Scrappy Marketing Solutions Blog

Who's Who in Online Marketing Blogging

I recently received an email from Jimmy Atkinson, at WHDB.com, alerting me of a "Who's Who in Online Marketing Blogging" sort of list he had compiled: 100 Awesome Webmaster Blogs by and for Women.

...over four days through simple keyword searches and through reading blogs and other resources, we discovered at least one hundred women in SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing), public relations and marketing, design, business, social media and in IT. All these women have one thing in common - their work revolves around the Web.

The sum total of the Web women listed here represents just the tip of the iceberg on women involved with Web matters - although we agree with Zeldman that men seem to outnumber the women in this realm. With that said, the women we discovered are strong, talented, innovative and resourceful. And, many of them have joined forces to help each other and many other women.

This is quite a list!  If you are interested in reading about Search Engine Optimization/Marketing, Public Relations, Web Design, and Social Media, consider this your blog reading "shopping list"!

Here's how Jimmy's list breaks down:
Women in Search - 19 blogs
Women in Marketing - 20 blogs (including ScrapbookMarketing!)
Women in Design - 17 blogs
Social Media, Organizations, and Writing Skills - 14 blogs
Women in Business - 14 blogs
Women in Tech - 16 blogs

This list has me thinking I should compile a list of "Who's Who in Scrapbook Blogging" - what do you think?

I would welcome your comments about the "readability" of the blogs on Jimmy's list - do you read any of them regularly?  Which do you find the most useful?  What have you learned from them?  Did the list omit any significant contributions from women bloggers?  Do leave a comment and share your thoughts!

Social Network Marketing Example: PostSecret

No matter what you think of the blog concept or the secrets posted there, PostSecret provides a good example of marketing via Facebook.

Down at the bottom of their blog homepage is a link:

See 15 more secrets - join the facebook page.

The "ethical bribe" of seeing 15 more postcards sends traffic to their Facebook page, where they can see said postcards in the Fresh Secrets photo album.

I think it's interesting to see how people market via Facebook - market as an active verb, moreso than just "having a Facebook presence".  Personally, I'd like to see more examples of Facebook-exclusive content, such as events, or discussions, or chats.  Second Life is home to many such branded events, even live music concerts and teleseminars; I would think the same could happen on Facebook (well, maybe not the concerts). 

Are any of you seeing such events/offerings?  How else do you think scrapbook marketers could be using Facebook?  What ethical bribe could you offer via Facebook?  An exclusive download link?  Content available only via Friend communication blasts?  What do you think?

Using Facebook to Promote Your Scrapbooking Business

Though Facebook has been around since 2004, I continue to see people joining it all the time.  The digital scrapbooking community particularly has a growing presence (not really surprising, as digi-scrappers would be drawn to the virtual community features).  What I also see is people using Facebook to help promote their businesses.  A recent article on Techdirt highlights different ways businesses can use Facebook as a promotional tool: Facebook Can Be Fun, But It's Also Useful.

I think it's a mistake to discount how useful [Facebook] can be. In my experience the most useful features are not the add-on applications but the basic features built into Facebook itself.

The article goes on to mention specific Facebook features that have promotional uses, such as Facebook groups, photo albums, and event invitations.  I have seen several of my Facebook "friends" use these tools to promote their scrapbooking businesses.

A number of digital designers and digital scrapbooking communities have created Groups to promote their interests - Groups allow you to send mass emails (or "Notifications") out to Group members.  Personally, I'd like so see some local scrapbooking stores, or "traditional" scrapbooking manufacturers create Groups, and use them to post content, such as projects or tutorials.  Then they could send out Notifications that the content was available.

Digital Scrapbooking magazine (link: Facebook group profile) issued an Event Invitation to the CHA Summer Show.  While they are not hosting the actual trade show in July in Chicago (the Craft & Hobby Association is), they used Facebook's Event feature to invite 319 members of their Facebook group to the event.  That nicely ties their magazine's name and brand to the event.

Jessica Sprague (link: Facebook profile), a digital scrapbooking expert and instructor, created a Facebook Page for her Digital Scrapbooking Online Classes.  Then she added photos of layout examples from the classes to the Page.  When you create a Page, that allows you to "Share" the Page's content with your Facebook "Friends".  Those Friends can also become a "Fan" of your Page.  Things you are a Fan of show up on your profile, which just helps spread Jessica's message virally.

Jeanine Baechtold added the Blog RSS Feed Reader application to her profile, and added the feed for the Kristy Valshan blog (she is the "Kristy" half of the company).  This automatically updates her Facebook profile with the latest posts from the company blog.  That allows a little more "mileage" for the blog, within the Facebook community.

What about you?  How have you seen businesses (scrapbooking and non-) promote themselves on Facebook?  What Facebook features do you think haven't been used to their full promotional potential?  How would you like to see Facebook used as a promotional tool?

And while I'm on the subject of Facebook, I might as well post the link to the Page for Scrappy Marketing Solutions:

Internet Marketing: Tips from a Facebook Guru

Denise Wakeman has posted a summary from a recent teleseminar/interview on her blog, Biz Tips Blog: Internet Marketing Tips: Facebook Tips from Mari Smith.

I admit, there's not a lot on this list I didn't know already, but it's a good basics guide to "working" Facebook, or any social networking community/site.  There were a couple of suggestions I knew, but haven't put a lot of effort into developing yet, mostly as a matter of time.  So the list is a good reminder that you can't reap the benefits of that which what you don't work.

Facebook expert Mari Smith suggests setting up a Page for your business.  I have done that for Scrappy Marketing Solutions, but I'm not really "working" it.  Mari also suggests setting up Events for your business - these don't have to be events within Facebook - you could post about real-life events like crops or speaking engagements.  It's a way to spread the word to "Fans" of your business, and your Facebook Friends.

Mari Smith is the instructor for a free online class on Facebook marketing techniques called "Facebook Fortunes" via Podclass.com.  Free is good - you should check it out!

Blog Marketing: Search Engine Optimization for Blogs - SEO

One of the points I addressed in my Blogging 201 class at MemoryTrends was on keyword research - basically I advised people to do it and use it (as in...DO the keyword research, then USE the research when writing your posts).

I recently stumbled upon an-oldie-but-a-goodie post (from 2005!) on this topic at ProBlogger: Search Engine Optimization for Blogs.  Darren covers much the same territory that I did in my class.  I really like how he outlined the questions you should ask yourself when writing content (posts) for your blog:

Keyword Rich Content - identify a few keywords for your article that you’re hoping will get indexed highly by Google. Don’t pick too many but consider the questions

• How do I want people to find this post in Search Engines?
• What will they type into Google if they want information on the topic you’re writing?
• How would I find information on this topic in the Search Engines?
• What results come up when I do plug these keywords into Google?
• What other keywords are other sites using?

The answer to these questions will give you a hint as to what words you’ll want to see repeated throughout your article a number of times.

He also goes on to describe where in each post you should include these targeted keywords.  To give credit where credit is due - and send some search engine juice his way - I'll just link back to his post on Search Engine Optimization for Blogs, where you can read more about it.

There's one key point to keep in mind when judging results of search engine optimization efforts, a point I continually reinforce to my blog consulting clients -  if you aren't writing about a topic (or keyword), don't expect the search engines to find you for it.  In the same vein, if you want to be included in search engine results for a specific keyword - WRITE ABOUT IT!

Remember - showing up on search engines (or rather, in search engine results) depends heavily on what terms or phrases people use to search.  If you want your blog or website to show up in searches for the keyword phrase, "Kansas City scrapbooking", you MUST use that phrase repeatedly in your text - in page titles, in subject lines, and in blog posts.  But only optimize for that phrase if you have a store in Kansas City, or offer product related to scrapbooking about Kansas City.  Otherwise you might draw people to your site/blog, and have nothing that relates to their current needs.

To attract search engines for specific keywords, highlight those keywords in the text on your site, and hyperlink them to a relevant page on your site.  For instance, if I want to be found by people searching for "craft press releases", I will write a post including
tips on writing or submitting press releases, and I'll use the phrase "Craft press releases".  I'll highlight that phrase, and link it to the Page on my site that details my press release writing services.

That tells Google that information on "craft press releases" can be found at *this* URL (the underlying URL, hyperlinked to that "anchor text").

Be watching upcoming issues of Craftrends magazine for an article on just this subject - and let me know what questions you have about search engine optimization, so I can address them in the article.  Feel free to leave a comment on this post, or just email me.

Marketing by Customer Review: Scrapbook.com

Another great marketing idea, this one from Scrapbook.com: Review A Product Win $25!

Scrapbook.com is giving away (3) $25 superstore-shopping-sprees to three lucky product reviewers!

Here’s what you need to do to be eligible to WIN:

1. Choose an E-book or digital product from the superstore that you own (or will soon own)
2. Go to that products page in the Scrapbook.com Superstore
3. Write a 50 word (minimum) review of the product (posted to the product page)

All reviews are eligible provided that they would likely be deemed helpful and informative by a person who does not yet own the product.
That’s it! Simple, right?

Clever marketing - offer an incentive to get your customers to dish on your products!  Since the contest does not imply the review must be positive, I don’t see any ethical problems.

Here’s what I like about this promotion:

• it will (most likely) provide lots of reviews in their online storefront, which boosts the confidence level of “looky-loo’s” - they see lots of reviews, they think a lot of people must shop here, they feel secure doing business with the site.
• they specified that the review must “likely be deemed helpful and informative by a person who does not yet own the product”.  That kind of guideline will help someone write a review.
• they asked for reviews on their *digital* products.  What a great way to highlight a specific segment of their business!
• they included this promotion in their e-newsletter, which is also archived online - instant search engine mojo, and easy to pass the word along to friends (viral marketing)!

You could do something similar in your business:

• every other month, solicit reviews/testimonials about a specific type of product or service - paper one month, classes another month
• change up the incentive every so often - store credit one month, personal consulting session another month.
• have customers apply to be on a rotating “Review Board”, of say, a three to six-month term.  During that term, they get special goodies for their service.
• definitely post about any kind of contest/promotion on your blog and in your newsletter

A Scrappy Marketer’s Hat Tip to Scrapbook.com!

Viral Scrapbook Marketing: Tinkering Ink Blinkies

I recently spotted a great grassroots/viral marketing idea on the Tinkering Ink BLOG. They are offering “blinkies” graphics for people to post in their message board signature lines (aka “sigs”). The little animated graphics scroll through various marketing slogans and feature some branded Tinkering Ink images.

TI goes a step further by providing coding instructions on their blog and on their message board, specifying how to post a blinkie to a message board sig.

THEN they go even another step further, and declare that they “will be hunting down Tinkering Ink blinkies online and giving away prize packs filled with Tinkering Ink goodies to random customers we find displaying our blinkie on their signature”. By choosing random winners (instead of submissions, or a talent contest), people are more likely to use the blinkie, in hopes that they could be noticed and chosen. And every time someone uses the TI blinkie, the marketing message is passed further down the pipeline.

A Scrappy Marketer’s Hat Tip to Tinkering Ink!

Stumped When Writing Effective Article Headlines?

Great 4-part series of articles on writing article headlines over at dsd-professionals.com: How to Write Headlines that Keep Customers Coming Back for More.

It’s always helpful to find business/marketing resources that are addressed to scrapbooking industry professionals - you don’t have to do any fancy mind tricks to figure out how generalized small business advice applies to YOUR business.

Here’s the intro to the article series:

This is the first article in a series that will give you a steady stream of headline-writing ideas and proven techniques that are sure to increase your readership.  Whether you are writing blog articles, advertising for your digi-scrap business, or announcements in your community forums - these formulas will become some of your best friends.  Because they will give extra power to your writing skills and produce the results you are looking for. Through this series I will share with you tips and techniques on how to write better headlines for your blogs, on your websites, and in your advertising campaigns.

A Scrappy Marketer's Hat Tip to Cindy (aka PaintChip) for providing these resources.