Technorati Has a Birthday and We Get the Present!

Filed Under Business Life, Customer Think, Successful Blog, Tech/Stats, Technorati | 14 Comments

Customer-Centered Technorati!

In honor of their third anniversary as a company, Technorati has rolled out a major upgrade. The billboard that Technorati has changed their view to customer-centered is that when you sign in, you’ll find the home page is about you, your blogs, and what you might find interesting — not about Technorati.

I’m already liking these changes.

  • The Home Page brings what I need together. Everything I use daily is there. I love that the ping is right on top. I can click directly to my indexed posts.
  • The link counts are a lot more accurate. Thank you.
  • Favorites makes sense and is easier. I’m MUCH more likely to use Favorites Now.
  • Technorati Browser Buttons are one reason I’m more likely to use Favorites now.
  • The Search function is faster and has more filters. I very much like that I can filter by language.
  • The Search results have extended excerpts. (Show details.) I can take a closer look without having to click through.
  • The support text is written clearly. That’s a BIG deal to me. Thanks Technorati for getting a great writer to write these bits and pieces. No confusion or ambiguity whatsoever in anything I’ve read so far.
  • I also love the quieter new layout.

Check out this tool for business blogging, blog promotion, and branding. You can read about it and see a video of the features at Sifry’s Alerts by clicking on this title.

Technorati turns 3

Happy Birthday, Technorati! Thank you, David and Technorati, for the present!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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SOB Business Cafe 7-21-2006

Filed Under Branding, Business Life, Great Finds, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 4 Comments

SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the title shots to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Creating Passionate Users makes the point that if you’re not having fun, you’re just not doing it right somehow.

Usability through Fun

Solo Marketing offers some advice on how to deal with spousal distractions. These aren’t just tips for holidays.

How to Avoid Spousal Distractions

Symplebyte shows us how to make smaller PowerPoint files in five easy steps. Maybe then we can actually send them to clients via email.

5 steps to Smaller PowerPoint Files

Service Unlimited has some customer service tips for freelancers. They really apply to any business that has clients.

Customer Service Tips for Freelancers

Related ala carte selections include

Scrappy Marketing Solutions reminds of the qualities that make an effective business blog.

What Makes an Effective Small Business Blog

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like.
No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Great Find: Improving Business Traffic Through Quality

Filed Under Basics, Business Life, Marketing, Successful Blog | 3 Comments

This link comes from Nemanja Sreckovic.
He passed it from sitepoint.

Great Find: Five Keys to Improving Web Site Conversions by Kent Lewis
Permalink: http://www.sitepoint.com/article/improving-web-site-conversions
Audience/Topic: Webmasters and Bloggers.site usability
Content: Kent Lewis begins his article with this observation that unfortunately is all too often true for too many blogs and websites.

The primary focus of search engine optimization (SEO) professionals is to generate traffic to a web site. Some SEO professionals are better than others at achieving that goal via higher rankings in search engines for target keyword phrases. However, the ball is often dropped once the visitor actually hits the site and, most likely, leaves.

Ken’s advice is straight and centered on his experience as an ebusiness retailer. Ken suggests checking our business sites in five key areas as a way to convert traffic into sales.

    1. Validation
    2. Reciprocity
    3. Safety
    4. Communication
    5. Measurement

Though blogs don’t need the in-depth SEO that websites do, we need the same business sense that Kent’s article proposes in order to offer the strongest brand to our readers from the first blink to the last word that they read.

Thanks Nemanja for pointing this article out to us.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Great Find: Is Your Design C.R.A.P.?
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Business, Blogs, and Niche-Brand Marketing

Filed Under Basics, Branding, Marketing, Strategy, Successful Blog, Trends | 9 Comments

Just the Facts

These are the facts.

  • The blogosphere is doubling in size every 5 and a half months.
  • On average, a new weblog is created every second of every day.
  • Municipal Wi-Fi Networks are becoming a reality. Anaheim, CA; Arlington, VA; Brookline, MA; Chicago, IL; Denver, CO;, Miami, FL; Minneapolis, MN; Grand Rapids, MI; New York, NY; Philadelphi, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; San Francisco, CA; Tempe, AZ; and others are already planning or building Wi-Fi networks to be ready in the next 2-3 years.
  • The Technorati Filter By Authority slider gives readers the power to filter out all but the most important blogs in any niche. Will other Search Engine follow?

Business Meet Blogs, Blogs Meet Business

Sounds great. Doesn’t it? Bloggers read blogs. I’ll have more readers. Right? But those readers will have more blogs to read. With new blogs coming at such a stunning rate, it’s reasonable to think that blogs in the Magic Middle might be pushed aside as younger, shinier blogs appear. It’s also fair to assume that readers will limit the searches to only important blogs, leaving me out. What’ll I do to capture their attention?

Niche-Brand Marketing

The wisdom of the Long Tail–that as business moves on line, less and less of what is offered needs to be “one size fits all” and delivered via giant outlet–leads me to niche-brand marketing. I review this list often for my blogs and for my business, or Liz Strauss Consulting wouldn’t be consulting much longer.

  • Define a niche for your business. Choose a niche you truly care about. Find a place to stand. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Do one or two things that play to your strengths and passions. Do those things better than anyone else.
  • Find out everything about the customers in your chosen niche. First and foremost, make sure that said customers exist. Then don’t just get information. Fall in love with everyone of them. Figure out how to crawl into their skin and feel their pain. Know their loves and their wishes. Find their needs and desires. Learn to read what they’re not saying.
  • Define your brand through your customers’ world view. In reality, you don’t define your brand, your customers do. When you understand your customers intimately, find a way to state your brand–what you and your customers stand for–in less than one sentence. Write those words everywhere your customer will see your name, your blog’s name, or your business name. Let them know you mean it.
  • Use your brand to test every decision you make–large or small. Be your brand. Live it. Make your brand show in every detail, every action, every move you make. If you live your brand, and test every decision against it by asking, Will this help my customers see my brand? your customers are more likely to buy into the brand you’ve chosen on their behalf.
  • Be authentic; never skimp on quality; never go against your brand; and you will set the standard. You won’t just be different; you will be unique, irreplaceable. Authenticity cannot be “knocked off and done more cheaply.” Attempts to copy you will only be poor facsimiles. Quality and authenticity are the birthplace of brand loyalty. Customers will know where to find the real thing. Once they find it. They stick with it.
  • When your customers recognize that you care about their needs, value them and the relationship that you have with them. Relationships will always be everything in any human endeavor. Never lose sight of the fact that you and they are people–not users, not clients, not numbers–but folks with thoughts, feelings, and ideas that make you and your business better.

Why Customers Love Niche-Brand Marketers

We are a fascinating species. When we don’t know where to go, we’ll go where everyone else goes. But give us one reason to come to you, and you’ve made a customer–a reader–possibly a friend forever.

We think that people who think the same way we do are smarter than other people. So when you choose a niche that we care about, we think that you’re highly intelligent. We trust your judgment in other things too.

When we find someone who tries to solve our problems and who values us. We’ll go out of our way to do business with you. It’s just not that often that we get that kind of service.

That’s how small niche-brand marketers get to be great niche marketers one customer at a time. That’s how I plan to make this a place where I can put down roots. I want want to be here for a long, long while, making relationships with some really great people.

How about you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles:
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Marketing Strategy ala Mickey Mouse
GAWKER Design: Curb Appeal as Customer-Centered Promotion
Why Doesn’t Pete Townshend Need to Do Promotion?

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SOB Business Cafe 02-17-2006

Filed Under Business Life, Great Finds, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Business Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the logo to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

This week Darren Rowse featured this guest post by blog designer, Peter Flaschner, in his series Blogging for Beginners. Don’t let the title fool you. It’s a classic post on blog design that everyone should read.

Blog Design for Beginners from Problogger

In this post from Freshblog, Greg explains how to check your blog against your user stats to make sure you’re meeting your baseline user’s needs and not losing readers by overstressing their systems or their patience.

Blockhacks and the Reader Experience

Hock offers some straight advice on using Google to target a market.

Market Research Using Google

Related ala carte selections include

SOB Business Cafe 02-10-2006
SOB Business Cafe 02-02-2006
SOB Business Cafe 01-27-2006

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like.
No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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