Inspired Business Growth:

Blogs are a powerful medium online. Few other tools offer the combination of technology and personality that a blog can offer to a company. Last week we talked about how to participate with your brand online, because you can’t control it with social media, nor did you ever really control your brand once you handed it over to consumers. This week we talk about using a blog as a tool to engage in social media and be a part of the experience with your customers.

Let’s first of all give some thought to the sale process, and let’s think of going to a professional conference. At the conference, you can do great networking. You can have great conversations with potential customers and clients. You can pass out your brochures and marketing materials.

But none of these things will close a deal.

In fact, they won’t even close the deal if you combine them all together. The thing that makes the sale is people. It’s the personality of the sales person as well as the personality of the customer working together that makes the sale.

In fact, I’ll bet that any of you have met a person so dynamic, so engaging, so professional that you said to yourself, “I’d like to do business with that person!”. I doubt any of you can say the same about a brochure, good networking, or a conversation about your product.

This is why a blog is so powerful - not because it offers great networking, marketing, or even conversation.

A blog is powerful because there is a real person behind it.

So how do you build your brand with your blog?

Of course, each brand is different, and each will require different tactics to build. But great brands have one thing in common:

They have been able to link desirable emotions to their products or services.

It’s the emotional differences that make customer willing to pay more - whether it be indulgence, power, sexy, practical, beautiful… brands are built on emotions:

BMW :: Status, performance, “The Ultimate Driving Machine”

Toyota :: Practical, Value, “Our Company Values are Just Like Yours”

So what does this have to do with Blogging?

It means that in order to influence site visitors, build your brand, create selling opportunities, and impact your bottom line, you need to have a real person or people communicating with other real people online.

You need to be genuine. You need to care. You need to want to make a difference for your customers. You need to add value. You need to  be transparent.

And you need to be emotional in order to evoke emotions.

In other words, Blogging is powerful not because of the medium, but because of the real message and mission behind your business that is delivered by a real person who cares. I’m not talking about creating an online diary or being inappropriate or irrelevant - and consumers don’t want to hear your pitch anymore. They want meaning - and are demanding it from the brands in our everyday life.

Consumers want to hear from a real person. And blogs and social media are the closest thing to a real person that you can get online.

On Monday, I was the keynote speaker at the Blogging for Business Conference in Salt Lake City. The room was filled mostly with marketing and media professionals, with some business owners - who all had some big questions about blogging.

At the forefront of everyone’s mind were a few key business blogging questions:

1. How can you keep control of your brand with a blog, social media & user-generated content?
2. How do you use a blog to build your brand?
3. How do you measure the effectiveness of social media on your bottom line?

Hefty questions indeed.

And unfortunately, there aren’t clean cut answers. Books could be written about each - but I’ll dedicate an article to answering each of them over the next couple of weeks.

How Can You Keep Control of Your Brand with a Blog & Social Media?

The short answer? You can’t control the conversation anymore.

Social media has permanently changed the way consumers interact with brands - both online and offline. No longer are people willing to sit back and be fed a marketing strategy - consumers now demand conversation and interaction with the companies they do business with.

The good news? Companies willing to be transparent and that engage their audience are winning - both offline and online. And it’s not just consumers that are rewarding companies for engaging their audience. Search engines are at the forefront of pushing social media in front of internet users.

For example, let’s take a common question asked by new mothers, “getting baby to take medicine”. Here’s a screen capture of the first 4 pages of results:

As you can see - the first and second results are from Berkley.edu and BabyCenter.com respectively. Social network Minti comes in at #3 and my own blog eMoms at Home comes in at #4 - this is because the company that creates a new baby medicine dispensing product called “Reliadose” provided some free products to give away to our site visitors.

Ironically, I really don’t think that my site should have ranked that well for the phrase “getting baby to take medicine”. We run a home business blog - I think these answers would actually be better answered elsewhere, although admittedly the article in question did provide an answer that the searcher was looking for. But this doesn’t change the fact that Google ranks blogs so well in the search results that we rank highly even if in the big picture, there might be a more relevant result.

Let me make this simple:

Your customers have questions.

Blogs and social networks are providing the answers.

If your company or brand isn’t blogging or engaging with your customers via social media, then you aren’t controlling your brand.

You may have fears about comments, complaints, or difficult questions your customers have for you and your company. But the conversation about you is happening online, whether or not you are participating.

Customers don’t expect perfection - customers expect honest communications from businesses that conduct business in a trustworthy manner. Random unfounded criticisms won’t stand the test of social media - consumers are smarter than that. But if you are afraid of having open conversations with your customers, having a blog is not the problem you should be dealing with - instead you should be focusing on the products or services that are not delivering what your customers are expecting.

In the end, a strong brand and a strong business will either engage their audience with blogs and social media, or they will be left behind.

Over the last year, I have dabbled in advertising on Google, Yahoo and MSN in their paid search advertising programs. It has taken a while to learn the ropes and understand what works - and what doesn’t.

I wrote a post about the basics of getting started with PPC (pay per click) search engine marketing last week - but I must admit that I’ve been feeling a bit like my behind has been whipped by Google lately.

Earlier this year in Februrary, Google introduced a new way to bid on keywords called their “Quality Score” system. The reasoning behind it was to ensure that only the most relevant ads were seen by Google users. To merchants and affiliates, though, they found that clicks that used to cost $.25 now cost $10.00.

Honestly, I’ve had both successes and failures with this system - and when you fail, it’s not always easy to figure out how to make things better. Thankfully, I came across two vey helpful resources to learn more about Google’s quality score and how to optimize your campaigns for the best possible user experience, and click cost!

Dave Davis from Search Engine Journal on How To Master the Google Landing Page Quality Score

The Internet Strategy Blog on Improve Your AdWords Quality Score

Some of the best advice I’ve received thus far is to do an extensive amount of keyword research. Sometimes you just can never guess what words will end up being the one that will turn into consistent sales:

• Bid on very highly targeted keywords - which still could mean hundreds. Include common misspellings and know the editorial guidelines of the search engine. “Blog Hosting” and “Hosting Blog” are considered the same with Yahoo, different with Google.
• Google has an excellent free tool in their AdWords system, plus Aaron Wall has some excellent free keyword resources.
• For serious keyword research, I recommend KeyCompete.com - it tracks and pulls competitor keywords for you.

In April I attended an extremely valuable conference called Elite Retreat in which a tiny group of less than 30 individuals met with 6 of the most successful internet marketers on the planet, learning their tricks of the trade.

One of the presenters was Kris Jones, who became so successful as an affiliate marketer that he was able to take his industry knowledge and create PepperJam - the fastest growing internet marketing agency in the world, ranking 293 on the coveted Inc 500 fastest growing companies list. Kris’ company manages the affiliate programs for some extremely successful brands, including 1-800-PetMeds, Jelly Belly, DKNY, and Sesame Street.

Kris was my first and natural choice for this interview on how to start an affiliate program as a merchant because of his deep expertise in this industry.

At what point should a company consider starting an affiliate program?

Kris Jones :: Any business that generates customer leads and / or sales over the internet should have an affiliate program. On average affiliate programs should represent about 20% of overall online sales. With that said, a company should consider launching an affiliate program as part of an integrated online marketing program that takes into consideration search-engine marketing, affiliate marketing, and various forms of online media, including behavioral targeting, display, social media, and contextual advertising.

What affiliate networks do you recommend and why?

Kris Jones :: The affiliate network landscape has changed significantly over the last 12 - 18 months. For instance, the “traditional” affiliate marketing industry that has been dominated by Commission Junction, Linkshare, and Performics since the late 1990’s has seen significant competition from lead generation networks such as Azoogle, Hydra Network, and CPA Empire. While competition among networks for the attention of top affiliate marketers has picked up the truth is that there has never been more opportunity for companies to take advantage of affiliate marketing.

Here is a brief review of each of the major affiliate networks with the pros & cons of each:

Commission Junction (CJ) - CJ is the easiest network to launch an affiliate program and tends to be a favorite among affiliates because of near real-time reporting. The interface is clean, but many affiliates complain that it’s too busy with too many options. Also, CJ is a subsidiary of ValueClick (VCLK), which tends to make them overly corporate and slow to react to complaints and obvious needs for improvement. A clear advantage of CJ over say a Linkshare is that they do not require merchants to sign a non-compete, which means that the merchant if free to launch affiliate program initiatives on other affiliate networks such as Azoogle - for this reason alone, CJ provides the most flexibility over other traditional networks with launching an affiliate program. Over 90% of the programs managed by Pepperjam are launched on CJ because of the advantages I just mentioned. CJ has roughly 2,200 merchants on the network and tends to have a much lower standard for acceptance than the other traditional networks. Top CJ merchants include EBAY, Zappos.com, and Staples.

LinkShare - Linkshare is seen as the pioneer of affiliate marketing and has been in the business since the mid 1990’s - the company was recently sold to Japanese company, Rakuten. While Linkshare has less merchants than CJ they tend to have much better names overall. For instance, top Linkshare merchants include Dell, Saks Fifth Avenue, and American Express. Launching an affiliate program on Linkshare tends to be more expensive than it does on other networks and requires merchants to sign a non-compete, which is a major disadvantage to launching an affiliate program on Linkshare. However, the Linkshare interface is very clean and easy to use. Gaining acceptance into certain programs is very difficult and requires affiliates to go through additional hoops that they would not have to go through on CJ, but the added measures typically results in less competition and more opportunity for the affiliate. One other shortcoming of Linkshare is that pricing tends to be very fragmented with fees being charged for everything from sending external e-mails from the Linkshare interface to gaining access to Linkshare’s product feed solution called Merchandiser. In general, Linkshare tends to be seen as the more “exclusive” affiliate network and includes activity from some of the top affiliate marketers in the business.

Performics - Performics is a division of DoubleClick, a Google company. The biggest advantage and disadvantage of launching on Performics is that Performics not only wants to provide you with network access, but they also want to manage your affiliate program and search-engine marketing. While that might be a good thing it is extremely expensive. Expect to pay double or triple with Performics (for management services) than other comparable agencies such as Pepperjam. Also, since Performics is part of a much larger company they do not provide the same level of intimate account management that a non-corporate outsourced manager may be able to provide. Performics does work with some of the most impressive clients in the business, including AOL, HP, and Sears.
(See comment below from Kristen Hall from DoubleClick addressing these points)

Azoogle - Azoogle is the largest non-traditional affiliate network. Unlike CJ, Linkshare and Performics, the focus of Azoogle is on lead generation. Therefore, if the focus of your business is lead generation you should definitely give Azoogle a try. However, the azoogle model doesn’t work too well with non lead generation companies. For instance, in order to launch on Azoogle you have to pay affiliates a one-time commission based on a specified action ( i.e., filling out a form, making a purchase). In order to be competitive you need to be able to pay the affiliate enough on a lead basis to make their involvement worthwhile. In general, ad networks such as Azoogle lack transparency. In others words, you won’t know who’s generating your leads and how they are doing it - this provides concern to many merchants looking to effectively manage and protect their brand. While Azoogle might not be a good fit for many merchants, they have some of the best affiliate managers in the industry. For instance, it is often said that for a non-agency, Azoogle provides affiliates with outstanding support. Azoogle works with companies such as Blockbuster, Jamster, and the Fruit Company ( a Pepperjam client.)

What special considerations should a company consider for a one-product program like Proactiv Solution or an eBook?

Kris Jones :: One product companies do not tend to perform well on major affiliate networks, especially if they do not have well known brand. One product companies tend to launch their own affiliate program or purchase access to affiliate software from companies like www.myaffiliateprogram.com or www.affiliatewiz.com. However, some one product affiliate programs such as Foreclosure.com (a Pepperjam client) and Proactiv Solution (a Pepperjam client) do quite well. In addition, one product programs tend to perform very well on non-traditional affiliate networks like Azoogle and Hydra Network. If you have a one product affiliate program and don’t want to outsource management I strongly recommend attending affiliate conferences such as Affiliate Summit, which will provide an opportunity to meet and discuss opportunities with large super affiliates who tend to only work on major affiliate networks.

What is a quick checklist for things to do when one gets an affiliate program set up?

Kris Jones :: Here is a list of the top 10:

(1) Select an affiliate network that feeds your specific needs and provides flexibility

(2) Hire a knowledgeable, dedicated affiliate program manager (internal or outsourced)

(3) Determine the commission you can afford to pay affiliates

(4) Make sure you have high quality creatives (advertising), including affiliate banners and text links

(5) Provide affiliates access to a product feed and make sure to update the feed on a daily basis

(6) Set realistic expectations and revenue projections

(7) Add a sign-up link to your affiliate program on your corporate website

(8) Send out a press release announcing the launch of your program

(9) Sign-up (and attend) an affiliate marketing conference

(10) Keep creatives fresh and add special offers & incentives to encourage higher click-through rates and conversions

At what point should a company hire a firm like yours to manage their affiliate program? And at what levels are affiliate programs best managed in-house?

Kris Jones :: Successful affiliate programs are managed by experienced affiliate program managers with an effective strategy for daily account management and a long-term commitment to program growth. Affiliate programs that run on auto-pilot fail. If an affiliate program has the potential to generate at least $10K per month in sales it may make sense to consider outsourcing management. Affiliate program management is a full-time job. Under no circumstances does it make sense for an internal person (especially a company executive or senior manager) to manage an affiliate program unless the affiliate program manager is full-time and solely dedicated to affiliate program management. At Pepperjam our pricing is based primarily on performance and we provide clients with the ability to break our services contract for under performance. In most cases, outsourcing to a company like Pepperjam is the better choice (than hiring internally) since we have close, personal relationships with proven high-performing affiliates and because we spend the requisite time to see a program achieve its fullest potential. Hiring an in-house affiliate manager makes sense for merchants with small affiliate programs or programs with a history of non-performance.

Any suggestions for further reading?

Kris Jones :: We have a blog at PepperJamBlog.com where we cover a lot of issues that confront the affiliate marketing industry. Other great online resources include Revenews.com, AffiliateClassroom.com, Shoemoney.com, and AffiliateTip.com.

Excellent magazines covering the performance marketing industry include Revenue Magazine and the Affiliate Classroom Magazine - both are worth a cover-to-cover read.

Do you own a business that depends on local customers? Most brick-and-mortar businesses do very little online advertising or promotion, thinking that investing in internet marketing would be a waste of time for such a small geographic area.

Think again. Local Online Advertising Can Mean Big Business.

Unless your business is the first thing that comes to mind for every person in your local community, keep in mind that approximately 60% of customers use the internet to research products or services online before they make a purchase (according to DoubleClick). And if you need a plumber, you would likely search for “plumber Naperville IL” - in fact, an estimated 30% of ALL internet searches have a local intent.

Other local businesses are catching on fast:

Local Advertising Options

Paid Search Engine Marketing

With PPC (Pay Per Click) search engine marketing, you can target your ads to only appear in a certain zip code. This way you can ensure that your ads are only being seen by the right potential customers. By including your town name in your ad, you increase the likelihood that individuals will click through to your web site - be sure to have your address and phone number highly visible on your landing page. Additionally, competition for clicks is very low for a local business vs. on a national level, so you can expect to pay pennies per highly targeted visitor.

For links to get started with PPC Marketing, read Ten Free Advertising Opportunities for Your Business.

Online Local Directories

Free options mentions in the above referenced article included the extremely popular MerchantCircle.com(USA), TouchLocal (UK) and Local.com as well as Google Local, Local.Yahoo.com, and Craigslist. The first two also have premuim paid advertising options.

Other paid options include YellowPages.com and SuperPages.com. Both of these sites have partnered with larger portal sites and search engines to increase the number of visitors who could potentially find your listing.

Local Online Media Planning and Buying

There are several very large websites that draw visitors that search for local information, and have the capability of geo-tergeting their ads to your region or zip code.

National sites include Weather.com, Zillow.com, and CitySearch.com.

Regional sites would include local newspapers, television stations, and radio stations that have an online presence.

Key Success Tips for Local Online Advertising

• Local advertising only works when the right people see your ads at the right time. So be sure to target your advertising efforts very specifically. Only bid on keywords that your potential customers would use when considering making a purchase, and use the negative keyword option to remove phrases like “-free”.
• Give your campaigns a good chance at success - if something doesn’t work, you might need to change the wording or placement of your ad. Don’t give up until you’ve tried several approaches.
• Make sure you have a strong, well designed website to steer visitors to. Your ads might be driving a lot of qualified traffic, but if your site looks unprofessional or is difficult to navigate, you may be turning away qualified customers and leads.

When I first started running websites as a business, I was rather overwhelmed with the amount of things I needed to learn. I decided that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) was one of the things that could wait. After about 6 months, I started doing some small improvements. Then after about 9 months, I hired a designer to redesign the site. At the same time, she implemented some back-end code improvements that affected how the search engines found my page contents.

Within 24 hours, search engine traffic doubled. By the month end, the site saw a 300%+ increase in traffic from Google alone. It was at that moment that I really wished I had paid attention to SEO earlier in the game!

SEO sounds intimidating, but in reality, much of it is common sense:

• Know your target audience
• Know what keywords they use to find your products or services
• Use these keywords on your site with language that people use naturally

Of course, there is more to it that that. But you would be surprised with the results you can achieve using these three first steps.

There is much talk about blogging and how creating one can increase search engine rankings. Indeed, this is very true based on the nature of how blogs work:

• Blogs have frequently updated content
• Blogs tend to have built-in page elements that search engines like
• Blogs tend to create URLs that search engines like

So what does a well search engine optimized page look like?

It’s easy to see why blogs increase search engine rankings when you understand that blogs make it simple to create the following page elements. But any site can be well optimized by doing the following:

A URL with Great Keywords

Notice the keywords in this page URL. It tells the search engines without a doubt what is on the page:

http://inspired.entrepreneur.com/2007/04/27/
the-top-ten-free-website-tools-and-services/

This is far preferable to this URL, which doesn’t really tell anyone anything about the page contents:

http://inspired.entrepreneur.com/?p=123

Proper Use of Page Titles

If you visit this page on prominent moms in the search engine marketing industry, look at the title bar. It reads, “The Top Ten Hottest Moms in Search Engine Marketing” - also letting the search engines know what is on the page.

Unique and keyword rich page titles are probably the single most important improvement you can make on your site. If you also create good Meta Description Tags, you’ll be way ahead of the game!

Proper Use of Page Headings and Sub-Headings

In Microsoft Word, it is easy to format paragraphs with headings and sub-headings. When you format a document properly, it makes it easier for people to read.

Search engines agree - although they index all of the words on a page, telling the search engines what text is the most important increases the liklihood your page will rank for your chosen keywords.

For more in-depth coverage on Search Engine Optimization, read Search Engine Guide, Search Engine Journal or SEOMoz.

For free SEO tools to improve your search engine rankings, read my post on The Top 5 Free Search Engine Optimization Tools at my other blog, Shoestring Smarts.