Five things all online marketers should know

If you spend enough time doing whatever it is you do for a living, you become pretty knowledgeable on your industry. Take for example, my buddy Gene. As a guy who distributes wine throughout the Midwest, Gene knows his craft. He can tell you about the winemakers for every single bottle they sell, where the wine is from, the owners of the vineyard, why it tastes the way it does and how long the grapes are grown and the growing conditions. Because of this, when I have a question about wine, even if I am standing in the liquor store, I call Gene.

My story is less interesting than Gene’s. If you want to compare the good buzz of a particular Merlot to the use of Ning.com there’s no contest. Although, for most online marketers, there is a true passion for what we do every day, and most importantly, what we need to know. I often get asked, “How do you know about all this stuff?” Well, the answer is, its my job to know, and I am passionate about it. So with that, here’s five things all online marketers should know.

1. Ning.com

Imagine if you could build your own social networking site. You don’t need developers, you don’t even really need all that much in the way of creative. Well you can. Ning.com has been around for a few years now, yet the mainstream is just now realizing its potential. Imagine if you were in a really unique field like precision farming – there’s a Ning site for that. Or what about a site specifically devoted to families in your town? You guessed it, check out what Kelly Moore put together for Des Moines Families. Now look at your business. What are you trying to achieve? What audience are you trying to reach? Better yet, what audience would benefit from a industry site that your company can offer?

2. Quantcast

It sure would be nice to know how much traffic your competitor’s web sites get. You’d probably also like to know about the demographics those site reach and where people visit before and after they arrive. Go to Quantcast.com and get your free analytics on. Quantcast gathers their data through code on Web sites. Per their Web site, “Quantcast directly measures more than 10 million unique Web destinations and has a comprehensive understanding of all 220 million US Internet users.”

Is it 100% reliable? Probably not. Is it better than guessing? Absolutely!

3. Tweet Deck

So you started using Twitter but you’re still not convinced. Take a look at TweetDeck.com. Don’t think about it, just download it and Twitter becomes part of your daily routine. You can see everything you want to see in organized columns – mentions, recent tweets, direct messages, you can even follow search activities for keywords or hashtags. I have converted a couple non Twitter believers over the last couple of weeks. I’m telling you, just download Tweet Deck and become a participant in the Twitterverse.

4. Facebook HTML Page Enhancements

As they say, “there’s an app for that.” Check out how to add html to your Facebook fan page by following some simple steps. Better yet, check out all of the apps offered by companies like Extremely Social. To see what I mean, check out how Jill Haverkamp added HTML to the 80/35 page – looks kind of like a Web site doesn’t it? Very nice!

5. Web Site Content Management Systems

Doing Web site development today is relatively easy. Code has already been created  for specific functions and modules. If you don’t have to reinvent the wheel for your Web site, save yourself some money and go with a web developer that offers a robust content management system. If you need a slide show application or a contact us form don’t let your developer tell you that you need “clean code” – the off the shelf code works just as well. The developers tell you this because with a content management system for your Web site, their job becomes less necessary. I don’t know how to write code but I can update a Web site’s content and layout in less than five minutes with a content management system.  With a content management system you can update your Web site whenever you want, on your terms. No more calling the tech guy and expecting him to care about your marketing objective. Plus, the more often you update your Web site, the better your search engine rankings become. Take a look at SiteViz by Global Reach Internet Productions for some ideas of what’s possible.

I apologize for the length on this post, but I think I inadvertently demonstrated my passion. And if you have any wine questions, email me and I’ll get them over to Gene.

Author: Josh Fleming
www.lessingflynn.com

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Tagged as: 80/35, content management, Des Moines Families, extremely social, Facebook aps, facebook fan page, Facebook HTML applications, global reach internet productions, Jill Haverkamp, josh fleming, Kelly Moore, ning, ning.com, Online Marketing, precisionag, quantcast, siteviz, Social Media, Tweet Deck, twitter