, we skipped the plugins centered around “encouraging comments” but we’ll still be using the social media plugins because this client is very active on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  She’s constantly making connections – not only to sell product but also has the goal of making joint venture connections via these valuable social media tools.

In addition to the tools above, we’re also using Viper’s Video to easily embed the informational videos she is creating for YouTube within blog posts. Creating YouTube videos is a GREAT way to leave  what I call “breadcrumb trails” back to your blog.

Of course, this clients product offerings are available on the static pages of her blog.  It’s amazing how many people I talk with who think that for some reason, a blog page can’t contain links to purchase products and services.

While the appearance of the blog is important to the Conversationalist – it’s even more important for the Capitalist. I can’t count the number of times I’ve “upgraded”  the design elements on a small business web presence and seen the conversion rate climb radically just because the design went from “home grown” to “polished and professional”.

The first time I witnessed the “design effect” was when a client came to me with a site that got nice traffic but sales conversions were dismal.  A simple “face lift” increased the conversion rate over 400% in a single quarter.

Content is king – but professional design is also important – especially to the Capitalist who wants to engender enough trust with visitors to get them to hand over their dough.

The Clueless Chump – blogging as a quick easy way to fame and fortune.

The first two conversations were with existing clients.  These are women who own successful businesses which they want to take to the next level.  The morning ended with a prospective new client call.  During the course of the third conversation I discovered that this woman is looking for a way to make a six figure income with a minimal investment of time, money and effort.   She’s obviously been infected with the “blogs as easy money” virus – which should be more feared than any strain of flu.  For that reason, I’m dubbing her the Clueless Chump.

Ah, if only she had opened the conversation with a quick, concise statement which communicated the information above- how much easier my life would be.

Let me be clear, this isn’t a woman who wants to launch or promote an authentic small business.  She’s not interested in adding value – which is what a blog with affiliate links must do to be successful. There’s plenty of value to be provided by the blog that offers reviews of products or services.

This woman is also not interested in selling products or services.   She’s also not interested in connecting with others unless they’re willing to give her money without her doing anything to earn that money.

I’ve been burned by this type of “money for nothing” client enough in the past that I’m getting pretty good at spotting these early on and steering clear.

This third call was not a reader of my blog.  When the Capitalist asked me why I blog – my response was I use my blog to try to “weed out” the Clueless Chump calls.  In this case, this particular Clueless Chump has never read my blog and probably never will – she found me by referral.

It’s days like this when I learn first hand why it’s so hard to give “one size fits all” advice around the issues of social media marketing and blogging.   As social media marketing emerges, it’s becoming obvious that crafting a social media marketing strategy is the most important step of all.

That’s why you should ask yourself “why”.  Asking yourself “why” can give you a solid foundation upon which to build your blogging strategy.

The Customer’s Point of View

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customer point of viewPiss poor customer service will kill your business almost as quickly as piss poor marketing will!!!

A while back, Jackie Huba wrote about the bad customer service she experienced in attempting to purchase a gift certificate to a dayspa. In Handling fee, or manhandled? Jackie gives a spa owner an up close and personal look at what it looks like from the customer’s point of view.

At the time, I was in possession of an unused spa gift certificate.  After reading Jackie’s spa horror story, I worried that there might be an “un-noted” expiration date on my gift certificate as well, so I called that afternoon to schedule my appointment.

I definitely got the impression that the staff at the spa wasn’t happy to be making good on a sale they pocketed months ago.

At that point, I realized that if I weren’t in possession of a gift certificate, I probably would have hung up the phone and tried to find another spa.  However, the buying decision had already been made so I went ahead and scheduled an afternoon appointment.

The morning of my appointment, I got a DM from a friend telling me that I had serious problems on my blog.

Let’s see – I can spend my afternoon getting a massage and pedicure, or I can fix the problem with my blog. Hmmm….. this is a no brainer.  I pick up the phone and prepare myself for the ordeal of  speaking to Ms. Snooty Spa Receptionist again.

Ms. Snooty Spa Receptionist tells me there will be a 50% charge for rescheduling my appointment with less than 24 hours notice. I bit my tongue and said “I’ll be there”…. and hoped that fixing my blog wouldn’t be a big deal.  Fortunately it wasn’t but I show up for my spa treatment looking like I’d just rolled out of bed.

It’s been a while since I redeemed that gift certificate. The manicure and pedicure are long gone and my neck and shoulders are as tight as a drum once again – but I won’t be calling for another appointment at this particular spa.  If you ask the owners of the spa why, I’m certain they would blame the “bad economy.”

WRONG!

I have to assume that I’m not the only person who received exceptionally poor customer service at this day spa – which should be the ONE type of business where exceptionally good customer service should be the goal.

However, as bad as their customer service is – it’s not the piss poor customer service that is killing this business – it’s piss poor follow through and marketing.

Piss poor marketing will kill your business faster than piss poor customer service will.

The only reason I remembered this particular experience is that I found this post in my drafts folder this morning.  I began writing the post right after the experience but never posted it.

Make this your marketing mantra: Out of sight – out of mind.

I haven’t heard anything from this spa since my initial visit and that qualifies as “piss poor marketing”.

I didn’t get a follow up “We hope you were delighted with your spa experience” email, note or phone call.  A phone call would have given me the opportunity to “vent” and would have given the spa owners the chance to redeem the relationship.

However, it didn’t happen.

Time has passed and yet I have never received a “we’re still here” note – aka direct mail piece reminding me of my visit and encouraging me to schedule another.

I have never been offered the opportunity to “send five friends and get a free massage.”

My daughter – who purchased the initial gift certificate for her mother’s birthday in March- didn’t get a reminder that a gift certificate to the spa would make a wonderful Mother’s Day present.

This spa is relying on “word of mouth” marketing to promote their business.  My daughter heard about the spa from someone with whom she works.  Word of mouth marketing worked once – but the buzz of the new discovery is over and my daughter ended up spending just as much on other presents for Mother’s Day – but she didn’t spend that money with the spa.

This spa is ignoring their most valuable marketing asset – their current customer files.  Unfortunately, they are not alone.

It costs a lot more to acquire a new customer than it does to sell an existing customer.

This is not my ‘opinion” – it is a fact.

A lot of small business owners are terrified of “marketing” but sometimes, “marketing” can merely nothing more than acts of customer appreciation.

Stop!  Watch closely – can you see the line between “marketing” and “customer service” blurring?

Reach out and touch your existing customers this week.  Create a special “thank you offer” just for existing customers and then let them know about it.  Even if it’s just a simple “thank you” card, you’ll be surprised what it can do for your bottom line.