20 Things To Know About Using Social Media For Your Business

These are the Twenty Things that everybody needs to know about Social Media and how they can use Social Media for their business. A lot of Hype has been created around this topic and we want own clients to understand what exactly it means to them.

(1) Don’t Believe the Hype

Our professional opinions are based on our expertise, experience and education. We are not here to repeat what others have to say. We are here to give you the facts not feed you fiction.

(2) It’s Not Cheap Advertising

It is wrong to believe that Social Media is nothing but a cheap channel to spam out a sales pitch. Social Networks are not a place for an infomercial or “Guerrilla Marketing”. Social Networks are not “the new” late night television, they are a new way to communicate with people.

(3) It’s Not Just Numbers

Social Media is not about building large numbers or friends, fans or followers that do not know who you are or do not care about what you have to say. Sending out information to large numbers of people that do not care what you have to say is spam. If you annoy them enough they may even look to see who is spamming them. This is not the way to build traffic to your website, because the only thing that they will remember is to buy elsewhere.

(4) It’s Not Just About You

If you make it just about you, only you are going to want to hear it. It’s easy to spot someone that doesn’t say anything with out posting a link to their website or starts every message with “My new Blog Post”. Words “I” or “Me” from your Social Media vocabulary or else you will create a personal brand that nobody will ever want to buy.

(5) You’re Not a Movie Star

How celebrities and major corporations are using Social Media has very little to do with what is going to work for you. Do not make the mistake of comparing yourself to a super model,  celebrity or professional athlete.  Social Media has nothing to do with who they are or why people are interested in them.

(6) Have Realistic Objectives

You need to know what your objectives are before you even think of starting a Social Media Marketing Campaign and if you are going to be able to realize those objectives for the type of business that you are in.

(7) Develop A Game Plan

An effective Game Plan will create the buzz for your business. Social Media gives you the ability to keep in touch with your loyal customers and to reach out to new ones around the world.

(8) Know Your Marketplace

You need to know your marketplace and why your customers buy from you. The Internet is a global marketplace and people can buy from you from all over the world.

(9) Give It Time

You need to remember that Social Media Marketing is a long term strategy, not a way to become an “Internet Millionaire” overnight.

(10) Treat People As Friends

Talk to people like they are your friends. Abrasive tone, SHOUTING, and pushy sales pitches are not what your friends want to hear. You are not writing copy for an infomercial.

(11) Build A Community

Use your Social Network to build a community around your business and reward your customers for their loyal patronage. Building a community online is how you bring people into your business, because they want to bring their business to you.

(12) Understand the “Vibe”

Every Social Network has a different Vibe and that vibe is created by the people that use the network, not the people that operate the network. For example automatically posting messages from another network is considered to be an acceptable practice on Twitter, but would be considered spamming somewhere else.

(13) Do Something Interesting

Always offer something that people are going to want or else they are not going to be part of your online business community. When you give people the opportunity to do something fun, they are going to bring your business into their circle of friends.

(14) You Must Participate

Internet Communities are about people and you are going to have to be there to carry on a two way conversation or people are just going to blow you off. One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they join as many networks as they can find and never become a part of the community. “Auto-blogging” services like Ping.fm can give people the idea that spamming out a sales pitch to as many social networks is going to build traffic to their website. What they don’t realize is that traffic is not converting to actual sales. because people are just looking at their site in contempt.

(15) Encourage Cooperation

People will remember that you helped them and they will come back when they need your services. When you let people ask questions and answer them promptly they will know that someone is listing to what they say. Community pages should always include postings from fans to encourage cooperation between the people in you community.

(16) Build Relationships

Social Networks allow you to meet people around the world and in time you will be able to make friends them. These friendships may also lead to trust based relationships in business with people that you would not have to opportunity to meet otherwise. People that are experienced in business networking understand how this works on the local level, when they join Chambers of Commerce and other networking organizations.

(17) Think Business

Don’t say things that are going to offend the people that paying you money or challenge their political views or religious beliefs. One of things that makes America great is that people have the right to have different views on everything. It’s not your business to try to change what people believe and the only thing you are going to make them believe is they need to do business else where.

(18) Protect Your Reputation

Reputation is the key component in Social Media, the way you deliver your message and the frequency that you deliver it is going to directly impact your reputation.

(19) Never SPAM Your Friends

Friends don’t what to read spam or care about the latest trends in Social Media. Computer programs that send messages over the Internet that nobody wants are spamming. There are places on Social Networks to advertise and build lists of people that want to know about your business. For example, when people join a page on FaceBook they know that they are going to receive messages from the people that run the page.

(20) You’re Not Fooling Anyone

Just be yourself and treat people like your friends and everyone is going to like you. Pretending to offer sage advice only to lure people into some get rich quick website is going to get you nowhere fast. An excellent example is the “Thank Your For Following Me” message on Twitter, that is always generated by a computer program. A tool that will only build traffic to your website from contemptible people or people with contempt for you.

Using Video To Promote Your Business Online

“What would it take to add video to my web site?”,  is a question I am often asked. This question is usually followed by, “…and what would it cost?”.

Whenever I am asked how much a video will cost I think back to my first job at a video production studio. Ah, back in the days of flat top fades and New Jack Swing. Back then I remember the boss drilling the sales reps with the same mantra over and over, “If they ask you how much it will cost, then they can’t afford it.” Then he would always follow with, “We’re not about saving them money, we’re about doing the job right and making them money.” This is something I try to impress on anyone who is serious about adding video to their marketing tools. Video really only has two options, the cheap way and the right way. If you think this blog is going to teach you how to get a professional video done on a tight budget then don’t waste your time reading any further. I’m going to cover PROFESSIONAL video marketing solutions. If want to do it on the “cheap” then hire your brother-in-law that fancies himself as a video expert because he shot a couple weddings and birthday parties. That way, if your intent on just pissing your money away, at the very least, you’ll be helping out a member of your family.

The issue is that most small business clients (now that I think about it, large ones too) don’t really have a clue as to what goes into video production, the cost involved or even how they would use a video for promotion in the first place. Most just think that it would be cool to have one because, well… there just cool. 5-7  years ago most small business owners wouldn’t even consider video because of the production costs as well as the type of financial commitment a TV campaign would run them. Well, software advancements and the Internet have brought video production into the realm of reality for many small businesses. Or they think it has.

Now video production has come down in price a whole bunch the last few years. The Internet has made video delivery extremely cost effective but the fact is, as a business owner, you need to be educated as to what is available and effective for your business and image. An awesome video is still no good if no one sees it or remembers what the video is promoting. Video is still one of the most, if not the most, effective forms of advertising available to any business today. And with viral marketing techniques you can get more millage out of posting a video online than you could just by running ads on local TV.

I’m not going to cover how much you should be paying for custom professional video production because prices vary depending on where you are. For the same quality of video, a company in New York, NY may charge $40,000 where as a company in Cocoa Beach, FL may charge $10,000 for the exact same thing. I will, however, give you this advice on how to save a little money. If you are in a large city sometimes it may be more cost effective to bring a video crew in from a smaller area. I’ve seen rates fluctuate from $350 per hour to $75 per hour for the exact same service with the exact same equipment run by a producer with the exact same experience. Do your homework, hire a consultant or hire an independent executive producer that’s not affiliated with any production house to handle bidding out the project on your behalf. The cost of bringing in an outside crew, consultant or producer can almost always be offset by how much they can save you in production cost. Remember, these people know a whole hell of a lot more than you do when it comes to producing a video and where money can be saved without ruining the quality.

What I am going to cover is some of the more popular uses of video for business. Some are more effective than others and some are very popular but not really as effective.

The Video Walk On

One of the more popular (at least from all the people I run into selling this service at networking events) uses of video is the Video Walk On. These can be produced for as little as $300 and involve a spokesperson (sometimes professional other times not so much) walking out onto your web site and greeting visitors. They sometimes mention your promotions or specials and usually ask for some type of call to action: Call now, Click this link for more info,  and so on. Many also have some sort of monthly fee for using the service that can run anywhere from $35 a month and up.

The lower cost ones usually involve a template where your business name, contact info and call to action are plugged into a pre-written script. Now these scripts are usually very generic so that they can be used over and over for multiple businesses.  That’s how the production companies keep the cost down. You will usually not have very much say in the format but some companies will customize the video for you at additional cost. The thing to look out for is that the additional cost may be a whole lot more than the advertised price which made you consider this option in the first place.

The more expensive ones usually use scripts that are custom written for your business. They will normally have someone work with you to come up with an effective message. They also usually have more professional spokespeople as well as a larger selection of them. The cost for the higher end Video Walk Ons usually run $1500 and up give or take depending on the part of the country you’re in.

Are Video Walk Ons actually effective? Will they increase sales or leads? Will they increase traffic to your site? Will your search engine ranking go up? I’ll start by answering the last two questions first. No and no. If a sales rep tells you anything other, then they have no clue as to how the Internet works. From a technical standpoint, adding a Video Walk On to your web site will not increase search engine ranking or traffic. Most video nowadays is delivered online using Flash and Flash is not recognized by the algorithms that the search engines use. No matter how cool it looks. Now you may be wondering why in the hell then can you search for a video online and find it or how do YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, AOL Video, Vimeo and all the videos from those types of sites come up in search results. It’s simple, they are using a totally different kind of video delivery system than a Video Walk On does. Will they at least increase sales or leads? The answer is a resounding maybe. It really depends on the type of business you have as well as the product or service you are offering. Why do it then you may ask yourself? It’s all about image baby. If you want to add something to your web site that “pops” then a Video Walk On may be for you. If you want to differentiate yourself from the competition then this might a tool that can help you do so.  Don’t kid yourself thinking that adding this type of thing will drastically increase sales or your bottom line, it’s more for image. But, sometimes, a memorable image may be just what you need to separate yourself from all the other glut on the Internet.

The Template Video

Another low cost marketing tool is the Template Video. This is similar to the Video Walk On in that the script is a template where your companies unique info is plugged into an existing video shell. The difference is that these usually involve a voice over person as opposed to a spokesperson that appears on camera. These type of videos typically use stock video footage and have sections where your logo and message can be easily entered in by the production company. These retail anywhere from $250 and up to produce and usually have a monthly fee attached. The major issue with these types of videos is the fact that they are a template. Your message may not get across exactly as you intend it to but that’s why they are inexpensive. You’re not paying for a solid marketing piece, your paying for a cheap video. The benefit to having this kind of video made is that it’s cheap and at least you’ll have something  to post on YouTube and all the other video distribution sites as well as on your own web site. You can also post it to your blog and if it’s fits into the size constraints your Facebook page as well. You can get a lot of mileage out of one of these as long as your agreement with the production company allows you  to do so. Be careful though! When getting one of these Template Videos you need to make sure that you have complete control over where it can be posted. Some companies will charge you a “distribution fee” if you post it anywhere other than your web site.

Viral Video Campaigns

Viral Videos could also be called Stupid S#!t That People Post Online That Other People Get a Kick Out Of For Some Unknown Reason.

Star Wars Kid, Numa Numa, Dick in a Box and the celebrity filled I’m F*@ing Ben Afflek are just a few examples of successful Viral Videos. These are videos that became extremely popular by people sharing them with each other. Many companies hear of the success of these types of videos and try to replicate that success for themselves. They figure that if some dork with a web cam can get a million views acting like a retard then with all their marketing might they can to. The challenge is producing a video that is not only entertaining enough to stand out from all the dumb crap and make people want to share it but to also produce one that actually promotes your company or brand effectively. Oh, and does it within your companies image guidelines. That’s where most corporate image types show their ignorance regarding the Internet and what kind of videos people actually LIKE to watch and share.

Viral Videos for business need to be entertaining. Your video will competing for face time with dorks, losers, sluts, farting, testicle shots, monkeys, sociopaths and a few individuals with a little talent who all probably know more about what people want to watch and share online than you and your marketing co-horts combined. If you want to keep your video professional, corporate and bland then advertise on TV or on the video sign at your local mall. If you want people to share it with the world, talk about it and have it seen by a large audience then make it funny, sexy or extremely weird.  Check out some examples of successful corporate Viral Videos. Here’s one for Guinness Beer and one for the launch of the PS3. Note – the PS3 spot debuted on TV with an extremely limited run but gained a following online when people started searching  for “the weird Play Station baby commercial”. Consumers actually went out of their way looking for the ad. That’s marketing.

Now producing a successful Viral Video campaign can be a little more challenging than you may think and obviously I won’t be covering ever aspect in this article. Most business owners I have spoken with seem to think that throwing something together and posting it on YouTube is all they need to do and it’s a little more involved than that. For starters, you need to plan the campaign out. If you have the budget, produce more than one spot. The reason why is that if you put all your eggs into one basket and it doesn’t catch on then your money could be wasted. Produce a series of spots and post them over a period of time.You also want to submit your video to more than just YouTube. Believe it or not, YouTube isn’t the be all and end all of sharing video on the Internet. There are also Google Video, Yahoo Video, AOL Video, Vimeo and a whole slew of others. Sign up with as many as you can handle and submit to all of them or pay someone to do it for you. Post your video on your blog, web site and social networking sites. Your goal is to get it seen by as many people as possible so that, hopefully, it will catch on and be shared with the world. Like I stated before, the challenge for a business owner is the fact that your video will be competing for attention with lightsaber guys, strange pets, dudes getting hit in the nuts, half naked women, weird looking babies, MILFs, Club Penguin videos, Justin Timberlake, SNL shorts, drunk people, monkeys being monkeys and other viral marketing campaigns with serious scratch and talent behind them. You need to understand the world your delving into when it comes to Viral Video Marketing. It’s not the same as advertising on TV. Not by a long shot.

Video Podcasting

Video Podcasting is similar to Blogging  in that it’s something you’ll need to do on a regular basis in order for it to be effective. What is it? Basically, it’s producing a series of short videos in which you enlighten the world with your knowledge or observations on whatever subject floats your boat (preferably, expertise in your profession). Now this honestly doesn’t translate well to every single business out there, but for the ones it does, Video Podcasting can be a powerful promotional tool. People get to see you, hear you and become comfortable with you without ever having met you. You can show off the expertise in your field and start branding yourself as an expert whether you really are or not. You tell people your an expert enough times they’ll start buying it.

Now, don’t worry. If you decide to  give Video Podcasting a try but are worried about scheduling time every week to tape and edit your segments I’ll give you an industry hint. Film them all in one day, get them all edited and then release them on a regular basis. I usually suggest filming 13 at a time. That way you have enough for one a week for a quarter of the year. 6-7 weeks into your campaign tape your next 13 and so on. Consistency is key to gaining viewers.

You can then upload your Video Pod Casts to all the previously mentioned video sites, social networks and your blogs but you’ll also want to submit it to Podcasting sites like iTunes, videopodcasts.tv, video.podcast.com, podcastalley.com and tons of others. The more places you post it, the better chance of people seeing it and subscribing.

What About a Normal Old Fashioned Marketing Video?

Let me start out by saying that putting a normal, old fashioned marketing video only on your web site  is a horrendous waste of the Internet’s capability. But if you’re too lazy to post it everywhere or too cheap to pay someone to do it for you here’s what you should do to get the most out of it. At the very least, add a social networking widget like Add This to the page the video is on so that the 6 people who actually see it can share it with others. I’d also make sure that you include video taped testimonials. Video testimonials are powerful marketing tools that really should be included in any video campaign. And don’t just rehash the information that already on your web site. It’s video for goodness sake. Take advantage of it’s capabilities. Video is one of most powerful marketing tools around so use it to it’s fullest extent.

Like I stated before, video has come down a ton in cost the last  few years but it is still a higher end marketing solution. Make sure to plan properly and give the production company enough time, and enough of a budget, to come with something that shows your company in the best light possible. Video can make your company look bigger and better than it is but it can also make you look like a cheap douche bag.  The end product will be a result of your choices so choose wisely.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet Consulting Firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida.

Are You Networking or Collecting?

Last week I attended a business networking function hosting by one of our local cities. It was a table top event filled with the hustle and bustle of small business owners displaying their wares, hundreds of people navigating through the maze of table tops to get to the food areas and beer lines that seemed to go on forever. It was a fine event with plenty of opportunities to meet new business people.

In fact, let me pause a moment and give the Cocoa Beach Area Chamber of Commerce credit for this. They consistently put on one of the best monthly business networking events you’ll find.

Now, as I was standing near the entrance waiting in line to get my free promotional magnet from a vendor’s table top display (I collect promotional magnets and stick them all over every exposed metal area I can find back at the office) I noticed two women in business suits walk in. It looked to be a trainee / trainer situation. One of the women looked fresh out of college, pretty, young, vibrant and wide eyed. The other was more mature, put together well and obviously very comfortable in this environment. These two marketing agents then proceeded to have a conversation that demonstrates the very problem most people have when it comes to networking at business events.

The trainee started scanning the room and pointing out to the trainer people she wanted to talk to. The trainer then cut her off and declared, “We’re here to collect our business cards and leave.”

“We’re here to collect our business cards and leave.”

“We’re here to collect our business cards and leave!”

“We’re here to collect our business cards and leave?”

That phrase stuck with me the rest of the evening. As I mingled, I started noticing how many other people were there just to collect their business cards and leave. Do you do this? Do you set up a goal of collecting “X” amount of business cards at an event so that you can follow up, or, in simpler terms, spam the s#!t out of everyone the following day?

Large networking events are golden opportunities to meet new people and make new contacts. For some business owners, meeting  just one person that eventually gives you a referral makes it worth attending. But it’s hard to really meet people if your just there to collect cards.

Now some of your “Networking Gurus” out there will probably shutter at the following statement but after every networking event I usually end up throwing away anywhere from 15-25 business cards. Why do I throw them away and not add them to my data base of prospects or contacts? Well, for one, they’re not prospects. Introducing yourself to someone at a networking function does not make them a prospect no matter what you’ve read in your sales success books. They are not a prospect until THEY mention to YOU their interest in your services.  And why don’t I just add them to my list of contacts, because honesty, I don’t know them. I separate my business cards into 3 groups: leads for me, leads for other people and junk. The bulk of what I end up with are junk. Now I don’t ask for business cards unless I really want them. All the ones I throw away are given to me without having asked. In turn, I don’t hand my card out unless asked to do so.

At a 2 hour event I usually speak to around 20-25 different people. When I say speak, I mean have some sort of conversation with them beyond, “I’m so and so what do you do?” I use these events to build on existing business relationships and meet new people. I try to stay away from the professional marketing reps because, more often than not, they are there to just “collect” and my goal is to get to know people. If you have ever tried to have a conversation with a professional marketing rep who’s “on” you probably understand what I mean. Everything out of there mouth is pre-scripted crap and they usually couldn’t give a damn about anything you have to say. They are there to do a job and that job is usually to promote, promote, promote.

If you feel uneasy reading this you probably have a little bit of the “card collector” mentality. That’s okay just be aware. To be successful at business networking you need to use the time to develop relationships with people. Don’t just blow through collecting cards so that you can spam them. And yes, it is spamming if they don’t specifically request to be added to your mailing list. You can call it “following up” all day till the cows come home but it’s spamming.

Networking events are golden opportunities to meet new people and get to know them so take advantage and your business will benefit.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey an Internet Consulting firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, FL.

Does Size Matter In Social Networks Or Is It How You Use It

When using social networks for business is it good to have tens of thousands of friends on Facebook? Should you be following as many people as possible on Twitter? Do you need to connect with every single person you meet on Linked In?

When I went to college there was a guy I knew named Christian who attended the larger University in the city. Now he had a simple goal while in school. To get as much tail as possible. He was a simple guy. He didn’t want to be bothered with dating, buying girls meals or being the douche bag that buys a woman drinks all night to only see her go home with someone else. By his calculations there were roughly 15,000 – 20,000 women on campus. Every year the campus would lose and gain roughly another 2,000 – 2,500. He figured that if he just cut to the chase and asked every woman he met to sleep with him right then and there (whether he thought they were attractive or not) he would make out alright during his four years in school just based on the numbers alone. It would take some balls, but he was up to the task.

Most, if not all, of the aps out there being used for social networking have the ability to add friends, colleagues, followers, Plurkers or whatever. The philosophy most marketers use is the same old as dirt, tried and true Marketing 101 tactic of expose your brand to as many people as possible in order to get the filter down effect for your business. Connect with as many people as possible (which is extremely easy through social networking) and the numbers alone will generate some interest in whatever it is your selling or promoting. That’s why Super Bowl ads cost so much. The commercials are seen by so many people at one time the expense is worth the cost. Well, many business owners and self proclaimed social networking experts use a similar module of if you friend all of them, some will eventually buy.

Christian wasn’t best looking guy in the world but he was in reasonably good shape, funny and personable. His plan finally paid off for him about four months and 100 rejections in. He hooked up with a pretty college sophomore that had just been dumped by a guy she had been dating since she was a freshman in high school. When asked if it was worth all the hassle and embarrassment of the previous months his response was, “Hell yeah!”

The model of exposing your product, business or brand to as many people as possible has been around for as long as there has been marketing and the reason is because it does work. It works in print, tv, radio, direct mail and even online. But realize this, social networking is a new and different medium than we have ever been exposed to before. The dynamics are different than that of the marketing resources we have been dealing with for the last hundred years or so. Naturally, the first instinct of most marketing experts is to do what has worked for them on previous successful campaigns and apply it to this new medium. But this old way of thinking may not be in your company’s best interest.

Toward the end of my first year in school watching Christian hit on every woman he came across on weekends became quite a show for everyone that knew him. He was relentless. He truly didn’t give a damn what the women thought of him. If they said, “No” he’d just move on to the next one. It was akin to a small child asking everyone at a family gathering for a cookie before dinner until someone finally breaks down and gives them one. By the end of the year, from what I remember, he ended up hooking up with 3 or 4 different women using this tactic. After all the time and money he spent in bars (the place he found women would be more likely to accept this blunt type of offer) he felt it was worth all the rejections and considered his first year of chasing tail in college a success.

The point of social networking for business is exactly the same as real life business networking. It’s to meet people, get to know them and have them open up their contacts to you. In real life networking this process can take some time getting the trust built up before they start referring you business. In social networking online many times a person’s entire list of contacts is open to you the second they “friend” or connect with you. This really accelerates the process. You can instantly start corresponding with their contacts adding more and more “friends” at an extremely fast rate but is this really such a smart thing to do?

Midway through year 2 Christian’s tactics started backfiring on him. He began hitting on girls he had already hit on before. Sometimes this was due to the fact that he was drunk off his a$$ but most of the time it was because he had hit on so many the year before he flat out didn’t remember them. Then some of the girls started warning their friends about the creepy guy that hits on everyone. Some of ones that actually got with him also started telling their friends to stay away from him because he was a jerk and he started to get a bad reputation around campus. By the end of the second year he abandoned his plan because it wasn’t working anymore. Too many of the women he met already had a preconceived notion that he was just a player or that he was just a flat out jerk.

Social networking works both ways. You get to see all the contacts that every you know knows and they also get to see everyone you know. Savvy business people can tell when someone is really using the social networks to meet people and when they are just collecting contacts. Can you really correspond with 10,000 different people on a regular basis? How about 1,000? What about 100? Do you have the time in your schedule to follow up with hundreds of emails a week? You may counter with, “Some of those may be real people trying to business with me and if I didn’t have all the contacts then that person wouldn’t have contacted me in the first place” and you would be right. But what if you never opened the email because of the fact that the bulk of your “friends” send you so must spam and junk mail that you can’t keep up with everything. Or maybe, because you’ve received so many messages with pictures of Britney Spears’ gooch from all your “friends” through one particular social network that you don’t even bother to login to that one anymore. If it becomes too big to manage then you may miss more than you get and what happens to a business that doesn’t get back to potential clients? Those unsatisfied potential clients tell their friends. Remember, people are more likely to bitch about bad service to their friends than praise good service so be careful. With social networking this message can get out to many, many people very quickly.

Year 3 is when Christian’s tactics from his freshman year really came back to bite him in the a$$. He met a freshman named Kat that he had become smitten with. They started hanging out a lot and the time came when Christian wanted to get serious (in a dating, not sex way). Now while he was courting her she was also hearing the stories from other women around campus. She eventually told him that, even though he seemed like a nice guy, she couldn’t get serious with someone with his reputation and dumped him.

Many of the social networks have games where you earn points, or karma, or prestige for connecting with as many people as possible. They will also reward you for joining groups or getting others to sign up.  This is in their best interest, not yours. Connect with people that will help you achieve your business goals. It’s better to have a smaller, controllable network than to have something that gets out of control where you can’t follow up with people that may want, or need your services.

One of the most written about success stories on social networking is President Obama’s social networking campaign he ran during the election. He had hundreds of thousands of people following his every move. He got his message out to millions of people online. But there is one other thing… He also had an entire staff of people running it for him. Social networking is about connecting with lots of people but you have to be able to manage it. So make sure you don’t just become a contact collector. Make sure you can actually correspond with your network.

Your business isn’t a game so don’t treat it like one.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet Consulting firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida.

How a Blog Can Generate Your Business Money

If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense.

What’s the point of doing a blog for your business if it doesn’t eventually put money into your pocket? Seriously, blogging is time consuming and as a business owner your time is valuable. If you normally bill out at a rate of $200 per hour for your time and you spend 2 hours during the work week blogging you eventually want to get your $400 bucks back right? Of course you do. After all, you didn’t get into business to give out free advice to strangers online. You got into business to make money. But the question is, how does blogging for your business actually turn into real money?

Now the metrics and process of turning a blog reader into a customer can probably be analyzed and interpreted a zillion different ways so I’m going to do it in as simplified a manner as possible. I’ll be using the most likely scenarios. And just so you know, I’m not just pulling these scenarios out of my a$$. These have either happened to me, one of my clients or a colleague.

Here are a couple of scenarios that should paint you a picture of how a business blog could actually generate you money.

The Do-It-Yourself Guy

A D0-It-Yourselfer searches online for advice on how to (insert your service here). They find some of your blog postings and read them. They take your advice and successfully complete their project. Months later they have another project that is a little over their head. They go the bookmark of your blog and try to find answers but can’t find any or realize that they need more help, supplies or whatever. They remember reading that you are in their area and give you a call because of how your previous post helped them out. You then turn them into a client.

The Search Engines

A potential customer searches online for a service they need and that you provide. Your blog postings are all over the search results (FYI – your blog postings may show up faster, higher and more often than your actual web site pages do). They read your blog posting and like what you have to say or just straight up click on the link to your web site, contact you, and become a customer.

The Referral

Someone on the other side of the country whom you’ve never met becomes a regular reader of your blog and likes the advice you give. They end up connecting with you through social media and you begin corresponding with them on a semi-regular basis. Someone they know, that lives in your area, needs your product or service and they refer that person to you. That referral becomes your client.

The Colleague

You regularly post your blog updates to your various social networking groups and by doing so your online colleagues realize that you really do know your stuff. One of them eventually needs your assistance on a project, contacts you and becomes a client.

Your Blog Blows Up

Your blog blows up generating hundreds of thousands of readers a month. At that point you start making money by selling advertising on your blog.

The Facebook Friend

One of your Facebook friends has been following your blog postings on Facebook. They don’t really do much online other than check email and post junk on Facebook (or MySpace). They never would have ever even known about your blog if it wasn’t for Facebook but they’ve been following it and when the time comes around for them to use you service they give you a call.

Over All Branding

Someone needs your service. They recall your business but can’t put a finger on where they heard about you. Was it your web site, blog, business card, flyer or are you the person they were following on Twitter? The point is, they remember you from something. It may not be any one particular thing you do that generates a new client but it may be a culmination of many things that gets them to walk through your door.

Basically, what it all boils down to is the fact that your blog can show off your expertise in whatever area you are an expert in. You can get into more depth and tackle more offbeat subjects that you would on your web site. Potential clients and colleagues can get to know your take on various things without being sold to or without having ever met you. This will help them formulate their opinion of you and your abilities in a non sales related environment. Now most of the people that read your blog will never become clients or refer you any business but you are betting that some (no matter how few) will. And you are also banking on the hope that maybe one of those few will become a regular client or refer you even more business. And maybe one of those referrals becomes your top referral source or #1 customer in terms of income.

The fact is this, blogging is free and the economy sucks right now. You spend whatever amount of you think it’s worth and stick with it. Make sure you track the results and analyze them with a specialist or your marketing team. Your ROI on a business blog may not be crystal clear for a very long time. This is a very soft form of marketing and there are a variety of other factors that can play into your success.

I’ll leave you with this. A business blog won’t hurt. Some businesses will get more out of blogging than others. As your only be-all-end-all online marketing tool it’s probably a waste of your time. As part of a larger online strategy a blog can be a powerful tool that actually puts money into your pocket.

Read Part 1 How to Blog for Business

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet Consulting Firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida.

How to Blog for Business

To start out, I’m not going to waste your time explaining what a blog is. You’re reading one right now. Look at it, examine it, feel it, taste it. But if you still don’t know then you can read a very thorough, long and boring explanation here on Wikipedia and then come back here to read the rest.

This is all about getting people (potential clients) to actually read it. It’s one thing to post your ramblings online, but it’s an entirely different thing to get people to be able find your musings with all the crap that’s on the Internet and to have them actually care about what you are writing. So let’s jump right into this.

Be prepared to do it on a regular basis.

I would suggest giving this a shot for at least six months on a weekly basis. Now, this is not really how blogs are designed to work. Their purpose is  to actually be updated regularly throughout the day but if you’re employed then that can be a little tricky. Now it would be preferable to be able to update your blog daily or even bi-weekly but hell, I don’t even do that, so just start with weekly posts and then move on from there.

Be consistent.

Select a day of the week as well as a time of day to post and keep that schedule throughout. This is actually very important. Consistency will keep people coming back and hopefully create anticipation among current readers.

Write about something people will actually care about.

Now this is geared to business blogging. There are some personal blogs out there where people write about whatever the hell pops into their heads and some people actually read their crap but you are doing this for business. Since you are doing this for business purposes then show your expertise by giving advice or offering your opinions on industry trends. Just make sure you have enough content for at least 26 postings if you’re planning on doing this weekly for 6 months. (My math is right isn’t it?)

Don’t post advertisements for your business.

Give people actual information they can use. People won’t ever come back if all you do is post 5 paragraph ads for your business. Try to make it informative and a little bit entertaining.

Do post a link to your web site, Facebook page, Twitter page, Linked In page or something.

At the end of each post it is common practice to post your digital signature. Such as the one I have at the bottom of this post. Your name, title, company and a link or two are usually alright. This way, if someone is interested they can read more about you, start following you, friend you or whatever.

Make sure you completely fill out your profile.

If you sign up for one of the free blogs like WordPress or Blogger make sure you don’t just blow through the sign up process skipping every step. Completely fill out your profile. Get as much information about you and your business out there as you can. Being that you won’t be using your blog postings to sell, your profile can be used to fill people in on your business and what you have to offer.

Ping it.

Once you make your postings you need to let the blog services on the Internet know that your blog has been updated. This is called “pinging”. Now some of the blog hosting web sites do this automatically and some require that you type in some urls to do this. There are also web sites like Ping-O-Matic that do this for you. This can be a little technical for some but is an important part of letting everyone know that your blog has been updated.

Digg it.

Digg.com has a blog submit form where you can submit new blog postings to their site. You have to be a member to do this, but don’t worry it’s free. Now your blog posting will zip through their index at the speed of light but it is worth the 20 seconds it takes doing this. Now Digg.com also has a variety of features you can use to increase the exposure but that is another topic for another day. (If anyone reading this has written an article on using Digg.com feel free to comment and I’ll amend this post with your link right here in the article.)

Bookmark it.

Technorati , Delicious and a slew of other bookmarking sites are out there for you to promote your blog postings. These are similar to the previously mentioned Digg. They are basically ways for people to share links with each other. Now these bookmarking sites are like social networking sites so just signing up and posting stuff to no one won’t do you any good. You’ll need to be active in their different communities and such to build your contacts that share links with you. But again, that’s another topic for another day.

Add your blog to your other social networking sites.

If you’re signed up other social networking sites like Facebook or Linked In I have good news for you. They have widgets built in that allow you to have your blog postings appear in your profile. Other social networking sites have similar features, you will probably have to look into their various “Other Features”, “Plug Ins” or “Widgets” sections to find them but if you have the ability to do so then do it.

Add a social networking widget to your blog.

A social networkling widget is a little plug in that allows people to share your blog with others. An example of one is Add This. Now this will go on your actual blog web site. Depending on which blog you are using and if you using the blog’s server or hosting it yourself adding this can be as easy as a click of a button or you may need to have your web or IT guy help you. It’s something you want to do either way.

Twitter it (but be careful).

Using Twitter or any other micro blog to promote a new blog entry is a good way of promoting your stuff but be careful. Excessive self serving postings on micro blogs like Twitter can also make you look like a tool or come awful close to spamming. Make sure your micro blog postings don’t all read “New blog posting…” over and over again. Throw in some other stuff too… but alas, I’ve gone over using Twitter to spam already in a previous post.

Announce your new blog postings in your newsletter.

If you have an online newsletter announce your blog postings in it. Post the first few sentences or a brief summary with a link to your blog.

Announce your new postings in any online groups you are part of.

Now this one you also need to be careful with. This is also where posting general information that people actually would care about helps you. Many online groups will allow you to post links to articles and such that the group may find interesting. This is a great place to promote your blog postings but be careful as to not piss everyone off by becoming spammy. Many users look at online groups as places to spam the hell out of people and posting your blog updates may be looked upon as spam. If you are unsure, make sure to check with your administrators before blasting out links to your blog. And if you ARE allowed to do so then only announce your updates once. Don’t resubmit every hour on the hour. That is spamming. If it doesn’t catch on like wild fire with one announcement then tough, try again on your next update.

Post comments in other people’s blogs.

Read other blogs that cover similar topics. If your blog posting relates to something you read in someone elses blog posting then comment on it and include a link to your blog. They may, or may not, include your comment but if they do it’s more promotion for your blog.

Add a link to your blog on all your web sites.

If you have a web site for your business you need to add a link to your blog and have your blog link back to your web site. You also need to add a link to your blog in all your profiles on any any social networking sites you are signed up for.

Now, how does all this generate actual business?

Click here to read about some of the ways a business blog can turn into actual money in your pocket.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet Consulting Firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida.

Why Your Web Site Isn’t Working

Oh, why does your web site suck so?

Two of the top questions I am often asked is , “Why isn’t my web site working?” and “What’s wrong with my web site?”. Luckily, for all of you reading this,  the answer to these questions usually revolve around the same set of issues so I can go ahead and answer them for you now without even looking at your stuff or billing you for the time. Think of this as a free Viagra for the Web sample from Digi Donkey. Just a little something to get your junk working again.

Before I begin we need to lay some parameters and define what “not working” actually refers to. For most people it means, “I dropped some serious cabbage on this piece of sh!t and it hasn’t produced any results. Either the phone isn’t ringing, people aren’t buying your stuff or no one is filling out your 20 item questionnaire.

You’ll notice that I left out, “People aren’t even visiting in the first place.”  The reason why is that most people who come to me don’t even have a clue as to how many visitors their web site is getting in the first place. There are business owners that will drop thousands of dollars on a web site yet don’t track the results. This isn’t TV, radio or print where you have to guess. Web site traffic can be tracked a variety of different ways and a good start would be to have your web person sign you up for a free Google Analytics account and begin tracking your traffic. You really can’t take an educated stab at fixing something if you don’t have a clue what is wrong and studying your traffic is a good start. Are you getting visitors? If so, are you losing them within 10 seconds of landing on your page? Are they clicking around but not calling? Are they clicking around but not buying?

To keep it simple, as well as give me another topic for another day, we’ll assume you’re getting traffic but not converting it into business. Here are some of most common issues with business web sites that prevent them from turning visitors into customers.

Your web site just plain sucks.

The design just doesn’t work for what you are trying to represent. This usually due to fact that you had your brother, his friend, an engineer, yourself, a douche-bag or whatever design your site for you. With all of the competition nowadays you have to have a professional looking  presence online if you want to be taken seriously.

Your contact form is way too f*cking  long.

This happens to a lot of people. They want to know ever damn thing about the person, usually to pre-qualify them. Now why in hell would someone want to spend 20 minutes filling out your form? You need to simplify. A good rule of thumb is ask for their name, email and phone number. Don’t ask for their entire life history. Keep it simple and the chances of them filling it out will increase. Remember, they don’t know you and they have no idea what you’re actually going to do with the personal information they put in. Again, keep it simple and some thing else you can do to increase form submissions is to…

Give them something for filling out your form.

Give them a reason to fill out your form other than the knowledge that they will have you calling them to follow up. Give them 10% off if they purchase or enter everyone who fills out the form into a drawing for a gift card to a restaurant chain. Just give them something. You’ll be surprised how many people will fill out an online form if they get something out of it besides your wonderful services.

Have a call to action on every page.

Your web site needs to have a purpose and if you’re not selling products right on the site then your purpose is most likely to generate leads. To do that you need a way to find out who is interested in your stuff and they need a way to let you know. You do that with a call to action. “Call now”, “Sign Up Now” or “Enter Now” are some good ones. Tell the visitors what you want them to do and make sure the phone number, email address or contact form is easily seen on every page. If you are trying to generate business from other states get yourself a toll free number so they don’t have to pay the toll charges. Make it easy for them and the chances of them contacting you will increase.

Start a free newsletter.

Some visitors may not be ready to use your services when they visit your site the first time. They may be pre-planning, price shopping or something else. A good way to stay in touch is by having them sign up for a free newsletter. Make it simple by only asking for name and email. Hell, you actually only need the email address. Then give them something for signing up like coupons available only to subscribers or entry into a monthly drawing like I mentioned earlier. Then you can keep marketing to them on a regular basis through the newsletter.

Get rid of all the damn Flash animation.

Flash looks cool and it can give your site a visual edge if done right. It hurts though if the damn thing takes too long to load. If someone has to wait for your site to load, the chances of them bailing out increases dramatically.

Suck it up and hire a real photographer to take pictures of your products (especially food).

Now when I say hire a real photographer I mean someone you actually have to pay that makes a living taking photos. Not your sister-in-law with the expensive camera. If you are selling stuff online through your own web site a good clear photo could be the difference between them buying or bolting. This is especially true when dealing with food. For the most part, food looks like sh!t when not photographed by a professional. You may actually turn people off when you take your own poorly lit, pasty, blurry ass pictures.

Don’t give away the cow man.

Some people give away too much information on their web site. They are so thorough that consumers have no reason to contact them. They can make their decision right then and there. This is fine on an E-Commerce site but if you are trying to generate leads, only give them enough info to peak their interest. That way they have to contact you to get the rest of the info and you can work your sales magic on them. That’s the point right – to have them contact you. So scale it back a little. You’d be surprised how many people increased the effectiveness of their web sites just by cutting the information down to a minimum.

Be honest with youself about your product or service.

This is the one most people have a hard time dealing with. Does your product or service just plain suck? Is there really a demand for it or did you get sucked into some sort of scam. Now, I’m not speaking to real businesses, I’m speaking about get rich online schemes. If you have already dropped a ton of scratch I sympathize with you but no amount of web design, Flash, video, SEO or masterful online marketing is going to help if the public looks at your stuff as crap or as a scam. You need to get an objective opinion before sinking a ton of money into marketing something that possibly no one wants.

Now I didn’t cover everything that could be wrong but, like I stated before, these are the most common issues I have run into. Talk to your web designer about correcting these issues and if they won’t help hire someone who will.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey an Internet Consulting Firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida.

First Annual Mr. Awesome Awards for Networking Tools

Normally I would use this valuable cyber-space for giving no-holds-barred advice to business owners regarding marketing, but this week you are all in for something special. This week I’ll be giving out the 1st Annual Mr. Awesome Awards for Networking Tools.

Now for those of you who don’t already get the joke let me explain.

VH1, purveyor of such fine programming like “People Who Used to be Celebrities But Are Now on Drugs”, “Skanks Who’ll Do Anything to Get on TV Like Sleep With Bret Michaels” and “Why the F@ck Would Any Woman In Her Right Mind Want to Date Flava Flav” has now come out with a new show that sets the bar so low that the heat from the Earth’s core has already begun melting it. Their new entry into the world of “The Honeymooners”,  “The Cosby Show”, “All in the Family” and “MASH” is called “Tool Academy”. In this show, disgruntled women tricked their @-hole boyfriends into believing they were going onto a show where they would be competing for the title of “Mr. Awesome”.  (I’m not making this up, this is a real show that’s on like every other day). So these dip sh!ts get on the show only to learn that their disgruntled girlfriends are really just trying to change them for the better because they are such tools.

That’s where this week’s blog comes in. I asked myself, where in the business world do you meet the most tools?  Well… networking of course. Whether during real life business networking or social networking online we’ve all met them. So, maybe, just  like on the TV show, we can help some of these clueless people by giving them out their own “Mr. Awesome” awards.

Here we go.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for Twitter mastery goes to…

The guy who only posts links to his website or blog over and over and over again.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for best usage of time goes to…

The guy who posts the exact same message to every social networking outlet he’s signed up for 50 times in a row within 5 minutes.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for best first impression goes to…

The guy who shoves his business card into your face before you even get a chance to ask him his name.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for best conversationalist goes to…

The guy who can’t carry on a 3 minute conversation with you without mention how his business or products or services can help you over and over again.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for sensitivity to women goes to…

The guy who relentlessly hits on every woman at a business networking event.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for business development goes to…

The guy who invites you out for drinks and then offers you a “terrific business opportunity”.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for blog promotion goes to…

The guy who decides that mentioning he updated his blog just once isn’t enough, so he does it every hour on the hour for an entire day.

The “Ms. Awesome” award for image consulting  goes to…

The woman who rolls into a business networking event with her boobs hanging out and then proceeds to bitch about how everyone is just looking at her boobs.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for group posting mastery goes to…

The guy who is always posting questions yet never actually responds to anyone who comments on his posts.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for group posting mastery II goes to…

The guy who always responds that his business has the answer to whatever question has been posted.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for helping out goes to…

The guy who keeps giving you leads without ever really confirming that the people actually want, or even need, your service.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for LinkedIn mastery goes to…

The guy who has decided that LinkedIn groups are the perfect place to spam the sh!t out of people.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for best social butterfly goes to…

The guy who keeps everyone in his  MeetUp group up to date on all his specials and promotions yet never actually attends any events in person.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for practicing what you preach goes to…

The networking group that ignores visitors to that group when they show up for the first time.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for best sales tactics goes to…

The guy who doesn’t realize that the time to sell is not within the first five minutes of meeting somebody.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for Jeffery Lebowski / Big Lebowski mistaken identity goes to…

The guy who thinks that anyone actually cares to hear about his network marketing opportunity at a networking event.

The “Mr.  / Ms. Awesome” award for way to much information goes to…

The man or woman who gets hammered at a business networking function and then proceeds to bitch about their spouse all night.

The “Mr.  / Ms. Awesome” award for false advertising  goes to…

The guy or girl who uses a 20 year old photo for their online profile picture.

The “Mr. Awesome” award for keen insight goes to…

The guy that keeps sending me emails promising to add extra size to my junk.

Feel free to respond with any other “Mr. Awesome” awards you feel I may have left out. Keep them geared toward real life or online networking.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey an Internet Strategy company located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida.

The Cheap Ass Guide to Determining Your Target Market

Who does #2 work for? Who does #2 wooorrkkk fooorrrrrrrrr?

The real question is, who do you work for? The sad truth is that many small owners don’t have the slightest clue who their target market really is. Oh, they think they know but when asked to put more than 2 seconds of educated thought into it many are off course.

You can see many examples of small business owners not having a clue of who they are targeting by attending any business networking function where people are allowed to give the dreaded 30 – 60 second “elevator” speech. “I’m looking for anyone who’s looking to buy  a house”, “I’m looking for anyone with a spine”, “I’m looking for anyone with skin”, I’m looking for anyone wh0 needs a website”, “I’m looking for anyone who needs printing”. You might as well just stand up and blurt out, “I’m looking for anyone that will give me money to sit down, shut up and not waste the next 40 seconds of your life”.

Why does this even matter? I WILL do business with anyone that can pay me for my services?

My answer to the above statement is, “No sh!t Sherlock”.  Of course you’ll do business with anyone who’ll pay you because that’s why you got into business in the first place, to make money. The reason why you need to know your target market is so that you don’t piss away your money marketing to the wrong people.

The article is not going to teach you the finer points of market research and all that jazz. After all, it is a Cheap Ass Guide. But I am going to give you cheap ass, do-it-all-yourself, I’m a writer because I have Word, I’m a graphic artist because I have Photoshop, I’m a web designer because I have Dreamweaver business owners a small exercise you can do to determine who your top client is right now. This way you’ll be able to at least start targeting the right people with your homemade flyers, website and business cards.

An Excellent Case Study

A few years ago I consulted a young woman who owned a skin care business. When I asked her to generalize who her top client was she confidently said, “Women in their mid-twenties that want better looking skin”. I then asked her to do an exercise that required her to call up her top 10 – 20 clients and ask them a series of questions. Now determining who her top clients where was a mini challenge. Does she go by the people that drop the most cabbage, the ones that she personally likes the best or the ones that may not spend a whole lot but refer the most business? Now in her case we determined that it really boiled down into 2 categories; people that spent the most and people that didn’t spend much but sent a lot of referrals. She had good personal relations with everyone across the board.

When her results came back (she spoke with 16 or so people) she was shocked by the results. Her average client was not young women in their mid-twenties it was actually white women in their late 40’s and early 50’s. They where married with children and worked outside the home.  They said that the reason they used her services was that they usually felt unappreciated at home / work and they just needed a place to unwind and be girlie. All this time she thought her business was being driven by Bunny Lebowski when it was actually being driven by Maude. When we looked at the books, something like 65% of her business fell into this demographic.

Here is why this example is so good. Some of these women had received several fliers and brochures for over a year but never came in until meeting the woman in person at networking events.  Her personality and professionalism got them in, not any of her marketing efforts. Why didn’t they? Because, according to them, all the fliers and brochures had pictures of young girls in their mid 20’s and where designed to look very young and hip. The women got the impression that her business (even though very clinical in nature) was for young girls and they did not want to go someplace that made them feel old. They felt old at work, they felt old at home and they did not want to go to a place that reinforced them feeling old all over again. Especially when going  in for rejuvination treatments and such.

Now after two years in business and seeing these woman on a day to day basis why in the hell was she so off when I asked her who her general client was? It’s because she was projecting her desires onto her business. She saw herself as young and hip. She saw her clients as young and hip. It was not what was really happening but that is how she saw it.  When she realised who her clients really were, and changed her marketing materials accordingly( more mature women in the photos, more comforting and reassuring copy, more clean and conservative design and layout) her response rate to her her ads, emails and mailers doubled. Why, because now she knew who was most likely to use her service and she geared her marketing to them.

You’re not McDonald’s so stop trying to market your business like they do.

Small business owners that try to target everyone on their ads are idiots. McDonald’s actually does target everyone. They target young women, old women, kids, men, African Americans, Asians, whites, Hispanics, handicapped folks and every age group within the entire racial spectrum. You know why? Because they can afford it. They can afford to do market studies. They can afford to profile everyone who eats their crappy food and come up with a plan to target market to them. Guess what. You probably can’t afford to and if you can and are still reading this for free advice you’re one cheap ass douche bag. If you’re doing this on the cheap and have limited resources (money) then you really need to put your efforts into targeting one person. You will still have people outside of your marketing bulls eye come to your business but if you do focus on the people who are most likely to use your services your marketing efforts will have a much better chance of succeeding instead of just plain sucking.

The Questionnaire

Gather up your top 10 – 20 clients and get answers to the following questions. Now who your top clients are is your own judgment. Do you prefer people that drop the most money or ones that refer the most business? Do you like catering to high maintenance people or ones that are the most appreciative? This is your own question that needs to be answered before you begin this exercise.

• What sex are they?
• How old are they?
• What race are they?
• Are they married, single, dating, divorced?
• Do they have children?
• Do they own a business?
• Do they work?
• Do they enjoy their job?
• How much money do they make? ( You may need to guesstimate this one. If you can’t ask then look at their clothes, car, jewelry. It’s actually very important to have an idea of your client’s income situation.)
• Why did they initially come to you?
• Had they seen any of your marketing materials before coming to you?
• How long did they wait from the time they knew what you do before they came in the first time?
• Why do they continue using your service?
• Have they ever referred you business?
• How much have they spent with you during the previous year, six months?
• What do they like most about your company?
• What do they like least about your company?
• How easy is this client to collect from? Do they pay right away or do you have to hound them for money?
• When this client comes in do you look forward to seeing them again or are they a pain in the ass?

Now is this the most effective way to find out your target market? No, but it is effective for doing it on the cheap.

That’s pretty much it.

Now people actually go to college and get real degrees in marketing and advertising. There are businesses out there that do real market research and have much more scientific ways of gathering this information but doing the above excersise will at least get you started down the right path. If you own a business you need to know who your business is targeting. If you can’t afford to target everyone then target who is most likely to use your service. Just remember, your target market may not be who you think it is or even who you’d prefer it to be.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet Consulting Firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida.