Law 1:

Become the expert in your niche market (or persuade the audience to perceive you as the expert)

Law 2:

Make as many friends as possible (on and off line)

Law 3:

Communicate directly, clearly and to the point.

Law 4:

Reputation – Get, guard it and maintain it like your life depends on it. It actually does.

Law 5:

Be bold. Be colorful. Stand out. Do whatever you can to not be lame but be polite.

Law 6:

Invite everyone to participate in everything you do. Well, almost everything…

Law 7:

Understand and master the concept of “Call to Action”. Bait people to come to you.

Law 8:

Show, don’t tell.Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Law 9:

Make your customers beg for more but don’t let them wait for too long.

Law 10:

Always present information based on customer’s point of view – WIIFM (What’s In It For Me)

As a business owner you should encourage all your staff to engage in promoting your products and services on Social Media.

This activity should be daily and performed religiously. These activities should be separated on the type of platform they are using, thusly:

COMMUNICATION PLATFORMS

Blogging (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday):

The company promoters will have to report at the end of each day on all the activities performed and closely monitor spikes in traffic within Google Webmaster Tools. These activities will include making comments on all the blogging websites and/or include your company’s website. Here’s a list of such websites:

• Blogger.com
• Livejournal.com
• OpenDiary.com
• TypePad.com
• ExpressionEngine.com
• Technorati.com
• Blogged.com
• BlogCatalog.com
• Blogarama.com
• PitchEngine.com
• BlogSearchEngine.com
• DMoz.org
• IdeeaMarketers.com
• Ezinearticles.com
• GoArticles.com
• OneMinuteU.com
• ArticlesBase.com
• Authorsden.com

Micro-blogging (every 30 minutes):

Company promoters and professional staff will have access to TweetDeck and continue on promoting the company throughout the day. The following will be used:

• Twitter.com
• Plurk.com
• Tumlbr.com
• Jaiku.com

Social-Networking (every 2 hours):

Every employee will be encouraged to make as many friends possible without affecting the overall performance during the day. The following platforms will be visited every day, after lunch for no more than 30 minutes daily. The marketing promoters will continue to engage others on these platforms throughout the day.

• Bebo.com
• Facebook.com
• LinkedIn.com
• MySpace.com
• Skyrock.com
• Hi5.com
• Ning.com

Social network Aggregation

The company staff will have HootSuite installed on each computer and perform these small marketing tasks on a daily basis.

• FrindFeed.com
• HootSuite.com
• Twitterbadges.com
• Twitterfeed.com

COLLABORATION PLATFORMS

Wikis (update 1 per month):The company marketing staff will be in charge of composing these wikis only after gaining approval.

• Wikipedia.org
• PBWorks.com
• WetPaint.com

Social tagging (Daily):

• Delicious.com
• StumbleUpon.com
• Stumpmedia.com
• CiteUlike.com

Social News (Daily):

• Digg.com
• Reddit.com
• Mixx.com

Opinion Sites(1 per week):

• Epinions.com
• Yelp.com
• MouthShut.com

MULTIMEDIA PLATFORMS

PhotoSharing (1 per week):

Company promoters will have access to a company digital camera and will take pictures that will later be uploaded on the following platforms:

• Flickr.com
• Photobucket.com
• SmugMug.com
• Picasa.com

Video (1 per month):

Company promoters will have access to 1 digital video camera and editing software to uopload professional made videos and create buzz on the following platforms.

• YouTube.com
• TubeMogul.com

Livecasting (1 every 3 months):

Podcasting will include interviews with bloggers and industry experts and will be distributed on the company website as well as the following platforms:

• Ustream.tv
• Justin.tv

Here’s a short but comprehensive list of things you can do to generate at least $250 per day:

• Place Google AdSense ads on your website/blog: https://www.google.com/adsense
• Head over to Yahoo Publisher Network and add their ads to your site: https://publisher.yahoo.com/portal/login.php
• Do the same thing by accessing Commission Junction: http://www.cj.com/
• …as well as Link Share: http://www.linkshare.com/
• …and also Azzogle Ads: http://www.azoogleads.com/corp/index.php
• But mostly ClickBank for tons of affiliate links and ads: http://www.clickbank.com/index.html
• Don’t forget to check this one out too: http://www.hydranetwork.com/
• You can also sell links directly on your site with http://www.text-link-ads.com/ or Text Link Brokers at http://www.textlinkbrokers.com/
• If you love to write about stuff and want to get paid for it go here: http://www.reviewme.com/

All that is left is promote the heck out of your website/blog to build traffic and thus vital click enablers on your ads. Now, don’t go nuts and include every one of these links or you might run the danger of transforming your site into a 24/7 rotating carousel of ads and links and I’m not sure that’s such a great thing; it wouldn’t be for your readers. Good luck!

Related articles by Zemanta

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• How To Make Money Online (untreatableonline.com)
• 5 Strategies to Make Money as an Affiliate Marketer (johnchow.com)
• 100+ Top Make Money Online Resources! (tipsblogger.com)

First of all – familiarize yourself with basic SEO jargon like: internal/external links, meta tags, titles, pagerank, etc. 

This way at least you know what the SEO company is talking about when they make the sales pitch.

Personally, I noticed that the shady ones are often hiding behind geek lingo trying to paint you in a corner by throwing these words at you, thus proving that they know what they are talking about.

You can cut that conversation short and find out how credible and professional they are by asking 5 little questions. Here they are:

1. What kind of results should you be able to see and how long will it take to get there?
2. What experience do you have in my industry and how long have you been doing this?
3. Show/send me examples of your previous work and success stories. Can I contact some of these people?
4. Do you follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines?
5. What other marketing services do you offer besides SEO?

Just keep this list by your phone and take notes while they answer these questions. I’m sure you are a pretty seasoned business individual so you should be able to spot the shady ones right away. You can download a quick and easy PDF document of “Questions to ask a SEO company” right here.

“The Little Blue Book of Advertising” – 52 Small Ideas that can Make a Big Difference – by Steve Lance & Jeff Woll

Designed the read quickly and referred to again and again, this is a toolbox of back-to-basic ideas that will help break creative logjams, settle disagreements with clients or agencies, and sharpen, focus and generally improve any ad campaign.

Steve Lance & Jeff Woll are partners at Unconventional Wisdom, a creative resource group. Lance was formerly creative director of Della Femina, Travisano, Sherman & Olken and NBC. Woll is a 20 year old veteran of Ogilvy & Mather, including stints as COO of its Montreal office and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Partners in New York City.

URL to the book: http://www.littlebluebookofadvertising.com

I wish all business books were this profound and concise….The ultimate ad campaign cheat sheet.

Carol P. Osborne from the University of South Florida, College of Business Administration

The book starts with 3 points of view setting the stage for what’s to come: 

1. Marketers & Creative don’t speak the same language
2. Think inside the box
3. You can’t manage what you don’t measure

 Excerpts from the book:

“Marketing is linear, literal and logical. Creative is non-linear, emotional and illogical.”

You need both to create great advertising. The problems arise when people from both departments don’t recognize they speak different languages. 

There is no such thing as “new marketing” because people are still motivated by the same things: needs, status, improve quality of life or simply “got to have it” impulse action. 

And the best one:

Pick up the annual issue of People Magazine – “25 Most Important People”. IF you don’t know who all 25 are, you’ve lost touch with the consumer.”

 The book lists 52 little tips that would make a huge impact in your advertising campaign, plus an additional extra bonus – tip number 53. 

Here are some of them:

• Tip 14: “My Company is Great! My products are Terrific!” Besides you, Who Cares?
• Tip 19: Get the no-bodies Out of Your Approval Process.
• Tip 24: Become and Expert on the Consumer
• Tip 30: “Shit, My Hair is on Fire!”
• Tip 41: Know When and How to Scream SALE!”
• Tip 43: Blogs – Still Lots of Learning to be Done
• Tip 51: Leave and Open-Mike to the Voice-Over Talent

Some of these tips are obvious but the authors wanted to encompass all agencies engaged in ad campaigns. The authors focus on leading and building teams, handling personalities, navigating corporate politics, and executing projects. All in all the great is a great read and a wonderful reference for any executive who wants to improve his/her management skills.

Another blog project on Defacto Mind; there are only 18 days left until New Year and I decided to schedule 2 more activities and write about in the Defacto Mind blog.

For the next 3 weeks I will write a book review every Tuesday and I’ll call it “Cool Blue Tuesday Book Review”. There is really no reason why Tuesdays would be blue or cool for that matter but I just thought it sounds catchy. So, every Tuesday, after reading a book about SEO, marketing, design or social media, I’ll share with you my impressions about a particular book and recommend it (or not) to you – the reader.

On the same token, every Thursday will be reserved for a small summary of a blog with information covering the same items mentioned above. I will call this “Thursday Blog Talk”.

At this point, I don’t know which blog or book I will review so I guess it will be a surprise for everyone. If all works well, I might continue this practice throughout 2010.

In the same time, I’ll continue with “Creative Friday” with articles about design resources for everyone who wants to improve their skills and craft.
In summary, my blogging schedule for the next 18 days will as follows:

Tuesday – Cool Blue Tuesday Book Review – December 15th, 22nd and 29th
Thursday – Blog Talk Thursday – December 17th, 24th and 31st
Friday – Creative Friday – December 18th and 25th

…and the madness continues…

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words – You hear this a lot. Now-a-days this is more true than ever. Pictures this:

What if you sell widgets and you are on the verge of launching a new product, but nobody knows about it, how it looks, dimensions, color, etc?

What if I go to Google and search for this new product so I know how it looks like and see if I want to buy it or not. What if there are thousands upon thousands of potential customers who all want to know exactly the same thing I am after, as described above?

Enter – the power of the image.

What if a big customer of yours already has a budget approved to buy these new widgets and they are putting together a presentation for their upper management? Wouldn’t they need pictures for their presentation so it better appeals to the audience?

Are you a web designer? How about uploading your portfolio on Flickr?

How about an architectural firm? They would have digital representations of their plans as well as pictures of the finished product. Wouldn’t they want to showcase their work? Flickr would be the perfect venue for this too. Why not? The more people see their work the better the chances of getting new customers.

Are you baking pies for a living? I know scratch and sniff monitors are not on the market yet but still several pictures of the delicious pies can still entice the viewers to visit your website and maybe buy some of them. So grab your digital camera and start capturing the savory of your products. Put them on photo sharing websites and watch the dough rise – pun very intended.

Here’s a list of photo sharing websites:

www.flickr.com
www.shutterfly.com
www.kodakgallery.com
www.snapfish.com
www.dropshots.com
www.fotolog.com
www.multiply.com
www.myphotoalbum.com
www.panoramio.com
www.photobucket.com
www.picasa.com
www.slide.com
www.winkflash.com
www.zenfolio.com
www.zoto.com

Try to post your pictures on as many websites as you can. The more places your name and products appear the better your chances to be found on the web.

Here are some tips to post your pictures successfully on these websites:

1. Take lots and lots of pictures
2. Select only those that best describe your message; crisp and clear
3. Upload them on as many websites as you can
4. Always, always use meta tags and descriptions for your pictures. This is the main reason why you’ll be found on the web. Without these elements you might as well forget about the whole thing.
5. Create and join photo groups
6. Be active and commit to these groups and their activity within the group

Conclusion: Remember – photo sharing is one form of social media and social media is a two-way communication street. Use it wisely and your success on line will be a snap.

Just as in sports (coaching, offense and defense) your website should also employ this 3 pronged approach. Apply it vigorously and you got yourself a winning website.

Just in case you need a FREE website opinion, drop me a line and I’ll do my best.

Back to the 3 pronged approach – what do I mean by “coaching, offense and defense” exactly.

Your website should do the following:

What Your Website Should Do

1. Provide corporate information

This information should educate web visitors on what you stand for; your company’s philosophy. This section should include phone numbers, contact forms, FAQs, product specs, updates, patches, free materials, downloadable brochures, etc.
This is your “coaching” prong.

2. Market and sell services and products to new customers

You are not really selling but in fact you are doing a lot of brand reinforcing so your name can be easily recognized next time a potential customer is on the market for your product or services.
This is your “offense” prong.

This section could be split in 2 items:

a. Selling a Tangible Product

In this case your website should be equipped with an ecommerce feature along with ecart solutions, payment options, guarantees, terms of service, etc.

The ecommerce feature depends a lot on what type of product you are selling. If you sell cupcakes over the web you are probably already aware of what an ecommerce solution can do for your business.

On the other hand if you sell live puppies, an ecommerce solution would not be indicated for obvious reasons. In that case you’ll have to invite visitors to your website by using tons of information displaying your expert opinion in the area you have selected as your business.

b. Promoting Services

Many companies sell their services over the internet. Think of consultants who charge for the time spent with their clients or the subscription you pay to access knowledge reservoirs meticulously constructed in form of blogs, ebooks or white papers.

3. Provide Support to Existing Clients

Welcome feedback and act upon it by providing support and FAQs to your existing client base. Other elements included in this section of your website are:

• News and Press Release
• Testimonials
• Client Lists
• Contact Information
• Corporate Blogs

This is your “defense” prong.

Analyze your website and look for these 3 elements, if they are applicable. Your existing and future clients will appreciate you, your company, your products and services.

The world is full of descriptions and attempts to mold the definition of marketing, but so far I haven’t found a clear characterization of this escaping concept we face every day. To me – marketing is present in everything that we do on a daily basis; promise a surprise to your children to convince them to dress warm and – bang – you just did some marketing without even knowing it. Launch a new product and do whatever necessary to make the market react positive about it and you delivered yet another marketing punch.
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Seduction or Marketing

Everything that we do, from the mundane to the most exciting has in some way a direct or indirect connection to the concept of marketing. Even now, as you read this article, you are unknowingly participating in my marketing efforts of promoting knowledge through this blog. 

So..what is Marketing then?

Marketing is an action (or multitudes of actions), visual or otherwise, emanated from a source (you, a company, etc.) and directed to a receiver (those you want to gain from) in order to obtain something (money, fame, acceptance, friendship, love, power, etc.) 

Marketing is based on the concept of seducing. Seducing the clients into buying your product or pay for your services; seducing your friends into accepting you; seducing your in-laws to love and accept you. 

You can employ a variety of mediums to start your seducing process – intricate part of getting the message out (i.e. ads in print or online media, articles on blogs and ezines, pictures on or offline, TV, radio, social media networks, etc.)

The 2 elements that sit at the base of the seducing act are: words (spoken or written) and images (pictures or videos).

Sometimes one of the elements is more powerful than the other but their continuous switching their power position gives the dynamics of the marketing process as a whole.

Several years ago, a former heavy weight champion of the world – George Foreman, introduced the “George Foreman Grill” on a shopping network. Although everyone knew George Foreman, the sales were nothing to brag about, until, ignored by the network hosts, George proceeded to eat a delicious burger grilled minutes before on the same grill he was so trying to seduce the viewers with. That image alone generated instant sales.

The end result – huge profits for the “George Foreman Grill” company due to several minutes of live filming of a hungry heavy weight (no pun intended) right there in the studio, unrehearsed and uncut.

See the 2 elements switching?

First George appears – image seduction. Then he starts talking about the benefits of owning such a product – word seduction. When both elements fail to entice viewers into buying, he switches again to the image seduction of sinking his teeth into a freshly grilled burger. Image wins.

Here’s another example:

It is said that if TV would have been around at the time, Abraham Lincoln would have never been elected. Why? Because we are visual “animals” and apparently the lanky Illinois native was not a pretty picture to look at. Not according to our standards anyway.

His words though, on letters or speeches resonated well with the American people and seduced them into electing him the president of the United States. In this case, word alone won over the image.

Now-a-days our society is much more complex and the mediums where we display our seductions are diverse.  We need to take in consideration both elements of the seduction process and combine them both in an organized and structured way in order to become truly effective in our marketing effort.