BroadVision Marketing Blog

I thought I was finished with the idea of do it yourself social media work, but apparently I am not. There are some other things that you need to know to find yourself on the top page of many search engines.

Last week we totaled up the amount of time you could take doing social media marketing, without LinkedIn and some other places. We saw how you could spend over half of a 40-hour work week. If you were worth $30 an hour, it would have cost you $2888.00 a month to pay yourself. Your time and your worth are your value added when you do it yourself.

Topics: BroadVision Marketing, Facebook, Social Media, Marketing Principles, LinkedIn, Business Owner, Jaco Grobbelaar, Business, social media marketing, Branding, Blogging, Twitter

I am going to go deep now into the world of Business Social Media Managing for those of you who want to do it yourself.

We have already decided that to write 3 business blogs a week will take approximately 6 hours of your time for a monthly total of 24 hours. Hypothetically speaking if your time is worth $30 an hour, blogging for yourself could cost you $720 a month.

Topics: Using Different Media, Pinterest, Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Realtors, Sun Tzu, BroadVision Marketing, Facebook, Social Media, Marketing Principles, LinkedIn, Business Owner, Jaco Grobbelaar, Business, Branding, Blogging

I am still on a kick about what it really costs to work on your social media marketing. We are assuming right here that you are going to do all the work on your social media yourself rather than have someone in your office or having an external marketing firm do this for you.

We have determined that writing your blog yourself, if you are worth $30 an hour, is going to cost you $720 a month with a time cost of around 24 hours.

Topics: marketing, Pinterest, Facebook, Social Media, Marketing Principles, LinkedIn, Business Owner, Business, social media marketing, Blogging, Twitter

The other day I got into a mood where I wanted to know just what the true cost for blogging could be. First, I looked at various factors. Let’s say that you are writing your blog for yourself and not having someone else write it. You will write about what you know. This is called value added. Your expertise is the added value.

• So it doesn’t cost you anything to write your blog, right? Wrong. What is an hour of your time worth? Let’s say you have figured out that your time is worth $30 an hour. I picked a low number although I am sure that you are worth much more than this. Writing a blog can take quite a bit of time, even if you know your subject. This time will also include posting it to your site and finding pictures to keep the article interesting.

Topics: Marketing strategy.business blogging, Marketing Principles

Have you ever gone fishing and taken several poles?  Business blogging and other platforms like Facebook and Twitter are like having several poles in the water to hook a client into coming to your website and using your products or services. These platforms are not hard sell platforms. People won’t come visit you if all you do is bombard them with why they need your product or service. They want to learn something or be entertained. What you tell them is the bait on your hook.

Topics: marketing, Using Different Media, blog, BroadVision Marketing, Facebook, Social Media, Marketing Principles, Business Owner, Jaco Grobbelaar, Business, Branding, Blogging, Twitter, Marketing strategy

A business blog is the anchor to which all your other social media platforms are tied. It’s your blog that goes on your Facebook Fan Page and you tweet about. These in turn get passed around by others who in turn come to your website to read that blog. Furthermore when the search engines are aware of the information in your blog, strangers will search for some keywords and find themselves on your business blog. That’s powerful stuff.

Topics: Google, WordPress, Corporate blog, Business Blogging, blog, Facebook, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Marketing Principles, Business Owner, Business, Branding, Blogging, Twitter

Business blogging is a powerful low-cost marketing tool when you look at all the other marketing tools available. Its power is in the fact that you are writing about what you know. While it takes time, your knowledge is the value added if you have taken the time to learn how to use blogging properly. There is a big caveat here. Do not expect your blog to get you instant clients, customers or even readers. Expect little and you will be surprised when things work out. Expect instant success and you will be disappointed.

Topics: marketing, Web search engine, Business Blogging, blog, BroadVision Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Marketing Principles, Business Owner, Jaco Grobbelaar, Business, Branding, Blogging, Marketing strategy

Please raise your hands if you completely understand SEO. OK, you over there, you can put your hand down now. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process or set of processes that improve the visibility of your website using the search engines. The bottom line is that when someone searches for what they are looking for using one of the multitude of search engines, like Google, you want your website to be one of the top ones they see.

Topics: Social Media, Marketing Principles

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Being Social"] [/caption]

Do you see yourself as Mr. or Ms. Business Blogger, along the same lines as the  “Cherry Ames, Companion Nurse” stories by Helen Wells? Writing a business blog is a good step in the right direction, but if no one reads your blog, you have just wasted a lot of time.

How do you get that great article you wrote out there? Blogging and social networking are both parts of the same strategy. You have to go out and promote your blog by being social. There are many different ways you can use to get your word out. We are just going to look at four.

• Twitter is a quick way to let people know that you are in business and that you have a live website, as opposed to one that is static where nothing new is ever going on. You can tweet about your new post in such a way that people will be interested in reading about it. Remember that no one wants to be sold on social network. They do want to learn things and be entertained. If you are offering information, make that obvious in your tweet. Oh yes, it’s a good idea to put out around 10 tweets on various subjects a day and then spend some time actually on Twitter to show that you are a real person.

Topics: Using Different Media, Google, Corporate blog, Social network, Helen Wells, blog, BroadVision Marketing, Facebook, Social Media, Marketing Principles, LinkedIn, Business Owner, Jaco Grobbelaar, Blogging, Twitter

One of the greatest things since sliced bread in the business blogging world is using multimedia. This week you have seen me use some of the ideas that I have written about. Today I have a video for you because words sell and video helps.

[kkytv id="livzJTIWlmY" width="600" height="385"]

 

• Adding video and photos to your website and blogs can have a major impact on your sales.

• Unless you are aiming for an amateur look, create videos that look professional or you can find something like the one I found on YouTube. These will enhance your image.

• Remember that photos are not free. When you search using Google and select images, go to the funny gear looking thing on the upper right. Click on that and go to advanced settings. You will go to a page that at the bottom has a place where you check mark that you want images that are free. Click search and see what is left. Not satisfied? Try Flicker: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/ using the attribution license and be sure to attribute. Try PublicDomainPictures.net: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/;  or Dreamstime: http://www.dreamstime.com/free-results.php?searchby=sandwich+generation&searchtype=free.

• You can also purchase photos and graphics, often for reasonable rates.

What sort of multimedia are you using? How has it worked for you? What would you like to know more about?

 

Jaco Grobbelaar, owner of BroadVision Marketing, helps business owners and business professionals put marketing strategies in place that consistently secure new clients. He can be reached at jaco@broadvisionmarketing.com or 707.799.1238. You can “Like” him at www.facebook.com/broadvisionmarketing or connect with him on www.linkedin.com/in/JacoGrobbelaar.

 

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Topics: Google, YouTube, Videos, Multimedia, Photos, blog, BroadVision Marketing, Facebook, Social Media, Marketing Principles, Business Owner, Jaco Grobbelaar, Business, Branding, Blogging, Marketing strategy