Everyone nowadays is talking about content.

Videos, text, images, examples of your work, stories, case studies, portfolios, testimonies…the list goes on.

We all know we need powerful effective and engaging content, but how do you find time to create this and be sure to write the right thing?

1) Write for your customer

We all make the mistake of tooting our own horn at times. However, the company website should be reserved for the customer. Take a quick look at your website. Of course you as the business owner will be very interested in your own business. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and pretend they have no interest in your company. Write tidbits that are helpful or interesting for them. Will your website make their lives easier? If not…

• Write content for your visitors (and the goals you have for them), not search engines.
• Mention keywords within content when it makes sense
• Write for conversions. Have a clear call to action. Be descriptive, not just “click here”
• Don’t copy content for similar pages, changing only the product name. Each page should be as unique as possible so a potential customer will be interested.
  

2) Give away some of your secrets

Before the digital era, the old business motto was “Keep your cards close to your chest!” But nowadays more business people are collaborating together to share ideas, collaborate and help each other. Social media is prime ground for this.

• White papers explaining complicated processes in your industry
• Write case studies
• Give away free resources and ‘trade secrets’ to the customer.

The bottom line is- no one is you and no one can do what you can do. Sharing your ideas will actually prove that you know what you’re talking about.

3) Cross Pollinate

Basically —REUSE your stuff!  If you have a Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn account reuse the content you’ve already written across the different media. Do you have press releases in newspapers? Put them online. Do you have customer testimonials? Post them individually on Social Media sites, make them interesting by including new pictures and stories.

Even your emails can be reused. Rewrite emails that you’ve written explaining products and services and turn them into a blog or case study. A little bit each day will get you a long way.

If you’re struggling with how to find time to pour into the content you need, contact us for a quote. We offer competitive rates in writing SEO friendly content, finding photos, suggesting blog topics and much more.

If “a video contains a thousand pictures” and a picture speaks a thousand words”, how many words can you communicate through multimedia on your websites?

Using multimedia like graphics, flash and videos in your website can communicate your point quicker, more effectively and more expressively. What you write, post, record and share speaks on multiple levels, but can be condensed by using quality visuals to communicate the same message.

Video

In my opinion, this is one of the best examples on the web that simplifies a complicated process into a short three minute video. Many companies have used this video to communicate the benefits of social media. Just imagine how long it would have taken them to explain this same message through black and white text on a website. You just saved the user from reading pages and pages of boring text! This video communicates the same message in seconds.

Tip: Besides the engaging value of videos on your website, videos are also great for increasing your SEO bounce rate- basically keeping users on your site longer. Videos can also be more viral which motivates others to quickly share your message with others in their network.

Graphics

If you’re looking for something to lighten up your site, communicate about your branding or share about a specific campaign, consider doing this through graphics.

One of IT Hands’ customers Hoerr Building Group succeeded in communicating their high quality construction work through their home page design.

Whether you are looking for logo redesign, typography, video creation, audio/video production editing or online streaming video we can help. See what IT Hands can offer your company for Graphic Design.

Do you spend most of your day writing emails, responding to phone messages and in meetings? If so, we may have some good news for you. You can blog with minimal effort and look like a pro doing it.

Many people will tell you that you need to hire a freelance writer to start a blog. But the reality is- you already have everything you need.

How do you make time for a blog out of thin air?

By recycling your most valuable web asset…your content.

5 Hidden Sources for your Blog Content:

1) Emails

If you’re like most of us, you spend hours a day writing emails. Think back to how many times you have you explained a product or service in an email… most likely hundreds of times. Go back through your emails and see if any of it is blog material. What can you use that would be helpful for the world to read? By using what you’re already written, you can save hours.

2) Social Media Posts (like Twitter, Facebook)

If you are an avid social media user it is already natural to you to gravitate towards good content. Learn from the experts and see what they write about. How do they write? There is nothing wrong with using the content of other people in your blog (as long as you give them credit). If you

If you’re not a regular social media user, you should start by finding the experts. See Twitter for Beginners

By following the experts, you can get your finger on the pulse of what is essential reading material on the market. Observe what other users are commenting on. What are people reusing and sharing themselves.

3) Sales Material

Do you have powerpoints that you share with customers? Do you have training documents that you use for internal purposes? Chances are, these are loaded with valuable information that your customers need to know. This is also your best bet for sharing content that you want others to know about, since you probably wrote it with the customer in mind. Check your already existing sales material.

4) Surveys & Testimonials

The words of your customer carry heavy weight. While searching for material to blog about take a look through your customer surveys and see what information customers have left you in the past. What are the recurring questions they have? What did they wish you do better? Prove to them you are improving by writing a blog about those issues. What comments have customers left as testimonials? What do they like about what you’re doing? You can utilize customer feedback to gauge the popularity of potential blog topics.

5) Phone Calls

If you are on the phone most of the day, you likely are an expert on answering customers questions. Recall what the common questions are. What are the topics you discuss over and over with customers? If you have a script for sales calls, scan it for blog material. These common questions are most likely what your customer is wanting to hear.

Of course, if you have a good software to blog with, that will take you over the first hurdle. There are dozens of good blogging softwares out there (Wordpress, Typepad, Blogsmith to mention a few) and IT Hands will suggest the best one that meets your needs.

Even after looking at your current content, if you are still struggling to come up with material or how to put it together see our blog How to Overcome Writers Block or Contact us for a Free Consultation. We can help you figure out what to share with your customers.

Have you ever thought Twitter was just for teenagers, music groups and annoying sales people? If so, think again. Twitter has actually become one of the most powerful (and free) tools on the web to for ‘normal business people’ to share ideas, promote services and connect with other experts. If used incorrectly, Twitter can become a big distraction and waste of time. If used correctly companies and individuals of all shapes and sizes can use it to reach out to their target audience.

How can you or your company use it for your benefit instead of letting it become just another distraction to defer?

Web experts NellyYusupova from Digital Woman gives suggestions of how you can use Twitter for business.

• networking
• track your brand
• business development
• stay on top of trends in your industry
• crowd sourcing
• getting published
• getting testimonials
• attending events virtually
• meet people in person “Tweetups”
• promote specials

The Best 3 Ways to Get Started

1) Learn from the experts

For two weeks, just observe on Twitter before Tweeting much. Who are the popular Tweeters in your industry? What kind of information do they share? How do their followers respond? Once you figure out who the relevant experts are, follow them and contribute to their conversations thoughtfully.After a few weeks start posting intentionally. With Twitter quality maxes quantity. Make sure at the beginning your Tweets are thoughtful and helpful for other readers.

Regardless of your industry, you can start with the list of the 100 Best Business Tweeters.

2) Recycle Your Content

Do you already have a newsletter? Blog? Great case studies? Press release articles?

That is precisely the material you should share on Twitter!

Initially use Twitter to support your marketing plan. If you already have a facebook page, blog or newsletter going out announce it on Twitter. Link articles to your Twitter account which will be helpful for your readers and include keywords which will draw attention. Try not to ‘chest beat’ and talk too much about the accomplishments of your company. Share relevant articles and information that you find online which will help your followers.

Instead of recreating the wheel, utilize Twitter as a medium to announce what are you already doing.

3) Start your own conversation

One of the best ways you can use Twitter is to build loyalty with your customers and connections. By adding helpful material and sharing it with others you not only build a good reputation but share it with others

Michael from SMExaminer is a well known Social Media expert. On his Twitter page you will often see him building up and collaborating with Social Media consultants.

Below is a Tweet from Michael’s page. He is promoting an event “Social Media Success Summit” on his Twitter account. GuyKawaski and ChrisBrogan are both social media experts whose presence at the Summit will encourage others to come as well.Notice how he includes them in the post.

Michael not only announced this to his own followers, but made Chris and Guy look good when this post linked back to them as well. This post has the potential to reach thousands of people, which is definitely a win-win situation.

‘Patting each other on the back’ is a great way to build comradery with other experts in your industry and build a relevant online presence.

Whether you are a software & web development company, a lawyer, or a landscaping company you can utilize Twitter for your benefit with the right tools and focus. For a personalized consultation on how IT Hands can help you get Twitter set up for your business Contact Us.

Have you asked yourself “Is my website doing me any good?”

The secret is…even if you are a nonTechy, you can figure it out with two quick checks if your site has a chance of being ranked on Google, Yahoo, Bing or MSN.

There are dozens of factors which you can look at to determine whether or not a site is SEO friendly. We are going to focus on two.

Google ranks web pages, not the website as a whole. Every individual page is a traffic generator in Google for its own specific keywords. Needless to say, each page has the potential to add significantly to your site’s ranking.

3 Quick Checks

You can know within seconds if your site is SEO friendly:

1) Keywords in the Page Titles

Does your site have a page title that Google can find?

The page titles should be keywords, not company names, names of pages, or descriptions like ‘home’. This is precious space that Google highly values. Make sure you utilize it by stuffing it with valuable keywords which Google will index and draw relevant traffic in with.

Notice this site has used their precious space to put their own name. This is precious space that would be much better used for keywords.

The keywords in this page title are targeted towards the customer. The customer is likely to type these into Google. Since this site’s page is labeled with keywords, it has a much better chance of making it higher on Google.

2) URL with keywords

Does your site have URLs including relevant keywords? If you look at the links of your URL name, you may see something that looks like a can of alphabet soup. If so, this is another sign that your site is not SEO friendly.

• Choose an SEO friendly URL which is easy to remember (try to avoid =, %, &, and ? symbols)
  
• When possible, each page should have the main keyword for that page in the URLs

Not SEO Friendly: http://www.nothing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=3

You can see above that there is an incomprehensible and hard to remember sequence of characters in the URL. This means nothing to the customer or to Google.

SEO Friendly http://www.paragonlandscaping.com/design_process.php

In this example you can see ’solutions’ is the keyword used. This will help tremendously if someone searches for Bandy Green Solutions.

3) Geographic Keywords

Are you located in a geographically dispersed region or do you do business locally?

If you are located locally, focusing in on your target cities is a brilliant strategy for

How many times on my home page is the city name listed? Have I listed names of cities that I want to work in?

If I search for the surrounding areas do I come up?

Take a look at the different pages on Paragon Landscaping for a great example of locally focused content. Their two main geographic markets are Fort Wayne and Indianapolis.

Location Specific Keywords

Notice the geographic regions of Indianapolis and Fort Wayne highlighted on this page. Through putting these locations in Indiana, Paragon is effectively reaching their target market and at the time of writing this blog were Number 1 on Google under the keyword “Fort Wayne Landscaping”.

Does your site include page titles or multiple keywords of your target locations?

How’s your Site?

If you’ve looked at your site and see that you don’t have proper page titles, URLs or customer centric content— don’t worry. IT Hands has different packages of SEO for every budget. Before doing SEO on a site, we determine the goals and needs of each customer. Call us for a free consultation on how we can take your SEO to the next level.

Not sure what SEO is? For a basic rundown on SEO and how it can benefit you, see our previous blog Straightforward SEO.

“To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.”  -George McDonald

But what makes a company trustworthy?

Try this: imagine you are evaluating a proposal for a project you requested.  Below are some of the questions you might be asking about the vendor as you evaluate the proposal:

• Are they charging a fair price?
• Do they have the capability to do what I need?
• Will they meet the deadlines?
• Will they deliver work with the quality I am paying for?
• Can I work and communicate with them?
• Can I trust them?

What’s the most important question you need answered? I believe for most people “trust” is the most important question.  Trust, not money, is the currency of business.  Have it and everything is possible, but without it everything freezes (witness the recent financial meltdown).  Yet trust is an experience, a feeling, felt by one person towards another in response to the actions of the first.  Therefore trust cannot exist without a relationship.  So if you rely on customers to purchase your products and services then your business, like ours, is this: it is all about the customer relationship.

So how do you improve your relationship with your customers and build trust?  It will not happen overnight but if you commit yourselves to each and every one of your customers to improve the relationship you will be on the right path. Share information, seek to understand their business, actively listen to their needs, answer their questions, and most importantly deliver on your promises.  In doing so you will build the relationship and trust will follow.  Seek not to create trust, but to earn it from your customers.

Trust grows through ongoing communication, good will and shared experiences.  At IT Hands we want to walk it like we talk it so we are committed to communicating with you, providing helpful IT related tips and explaining who we are and what we have learned along the way.  If information like this is useful to you become one of our fans on Facebook and receive even more helpful advice and interaction with us.  We might teach you something new, we might save you some money, or we may give you an idea of how to make more money, and along the way we want to provide a reminder that we at IT Hands have a relationship with you and we are committed to building on that relationship over time.

Marketing is like a diet plan for your business. You chose and decide ahead of time what you will put into it. Like anything, it requires energy and follow through if you want to see results. It is common sense that increased revenue and an increase in marketing spending go hand in hand, but what are some of the most useful ways to increase revenue through marketing?

Laurie McCabe from emarketer.com tells us that the right web tools are what makes the difference in profit for small businesses.

“…the use of low-cost Web-based marketing tools is playing a strategic role in helping businesses succeed. Making a few changes to incorporate more online tools into the marketing mix seems to be a key ingredient to small business success.”

Which are the most effective practical marketing tools for small businesses?

1) Website

A properly done CMS based website will undergird the whole marketing process. Your website should be the center of information for your company and is your base for all marketing. A well done website which is easy to update can make or break your business. If you are not sure what a CMS based site is see Is a CMS for Me?

2) Search Engine Optimization

Proper SEO is an essential of doing business on the web today. Making yourself easily found by the right people is the number one science being discussed on the web today. To select effective keywords, putting yourself in the mind of the customer, and monitoring competitors are the basic keys for high rankings. For the basics of success in SEO see Straightforward SEO.

3) e-Newsletters

Permission Marketing is a focused medium which keeps you directly connected with your current customers, partners and business acquaintances. Sending out topical e-Newsletters is one of the most transparent and cost effective medium for reaching out.

4) Blogs & Social Media

Create a space where your customers can interact, and see another side of your business. Corporate Blogging & Social Media helps keep the conversation going with your customers on a more personal level. To find how Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn can make a difference in your business read Social Media May Save Your Neck

Incorporating any of these four things could be a daunting task to take on yourself. As a busy executive, your time is best spent operating your business, not operating a website or implementing details of an online marketing plan. IT Hands focuses on understanding the business of our customers before making recommendations on implementing marketing solutions. Contact Us for a free consultation of how you can improve the health of your business through a marketing strategy that will fit your budget.

And that number is increasing rapidly.

Everyone is getting on the bandwagon and ebooks are being offered through several mediums including Amazon, Google, Ebooks.com, Barnes & Noble, Project Gutenberg, and many others.

Are eBooks Taking Over?

Many feared that ebooks would be the end of paper books, but we’ve actually seen the opposite. Did you know that ebooks are actually helping the sales of paper books? Many publishers are reporting an increase in paper book sales rather than what they originally thought.

“Ebook – It is having said that ebook reader will be the only dominant player in the future in the publication industry looking at the phase the technology is developing. Book readers are now no longer needs to handle a big binding book to read their favorite manuscripts, novels, literatures, story, magazines, or any other paperback content material but instead they can view it and read it with the electronic device like PDA, Smart Phone, handheld mobile, palm, pocket pc, tablet pc, and any other content readable electronic device with very good reading experience. “ From IT Global Solutions

Benefits of eBooks for Readers

1. An eBook reader is a device that allows the user to simplify their reading experience. The user can read electronic books on any electronic content readable devices including the Kindle, Sony Reader, Nook, iPhone and many more.
   
2. Users can transport thousands of ebooks on their device no matter how big or small the eBook. The reading experience is easy on the eyes due to the non glare screen- which is much more conducive to reading than a backlit computer screen. The user can turn pages simply by touching the screen or pushing a button.
   
3. The user can purchase eBooks instantly by downloading it from the internet or through 3G networks without having to wait for delivery or go to a bookstore.
   
4. The the costs of printing, shipping and distribution are almost eliminated so the price of eBooks are usually less than paper books.
   
5. The user can personalize their reading experience by displaying the text how they want and change settings on their readable device that fit their needs.The user also has a facility to adjust the font size, margin size, line spacing, etc. along with the searching features to make the reading more comfortable.

For more on the growth of eBooks see “Do i believe in eBooks?”

How are eBooks Converted?

The process of eBook conversion is simple. Publishers have the books professionally scanned and made into a PDF, JPEG or a variety of other formats.

Many companies offer a service called typesetting. This includes formatting the text, proofreading and properly aligning the text, and images. Most companies will provide full service which they will deliver the ebook ready for sale for your customers.

Finding a company that understands the needs of your publishing house and has a proven track record is necessary for success in entering the eBook market. IT Hands provides competitive rates for publishers, authors and independent writers who are wanting to get into the eBook market.

Contact us today for a quote and hear about the opportunities related to eBook conversion.

• HTML
• OTML
• Mobi
• XML
• Amazon Kindle AZW
• Microsoft .LIT
• Adobe .pdf
• IDPF .epub
• Libretto Digital Library System

Warning: No Free Lunch

But converting these books into ebooks which will ‘fit’ and ‘run’ in the sleek new Ebook readers, like Amazon’s Kindle, requires a little more than ‘cut and paste’.  The process of Ebook conversion demands a high-quality, hands on approach to make sure that the book in its entirety is properly formatted and displayed on multiple Ebook reader devices.  This takes time and skill so plan on an up-front investment.  Contact us if you need help with budgeting.

But a Lot of Dessert!

But hard work and investment aside, many publishers are realizing the future return-on-investment (ROI) is pretty bright as more and more people adopt to reading ebooks through ebook readers or even their hand phones, BlackBerrys and PDAs.  It’s like the move from hardcover to paperback, why not do it?

Better Get in Line…

The battle for content continues and with the arrival of ebooks the lines are no longer black and white.  Some people think ebooks means free books.  The general industry consensus is to stake your claim and to convert your print content to ebooks before Google or some other entity does it for you.  This will earn you a place at the bargaining table when the revenue/royalty pies are getting cut up.  Again, why not convert your published works?

The Supporting Cast

IT Hands has a dedicated team experienced in ebook conversion.  If you have books which need to need to be converted to ebooks we would like to help.  We provide a quality, hands on approach to produce ebooks which will run on any desired format.  The good news is that Ebook Readers are here, but will people be reading your published works?

Here’s one way, a website is an online investment which should deliver an acceptable return on investment (ROI)?  We like to stress the investment component because, like you, we are bottom line folks who wants to make sound business decisions based on facts and not fads.

The facts are when we create a website for a client we try to use the best project management practices like SCRUM methodology to deliver a project experience and website that meets or exceeds our clients expectations.  But after all this hard work and communication will the website be perfect?  Truthfully, probably not.  Huh…?

The truth is that websites and their strategies can always be modified, tweaked and enhanced so that they achieve their goals more readily.  Another factor is that the online landscape is constantly changing so that a website created for Google search engines may need to be adapted to be viewed on cell phones, integrated with Facebook and/or other electronic media uses.  It sounds daunting, but no worries, the key is:

• Keep your goals in focus
• Have an adaptable website (think content management system, CMS)
• Continually evaluate your progress towards your goals
• Make changes based on data

For example, you may have a website with a goal to draw new clients to purchase your products and services.  Your website is live online with the information but you wisely decide that if you wrote some blogs about your new offerings and engaged with social media sites like Twitter or Facebook you would begin to draw more new clients to your website.  So you go ahead and add a blog and social media links to your site and then measure the result of your efforts.

Or you want to be found by more easily by search engines, so you evaluate your content and discover that if you rewrote your content, changed some of your key words and reworded your meta titles you would be more likely to be found by search engines.  So utilizing your website’s CMS you make these changes yourself.  Now that’s search engine optimization (SEO) do-it-yourself (DIY)!

The idea is that ongoing progress will help you achieve your website goals and return on investment more quickly.  So rather than expecting a perfect website we try to encourage our clients to plan for their website to change over time in order to meet their website goals and return on investment requirements.  To do this we help our clients:

1. Design their websites using a content management system (CMS)
2. Establish clear goals and connect goal achievement to actual investment metrics (money)
3. Continually monitor the site for goal achievement (evaluate)
4. Provide data and recommendations for goal/investment achievement (optimize)

Do this and your website will fulfill its mission to be an online investment which achieves an acceptable return on investment.