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That's right I'm a night owl and along with my wife we're spending the wee small hours arranging and re-arranging (and in some cases re-wrapping) the family's Christmas presents.
I'd better get back and start moving boxes again!
In the meantime have a Fun-filled and Happy Christmas and A Great New Year in 2007.
A recent post on the Online Press Gazette reports that the Media Bloggers Association suggests it would be a very good thing if its members used their own names, demonstrate they have worked as professional journalists and take a course on legal issues related to blogging.
All good stuff. The only question I've got is this ...
What about all the bloggers who don't join the Media Bloggers Association?
Does that mean they won't be read?
Obviously if they've got interesting stuff they're going to be read. So how does setting up an Association make people better bloggers.
Maybe the key point here is that they say the bloggers need to demonstrate their credentials as professional journalists.
Hmm.
Well personally although I've written articles for magazines I wouldn't call myself a professional journalist. And let's be slightly serious here. How many bloggers out there are going to go and get professional journalism experience just so they can write their blog?
No, it isn't going to happen.
PS For those who want to know my journey southwards playing Santa was made a much longer trip. All because after Doncaster I met massive amounts of fog which slowed me down. Although not everyone seemed unable to see and I had several mad people zip past me at something like 70-80 miles per hour compared to my 40!
Web 2.0 and social media covers sites such as blogcritics, del.icio.us, Digg, Furl, reddit, MySpace, Facebook, Second Life and many others that allow social interactions that go beyond email.
And for social media to work for business it needs to have:
I was reading a blog posting called "99 Tips to (Cheaply) Brand a Start-up" and although the posting was really about marketing I noticed it had quite a few diggs so I went to the Digg page.
When I checked the comments out I noticed a number of thoughts about social media that are in-line with my own.
My thoughts on Web 2.0 boil down to this:
So why not scrap the "Web 2.0" tag and move on. Let's just call it part of the web. Just as we stopped making a huge fuss about e-commerce, or e-anything.
If we need to look beyond where we are now let's look at video conferencing via the net, lets look at interactive TV, let's look at ways of validation and let's make sure that the web remains open to content rather than just "authorised content".
And let the reader or user of that content do their own homework to check its validity.
Do we call that Web 3.0? Or do we simply recognise that the web is a Darwinian organism where introduced changes that work are kept and those that don't die off?
Continuing my look at Virgin Mobiles customer relationship management in real life.
You may remember that over the last few weeks I've had a replacement for my Lobster mobile from an NTL deal and have now been promised a Motorola Pebl as a further replacement...
Or have I?
When I rang my super friendly Virgin Mobile rep he was extremely helpful and rang me back on my direct line because I couldn't actually hear him on my replaced Lobster.
The long and short of this is that because I was given a Lobster I should have a Lobster to replace it...
Interesting...
Interesting, because one rep told me that they'd run out of Lobsters on the NTL deal and had been told to issue non-camera bog standard Nokia phones. So that begs the question ... how can they replace this Lobster?
Maybe they'll send me back the one I had in the first place.
But if they don't make good their original promise of a Motorola Pebl they're going to have a disgruntled customer. And what does a disgruntled customer do? Tell everyone he knows "the full story of a promise broken."
Yet, Virgin can rescue this fiasco from the fire by simply ringing me and saying, "we promised you a Motorola Pebl - we're sending one to you tomorrow."
And without the usual undercurrents of how they're doing me a favour, or the suggestion that everyone else took the gift in the spirit it was intended.
Anyway, I await yet another phone call from Virgin with interest.
There's no doubt the Internet has radically altered the way we all do business.
We shop for everything online.
We're able to weigh up the opinions of the hundreds of people who review products. And remember it isn't a job but just for fun or to warn people off!
I write reviews for Blogcritics. And I was so pleased with an Archos personal video recorder that I reviewed that I posted an Archos review article on this site too.
I'm sure you find Christmas difficult when you're buying a business friend a present. I do too. I usually end up giving the gift of knowledge through books or CDs.
And as I love to let people know what I think are goodies I set-up an Amazon Astore.
The reason?
Because I wanted somewhere where I can recommend the books I think can make a big difference in any business persons life. And not have to keep thinking about which books are the best!
Plus although I may tell someone about one particular book - my favourite at the moment is Duncan Bannatyne's autobiography.
Update: I like many before me keep mistakenly referring to Duncan as "Duncan Ballantyne" - which is plain wrong. It should be Duncan Bannatyne so my apologies for that. I've also just completed a Power Packed Business Growth review of Duncan's book: Anyone Can Do It: The Autobiography
People can also check out the other 9 or 10 books I recommend too.
Obviously Astore's can make you a little bit of money (and I stress the little because it's pence) but they're worth setting up so you can recommend books to your friends. And they can check whether they'd like one for Christmas too...
In reality Astores can sell anything on Amazon. But my purpose is to purely tell people about exciting, intriguing, strategic and useful business books. I may extend it to business related DVDs or CDs in the New Year, it depends on whether people are finding it useful.
You can check out my Astore by clicking on the button in any post. If you've a blog I recommend you get your own Astore - it's not hard to set-up but it really is useful.
Right, I'm off to try and unblock my toilet! Urgh...
John Carlton writes beautiful copy. Now I don't mean it's highly polished or it flows when read or all the words are spelt correctly.
I mean the copy is beautiful because it works.
I was reading the 11 free issues of his ezine from his Marketing Rebel site and after each issue I read I kept getting the urge to sign up for his yearly subscription.
And that's all copywriting is there to do - get sales.
Look at John's site, his blog and the free ezine issues and you'll get some ideas for writing your own copy.
Of course you could get John to write a sales letter for you. After all the costs only start from $20,000 plus 5% gross.
To get great copy pick up the phone and call me now on 0161 278 1919.
Hi there,
You know I've been writing this blog for a while now (more than 360 posts) and I've enjoyed it.
Then I got to thinking, there's a few of you regular readers who subscribe to the email feed for this blog. But I don't know what made you sign up to read it. I'd like to think you've found the ideas I jot down useful...
I don't even know which subjects you find most interesting or which ones bore the pants off you.
It's pretty easy for me to tell from my stats what subjects interest casual readers the most: currently stuff about Christmas cards and letters.
But for you who subscribe I just don't know.
Let me know what you'd be interested in hearing about.
I'm fab at Powerpoint, I understand and apply SEO, I write and critique copy (web and direct mail). I've project managed lots of IT projects and conducted a lot of workshops on many things. So email about your particular interests (my email is jim.symcox *at* acornservice (.com)) and I'll see what I can do!
Call it my Merry Christmas present to my loyal subscribers.
Rosser Reaves introduced the Unique Selling Proposition in his book, "Reality in Advertising" way back in 1961.
His three point plan for the USP was as follows:
So your USP must explain in simple terms a single unique aspect that makes it stand out against your competitors.
And by the way, you need to use the USP in everything you do.
Otherwise you might as well not have it.
Now look at branding. The brand comes down to giving something - a company, product, family of products - a consistent and recognisable identity. that customers and prospects can use to find time after time.
And of course it's important that people can find your product or service.
If you could only choose between branding or having a USP which one would you pick?
I'd define my USP. And the reason is simple...
Having a consistent identify is important. But how does that matter if your prospects recognise your brand and see you as a commodity, or "just another supplier"?
When you're a commodity your prices have to be roughly the same as your competitors. Your customers have no particular loyalty to you and will move whenever they want to.
Define your USP to show your uniqueness and customers will flock to you. Your price becomes less of an issue and you have greater customer loyalty.
The only point to consider when creating your USP is whether your prospects really, really want what your USP gives them. Because if they don't you've chosen the wrong USP.
I was listening to Copywriting genius Gary Halbert and he introduced a riveting thought.
In his seminars Gary gives everyone two first-class stamps and two envelopes and he asks his audience to write two letters to their Mom.
Gary's attendees are asked to write
"Dear Mom, I’m very busy right now and I don’t have time to call so that’s why I’m writing you this letter. You know mom not only are you responsible for my very existence, you are also the nourishment that has made my life sparkle.
I’m under a lot of stress right now and for some reason, I started thinking about you. It has occurred to me that maybe I haven’t let you know recently how much I appreciate you and how much I love you."
He asks the audience to also add a section which is something special, like an 18th birthday, or an event or whatever.
He then asks them to seal and stamp the envelope.
Gary then asks the audience to write the second letter as follows:
"Dear Mom, If I weren’t such a long way from home, I probably wouldn’t have the guts to tell you this but the following has been true ever since I was born. You have made my life a living hell.
Every person I know has a mother that is superior to you in every positive way imaginable. You are nothing more than a wrinkled up old bitch and as far as I’m concerned, the biggest waste of skin God ever created.
Speaking of God, as the good Lord knows, you’re certainly not too mentally swift either. So just in case your low IQ keeps you from understanding what I’m trying to say, let me make it perfectly clear...Please don’t call or write me. I have no inclination whatsoever to communicate with you ever again. Reluctantly your son or daughter."
Then Gary asks the audience the following questions:
The two letters were written by the same person. Almost at the same time and with no real difference between the two. Except the two letters create different feelings when they're read.
The first letter creates a deep and warm bond with the recipient. While the second letter creates deep grief, anger and unhappiness.
And the only difference is the words used in each letter.
That means when your company uses words to communicate you can use words that compel, enthuse, encourage and attract people to buy.
Or you can use words that are just hype, spin, fluff, deflect, meander, discourage and even outrage your market.
Don't be like so many other companies. Choose a copywriter who can do justice to your product or service, one that uses words that compel.
Hurrah!
I've discovered there's some sort of bug that was in early versions of Microsoft Live Writer. I checked on the Live Writer forum and followed the recommendation to upgrade to the latest version.
Voila! I'm now posting like a good 'un.
So my apologies to Blogger, things are working fine now and it wasn't your fault at all.
I've a Gary Halbert copywriting piece that I had ready to post that got lost and so I'm just going to redo it and post later.
Ok I love Blogger Beta.
And thanks for transferring all my blogs without trauma or incident.My only problem is that my favourite blog (read that as the one I post most to) won't takes posts from my blog client of choice (Windows Live Writer).
Yet Windows Live Writer works with my other blogs.
For this blog Live Writer seems to send the post to Blogger fine. Then it displays the Blog ok too. But it only shows the previous posting that I input into Blogger.
That means I can't easily tag them.And it also means that if I use Live Writer I have to copy and paste the HTML into Blogger Beta to get it to show up on the blog.
All in all it makes the blogging I've been used to much more long-winded.Blogger Beta also keeps asking me if I'd like to update my template (and lose all customisation) - no thanks... only
I think that's the reason I can't post to the blog anymore.Tomorrow I'll bite the bullet and update my template. So things may look very different tomorrow!
Richard Branson really tries hard to get himself put about. It helps Virgin and makes him look game for anything.
You probably remember when he appeared in one of the London episodes of "Friends".
Now I've seen him in the Daniel Craig film Casino Royale. As James Bond follows a suspect you'll see Richard Branson for probably about 5 seconds.
Been to see the film and didn't notice? Well if you want to email me I'll let you know where you could have seen him.
If you've not seen the film go and see it.
I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed it or how fast the film slipped by. Particularly as I am a Brosnan fan.
More of the same please Miss Broccoli.
Has anyone thought of doing Business cards with a Christmas theme? I just suddenly thought of it and it's something I've put in my diary for next year.
With companies like Vistaprint it's so easy to get cards made up for any special occasion.
You can put in a special Chrismtas gift offer on the card.Equally there are so many other special dates around Thanksgiving, Halloween, Easter Eed, Hanukkah to name a few.
By the way Happy Hanukkah!Moving on...
There's no doubt that the more personalised you can make your message the more likely it is that the person receiving it is going to be interested.How about you?
Do you got some special occassion that you and the people you supply like to celebrate? Get some cards done.
A Google Checkout problem has been reported in several places, I picked it up from Marcia writing in a WebmasterWorld thread (you need to be a member to access the thread).
Basically there is a concern that Google is removing affiliate information in the Google Checkout, so affiliates wont get paid for any sales they drive to a site using Google Checkout.Matt Cutts (head of Google Spamwatch team) had already noticed it and reported it but noticed a posting in Threadwatch.org and immediately alerted the Google people who need to know to get it sorted. He also posted that he'd done so on Threadwatch.org
Nice one Matt. Good to see people are alert and are willing to take immediate action and follow-up.In some ways Christmas Gift Ideas for the business man, or woman, is relatively easy.
Would you be happy getting a gift that people on Amazon had said the following about?Remember your average business person is busy almost the entire rest of the year and probably don't have much time to spare.
At Christmas they usually have the luxury of being able to sit down with a good book. But...That book had better be worth their while. This one is.
Obviously I recommend a number of books through my "Recommended" button at the bottom of each post. This is now my first and top recommendation.The one book that I think every person in business must read, and profit from, is Duncan Bannatyne's autobiography called "Anyone Can Do It: The Autobiography".
I've enjoyed seeing and speaking to Duncan at a couple of seminars I attended in London and he had plenty of commonsense things to say.And as they say commonsense is really not that common, so it was very refreshing.
"Anyone Can Do It: The Autobiography" explains how Duncan Bannatyne went from 30 year old drifter without a penny to his name living in a council house to a multi-millionaire. During that explanation Duncan throws light on business and how to look at it with the right attitude.You can click on my "Recommendations" button or you can click on the book title here: "Anyone Can Do It: The Autobiography" to check out the reviews and a little more about the book. Then I urge you to buy it, you'll be very pleased you did.
Enjoy!
I tried out and liked Snap Preview on the blog.
If you're not sure what Snap Preview is simply go to a link hover your mouse pointer over it and you'll see a thumbnail of the site, or blog page, referenced.
It seems rather a nice little idea. Let me know what you think.
If you fancy trying it yourself there's a link on the thumbnail.
Hurrah! I'm 2 years older and this blog now has over 350 posts and counting...
I've been looking forward to this milestone so I could do a review of where we are.
You my loyal reader have changed your reading habits. You may be interested to discover that you have been joined by other regular readers from places like Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, New Zealand, Spain, UK and across the United States from California to Chicago to New York and right up to Canada.
You're Reading More Posts (Thanks)When I started you probably read the equivalent of 1.5 postings. Now that has escalated so that everyone who comes to the blog reads roughly 3.5 posts per visit.
I've added in several different aspects: e-commerce testing, using pictures, using labels and tags and using Blogger Beta.
That said I use Microsoft Live Writer to do all my writing now because...
1) It's free2) It's very easy to use
3) It has powerful featuresIt's only real downfall is the cumbersome way it handles tagging and there is no post scheduling. So I use RocketPost to generate tags to insert into posts and put up with manually posting each post.
Why Label Or Tag?While I love the sound of my quill pen scratching out power packed business growth thoughts I also like the idea of others being able to find what I've written.
So I started using tagging quite early in my blogging life to allow people to find me. And now with Blogger Beta I use labels to categorise posts within the blog itself. Just so you've more opportunity to find stuff you're particularly interested in on my blog.In reality just the blog itself won't achieve that but it has given me a good position in the search results - my top result for the coolest guy ... was at 26. Having checked again I'm now in 40th position. So I may do a few of the other things outside the blog to boost that result score a bit.
Do I still think that other companies should be blogging? Absolutely vital.
Wal-Mart does and you've got to believe that switched on companies who are highly cost concious wouldn't be doing it unless it helped their bottom line in some identifiable way.Is it making me wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice? No...but hey! There's time yet isn't there?
Someone who's not only made their billions but is doing their level best to go the grave a poor man by giving it all away surely deserves that ultimate accolade?
Now you know so much about marketing would you say he made his billions by using astute branding?
Well check Apple out their branding is much cooler and yet they're still not in Bill's league. Although maybe their Ipod and it's video cousin will help there.
And when Bill started his company simply supplied just one more component of the IBM PC - the DOS operating system. The Windows brand was not even on paper then. And does anyone remember what Microsoft's brand or logo were at the beginning?
Maybe branding isn't as cut and dried as the experts suggest...
I'm currently writing an article on branding that explains my thinking further on this subject and how companies can capitalise on it.
Sign up for email (top right of the blog) and I'll keep you posted!
"Search Engine Christmas gift", I hear you wonder, "what on earth does he mean?"
The Christmas tradition on my marketing blog is for me to offer clients and ex-clients the opportunity to ask me a question about absolutely anything (business related of course!).
And I either reply from my own knowledge or find out from other experts for them.
For my reasonably freshly minted SEO Copywriting and Optimization blog the SEO Christmas gift is going to be slightly different. I'm going to to give my friends there some resources that they'll find helpful. In fact over December I'll make 12 days of Christmas worth of posts with resources in.
So you get a flavour of what I'm doing here is the first gift...
Of these Word Tracker is the best and Good Keywords is excellent.
And as a bonus SEO tip if you're using blogging as part of your overall marketing strategy make sure you claim your blog at Technorati.
PS So you get all these resources why not sign up to get an email notification of each new SEO Copywriter King post?
