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Iowa Business Blog Workshop series

By on May 21, 2006 in Blogging, Marketing with 0 Comments

Blogwrkshp_5 The Iowa Business Blog Workshop page as been updated to reflect the schedule of workshops beginning Thursday, June 22nd. The 90-minute workshops will be held at the Courtyard by Marriott in Clive, from 6:30pm – 8:00pm each Thursday during the summer.

It’s exciting to see how businesses and organizations have embraced blogging, whether its publishing a blog or tracking blogs. I hope you’ll join us at the next workshop.

Thursday, June 22 Business Blogging: Getting Started Click Here for Online Registration
Thursday, June 29 Business Blogging: Advanced Click Here for Online Registration
Thursday, July 6 RSS Feeds in Marketing and Research Click Here for Online Registration
Thursday, July 13 Building Business Relationships with Social Media Click Here for Online Registration

Technorati Tags: Blog Workshop, , , , GeekEvent,

Blogs are NOT Important…

By on May 15, 2006 in Blogging, Conversations, Marketing, RSS Feeds with 0 Comments

Blogwrkshp_4 As Jeremiah Owyang says, Blogs are NOT Important. But, the conversations taking place on blogs are very important to your business.

Conversations have two roles – Talking and Listening. Blogs have two roles – Author and Audience. Maybe you’re thinking about publishing a blog for your company. Maybe you’ve decided against it. Either way, if you want to stay ahead, you should at least be part of the audience.

If you’re like me, there isn’t enough time in the day to read all these blogs with the hope that I may find something important to my business. However, there are solutions. Most of them are free. If used right, they are time savers.

On Thursday, May 18th, you have the opportunity to find out how to use these tools to track blogs and social media for what’s being said about:

  • You
  • Your Company
  • Your Clients
  • Your Competition
  • Your Industry

Building Business Relationships Using Social Software is a three-hour workshop designed to equip you with a blog “hearing aid,” allowing you to build stronger relationships with your customers and colleagues.

There are three sessions to choose from: 9:00 AM, 1:00 PM, or 5:30 PM. The cost is only $25. There are discounts available if you bring clients or colleagues.

Don’t miss this workshop. As blogging continues to grow (it doubles every six months), a workshop like this will cost $100. In the interim, you may have missed some great opportunities to build strong business relationships.

Registration is just a few clicks away. Start Here and Now. Don’t W.A.I.T.

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Technology

Technorati Tags: , , , , Blog Workshop, GeekEvent,

Got Your Business Ears On?

By on May 4, 2006 in Blogging, Conversations, Marketing with 0 Comments

Blogwrkshp_2If markets are conversations, and they are…
If you plan on being a leader in your industry 3-5 years from now, (say you do)…
If you think building relationships with your customers, colleagues and collaborative teams is important to your business…

Then make plans to attend one of the Iowa Business Blog Workshops on May 18th in Clive, IA.

You have three opportunities to find out how to Build Better Business Relationships Using Social Software:

9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
5:30 PM – 8:30 PM

The cost is $25 or less, dependent upon how many people you bring. The morning session is filling up fast, with the afternoon session building steam. The evening session is empty so far (early night for me or focused training for you?)

Find out how to use conversational media and social software to heighten your awareness of what’s being said (LISTEN), how to incorporate what you find into your overall strategy (LEVERAGE), and how to catapult your bottom line to new heights (LEAD).

Some of the tools we’ll be looking at:

  • Blogging Platforms
  • Syndicated Content/Feed Publishing (even for "cob" web sites)
  • Blog Search Engines
  • Social Bookmarking
  • Social Networking

Who should attend this workshop? (Everyone!)

  • Human Resource professionals
  • Marketing Directors
  • Consultants/Coaches
  • Web Developers (I Hear a Train a comin’)
  • Professional Organization & NPO Directors
  • Retail Sales Managers
  • Authors/Journalists
  • Small Business Owners
  • Business Communicators
  • PR Professionals
  • SOHO Operators
  • Entrepreneurs
  • Educators
  • Artists

Should’ve stuck with the answer of everyone, hmm? Register to attend or email me your question.

If you’re traveling from out of town, ask for Jason or Renee at the Courtyard by Marriott – tell them you’re attending the workshop and you’d like their best (which is the only way they do things),

Technorati Tags:
Blog Workshop, , , , Conversational Media, GeekEvent

Phew! or Ut-Oh?

By on April 28, 2006 in Blogging, Marketing with 3 Comments

Patrick Dodd at ShadowBox Studios brings up a great point in his example of the Durham Business School. No one in the blogosphere was talking about their MBA program.

Phew! or Ut-Oh?

Do you search the blogoshphere with trepidation that someone may be talking negatively about your company? Do you give yourself a high-five when there are no results?

How Now, Brown Cow, wouldn’t you prefer the color Purple?

Patrick suggests using blogs as a marketing barometer and joining the conversation, and I agree. Even if you don’t publish a blog, engage with your customers. If they talk about your company, comment on the post, link back to your site, send them an email…something.

  • Reward the Positive
  • Respond to the Negative
  • Indecision is a Decision
  • Not replying sends a message too.

Nobody’s talking about you? Search the blogosphere for sites that focus on your keywords (Technorati’s Blog Finder is great for this type of search). Find some commonality, comment on a post. Don’t talk about your business (your comment can be the link back to your site).

If you do publish a blog, link to other blogs (see Blog Posting Mantra #4) Example: Dr. Ken Davis offered a trackback to my previous post. Curious, I went to his blog and found it a great resource. I’m also going to share it with Dr. Delaney Kirk, a new blogger I’ve been working with, as a resource. (Ken, meet Delaney – Delaney, Ken).

Technorati Tags: , , , , , Blog Awareness

Planning Our Trip West

By on April 26, 2006 in Blogging, Marketing with 7 Comments

LobsterpicSometimes, ya gotta go with the blogger.

In planning our trip to California later next week, I was looking forward to a drive down to the Monterey Peninsula for some great food. I grew up in Monterey, and worked at some of the better restaurants when I was young, so I’m looking forward to the visit.

Thanks to Brian Brown’s Pajama Market, I’ve been introduced to Cima Collina’s blog and a list of restaurant’s where their product is served. Looks like the winner for Friday’s feast is Fandango’s in Pacific Grove – right up the street from my dad’s hangout.

Think blogs extend reach?  I’ll let the folks at Fandango’s know how I came to choose their restaurant over some others near Lover’s Point. Who knows, maybe we could get Annette Hoff of Cima Collina to join us.

If you’re a small business blogger, Brian’s Pajama Market is a great source for examples of business blogs and also interviews with the bloggers.

Technorati Tags: , Pacific Grove, Cima Collina, Pajama Market, ,

Listen to the Conversations

By on April 26, 2006 in Blogging, Marketing, RSS Feeds with 1 Comment

Jeremiah Owyang recently received an email from one Stephen England, who shared his reasons for not liking blogs. After making his five points in defense of his view, he closes with this line:

"Blogs may have their place – but they’ll never have any place in how I learn more about my business!"

Ignorance is bliss? I say not. Stephen needs to unplug his ears (eyes). He needs to Flip the Funnel and use it as a hearing aide. He may learn something.

"I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen." – Ernest Hemingway.

Mark True, a Brand Warrior with REL Productions, asks us How Do You Monitor Blogs? He hints at how clipping services are becoming obsolete and offers how he’s begun researching the blogosphere.

I recently gave a retail manager a crash course in how to use feeds/blog search to track items for his top clients. By doing this, his periodic contact with his customers is more of a value to them than a simple itch-cycle scratch.

Here’s what we covered (just the basics – a crash course):

  1. Set up a Technorati Watchlist to track blogversations about a company. Either the URL or the Company’s name can be plugged into the Watchlist.
  2. Use Google News to search on a person’s name, for instance: "Mike Sansone" Iowa.  Nothing comes up today, but you can still subscribe to the feed.
  3. Use Google Blog Search to search on a product, for instance: Keppra. If a pharm rep kept this search in his feed, he’d be all the wiser as to what the consumers are saying – and able to share that with the doctors.

Each of these tools allow you to subscribe to the feed.  In other words, Search Once and Subscribe.

There are other tools and techniques that can be utilized to benefit your business. That’s one reason the next Iowa Business Blog Workshop focuses on Building Business Relationships Using Social Software.

So what tools do you use to track blogs? Visit Mark True’s blog and let him know – or better yet, answer his question on your blog and point to his question (extend the conversation).

Related posts:
- Get in the Routine of Feed Reading
- Blogging Has Two Roles…
- Have Your Say – It’s Important to Somebody
- I Hear a Train a comin’

Tags: Watchlist

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Create Your Own FeedBurner FeedFlare

By on April 25, 2006 in Cool Tools, Marketing, RSS Feeds with 4 Comments

I’m going to lose my reputation as a non-code guy soon.

Creating a Personal FeedFlare is easy and can add value to your site and feeds. Why? Because as time goes on, more of your audience is going to read your content without visiting your site. But still, if you have a business blog, ideally you’ll get some business from your blog, right?

Thanks to Seth Mazow and Marshall Kirkpatrick, I was recently compelled to create a new FeedFlare for the Interplast feed. Notice that at the bottom of each post in Interplast’s feed, there is a link to "Make a Donation to Interplast."

I’m now implementing this for several clients (where appropriate).

Here’s a sampling of the code.  You can change the Title, Description, Text and Link to whatever you desire.

<FeedFlareUnit>
        <Catalog>
                <Title>You Can Name This Anything</Title>
                <Description>You Can Name This Anything</Description>
        </Catalog>
        <FeedFlare>
                <Text>This Will Appear at the Bottom of Feed so Keep it Short</Text>
                <Link href="http://www.letsbuildablog.com" />
        </FeedFlare>
</FeedFlareUnit>

  1. Save and publish your XML to a web page. Most blogware allows you to uplaod files. In Typepad, go to Control Panel>Files.  Remember what you call the file, save it in the root directory. You will not be able to see the file after uploading it, but it’s there. (Though this site is ConverStations.com, any files I upload to the root are at mikesansone.typepad.com – this is important to remember)
  2. Sign in to FeedBurner.
  3. Navigate to Optimize>FeedFlare and place the URL of the XML file in the box next to Add New Flare.
  4. Save at the bottom of the FeedBurner page.

That’s it. One thing to keep in mind – Don’t Over Do It.  Pick just one item to hang your hat on and point to that.

If you’re a speaker, point to the web page that offers your speaking service. An author can point to where to buy the book. If you’re an artist, point to your portfolio or shopping cart.

As another example, can be found at OwnYourBrand. Mike Wagner is a national (soon to be international?) speaker. Now, his audience can navigate to his "Book Mike to Speak" right from the feed.  Take a look at his feed page.

If you need a hand at getting this done, let me know. Or come to the next workshop. The FeedFlare link is below:-)

Technorati Tags: , FeedFlare, , Interplast,

Whistle Stops – 04/20/06

By on April 20, 2006 in Blogging, Marketing, Whistle Stops with 2 Comments

Whistlestops_18 Business Blog Technique from the Business Bloggers:

What other things can a business blog share with readers?
- Spotlight a Customer Evangelist?
- Share the Benefits of Doing Business with Your Company?
- Make an Offer at the end of a post?
- What ideas have you?

Technorati Tags: , ,

Fears of Blogging: Control

By on March 29, 2006 in Blogging, Marketing with 4 Comments

Fears_2 WARNING: If you think you’re in complete control of your brand message…or have the power to stifle the conversations taking place about your business – think again.

Last week’s Fears of Blogging:Time post drew some ire offline. I wonder if this one will as well.

I recently engaged in a conversation with a marketing rep from one of Des Moines’ largest companies. Their biggest fear of blogging was having an irate customer make comments on their site. They didn’t want others to see that kind of stuff.

For me, I’d rather have that "stuff" in a place where I have influence (my company’s blog) than somewhere I have no opportunity to respond (the local coffee shop). 

Not having a blog doesn’t stifle the conversation – it will just takes place elsewhere. And your customers are talking – that’s what we human beings do. Frankly, if your concerned so much about negative talk – maybe your problems are bigger than whether to blog or not.

If you think you alone own your brand – think again. Your customers deliver a message about you quite often. Why? Because they can. Whether you think they should or not is beside this point. By engaging in a conversation with them – on your blog or theirs – you have influence in the conversation. Your brand and your business practice improves. You gain customer loyalty.

At Viaspire, Heather’s recent post, Much Ado About Blogging got me to thinking about Blogging Fears. I’ve subscribed to Heather’s feed and encourage you to do likewise. Also, Debbie Weil at BlogWrite for CEOs has a category dedicated to Fear of Blogging.

Technorati Tags: Fears of Blogging, , ,

Blogging Has Two Roles…

By on March 27, 2006 in Marketing, RSS Feeds with 5 Comments

…and every business should take part in at least one of them.

Is your company still deciding whether or not to start a blog? Glad to hear you’re considering it. It’s not going to be tomorrow? That’s fine too. But…you can still start blogging today.

If blogging is a form of conversation – and it is – remember there are two roles. Talking and Listening. And frankly, if you’re not at least listening – you’re standing on the tracks and the train is headed your way. As Ted Demopoulos recently asked, "Are you Insane?"

Quick Tips:

  1. Go to Technorati.com and sign up for a free account.
  2. Find the Watchlist link at the top of the screen.
  3. Type in the name of you or your client in quotes (ex. "Mike Sansone")
  4. Subscribe to the feed (Search Once and Subscribe)
  5. Type in the URL of your business or your client/prospect.
  6. Subscribe to the feed.
  7. Whenever something comes up for your client – send them a link.

They’ll know you care. It’s better than ‘touching base’ with a call, "Just seeing how business is." Which is really saying, "Don’t forget about me, I’d really like to sell you something soon." If your business depends on long sales cycles, you’re all to familiar with this type of contact.

Rich Brooks at Flyte Blog shares a video tutorial on how to subscribe to a Technorati Watchlist.

Did I mention Search Once and Subscribe? Are you still paying for a new clipping service?

Technorati tags: News Clipping

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