• By 2010 Generation Y will outnumber Baby Boomers. 96% of Generation Y have joined a social network. Source: Grunwald Associates National Study
• Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube has overtaken porn as the top activity on the web. Source: Huffington Post
• The percentage of companies using LinkedIn as their primary source for finding new employees is 80%. Source: Jobvite Social Recruitment Survey

Video source: Socialnomics.net |  Vimeo

Read more: Part one: Social media and web marketing techniques

The fastest growing and simplest way to market your business is by using social networking techniques for marketing.  This term encompasses a variety of methods and is also referred to as Internet Marketing or Social Media.  Some examples are:

1.    Blogging: Many businesses choose to utilize internet marketing by creating and maintaining a blog.  Content should be updated regularly to keep visitors coming back, and can include online discount coupons and special offers for your internet customers.  This form of social media is particularly suited to providing a personal touch to your marketing strategy since the tone of blogs is often informal.

2.    E-mail marketing: Many small business owners ask their customers to voluntarily provide their e-mail addresses and will then send updates, advance notice on sales or special promotions, and coupons.  This is not to be confused with spam, which is unsolicited e-mail and should be avoided as an online marketing tool.

3.    Social Networking Accounts:  Establishing a page on a social media site such as Facebook can increase your business’s exposure dramatically.  This form of marketing may also include a Twitter account for more up-to-the-minute updates on your business.

4.    Website: One of your most vital marketing tools today is a company website.  Potential customers no longer flip through voluminous phone books to find the business or service they are looking for.  Their first choice is usually a search engine that will point them to your website.  This form of online marketing requires striking a balance between eye-catching design and utility and ease of navigation. Business owners that are strapped for cash and whose first time it is for owning a website may look for template options, but with some more experience, a small business owner may later hire a web design company to provide better branding, stronger design, integrated social media and clean coding.

Internet marketing is no longer considered to be in its infancy and there are now many outstanding opportunities to grow a small business with the proper targeting of social networking techniques.  Business owners in Kentucky know that any form of marketing is dependent on knowing your intended customers and customizing your strategy to reach them. Social networking techniques for marketing are no different in this regard but have the advantage of often being able to be implemented with less money and provide higher returns than traditional marketing methods.

This article will help:

1. Business owners understand the benefits of purchasing an established website
2. Signs to identify bad investments in ready-made websites (or web businesses)
3. Where to buy an established website or web business

Why would I want to buy an existing website rather than just build my own?
Some business owners might prefer to start from scratch and build a new website by hiring a web design company or freelance web designer. However, there can be a few draw backs to building a website from scratch. One is cost. Depending on the type of website that you want to build and the quality of coding and design, it can turn into a relatively costly process. Granted the cost of building a website will vary between companies, quality, timeframe, experience of the designer, and reputation. In many cases, a lower cost website may not be better for your small business–as a website can be one of the most important marketing devices a small business owns and uses. Another downside of creating a brand new website is timing.  It can take quite a bit of time to build a quality website. For example, it took one of our members about three weeks to build a static website, because they decided to purchase extra time to refine their design (look and feel) and get the messaging right. Most web design companies will charge for extra rounds of revisions during the design process.

Purchasing a ready made website can be a quick way to enter the market.
Purchasing a ready-made website or web business can allow you to speed up the process of “going to market.” Granted, you may need to clean up a few things or add new content to the purchased website. Also, you will need to ensure that the website that you are purchasing is quality. (See below for quality assurance testing of ready made websites).  In many cases, when you purchase a website, you will have a chance to view the design of the site, wade through the site content and get some facts about it. In this way, you will know what you are buying and can select a site or web business that will give you a head start. Many companies struggle with starting a new website because writing content can take a lot of time–and content production can cause web projects to miss their deadlines. The editing process can be tough, at times. Also, some websites that are for sale may already have traffic, search engine prominence or even revenue… which will give you a leg up from other start-ups.

What are some common signs that a website is poor quality or a bad investment?

• Double check to see if the website is committing gross copyright violations
• Too many links? Make sure the website isn’t over linking, which can cause penalties in Google and other search engines.
• Make sure the site has quality content!
• Click through the site and look for broken pages, elements and links
• Make sure the website accurately reflects the market you wish to enter

Background checks and quality assurance for purchasing a website
Hiring a web strategy company can help you identify whether a website is quality by doing an SEO and website audit before finalizing the purchase. Spending a few hundred dollars to hire a web strategy company can save you a lot of time and money down the road.

What are some factors that may demonstrate high quality within a for sale website?

• Content, content, content: Good content goes a long way!
• Page ranking: Google uses a ranking system to measure the strength of a page within search engines. You may not need a ready high page rank, but it certainly can help.
• Good design: clear and interesting (or just simple) design can really make or break a website. Bad design can certainly contribute to a website’s failure.

Where can I purchase a ready made website?

• eBay: search for “websites for sale”
• flippa.com – an online marketplace for buying and selling websites
• marketplace.sitepoint.com/ — a marketplace for established websites and existing web businesses.

There has been a tremendous amount of hype surrounding the iPad and it’s launch into the computer/mobile/laptop/Kindle markets. Most people I knew had no clear idea whether the iPad was a computer or a Kindle-type device or just a big phone that cannot make calls. Naturally, there was also a lot of skepticism surrounding the device. I just had to see for myself.

At the time, I was in New York City. So I wandered down to the Soho Apple Retail Store to check out the new iPads… it was the second day after the product launch. A crowd had grown around the table displaying the curious devices, as the crowd watched those in the very first row fool around with the floor models.

I have to say that I was shocked. I had not intended to buy an iPad until this moment. Actually, I felt that there was no more room for any other devices in my life. Who wants more computer troubles, right?! Well, I decided to take one home–still with the question: “What is it?” lingering in the back of my mind. At the worst, I thought to myself that I could use it as a Kindle and move some of the heaviest titles off my bookshelf and into a digital format for when I go on the road.

So it has been a few weeks now. When I show up in a cafe or airport, many people come up to me and tend to ask a few of the same questions. I decided to answer them here.

Is an iPad worth it? Can you use it for work?
At first I was not able to use it for work. The fact that it has no support for Flash made it frustrating when I needed to visit a Flash website or watch a Flash video. This caused me to need to also carry my laptop… so the iPad is not a replacement for the laptop as I most secretly had hoped. However, more recently, I have begun to take short excursions with my iPad and leave my heavy and burdensome laptop at home. I am able to check email with ease, download and edit Office documents like Word and Excel with Pages and Keynote, download and view PDFs for research and review, use social networking websites and apps with no problem, connect to the web and enjoy the internet through this device. The device is quickly becoming a useful tool, but not a replacement for my laptop. I have also used the iPad for presentations with clients, and it has become a very effective presentation tool, which has made it worth it alone for this reason.

Do you like it?
Yes, absolutely I love it. I actually prefer reading the news from the iPad over other platforms. I still love print more, but I consume a lot of news so the iPad makes sense for me. Also, the New York Times apps is amazing, and is a very charming interface…and great way of getting the news. I also love the Mashable app. Because of the iPad’s size, it is very comfortable to take out of the home or office to lunch or to a cafe.

Could someone use it instead of a laptop?
Yes, some people could, but it depends on what they need to do. If they rely highly on image editing programs, database programs that are not online or other software, you may need to keep a PC or laptop in your life for now. However, it can do a lot, and some people could potentially use it instead of a laptop or PC. Read my answer above to my experience with using it for work.

Cost
The cost for the Google Apps service is 50 dollars per user per year. This gives that user access to more than just email. The whole enterprise package ( as configured by the administrator ) can be accessible by each user, including Calendar, Chat, Sites, and more. We found this to be an excellent alternative to Microsoft business services, and it works great for both small businesses and large organizations.

Next time you or your project comes under criticism, try simply asking questions in return. Be careful to not work out your anger or feelings of rejection in your questions. Leading or pointed questions are not exactly what we are recommending. Instead, simply use the questions as a process of better understanding where your critic is coming from.

This may help in a number of ways. For one, you will benefit to understand the agenda of the critic and the goals of the critic. It will help your position to view your project through a different lens–even if you don’t change anything about your project, presentation or stance. Secondly, good questions will open a sense of empathy between you and your critic. This is a good base for gaining support in your endeavors. If the critic feels understood, they may also be more open to readjusting their stance–and taking a look from your perspective as well.

Whether or not the criticism aimed at you or your project is well founded, taking a more interested and invested approach through asking genuine, exploratory questions will create a spirit of colaboration and thus garner a base of broader support for your endeavors.

Co-working is a way for work-at-home professionals or independent contractors or business people who travel frequently to have a non-isolated work experience. Co-working is a social gathering of people who may not be part of the same company but come together to work and at times share ideas. Business accelerators, business incubators and executive suites are not always the best answers for all freelancers and small businesses. Co-working can be a very rich and valuable experience.

Co-working is a concept that has gained a lot of attention in cities such as San Francisco, New York, Seattle and LA.

Co-working Locations in Kentucky:

Collexion
Located in Lexington’s Distillery District
Phone: not available.
http://collexion.net/

**We will post more co-working locations and options as they become available.**

One way to grow your business online is to offer updated content on a regular basis– not only for your visitors – but also for the search engines. With a content management system in place you do not have to know HTML and you do not have to hire a full-time, in-house web programmer.

Content Management Makes Publishing Content Simple

Content management allows you to manage content creation, modify, and remove content from your Web site, without knowing HTML coding.  It also allows you gather information and updates it to your site with ease. Content management system features include:

• Format management
• Revision control
• Indexing
• Search
• Retrieval
• Web-based publishing

The information that you offer your visitors is one of your greatest asset. So, it should be managed on a regular basis.  Those without a content management system tend to struggle gaining new prospects.

Make Your Web Site More Search-Engine Friendly

A content management system also allows templates to be created and re-used. This also promotes consistency of your web pages and it makes it easier to employ cost effective information to be presented in a professional manner.

In order for the search engines to be able to find your content, they require websites to be consistent as far as finding relevant content on a site quickly and efficiently. In other words, having a content management system makes your site more visible and more search-engine friendly because your content is database driven.

With a content management system, you can create content and it can be re-used several times. This system allows you to post the same content to more than one location in a variety of presentation formats and in numerous languages. Please keep in mind that exact/duplicate content used on numerous websites will NOT help with SEO ranking–it will in fact hurt ranking. However, publishing snippets of an article and then linking to the full article, can greatly help user experience by providing users a “preview” of the page and allowing them to determine beforehand if they are interested in the full article.

Protect your family’s personal assets

Tax advantages
An incorporated business can reduce the amount of tax owed to the IRS by deducting any costs that are related to the business. Depending on your type of business, there are numerous tax benefits for home business owners. Besides equipment like books and computers, you can also deduct salaries, bonuses, and medical and retirement payments paid to employees.

Establish credibility
A formal business structure provides your business with a sense of legitimacy in the eyes of your customers, vendors, and banks.

Raise money by selling stock
Should your business need more capital, you can issue shares of stock to investors from an incorporated business. Capital can be raised by selling stock whether your business is a startup or is a well established company that is seeking to expand.

The internet is a key resource for advertisers and for public relations. Cost and the ability to measure Return On Investment are key reasons for moving towards the web with both advertising and PR. When combined with off-line efforts, online marketing with social media engagement can be extremely effective at winning new relationships, strengthening reputation, and expanding visibility.

Dos and Donts Guidelines
Social media strategies should take into consideration various dos and don’ts for how employees should conduct themselves online. We feel it is not productive to discourage employees from joining and participating in social media. In fact, there may be a lot to lose from have employees disconnected from social online engagement. One strategy is to keep private accounts personal. Don’t allow employees to speak on behalf of the company. Give them clear guidelines on how to handle questions or comments directed at their company. Provide employees with a point person in the PR department. Also give them links to the company website for reference, rather than allowing them to make the mistake of answering a question wrong and causing damage to a company reputation. If the employee is blogging on a topic related to their work, provide them topical guidelines and require them to post a clear disclaimer that 1.) the employee is NOT blogging on behalf of the company and 2.) the opinions do NOT reflect the opinions and beliefs held by the company.

Employees can be great ambassadors of a brand. Enthusiasm and excitement from employees can reflect well upon the company. In certain cases, companies may want to consider maintaining social media accounts a requirement for certain types of employees, and requiring such online engagement a job requirement. This may help companies become more in tune with their customer base and with their industry.

Social Media Accounts
Some employees will have personal social media accounts from a range of service providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Ning or Delicious. For this reason, we advise companies that they should create some ground rules for social engagement. Don’t drive your employees underground by banning their accounts altogether, which just creates an air of distrust and bitterness. Simply provide them with rules for how they can acknowledge and not acknowledge their professional lives.

Blogging
Blogging is perhaps one of the oldest forms of social media engagement. Many people own personal blogs and use these blogs as a central hub for all their social media engagement. We suggest business managers become aware of such blogs, but do not discourage them. Try to imbue good stewardship guidelines for personal blogs with your employees. It is important to honor copyright laws with images and text for example and showing respect towards piers. However treading too heavily into an employee’s personal affairs can be demoralizing and can hurt valuable relationships. This is why unified guidelines are our recommendation.

Encourage quality
It may be beneficial to provide some employees with a basic how-to guide for social media engagement. Give them some reference points. For example, explain how “hard selling” a product or service is generally frowned upon in the online community. Encourage them to be participants rather than snake-oil sales people. The online social universe is all about dialogue and conversation–not forcing products down each others throats. If you, as a business manager, do not feel qualified to write a persuasive how-to guide for social media then simply link to the many, good quality references sources on the web. Education is a two way street.

Legalities
It is always best to consult your legal team when drafting these guidelines. Legal advice can save time and money. Remember, keep the language clear and readable, so that employees have a good understanding of what is possible and what is discouraged.