Facebook Chat Options!

Posted on02. Apr, 2012 by Douglas Richardson.

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Social Media Marketing and your Business

Posted on13. Sep, 2011 by Douglas Richardson.

As a business owner, and you’re not aware of “Social Media Marketing” (SMM). You are either so busy with the customers that are coming into your business, or you live under a rock out in the desert somewhere with no internet connection! All kidding aside SMM is the fasted growing segment of advertizing out there and in many cases it is FREE for the taking!

SMM sites such as FaceBook; Twitter; Linkedin and YouTube are visited literally by hundreds of millions of people a day! Now I know that the first thought that comes to you is, Hey, I am not a national or international business! My customer base is fifty or less miles from Bend or even smaller! Well read on this applies to you also in more ways than you may realize.

Nearly all consumers (97%) now use online media when researching products and services, according to BIA/Kelsey’s ongoing tracking study. The misconception that only young people use (SMM) for shopping, but in fact nearly all of the buying public now use them. Marketing has shifted from a one-way broadcast to a multi-point conversation. In the past, communications were broadcast exclusively through mass marketing channels like radio, TV, newspapers door to door distribution of directories like the Yellow Pages.

Businesses are wise to think beyond their websites and reach out to prospects and customers where they spend their time online, whether it is on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, other social networks, or through blogs or podcasts. This strategy involves establishing a presence in multiple locations of SMM, where prospects can engage with your company in conversations that will eventually lead to business relationships.
This also helps your business become the “go to” when someone needs an expert in that area of interest.

Between the four sites listed above there are hundreds of millions of users going to these sites daily. The fasted growing demographic among Facebook users is the 35 to 65 year old women. Another statistic: 300 million people visit You Tube every month and watch more than 12 billion videos, according to ComScore’s January 2010 figures. Did you know that You Tube is the second largest search engine on the internet at this time. People go there to learn how to bake a cake or how to create a Fanpage on Facebook.

Proactive businesses are making plans to get the prospect to follow them, friend them, subscribe to their channels, etc. Once connected, your business can start offering information, expert prospective on topics your businesses specializes in, recommendations, news, coupons, membership privileges, etc. in an effort to get prospects to give permission to follow up with them through email, text messages to their mobile phones, regular mail, or what ever form of communication they prefer. You and your business are building relationships with prospects, earning their trust and ultimately, earning their business.

Once you have established relationships with your prospects online, you need to continue to provide valuable information and continue to make offers because it is proven that it is much easier to get an existing customer to buy from you again than it is to get a new customer to buy from you the first time. It sounds simple, but this is where most businesses fail on an epic level. Most businesses miss the opportunities for incrementally increasing income because they don’t follow up with their customers.

Most business owners find it difficult to allocate their time to develop a marketing program. Approximately 26% of small businesses have a SMM program in place. A SMM consultant can develop an online marketing plan and organize the resources to execute it so it generates results cost effectively without impacting your primary focus, of managing your business.

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FTC Endorsement Guides!

Posted on19. Nov, 2010 by Douglas Richardson.

Please leave a comment on this video, this is very important stuff!

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Time Management!

Posted on11. Nov, 2010 by Douglas Richardson.

What Exactly Is Time Management?

Time management is a set of principles, practices, skills, tools, and systems working together to help you get more value out of your time with the aim of improving the quality of your life.

The important point is that time management is not necessarily about getting lots of stuff done, because much more important than that is making sure that you are working on the right things, the things that truly need to be done.

Time Management can be a very tricky thing when working from home.  Create a place somewhere, where there are the least amount of outside distractions for you, i.e.; TV; kids; wife, girlfriend etc.  You need to be focused on your work.  And that is yet another topic, you need to be in the mindset that this is work; this is a business that you are trying to grow (more on this in a later post).  Once you have found your location, make sure that you have all the tools that you need to run your business near by, so that you are not spending your time looking for things. [...]

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Ethics and the Internet!

Posted on27. Oct, 2010 by Douglas Richardson.

This is something that has been on my heart for sometime now, and I just need to let my feeling be known.  Now I am not here to step on anyone’s toes, nor do I feel that I can.  I have been involved in social media and blog monetization for about ten months now, it has been a huge learning curve, I am fifty nine yours old and have been using the internet for many years, but not for making money.  The first computer course that I took at the local community college was Word 1.0.   So I feel like I have been around awhile?  I have started several of my own businesses and have succeeded and also failed, but one thing I have always tried to do is be as honest and ethical as I can be.  A quote from my dear diseased father that I always remember is:  “You meet the same people going up as you do coming down”.  With that said I am becoming more and more aware of a lack of ethics on the internet. [...]

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Business 101 (IMPLEMANTION) Part III

Posted on11. Oct, 2010 by Douglas Richardson.

Implementation:

OK, so now you have a business plan written, but without an action plan or implementation you really just have a well planned idea.  Implementation of your business plan is what makes all the preparation worthwhile!  Reaching the goals established in your business plan is a testament to your well thought out efforts.

Steps to Implementation: [...]

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Business 101 Part II

Posted on05. Oct, 2010 by Douglas Richardson.

Business 101 Part II

Let’s take a look at what needs to be done when evaluating your internet business model.

First of all you need a plan of action.  Now I know as I have stated earlier most of us get started without a thought towards business, we are just using Social Media as a way  to communicate with our friends and family, and finding old friends from High School and College and learning what has happened in there lives. [...]

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Business 101

Posted on21. Sep, 2010 by Douglas Richardson.

I have owned several of my own businesses, through my life.  And I think that because of this I can speak to the topic that I am about to address.  One of the things about owning a brick and mortar business is that you can tangibly see the location where you conduct business.  You can go there and feel that you are in your location and ready to conduct business activities.  You have the mindset that, I am at my office and I am here to do the things that need to be done in order to pay for the location that I am working from.  To pay the light bill, and rent or mortgage to keep the doors open.  This is one of the driving forces that keep’s us business owners moving forward.   I am sure you can see where I am going with this? [...]

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You Know More Than You Realize?

Posted on23. Aug, 2010 by Douglas Richardson.

I think you do!  If you have a blog, you know more than you realize!

Blogging?

• You had to create and purchase a domain name.
• You had to open up a wordpress account and choose between which theme you wanted to use.  Or you found someone or service to create your blog.
• You have learned the difference between a plug-in and a widget and what the purpose is for both. [...]

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“Head in a Helmet”

Posted on20. Jul, 2010 by Douglas Richardson.

I know that the rule of thumb is to not speak of your religious beliefs in your posts in order to not offend ones beliefs?  “But?” This story is something that I felt needed to be passed on.  About two weeks ago a friend from my church was doing some extreme mountain biking at Whistler Mountain in Canada.  He had been riding with some good friends and they were on their final descent from the summit for the day.  Now from what David said the terrain is very extreme and the path of descent is narrowly tree lined with a large drainage ditch off to one side.  David said that some of the jumps were as much as a, forty foot drop.  (Sounds a little too extreme for an old guy like me?) [...]

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