M5 Networks offers some of the slickest, most manageable communications solutions for small and mid-sized organizations.  By offering “voice as a service” M5 Networks sets itself apart from most every system provider. 

The point is that there are tons of really cool features to allow you to do better business, but you dont use them.  The reason you dont employ these features is because nobody in your organization has the time or incentive to sit in a closet and manage your communication technology all day.  M5 has the time and expertise to do just this very thing. No system in your closet. Just the latest in features and technology on demand.

The mantra of the small business marketer could well be:  “It’s not worth doing if you don’t collect data.” 

Most small businesses are going to learn this the hard way when the owner attempts to cash out, or when it is time to change direction. No data.

For businesses that are ready to take marketing seriously there is a hosted application from StructuredWeb that answers many needs for small businesses who need to invest in their future success. 

The StrucuredWeb platform is a marketing database tool integrated with website management, email marketing, CRM, and ecommerce tools.  We have this web based platform in place with 2 of our clients: Castle Point Realty, and TDNYC.com.

The CRM is comparable to most other solutions in the small & midsize space.  The really cool advantage is the integration with your website and emarketing solutions via the same management interface.  This allows you to manage and access data collected from your website, email campaigns, and through your CRM all in a single tool.  This single tool gives StructuredWeb a great pitch to small businesses who need to establish a marketing effort in house. 

The drawbacks to StructuredWeb are obsolete technology (not including custom solutions for the apparel industry), non-existant SEO/SEM capability, and an ecommerce platform that could only be intended for use by office supply dealers.  Of these shortcomings the only one that gets annoying is the lack of SEO/SEM capabilities.  It actually requires custom work to plug in a Google Analytics or AdWords tracking script.  SEO is simply not a priority for SW.  They seek to drive existing contacts to the web through email marketing.  PPC is another option, but better for a less capable client to use SW to run the whole campaign.  Definately not for the savvy SEM professional who wants to run their own campaigns. 

I definately recommend a closer look for any small business that is ready to get started with a marketing effort.  The technology is web based with an annual licensing fee.  To implement the technology, design a site, and deploy 10 CRM licenses will run you about 10-15k to do it right.  Any small business should expect to invest another 20K in services during the following year to make it worthwhile. 

If you cannot afford to invest in a marketing strategy there will be in trouble if you ever need to change direction or face an economic slowdown.

To learn more or to see a StructuredWeb demo click here.

Use social networking tools to enhance search performance at no cost.

You have most likely heard of MySpace and Facebook. (if you have not, then we cant be friends anymore)  

LinkedIn.com offers professionals a place to manage an interactive resume and professional contact network.  Click here for an example profile page: Tom Ritter

To better understand the actual benefits of this free platform consider the keyword phrase “Tom Ritter”.  This particular keyword phrase has some stiff competition in the first page results of Google. (Click here to see Google results for ”Tom Ritter”)  I am competing with a nationally reknowned dentist, and a famous actor for visibility in the results. 

I do not have a website or blog to compete with these other results. I am on the first page of Google simply because I created a LinkedIn profile.  At the time of this post my LinkedIn profile ranked #6 on the first page of Google results. 

I will concede that there are only about 575,000 websites related to the search “Tom Ritter”.  If my name was “Brad Pitt” the competition would consist of about 25 million competitive results.  But still, I am beating out over half a million websites without having spent a dime to do so. 

For those of you with some real Search Engine Optimization savvy, my LinkedIn page boasts a Google PR of 3.  This means that any links I create on my LinkedIn page actually improve the search performance of the sites I link to. 

So set yourself up on LinkedIn, and get all your employees to do the same. Then, create website links to your company website from all of your respective profiles.  The Search Engine Optimization benefits will be measureable, and you cannot beat the price.

Make no mistake about it, my LinkedIn profile performs because I update it at least once a month and I have developed a decent network of 150 contacts and growing.  But even that is very little effort to maintain. 

And make no mistake about this……………….Mr. Furley was the man.

Finally I get to post a blog about posting blog’s.  The circle is complete…

It is extremely difficult to search optimize new websites when you have to compete against established players in your market.  It is safe to assume at least some of your competitors have built solid websites with lot’s of content and inbound links.  You will likely need to compete for similar keyword phrases and this will require some creativity for you to catch up in search performance.

A blog can be an instrumental tool for new websites to improve rank and search performance.  In fact a blog is probably one of the last places that even established small businesses are not doing a very good job online.  Jumping in and taking advantage of this opportunity is a great idea. But you will need to act fast.

Why blog for Search Engine Optimization?    

Blogs are often indexed more frequently than corporate sites.

Blogs can be syndicated across many sites via RSS feeds that generate valuable inbound links.

Blogs perform differently than corporate sites for the same keyword phrases. 

It is not too late to effectively get your business into the online marketing fray. But you must apply creativity and cutting edge Search Engine Optimization to make it worth your while.  Make a blog part of your plan and cut in line before your competition.  Let us know if we can help.

Situation:
Many small businesses are cutting back on marketing and lead generation or waiting for the economy to pick up before they invest in websites and Google advertising.

This blows me away!  Now is the time to stake a claim online.  Much like real estate, in this economy online advertising presents a buyers market.  There is no better time to assign a budget to developing a plan for growing your business online. 

There are 2 types of businesses that we are having success with right now:

#1
Small businesses that are thriving. Real estate agencies, title agencies, lawyers, mortgage brokers, and other organizations that in many instances are actually doing more volume than a year ago.  These clients are calling us to capitalize on this momentum and expand upon their ability to pull in and sell new prospects.

#2
Businesses that are hurting and need to make adjustments to accomodate a slowdown in their market.  Many small companies are concerned about a drop in activity.  A great percentage of these companies never had an online marketing/business development agenda to begin with. 

The slowdown has prompted such businesses to finally take a look at how the internet is the primary hub for sustainable and affordable business development.  Website development, and search engine marketing (Pay Per Click advertising) are the primary methods these businesses are using to stop the bleeding and develop an online initiative.

If you are kicking butt, it is a great time to figure out a way to capitalize and generate some tremendous growth potential for the coming upturn in the economy.
OR
If you are concerned about a big slowdown, it is a great time to make the adjustments you need to “recession proof” your business.

Good luck!