McIntosh Marketing Blog

Small Biz marketing success is dependant upon being found and building trust.  And in today’s economic climate, building your brand must entail a strong internet presence. As you may have discovered, simply having a web site is not enough. Yet, 90% of the small businesses in existence that have a web site are not engaging in the most effective method to building more traffic to it: Blogging.

Your company blog is not only a free method in which to build original content to your web site, a must be done SEO strategy for online marketing success, but it really becomes a long-term strategy to reach out and develop many of the potential niche markets that exist within your business.

Additionally, there are some simple steps to expose your company blog to more and more customers, as well as increasing your blog’s value as a B2B website. Here are some helpful marketing tips to gain maximum SEO potential for your blog:

• On all company emails, include links to your company blog.
• Ensure that your blog is listed within the blog option on LinkedIn.
• Ensure that your blog is prominently featured on your company Facebook fan club.
• Distribute your blog postings to all the various social media outlets via Ping.fm.
• Get your blog listed in the dozens of blog directories, such as Technorati.
• In whatever you print and publish off-line, such as letterhead, business cards, etc. include your blog address.
• Blog at least twice a week. Get an SEO expert to help you find the key words and longtail words to get best results.
• Watch this video and learn even more!

LinkedIn is the largest and fastest growing business networking sites for all types of business professionals, which provides your company with an amazing opportunity for small business marketing. In the next coming weeks, we will be featuring many more posts about LinkedIn and how to utilize it fully as a powerful way to connect with other B2B professionals and to catapult your brand building strategy into action with positive ROI.

But beyond LinkedIn, there are many other B2B networking sites that may not be as famous, but nonetheless offer opportunities for small businesses to reach out and effectively market their products or services. Here’s a sampling:

Biznik – Entrepreneurs and small businesses networking to assist each other to prosper.

Cofoundr – A networking group emphasizing starting new ventures.

E.Factor – An online network & virtual marketplace designed for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs.

Ecademy –A B2b network for generating contacts and distributing know-how and experience.

Entrepreneur Connect – A network established by Entrepreneur.com where professionals can network, communicate, and collaborate with others.

Fast Pitch – A business network where professionals can market their business and make connections.

Focus – A network collaborating business decision makers and IT professionals to generate better ideas and decisions.

JASEzone – A professional business community where you can develop potential clients and business partners.

Networking for Professionals – A business network that combines online business networking and real-life events.

PartnerUp – A community connecting small business owners and entrepreneurs.

PerfectBusiness – A network of entrepreneurs, investors and business experts that encourages entrepreneurship and mutual success.

Ryze – A business networking community that allows users to organize themselves by interests, location, and current and past employers.

StartupNation – A community focused on the exchange of ideas between entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners.

Upspring – A social networking site for promotion and social networking.

XING – A European business network with more than 7 million members.

McIntosh Marketing has now initiated a marketing group for CPA’s on LinkedIn.

CPA’s and accountants have traditionally been lax in their online marketing efforts. McIntosh Marketing is taking efforts to educate the financial field, and their related industries, on how to attract more high-end clients through an effective educational format via their blog and an established social media program.

LinkedIn is a powerful format for B2B relations for CPA’s, accountants and EA’s in that they should take advantage of the vast resource to share their vision, passion and services through this vital social media channel.

Never a day goes by when I am asked by a business person if they should actually engage in social media or not.

Have you noticed that phone books are getting thinner and smaller? Well, it’s not because the business is not dying. It is migrating to a new media that is reaching hundreds of millions per day. That is social media.

This CNN article is a case in point: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/04/08/social.media.small.biz/?hpt=C2

We could argue for days about whether we should Facebook or Twitter? Should I blog or should write articles? Do I use have flash, or do video? These tools do not replace studying, understanding and having a strategy.

Recently I visited some up and coming entrepreneurs at a networking conference in Laguna Beach, CA. All were eager to attend and hear from the keynote speaker on Linkedin. After the talk, the questions fired like cannonade and one thing was clear: They were confused.

He didn’t clarify much, he simply stirred up the hornet’s nest.

And not about Linkedin, but about all aspects of social media. And you know what? The speaker wasn’t prepared. He was just as confused, really. He picked that one topic and studied it hoping to look like an expert on that one subject. He did not realize that when he opened up the platform, he would be inundated by a tsunami of questions and a torrent of confusion.

He got caught not knowing his basics of one of the most important changes in business today: social media.

But one thing is for sure: The confused questions all indicate that this is where small business is going. It’s not turning back. Say bye-bye to the yellow pages book, because it will one day be in the museum with the T-Rex and the Dodo.