Wanna Get Into Internet Marketing? Start a Blog!

yet more reasons to get into blogs and blogging, with Renzie Baluyut.

In a video entitled "Social Media Revolution", which I have shared not too long ago, on a previous blog post, we see that there are over 200 million blogs all over the world right now- and those numbers are growing.

Still a couple more hard-to-ignore facts: 54% of bloggers post content or tweet daily, and 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands.

I wonder if marketing professionals realize what kind of word-of-mouth and buzz all this activity potentially generates. Here's another fact: more than 1.8 million pieces of content- web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.- are shared on Facebook every single day.

Wouldn't it be great if people talked about you or your company as well?

Social media has indeed changed the way we saw things as marketing professionals. We have to engage our market in a conversation, learn to listen to them and draw out what we can from their experiences with our respective brands.

If you're new to internet marketing, or just about making that shift from traditional marketing to e-commerce and new media, then you're best off starting your new marketing efforts by creating a blog.

This is what Aaron Wall- leading authority in search engine optimization (SEO), blogger, author and international speaker -recommends. In fact, he had even gone as far as giving us seven reasons why new internet marketers should start a blog now.

1. Blogs are easy to set up and update. There are so many free and easy-to-use services available to anyone on the internet now. Plus you're in control of the content, so you can put in new content anytime you want, as often as you want. Pretty much, you're your own author, editor, publisher and marketer, all in one.

2. Blogs have many feedback mechanisms. You know right away if what you're doing is spot on, or if it needs improvement. Because anyone can comment on any of your posts, or jump in on any ongoing discussion, you have a legitimate means to get feedback from your audience.

Knowing is definitely half the battle. All you have to do now is put all that feedback into good use. Remember, listen first. Then sell.

3. Blogs are easy to track and monitor. Thanks to RSS, you can easily keep tabs of other blogs and bloggers just like yourself. All you have to do is subscribe to other blogs that are relevant to you, and use an aggregator like Google Reader or Pageflakes. Even this blog works as an aggregator for all my favorite internet marketing/productivity-related blogs.

Similarly, it's easy to keep track of the activity on your own blog. There are so many available analytics tools online that can give you an idea of your blog's activity over time, where readers are coming from, and how they find their way to your blog.

4. It's easy to join the conversation on blogs. Because there are so many blogs around the world, and because you can know right away which blogs talk about the same things you talk about, joining in on a conversation online has never been easier.

There's definitely a whole community of bloggers out there, and even smaller niche communities for more specialized topics. There's definitely an appeal to all this- you know you're talking to other human beings- other regular people, not corporations or companies- that share the same interests and passions as your own.

5. There's many different ways for ideas to spread. Blogs are all about shareability and discoverability. If you create compelling enough content- readers will definitely pass your message on.

Remember, as you build your authority through your blogs, you will get more readers who trust you, or who feel like they have a connection with you and what you write about. Blogs make it easy for people who like you to share the stuff you post online.

Because of social sites like Facebook, MySpace and Multiply, microblogging services like Twitter and Plurk, and social bookmarking sites like Digg, Technorati and StumbleUpon, and because everyone spends so much time on all these sites, you can count on them passing on links, videos, blog posts, pics, etc. to all their other friends and associates.

6. Blogs have many signs of social proof and value. According to the good people over at Copyblogger,

From a marketing standpoint, social proof is the basis of both buzz and large sales figures. Without it, there’d be no “grapevine” in the first place. It’s also why testimonials are so essential in direct marketing.

Social proof is ultimately the most powerful force involved in growing a successful business blog that helps you sell products or services. The quality of your content is still the most important element, but other subtle influences may well dictate whether you turn a new visitor into a subscription or bookmark.

7. Reading blogs don't feel like you're reading an ad. Again, we go back to the importance of trust. At a time when the mass media landscape- and even the online environment on the internet- is actually getting more and more commercial, readers are always on the lookout for sources they can trust.

For businesses and organizations, word-of-mouth is a force to be reckoned with more than ever: 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations. And only 14% trust advertisements.

With all this going on, the question for traditional marketers is: why aren't you blogging now?

If you'd really want to get into blogging, and know more about setting up your own blog right away for marketing purposes, you can check out this webinar, an online workshop on blogging set up by ProFora Media right here.

Check out more of Aaron Wall here on his very own channel on YouTube. You'll find lots more stuff on blogging and search engine optimization, as well as links to his blogs and other associated sites.

Cheers everyone!

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The Art of No-Cost Marketing, Part 1 of 2

marketing essentials for entrepreneurs and business-folk, with Renzie Baluyut.

Marketing is something every single entrepreneur has to deal with. Particularly so if you're running the show all by yourself, and you have to wear all kinds of hats in the workplace.

The importance of marketing for small businesses and entrepreneurs? We talked about organic growth last week, the importance of building up and getting the most out of your customer base. Marketing helps you achieve just that. People need to know about your products and services, they need to try it out, and if they do like their experience with your brand, you'd definitely want them to keep coming back.

Usually, however, the challenge is this: most start-up companies and even small businesses have to deal with having a very limited marketing budget. Sometimes, with even no marketing budget at all.

Allow me to share with you some tips on how to come up with a modestly effective marketing campaign with hardly any money shelled out from your end.

The Art of No-Cost Marketing: Ten Tips To Jump Start your Cost-Effective Campaign.

For the first part of two on my no-cost marketing feature, let's focus on building and creating. Before you actually get the word out, you need to have a variety of marketing materials available for your target audience, should they decide to check you out to see if you're worth their while.

1. At the very least, start with a logo. Something that speaks about your company, or your products and services. Yes, you can have someone do this for you, but if you're handy enough with a PC, you can come up with a simple yet effective logo for yourself.

2. Have prepared written blurbs about your company, as well as whatever it is you're pushing at the moment. Write-ups about individual products or services are good, but also have something written up about the company. Take it a step further: figure out your mission, vision and philosophy, come up with a tagline, and even put together a short elevator pitch.

3. You will want business cards. Again, you can make some from home using a PC and a printer, and some board paper. Put your logo on it, the name of your brand, and most importantly, your contact details should potential customers want to reach you and do business with you.

4. Put up a simple website or a blog. These days, with so much free blogging services available online, you can come up with a simple, yet fully functional and interactive website for any customer to check out 24/7. In fact, these days, you simply *must* have a blog or a website. Put everything there: your logo and your blurbs, all the contact details you have, related news and updates, even pictures, video, and podcasts later on.

5. Create other useful things which visitors or potential customers can have for free: a free downloadable list of tips, or a guide to doing something better, a recipe booklet, essentially anything of value to your target market. Even better: produce useful and informative podcasts or videos. Maybe a sample of your product or your services. Get them to try you out and get into the habit of coming back for more.

6. Take pictures and video. You could have shots of your team in action, or you in an event- anything to highlight your products and services, and to show how other customers are having a positive experience with your brand.

7. Social media and social networks: go right ahead and put up your Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages. Don't forget to fill these up with all kinds of useful things (see #5), so not only can your market try you out, they can even tell their friends about their experience with you. Take it a step further: go for Multiply as well, or a photo service such as Snapfish or Shutterfly, try out LinkedIn, or even touch base with potential fans of MySpace and Friendster.

8. Brochures and Flyers. Come up with handy print copies for your clientele. It could be a menu, or a list of products and services you could offer. Don't forget to put all your contact details, including your web address, and the URL's to all your social media services.

9. Come up with a media kit- this is most particularly useful for when you'll be doing all sorts of media placements or strategic partnerships and tie-ups later on. The point is to put everything you have about your company or your product/service line into one convenient kit for potential partners, sponsors, and even customers if you wish. Include samples, as well as your brochures and flyers, and pretty much anything else you'd feel putting in that kit.

10. Put together a database. Sure for now you can probably put together the emails of your more immediate friends and family, but in time as you gain more repeat business as well as more customers, you will find that having a customer database will help you with all kinds of marketing and promotional activities.

That's it for now. Part 2 of The Art of No-Cost Marketing Coming right up, as we talk about Getting The Word Around.

Photo courtesy of our friends over at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Cheers, everyone.

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Focusing on Organic Growth | The Monday Marketing Tip

tips on small business marketing with Renzie Baluyut.

Welcome to The Monday Marketing Tip. Starting today and for the next several Mondays, I will be sharing insights and little notes on marketing communications- little bits of advice for small business owners, entrepreneurs and online professionals.

Marketing, I believe, is something every digital entrepreneur and freelancer should get into. How else do you suppose could people learn about your expertise, products and services? You don't need a large budget to run with the big dogs- all you need is some creativity, some diligence, and ruthless efficiency.

Focusing on Organic Growth

Marketing a small business is totally different from planning and executing a marketing plan for a much larger corporation.

For starters, most small businesses operate on a much smaller marketing budget, or sometimes even no budget at all. And while there are a number of low- to no-cost ways available out there, the objectives remain essentially the same.

Remember: the end goal of marketing is to increase business for the company. This can be achieved by putting together a suitable marketing plan and simply following it through. You might be amazed- many organizations out there don't give marketing and business development any serious thought.

In fact, putting together a marketing plan for any small business isn't too difficult. All you have to do really, is focus on organic growth- increasing your customer base, increasing your output, and increasing your sales. This is by far, the most effective way to grow and expand your business.

How do you achieve increased organic growth? Laura Lake of About.com shares with us four ways to get it done:

1. Acquire more customers
2. Persuade each customer to buy more products
3. Persuade each customer to buy more expensive products or up selling each customer
4. Persuade each customer to buy more profitable products

These four basic tasks only serve to increase your company's revenue and profit. Of the four, it is recommended that the first-- acquiring more customers- should be the focus of any small business. More customers only mean a larger customer base, and having a larger customer base translates to a higher potential revenue.

So for this week, ask yourself: How can I acquire more customers? In your case, you can even be as specific as possible: How can I get more people to know about, and actually get to try our products and services?

There are several ways you can achieve this. Just to rattle off a few low-cost suggestions:

• Harness the power of the internet, social media and social networking tools. Facebook, Twitter, Multiply are all effective marketing tools when used correctly.
• Have a website. Update it regularly and keep it relevant for your target market.
• Even better: have a blog, and allow your target market a means to interact with you.
• Look within your personal network. Know someone who writes for a newspaper? Or works for a radio station? Find out how you can get free plugging, in exchange for a few modest media values.
• Join conventions, trade shows, workshops and seminars. Scope out potential customers here and get your calling cards, flyers and other handouts passed around.
• Collaborate with other small businesses that hit your target market. Remember that there's power in synergy.
• Tap into communities and organizations that would find your services relevant. You can find them online, or among the people in your neighborhood.

All you need is a little imagination really, and the will to follow your plan through. Be creative, be diligent and be efficient. Give yourself challenging yet realistic and achievable goals-- I will bring in ten new customers this week, or I will join three new communities this month and spread the word about the company. Hold yourself accountable, and you can see your business grow slowly, but steadily.

The best part is, you just grew your business without a huge marketing budget-- by working hard and working smart- and you did it all by yourself.

Special thanks to Laura Lake of About.com for inspiring this blog post.

Cheers, everyone.

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5 Tips on Making an Event for Bloggers

As more and more businesses make use of buzz marketing to promote their products and services and try to get good word-of-mouth, we get to see all kinds of gimmicks and come-ons.

Some fail dismally in this task- as more educated consumers see right through the more obvious efforts to put pearls on swine. Others cross the ethical borderline, striving to gain positive exposure no matter the cost. And then there are some companies you just can't help but support, solely for the reason that their corporate values naturally align with your own.

Having been a media person for 14 years, and now as a denizen of the local blogosphere, I can say that I've seen all kinds of companies employ all kinds of marketing tactics to get a good review or two out there. Some good, some completely forgettable, and some just downright wrong.

Of course, if your company chooses to make use of new media- blogs, podcasts, social networks, viral videos, etc- as a means to promote your latest line of products and services, you want to be remembered the right way.

I was in a bloggers' event last week, and it made me think about writing the post you're now reading. Let me share with you a few insights I had with that experience.

The Kawayan Cove Experience

Just a few days ago, several bloggers (myself included), headed off for Kawayan Cove in Nasugbu, Batangas. Kawayan Cove is a 68-hectare exclusive seaside residential community, located in Nasugbu, Batangas, a town 2 hours south of Metro Manila famous for its white-sand beaches and resorts. Edge Properties invited some bloggers to come check it out, and you can read the details of our visit on this other post of mine on another blog, The Life & Times of The Renzie Man.

Whether I like it or not, the side of me that's all media-and-marketing can't help but pay attention to how promotional activities- like this particular event for bloggers- unfold and run its course. I've managed a number of similar events in the not-too-distant past, so I have a few observations myself.

Here are some things we learned from our Kawayan Cove visit:

1. Set the expectations straight. Naturally, when we were given the invitation to event, I already had some preconceived notions in my head: is it going to be a sales pitch? Those real estate open house events are usually boring! Wait- blogging about real estate IS boring!

But the invitation explained it all: it's a workshop for bloggers into digital photography. Just so happens it's set in Kawayan Cove. Bring your camera- you'll want to take lots of pictures. Bring extra clothes- you might want to hang by the beach.

The organizers did a pretty good job in setting the expectations straight, and sticking to it. It was pretty much everything they said it was going to be, then they surpassed themselves by executing their plans very well.

2. Preparation is key. In any given event, even your best-laid plans can go awry. In this case, who would've known it would be raining half the day? Nevertheless, there was a Plan B in place- the venue for the talk was moved to a more suitable location (from the ampitheater to the pavillion by Bamboo Beach), there were vehicles on hand to shuttle us from place to place, even sandals for those who didn't bring any.

You have to admire the kind of preparation any company makes to ensure the success of any event. It's all about covering all your bases. And allowing yourself to be flexible when the situation calls for it.

3. Play the part of the gracious host. It's all about creating new connections and encouraging long-term relationships. Make your guests comfortable, encourage mingling with other guests, make yourself available for Q&A's.

In the case of Kawayan Cove, the Puyat family were all there to show us around, share stories and tell us what we needed to know about the property. I'm sure they've done this dozens, maybe hundreds of times, yet there they were, taking time to have a chat with each and every one of us.

The staff of Kawayan Cove was on hand to make sure we were well-attended to. From the welcome drinks, to the hearty lunch prepared for the group, even those nice little moist towels we got after the tour.

All that thoughtfulness and hospitality can only create a positive image of you and your company. For me, it shows how genuinely warm and welcoming the Puyat family is, and also how well Edge Properties trained their personnel. That's always a good thing in my book.

4. Provide lots of venues for interactivity. There were specially prepared food and drink arrangements, just for pictorial purposes, with Anton Diaz (of Our Awesome Planet) going around giving tips and pointers to all the bloggers, and the Puyat family sharing anecdotes about Kawayan Cove's history.

There was more than enough time to take pictures, work on a blog, do a podcast, or even shoot a viral video. Also lots of opportunities to walk around with fellow bloggers to compare notes and get to know them some more.

You want the interactivity because you want to give your bloggers a chance to soak up and appreciate the experience- in every way possible. It's good that they have a good experience about your products and services, and even better that you allow them to process all that information, and consider all aspects of whatever it is your promoting.

5. Content is still king. What makes your event so compellingly different from everybody else's? A promotional event like this gives your company an opportunity to create content relevant to your market. It doesn't have to be forced, nor does it have to be overly elaborate. It only has to be relevant and timely.

With all of Anton's experience as a photographer- he only stuck to what we wanted to hear: Travel and Food Photography for Bloggers. In fact, he only had ten or so slides, yet we already learned so much.

More importantly, we had the chance to put all his tips to practice for the rest of the afternoon as we toured the property. Two birds with one stone: not only do we get to appreciate the majesty of the natural beauty of Kawayan Cove, we also had a newfound appreciation for digital photography.

Bottom line: Make your event a memorable experience. For businesses who wish to tap blogs and bloggers as a means to promote their products, events, ideas or services, what they're really trying to accomplish is to get good online buzz- the kind of word-of-mouth that inspires the bloggers to tell their readers about their experiences, and share something unique about the activity.

As a blogger, The Kawayan Cove event was probably one of the best I've ever been to. I've learned a lot from it, made some new connections, and it gave me a fresh perspective on things (particularly on the topic of real estate, for me!).

As a media-and-marketing person, the activity was well-planned and equally well-executed. Businesses who plan on making use of blogs and bloggers would do well to learn from this exercise.

Cheers, everyone.

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What dSLR Does Veronica Mars Use?

While we're on the topic of digital single-lens reflex (dSLR) cameras, let's find out what kind of cameras Veronica Mars used on her CW show a year or two back.

See, I've been a huge fan of the TV series (one of my guilty pleasures, actually), and I have to admit, I was sorta impressed with that big-ass camera she slings around. Of course, it's fairly obvious that a set-up like that doesn't come cheap- but it made sense- since they run a small detective agency, it's all probably used for work.

At any rate, I've had a renewed interest in dSLR's recently. I figured that since I'm blogging professionally now (and full-time, I might add), it might actually make sense to get myself a better camera. By better, I mean, something that would be a step up from my handy 5.1-megapixel Sony Cybershot. So in an earlier blog entry, I actually did some homework.

Here's What I Found Out About Veronica Mars' Cameras.

Apparently, there's been a discussion on a VM fansite on Livejournal as to what kind of dSLR's were featured on the show. As far as we can tell, Kristen Bell's character had used three different cameras, all of 'em Nikons.

1. A Nikon D2H with a huge-ass zoom lens (possibly the 70-200 f/2.8 VR), used in the series premiere.
2. Then she also had a the Nikon 8800, as seen in an episode mid-season (of Season 1). It ain't no big deal, but a point-and-shoot that still has a lot of great features.
3. By Season 2, we see her wielding a Nikon D70 with the relatively cheaper, but still impressive 80-200 f/2.8D zoom lens.

Seems like a product integration deal for Nikon, but it's probably not (then again, they probably should have!). The fansite suggested that the show's director of photography, Victor Hammer (who might have a personal preference for Nikons) may have had a few spare cameras lying around, and therefore used one of his toys for Veronica Mars to play with. Nice.

You can watch the UPN/CW drama series over again on DVD, or just catch Kristen Bell on season 2 of Heroes, or as the omniescent voiceover on Gossip Girl, this time without the cool cameras. :)

Cheers, everyone!

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Blogs Give You More Bang For Your Buck!

Here's an interesting read on Abe Olandres' Yugatech: a blog entry on how advertisers might actually be getting a better return-of-investment on their media buy with blog advertising.

In a recent presentation he made, Abe compared the performance of ads on his blog (YugaTech) to four other sites that carries the same advertising: two news sites (which he designates as sites A & B), a forum (site C), and a portal (site D).

With this mix of websites, he stacked them up against each other and compared the following five attributes:

• Total Traffic Contribution. Percentage traffic share (leading into the advertiser's landing page?) from each site, considering the total combined online traffic of all five.
  
• New Visitors. The percentage of unique visitors on a blog clicking an advertiser's ad.
  
• Page Views Per Visit.
  
• Average Time on Site.
• Bounce Rate. The percentage of people leaving the referred site right away.
  

Here's what Abe had to say about the Total Traffic Contribution:

Of the top 5 referring sites, my blog (YugaTech) was the 3rd highest referrer with 19.33% of the total traffic contributed by all five. The first two were the news sites that sent in 39.05% and 23.88%, the forum site sent only 11.56% and the portal 6.19%.
To think that one of the news sites had (at least) 192 times more number of monthly pageviews than this blog, placing 3rd in terms of referrals ain’t bad at all. Too bad, I couldn’t get any click-thru-rates.

According to the blog entry, what surprised Abe more were the results of the other metrics: New Visitors, Page Views per Visit, and Average Time on Site.

New Visitors

Site A - 80.5% new visitors
Site B - 69.5% new visitors
Site C - 64.5% new visitors
Site D - 78.0% new visitors
YugaTech - 45% new visitors

Depending on how you look at it, either this blog doesn’t refer more unique visitors or visitors keep clicking on the ads more than once (which is good right?).

Page Views per Visit

Site A - 2.17 pageviews
Site B - 2.06 pageviews
Site C - 1.78 pageviews
Site D - 2.64 pageviews
YugaTech - 6.12 pageviews

Average Time on Site

Site A - 2.24 minutes
Site B - 2:38 minutes
Site C - 1:35 minutes
Site D - 3:07 minutes
YugaTech - 10:17 minutes

It only means one thing — the blog drives more quality traffic because they actually use the referred site more. The figures above shows us 3 to 5 times more site usage by visitors coming from the blog.

Lastly, Abe shares a little more about Bounce Rates:

Site A - 60%
Site B - 60%
Site C - 75%
Site D - 56%
YugaTech - 34%

Bounce rates indicate the percentage of people leaving the referred site right away. So the lower the bounce rates, the better since it means visitors are sticking to the site. Here’s two words to describe that — targeted traffic.

Now that's interesting- more compelling reasons for just about any company to invest more in blogs- for quality content that hits your targeted market segment! Abe's final word on the subject matter (for now):

I do not know how much advertising money was spent on all the 5 sites (including this blog) but from the limited data I gathered, this blog only got around 2% of the total ad spendings (I’m pretty sure it’s lower).

If we just go by the raw number of visitors, spending 2% of your ad budget to get 19% of the traffic (and high quality traffic at that) is a great ROI.

The hard numbers above will show you that blog advertising has a much higher Return of Investment (ROI). So next time you’re thinking of doing online advertising, do consider blogs in your budget. =)

Thanks for that highly informative post, Abe. You can check out more on him on YugaTech.com, for more of Technology news and reviews in the Philippines.

Hope you all found that useful as much as I did. Cheers, everyone!

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Podcasting: Fun with Digital Audio and Video.

Technology today has come to a point that user-generated content is now a very easy and cost-effective effort. Anyone with a PC, an internet connection can have a blog these days. Got a digital camera? Put up a photo-blog! If you have basic audio-video equipment, you can have your own series of viral videos and podcasts, if you feel like it.

As a dude who's been in radio for the past 14 years, it's supposed to be a natural transition of sorts, going from a show on an actual FM radio station to doing something along the lines of New Media- specifically, a podcast.

According to Wikipedia:

A podcast is a collection of digital media files which is distributed over the Internet, often using syndication feeds, for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term "podcast", like "broadcast", can refer either to the series of content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The term podcast should not be used to describe individual files. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.

These days, anyone can have his own radio show on the internet- you can say whatever you want, put whatever content you like, without the restrictions of having to deal with the management of a radio station. Heck, you don't even have to be connected with a radio station!

Whether you're just a regular dude with a desire to speak out and share your knowledge on particular subject matters, or a small business looking for a great new way to promote yourself, then you might want to consider podcasting- which is what I'm considering now.

I've been looking into having my own series of podcasts- and man, there are just so many things you can talk about! Just in the same way you can put up a blog on just about anything, really. Only that a podcast is media in spoken word format, usually on mp3, while a blog is written for all to read.

Here's what I have so far: my current favorite site is this really useful Podcasting News. I say it's a good place to start, for anyone who wants to at least listen to a few podcasts, just to have an idea. Since last Friday, I've been listening to a number of em- some good, some bad. Look to the sidebar on the left side of the Podcasting News website, and you can find some recommendations.

Also, on top of news in the world of podcasting, they also have features and resources to help you on your way. Definitely a great place to start, if you ask me.

Other great reads on podcasting:

• The Creative Commons' Legal Guide To Podcasting. Might as well make it legitimate, right?
• Podcast.net has a whole LOT of podcasts for you to go through. Pick a subject matter and give it a go! Alternately, you can check out Podcast Alley, or Pageflakes' Mother of all Podcasts.
• Another great site for beginning podcasters here, on K12 Handhelds. Also, check out O'Reilly while you're at it.
• If you have time, you may also want to check out Podcasting Tools for some more detailed info on gear, directories and even trade shows on podcasting.

So there you have it- hope this helps you as much as it does for me. Let me know how that podcasting project of yours comes along. I'll post the links to my own podcasts once I have enough content.

Cheers everyone!

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Blogs and Blogging: New Media for SME's

One of the biggest challenges I've noticed, is getting a traditionally set-up Small- or Medium-sized Enterprise to get into New Media. A lot of SME's (particularly here in the Philippines, for example) are family-owned, and therefore is run by the family, with the patriarch/matriarch right on top of things.

For a variety of reasons, these SME's haven't quite picked up on the idea of using New Media to market their business- they might feel that whatever little resources on hand might be better allocated on more lucrative activities. Or maybe there's just a pervading atmosphere of technophobia, or maybe management just doesn't care at all.

Unless of course, you have a say on using New Media for your company's marketing communications efforts- then hey, good for you.

At a time when businesses are struggling with the rising costs of traditional media (TV, radio, print), and the proliferation of other avenues for promotion (events, outdoor media, etc.), at a time when there is just so much ad clutter, and at a time your audience is more averse to being advertised to, what's a Small Business to do?

This is where New Media comes in. It is way, way cheaper than traditional media, and if you use it right, it can be the most effective online tool for you and your growing business.

YouTube is such a massive online hit- so why not make a series of viral videos instead of an expensive TV commercial? Podcasts are the new radio- and you can talk about whatever you like, and even have your own show. Blogs take the place of magazines and newspapers- with loads of informative, entertaining or even scandalous posts that can launch full-blown discussion threads when written well.

Blogging for Small- to Medium-sized Enterprises.

I've picked up quite a bit of information on the subject matter- through my own experiences as a marketing exec, through my interaction with other blogs and bloggers, and attending these highly informative workshops on blogging.

Jayvee Fernandez, general manager of The Blog Bank and channel editor for b5Media, has given a particularly thought-provoking talk in one such workshop not too long ago.

He's pointed out a number of reasons why growing businesses should get into blogging:

1. Blogging is way more cost-effective than traditional media.
2. A well-executed blogging campaign can easily quantify word-of-mouth marketing.
3. Blogs give us access to honest consumer feedback.
4. Here's a good one- bloggers are more passionate than your entire marketing team.
5. Bloggers are self-aware and are concerned with their own development.
6. A new wave of SME's are already doing it- so isn't it about time your company should too?

Definitely worth a closer look, don't you think? I'll use the rest of the weekend to dig deeper into the subject matter.

So what do you think? Don't you think it's time to hop on the blogging bandwagon?

Cheers, everyone!

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Blogs Make For Great Business!

More than ever, companies are looking for more cost-effective ways to promote themselves. Traditional means of advertising are alright- but modern-day marketing practices say that there are so much more non-traditional ways to get that brand message across, and cut through all the ad clutter.

As somebody who does IMC for a living- what Jay Conrad Levinson preaches in his book, "Guerilla Marketing", is pretty much spot on: no single advertising medium works on its own, but marketing combinations work.

And here's something that can synergize very well with just about any promotional campaign you have on hand: blogs.

Blogs are the new magazines, newspapers and books; thanks to more easily accessible (read: free!) user-friendly publishing tools such as Blogspot (which hosts this particular blog), Wordpress, LiveJournal, and so many others, anyone with a PC, and internet connection, and a desire to share anything can now be author, publisher and editor.

Just like FM radio, it easily synergizes with just about anything- of course, one huge advantage is that New Media (blogs included) costs so much less than traditional media. Plus, blogs are paperless. And I'm for anything that uses less paper. Much less paper! Save the environment, everyone!

Which is why blog networks are all the rage these days- we've seen a number of them come up over the past couple years: b5Media, Weblogs, Inc., The DailyPixel Network, Know More Media, Creative Weblogging, Content Quake, and locally, here in the Philippines, The Bayanihan Blog Network.

In fact, now's a great time to start blogging- just check out all the job listings here on Problogger jobs, or you can go ahead and just Google it. You'll find lots of jobs out there if you're considering a career as a pro-blogger. Go ahead and pick some, why dont'cha?

The BlogBank is the Philippines' first blog advertising network- it's so new, they've just launched this week. If you check out their webpage, they have this to say:

The largest circulating newspaper in the Philippines produces 250,000 copies a day. Assuming a pass–on rate of 3 per copy, a newspaper ad gives you 750,000 impressions.

BlogBank gives you one million ad impressions.

This is great news for Advertisers- particularly those targeting the internet-friendly Philippine market. Also great news for publishers- those who blog- because it means that there's actually a market out there for quality content and quality blogs.

So keep on blogging! If you're someone who just started getting into the blogging lifestyle- it pays off (at least it can, eventually), as long as you're passionate about sharing your thoughts and your experiences, even more so if you write well, and write regularly.

If you're running a business, you now have something new to consider when developing your promotional campaigns for the next several months- now is also the time to maybe get into blogging yourself; start putting up your own corporate blog and attach it to your website, and see how much it can do for your business.

See you around in the blogosphere! Cheers, everyone!

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Squeezing The Most Out Your Stories.

It is the day after Yehey's much-talked about TriNoma Blogger Food Tour. It was a rather hectic, but incredibly fun affair, and I can imagine my fellow bloggers hard at work right now, labeling and sorting through pictures, putting together posts for different kinds of blogs, linking up new acquaintances, etc.

Now, an event like yesterday's Food Tour has so much potential in terms of story generation- in fact, you can blog about it in so many ways.

As a blogger, you probably have a number of blogs in your blog-stable already, and you can come up with a variety of fresh content for all your reader segments, even with just one event. There are many angles to any given subject matter, event or story, and therefore many ways to write them up.

You can even come up with a whole chain of posts on the matter, or an entire series, pics and vids if you have them, and then cap everything off with a blog entry that brings them all together nicely.

Take the TriNoma Blogger Food Tour organized by Yehey! yesterday- I can write them up as...

1. A blow-by-blow account. I could talk about going from restaurant to restaurant, and about all the food me and my new blogger buds tried doing so, rating the restos as we went to each one. I made my own blow-by-blow account of the event here:

• Part 1 of 5: Getting to Trinoma. The Bloggers' Food Tour is on!
• Part 2 of 5: La Maison, Cabalen
• Part 3 of 5: Abe, Hossein's Persian Kebab, Haiku
• Part 4 of 5: Bubba Gump, Cyma, Jack's Loft + Holy Cow!, TGIFridays, Italianni's and Fish & Co.
• Part 5 of 5: Conti's, Mann Hann, Pho Hoa, Sizzling Pepper Steak, Marina, Mangan, Bangus, Heaven N' Eggs + Event Wrap-up
  

2. A technical analysis. I'm a marketing/events guy, so I would naturally tend to observe how the guys of Yehey! and TriNoma put it all together, worked out the logistics, and basically made it all work.

3. A personal experience. I could go talk about which restaurants were everyone's easy favorites, or how our arms hurt by the end of the day lugging around all those goodies and food-to-go, or how we had to beg off on food by the end of the day because we just had so much. Check out my story and photos here on my Multiply.

4. Individual restaurant reviews. This would be great, especially if you've been able to have a leisurely sit-down, and had a chance to talk with the resto managers. You could check out my reviews on:

• La Maison
• Cyma Greek Taverna
  
• Abe
• Heaven N' Eggs
• Others To Follow (Sizzlin' Pepper Steak, Jack's Loft and The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company)
  

5. A list of recommendations. It was my first time at TriNoma, and it had a lot to offer. To people visiting TriNoma, we could easily put in a good word for any of the many restos we visited. A lot of them were indeed very accommodating, taking time to talk to us about the food, about the business, etc.

6. More lists! People love lists of all kinds- come up with "The Top 10 Most Interesting Food Items", or the "TriNoma's 10 Must-Visit Restos", or "My New Blogger Buds".

So as you can see, that's a lot of stuff to blog about. And just looking at the list, I suppose I have to get to it!

Yehey for Yehey!

Much thanks to TriNoma and Yehey! for putting all this together. It was a fresh concept executed rather well. A lot of hard work, but it was pulled off rather nicely. Although the activity can benefit from a number of improvements, all the bloggers had fun, and was therefore a success for the most part.

Happy bloggers make for a good amount of buzz and word-of-mouth. I say more power to the good people of TriNoma, and everyone from Yehey!

Well done, guys. Well done.

For those of you interested in viewing the pics I took at the Bloggers' Food Tour, you can check em out on my Multiply right here. I have several more posts on the way on the Bloggers' Food Tour, and I'll have em up in a day or two.

Cheers!

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Building Your Online Authority Through Your Blogs.

Even as I write this blog on blogging, I know I'm hardly an authority on the topic, knowing that there are so many others who have come before me- bloggers, and various other blogs about building a better blog.

The beauty of blogging, however, is that everything you write about is all about you and your experiences. Who knows? Maybe in a few years, I might actually just turn out to be a blogging guru of sorts. Or some authority figure in some other way.

Read the rest of this article on my other blog, "Renzie on Blogging", right here.

Cheers, everyone!

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Verry Eenteresting...

Holy crap!

I was at the eCommerista Night 2.0 event last night at Mag:net cafe. Though the turnout wasn't as big as the last one, this one was still quite alright. I showed up with one of my business associates, and by the time the night was over, we already have at least three speakers lined up for our next few events, and the promise of future projects and collaborations.

Andrian Lee has always been such a fun speaker. What struck me was a little story he shared: that, recently, Facebook use in the UK has actually exceeded email usage.

Wow, that huge, huh?

And not entirely unbelievable, I suppose. Run a Google search on Facebook usage in the UK, and you can already get a feel of how widespread -as well as controversial- Facebook is.

Apparently, everyone in the UK is doing it- and is extremely hooked on it. Heck, if you have Facebook, you know it's easy to get addicted to it. So much so that companies have banned Facebook outright at the workplace. While BBC has, in a recent newscast, reported that employees should be allowed to use Facebook on breaks, during lunchtime- and the controversy just goes on.

So is it really a surprise that Facebook use can, one day, replace our need for email? We can email family, friends and colleagues on Facebook anyway, right? Lay down some smack on a few vampires, share and tag photos, give virtual drinks, and even flirt online?

Heck, I'm addicted myself. I've even RSS'ed Facebook straight into my Gmail accounts. That way, I don't miss out on the moment someone throws sheep at me. Whatever :)

More interesting facts: the Philippines accounts for one-third of all Friendster activity online, and up to a quarter of all worldwide activity on Multiply.

It's really all you need: Facebook, Multiply, and Friendster. OK, Myspace, if you have toh have a fourth one. Good God. Have we really too much spare time on our hands?

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My New Asus Eee PC

Ladies and gentlemen, I am the proud owner of a new Asus Eee PC! Just like the one in the pic to the right, except that 1> mine comes in black, and 2> no chick comes with the standard retail package. Check out the specs right here.

At any rate, it's charging now right next to me. Got it from Virra Mall earlier this afternoon.

Dang, I really couldn't help it. I first saw this baby at last Friday's Bloggers' Mix-up. A fellow blogger of ours- Juned, I believe- took out his brand new Asus Eee PC, and in just a short time, everyone was positively raving about the cute little thing. You can check out the pics taken by Noemi here, and even more pics here.

I got it for just a little over Php17,000.00. It's a great little toy if you want something compact (just about the size of a hardbound book), comfortably light (it weighs a little less than 1kg) and functional- especially if you're into blogging, doing a lot of presentations, or just working a lot outside the home or office.

Don't expect too much though: it doesn't have much hard disk space. The Linux-run models have about 4GB of space on them, but if you install XP on it, you'll probably be left with less than 2GB. Not much of a problem, since you can attach any array of removable media (whether a flash disk or a full external hard disk) through its three USB ports.

Despite the limited hard disk issues, the Asus Eee PC works like a charm: it allows you to go online, whether through a broadband cable or via wi-fi, thereby enabling you to go on Skype or Yahoo!, check out your mail, hit Facebook, watch videos on YouTube, and (most importantly) blog! Aside from the USB ports, it also has a card reader (who needs CD/DVD drives now?), a built-in camera, mike and speakers, and a solid-state disk for excellent shock protection.

Officially classified as a subnotebook, it's not hard to imagine the Eee PC to be an instant favorite not only by bloggers, but by students, regular office people, entrepreneurs- just about anyone who's into the market for a decent notebook or laptop.

Personally, the Eee PC works best with your other PCs (your home or office desktop will still be the mothership). It's not designed to be your main workstation; just the cute little computer you take with you when you're working on the go. Bring along some removable hard disks or flash disks, and you're pretty much set.

Let's see how this baby goes in the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted.

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The SEO Notebook: Renzie Dabbles In Search Engine Optimization, Pt. 2

Welcome to my series of notebooks on Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. No, I am no expert- I'm just a regular dude trying to understand this entirely new craft. These notebooks are for fellow "newbies" at SEO. I've compiled these notes, partially from what I do at work (developing content and optimizing sites for an Australian-based online retailer), but more from personal research, and to a lesser extent, what I have observed thus far.

Comments and questions are welcome. I will do my best to answer them, or at least point you to where you can get your answers.

Our previous post dealt with a brief overview on Search Engine Optimization. This is Part 2 of the ongoing SEO Notebook Project, which will cover a brief history of SEO, and SEO as a marketing tool.

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A Short History of SEO

It used to be that webmasters submit their pages or URL's to various search engines, which would then send a spider to "crawl" the page, then come back with the information and get everything indexed.
After a while, site owners then recognized the value of having their sites highly ranked and visible. So in order to boost visibility and to gain better placement in search engine results pages, white hat and black hat SEO practitioners were then employed.
Now you have to remember that back then, search algorithms mostly relied on webmaster-provided information (meta tags), so many early SEO practitioners abused this particular dependence to artificially increase page impressions (and therefore increase ad revenue). But now, search engines have become a lot more sophisticated, developing ranking algorithms that take into account other things that webmasters can't readily manipulate.
Then came the concept of page rank: an algorithm that rates the prominence of web pages based on the quantity and strength of inbound links: links coming into your site from other sites. It is all about discoverability- the likelihood of some surfer randomly surfing the web to check out your site, because he followed links from some other site.
Google entered the picture, considering not just PageRank and hyperlink analysis, but also other on-page factors. In fact, the true formula to coming up with the page rank can change from time to time, and usually without the knowledge of the general public, even SEO practitioners.
In any case, Google, Yahoo and MSN Live don't fully disclose any of these other considerations and on-page factors, so schemes like link farms don't have much of an impact anymore.
If you want to read up on notable SEO's, you may want to look up these guys: Rand Fishkin, Barry Schwartz, Aaron Wall and Jill Whalen. Look them up, and check out their forums and blogs.


A Note On Webmasters and Search Engines

There seems to be a developing relationship between Search engines and the SEO industry, with a push towards more responsible optimization activity. In fact, some search engines have already provided information and guidelines to help with site optimization.
Check Google's Sitemaps Program. Also, Yahoo! Site Explorer lets webmasters submit URLs, determine how many pages are in the Yahoo! index and view link information.


SEO as a Marketing Strategy

Fact: Researchers scan a SERP from top to bottom, and left to right. So placement is key.
But the number of search engine referrals does not guarantee sales. In fact, SEO might not be an appropriate strategy for every website, so other Internet Marketing strategies may actually be more effective- depending on your goals.
Successful Internet Marketing campaign uses a mix of organic results + paid advertising on search engines/other pages + high quality content + keeping tech issues to a minimum + good analytics program.
In addition to generating traffic and boosting page rank for your site, there must be an effort to always improve your site's conversion rate- so it really is all about being able to engage your incoming traffic into getting them to do what you want them to do: sign up for a service, purchase something, leave a few posts, click on a few links, etc.
Website operators should liberate themselves from dependence on search engine traffic (because many do), because in reality, their main sources of traffic are links from other websites.


SEO and International Markets

Take note: While Google, Yahoo and MSN may be your top 3 search engines, other search engines could actually be better in some regions in the world.
We all know that Google remains the dominant search engine worldwide as of 2007, with more than 75% of all searches. But did you know that...

• In Russia, Yandex controls 50% of the paid advertising revenue.
• In China, Baidu leads in market share.

When tapping international markets, you may consider translation of web pages, registration of a domain name (with a top level domain in the target market), and web hosting that provides a local IP address.
Otherwise, the fundamental elements of SEO are essentially the same, regardless of language.

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More SEO topics for discussion later on. Part 3 of the ongoing SEO Notebook Project will cover SEO basics, or How To Improve Your Page Ranking.

Cheers!

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