Notes From the Desk

Cow Dog Design LLC is unveiling a new ad to be placed in local publications and on the Internet.

Promoting one’s business or group is one of the most important things to do to become successful. Unfortunately, this task usually takes a back seat to other priorities. I don’t care if you are the local high school hockey team or a multinational corporate company; there are avenues that every group should be taking to expand its viability, reach and influence in the world. If customers don’t know about your business or group, than they can’t join or purchase your merchandise. Here are five simple things you can easily do on the Internet to spread the word.

1. Start a group on LinkedIn: LinkedIn is the business version of Facebook and having an individual page is great but it doesn’t fully promote the company. Creating a group page on LinkedIn helps individuals or groups find your company. With a LinkdIn group, you can easily distribute news and other information to the public in one localized place.
2. Start a business page on Facebook: Facebook right now is the number one social networking website out there. While it is not as formal as LinkedIn, Facebook has a bigger and wider net it can toss to attract more people to your business. Also when a person joins your group on Facebook, Facebook does you the favor of promoting your business to all of that person’s friends on Facebook.
3. Create a Digg account to promote your eNews: Digg.com is a news website where the articles are submitted by the users. Users recommend news they have read on other sites to all the other Digg users. If you have been including your newsletters as part of your website this is a great tool to promote your news to new people who have not heard of your group or company.
4. Participate as a group: Recently I participated in a charity bike ride and to register you need to use a website called getmeregistered.com. With this site there are many features that people rarely use. One such feature is that you can organize a business group or organization to participate in the event. A group can be 1 person or 100 people, but the benefit is you are putting your company or group name out there for the world to see. While promoting a good cause you are also promoting your business to a new group of people.
5. Submit your website to DMOZ.org: DMOZ.org is a free online directory that you can submit your website to be listed. DMOZ.org is used by people looking for specific companies to fulfill their needs. The secondary benefit of DMOZ.org is yahoo.com, google.com, and other search engines will follow that link to your website. Thus creating a free external link back to your site, which is great for your search engine optimization.

The greatest thing about the World Wide Web is the way it levels the playing field for the little man. The web puts small businesses and Indie bands in direct competition with their larger counterparts. The bonus is that unlike TV ads or a traditional print ad, you don’t have to break the bank to compete.

Scott Terry, the lead singer of Red Wanting Blue, was talking about this subject in a recent interview. Terry commented on how bands utilize the web as a promotional tool. In the beginning everyone had their own website and would stencil it on everything from t-shirts to equipment boxes. Then with the success of people like Colbie Caillat making it big with MySpace, everyone switched from their own website to their own MySpace page and began plastering that address all over their equipment and shirts. Finally he expressed wonder of where all the self-promoting on the web would go next.

Right now we are starting to see the next phase of this self-promotion and brand identity cycle shake out with other social media options taking center stage. With all of the options out there where do you begin?

No matter what your company or group does on the web, if it is going to succeed you have to build your web identity on a solid foundation. That foundation is your website because you have complete control over the design, features, and content. This is the one place that is 100% your company. Social media sites like Facebook & MySpace are no substitute for a custom website. Social media sites only give the illusion of control, not real access to all facets of the site.

After you have laid the foundation of a great website, you should next integrate the features like a blog, online store and discussion forums. The days of hosting your blog, online store, or forum with a third party site (i.e. yoursite.blogspot.com) is over. There are too many full featured, easily customizable options out there to use a third party site. The URL for your blog, forum, or store should be yoursite.com/blog, anything else and you are really promoting the blog company and not your site.

Then there are the social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. What do you do about those sites? To put it simply, use them to your advantage. In my opinion every company should have a Twitter account, it’s too easy of a promotional option not to. When choosing social media outlets, choose wisely. If you can’t do it well, you shouldn’t do it at all. A forgotten or poorly utilized Twitter or Facebook page is quickly giving potential clients a bad taste in their mouths. Always be on the lookout for the next trend that fits your company and helps you reach your goals.

Finally, know that a positive web identity that pays its dividends isn’t something that happens on accident. It’s something you build and cultivate over time. To start, be sure to build on the solid foundation of a great website and grow from there.

A problem many companies have when incorporating new technology into their website is they don’t take the time to ask the appropriate questions. People are too busy adding the Internet’s flavor of the month without thinking through the project and the possible consequences or rewards.

The web is littered with forgotten blogs, spam-ridden forums, and irrelevant podcasts. Executed correctly, these things can be powerful tools that can expand your company’s client base and create a good web identity on the Internet. On the flip side, if a venture is just abandoned to the garbage dump without being properly taken care of, the project itself becomes a stigma to your company’s web identity and detracts people from using your services. Before jumping on the bandwagon, make sure you ask these simple questions.

Is this a good fit for our company?
A blog can be a great addition to a website. It can transform a company’s newsletter into a growing 2-way communication. But if you haven’t released a newsletter or update in years this may not be the best fit for you. A blog needs to continually grow with new stories and releases. You can’t do only one post a year or your audience will not pay attention.

Who will maintain it?
Online forums are a great way to get advocates of your company/services working for you. Advocates will talk and explain to people who have questions about your products and services. But a forum is a tool that must be cleaned out everyday. Forums can be an easy target for spam and unless an employee is checking it everyday and removing the spam, your true customers will become frustrated and leave it for dead. It needs to be a part of an employees job to keep up with these projects.

Do we have the resources to execute this properly?
A 2-5-minute video/audio podcast can be an easy way to reach a wide audience. Potential clients don’t have to surf to your site to get the latest podcast; they can find you on iTunes and subscribe to your podcast to automatically get the latest whenever it’s published. But if you’re recording your video with a super8 or getting your audio off a boom box mic people are not going to watch or listen to what you have to say. This avenue takes a little start up to get it going properly, so if you can’t afford the proper equipment you will have to find the best way to make your podcast of a quality people will like and enjoy.

These are just a few of the questions you need to ask before implementing a new tool into your website or web presence. You can’t go half-hearted into these projects or your clients and potential clients will move on. Remember your web identity is like going to that first interview for a job, you have to give the best impression of yourself immediately or you’re already working uphill.