Archive for October, 2010

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The Blogging Masters Telesummit: Free Sneak Preview

Friday, October 29th, 2010

No jokes. Too obvious.

If you’ve been reading this blog, or have been subjected to my email newsletters, tweets, Facebook status updates, LinkedIn profile, or just got cornered by me at a networking event with a scotch in my hand, then you know that I can’t say enough about blogging.

While a blog won’t save your business, blogging can help you with the following:

  • improve your search engine visibility
  • attract more prospects, customers and clients to your business (or non-profit)
  • establish your expertise
  • drive more qualified leads to your site
  • help you sell more products, especially virtual, knowledge-based products.

In short, the blog is the keystone for your online visibility and your web marketing.

If you’re looking to learn more about how to blog successfully, I’ve got the blogging telesummit for you, and the best news is that you can experience it for free.


The Blogging Masters Telesummit is a 13-part virtual conference with 12 blogging gurus…and me. Here’s who’s involved:

  • Denise Wakeman – “The Viral Blogging System: 4 Simple Ways To Multiply Your Blog Content And Spread Your Message Virally Throughout The Web”
  • Gideon Shalwick - “The 7-Step Video Blogging Blueprint That Helps You Dominate The Search Engines, Drives Massive Traffic To Your Blogs, And Positions You As The Industry Expert”
  • Elisa Camahort Page – “BlogSourcing Secrets: How To Get Your Blogging Audiences’ Help In Creating The Perfect Live Event And Packing The Room With Thousands Of Raving Fans”
  • Jack Humphrey - “How To Become A Local Business Celebrity Through The Power Of Blogging That Attracts All The New Clients, Sales And Partners You Can Handle”
  • Regina Smola - “How To Secure Your Blogs From Hackers, Spammers, And Viruses That Will Save You Time, Money And Maybe Even Your Business”
  • Barry Chandler – “How To Use The Power Of Blogging To Quickly Go From Being An Unknown In Your Industry To The Go-To Authority That Everyone Wants to Partner With”
  • Chris Cree – “The Beehive Method: The New Media Marketing System That Gets New Clients And Prospects Buzzing About You And Swarming To Your Business”
  • Vinil Ramdev – “How To Quickly And Easily Dominate Your Niche By Creating An ‘Authority Blog’ Without Needing A Big List, A Big Name Or A Big Social Media Following”
  • Erik Deckers – “The Ghostblogging Method: How To Outsource Your Blogging To Others In Order To Save Time, Get More Clients, And Build Your Blogging Empire”
  • Kary Rogney – “The Tribe Syndication Method That Builds An Extremely Powerful Blog Following And Drives Massive Amounts Of Traffic To Your Websites”
  • Bill McRea – “The 5 Step Autoblogging System That Quickly Multiplies Your Blog Marketing Empire And Makes You Money On Autopilot”
  • Matt Trainer - “The Autoblogging Blueprint: A Proven Step-By-Step Blogging Strategy To Making $1 Million Per Month In The Next 180 Days”

Oh, and some guy named Rich Brooks who’s doing a session on “How To Quickly And Easily Turn A Boring Business Blog Into A Powerful Lead Generation Machine That Brings You A Flood Of Highly-Qualified Prospects Like Clockwork.” Ummm…I didn’t come up with that title.

There will be a paid version of the telesummit where you can pay to download all the sessions, but by following this link you can view all the sessions for free.

Enjoy!

Rich Brooks
The 13th Guy

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Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Web Marketing | 2 Comments »


How Do I Use Twitter to Promote My Services?

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

“I want to know how to use Twitter to promote my services.”

So read a recent lead that came in through our contact form. We get a lot of similar emails these days, usually around how to use Twitter to promote, sell, or push products or services.

I think this is the wrong question.

Although certainly there’s a lot of promotion going on in Twitter–and it’s not like I’m innocent here–going into Twitter (or Facebook) with the sole purpose of promoting your products or services is going to probably fail.

For most businesses, and for you, the question should be, “How do I use Twitter to engage my audience, learn more about their needs, and build loyalty?“

In short, how do I use Twitter to be a better business?

People didn’t join Twitter so they could get your spam or receive your lame auto-DMs when they choose to follow you back.

I’m not saying you can’t successfully promote your products or services through Twitter; many businesses are successful in doing just that. But the ones who do it best are putting out tons of great content, using Twitter as a customer service channel, listening and talking with their customers, and otherwise being funny, charming, informative, or all three.

Social media platforms like Twitter are not like traditional advertising; to believe that they are will doom you to failure. Open yourself up, take chances and treat people like you’d like to be treated, and you’ll find success. Oh, and don’t expect overnight riches. Give yourself at least a fortnight.

Rich Brooks
Argue With Me Here

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Posted in Business Philosophy, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Social Media | 2 Comments »


Company Logos: 4 Keys to Great Logo Design

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Ryan Goan can design with his eyes closed.

This is a guest post from flyte’s Creative Director, Ryan Goan. I also recorded an interview I did with Ryan around the same material called Logo Design: What Makes for a Good Company Logo? You can watch it at YouTube or down below.

Logos are everywhere, they are on everything from food and clothing to cars and buildings but we rarely give them any thought. What is a logo? Why are logos so important? What makes a great logo? These questions can be the source of some debate but one thing is certain, all great logos share 4 similar characteristics. Before we get to these characteristics let’s discuss the basics.

What is a logo?

A logo is a visual symbol used to identify a business, a product or service.

Why is the logo so important?

A logo is the cornerstone of a company’s communication, it’s on everything a company does. In it’s simplest form, it’s how we distinguish one company from another. Ultimately, a logo represents the brand, not simply for recognition but also to reflect the trust, quality and good will of the company.

What makes a great logo?

All great logos share these 4 characteristics:

1. Simple
“Less is more” is a phrase I use all the time when talking about good design but it’s never more true than when referring to a logo. The simplicity of a logo allows for it to be instantly recognizable, memorable, and powerful. Take for example the Nike logo. It’s made up of one single element, the “swoosh”. So simple, yet immediately recognizable.

2. Unique
Every great logo has something that makes it unique, something that makes it stand out from the crowd. A great logo not only should help differentiate a company from it’s competitors but also be memorable. For example, the Starbucks logo uses color, shape and imagery in a simple, yet unique way to give it that something special.

3. Versatile
Companies do business in a wide variety of mediums so the logo should be designed with this in mind. A good logo should be flexible and consistent in mediums as diverse as newspaper advertising, web sites, and signage. For example, the Apple logo works equally well both small and large, as well as it does in black/white and in color. The Apple logo is a great example of versatility. Whether it’s on the web or on their retail signage it’s always consistent.

4. Enduring
A great logo is one that is timeless, one that is not defined by trends or fads. Because a logo is used to identify the company and represent the brand, a logo should be designed to last the life of the company. Introduced in 1956, the IBM logo has changed very little and is as strong today as it was over 50 years ago.

If you have more questions on designing your logo, please contact us at flyte.

Ryan Goan
Creative Director
flyte new media

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Posted in Business Philosophy, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Web Design & Development | 4 Comments »


Finishing Strong

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

This past Sunday I watched as the San Diego Chargers lined up a field goal that would send the game into overtime against my beloved New England Patriots.

The Pats had been up most of the game mostly due to Charger mistakes, but the Chargers had pulled off a couple of great plays in a row, and were now lining up for a 45 yard field goal that was eminently makeable. Unfortunately for San Diego, they were whistled for a penalty and the field goal was suddenly 50 yards long. Kris Brown kicked the ball, it hit off the goal post and bounced back. No good. The Pats dodge another bullet.

There’s no way to know if Brown would have made the 45 yard kick, but we can all agree that it was a  higher percentage kick. A stupid mistake at the end of the game cost the Chargers a chance to send the game into overtime with home field advantage and momentum.

So often as entrepreneurs and business people we work hard through our projects, only to get careless or sloppy at the end. Maybe we’re already focused on getting the next job or we feel that since 95% of the work is done we’re in the clear.

Unfortunately, it’s these last few moments of a project that are make or break. This is where the client decides whether they’ve enjoyed the process, whether they got their money’s worth, and what story they’re gong to tell their friends.

In fact, even if you’ve struggled throughout the project, finishing strong can erase a lot of what happened along the way. Your client will only remember that you got the job done right, not that you gave her an ulcer for two weeks.

Take a look at your process and see if there isn’t a way of improving your chances of success at the end of your projects. Consider this your two-minute drill.

Rich Brooks
Season Ticket Holder

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Posted in Business Philosophy, Entrepreneur & Small Business | No Comments »


11 Minutes to Motivated Employees

Monday, October 25th, 2010

A few months ago I read Daniel Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, and reviewed it here on this blog.

Just today, my dad sent me a link to a video that animates some of the core concepts from Drive. Apparently I’m not the first person to find this video, more like the 3,214, 805th, so there’s a decent chance you have seen it, too.

However, if you haven’t, and you own a business, or have people you lead and/or manage, and you can set aside 10:48 seconds of your life, I strongly, strongly recommend you watch the video.

And if you feel that you don’t have 10:48 because you’re too busy managing, motivating and leading your team, then I suggest you stop chopping and take some time to sharpen your axe. Because in less than eleven minutes you might find that you’ve actually been de-motivating your team, which is why you feel so overwhelmed now.

Rich Brooks
Axe Sharpener

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Posted in Business Philosophy, Entrepreneur & Small Business | 3 Comments »


Blog Post Ideas from WordTracker Labs’ Keyword Questions

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

One thing that all bloggers struggle with at one time or another is “blogger’s block”: the inability to create killer content for your audience.

In fact, after “I don’t have time to blog,” the biggest excuse I hear on why people don’t to blog is “I don’t know what to blog about.”

Well, if that’s your big concern, worry no more. Flyte’s own search engine marketer, Nicki Hicks, showed me this great web site from WordTracker Labs that pulls questions asked of its partner search engines around your keywords. the tool is called Keyword Questions.

For example, let’s say you have a blog about HR (human resources.) You type in “HR” to the search box and away you go. I’ve found that putting in really short keywords works better; trying to refine your keyword phrase will return too small a sample. Since this tool already brings back “long tail” results you don’t need to worry about over filtering.

WordTracker Labs then goes out and finds all the questions posed with “HR” in the search. These are questions real people asked at the partner search engines. Since the “partner search engines” are only about 1% of the total search market (according to a post I found at Digital Point that came from someone who appears to work for WordTracker) the number of people who are actually asking these questions is probably dramatically higher.

A few seconds later you’ll see the next few posts you can create. Just take the question asked, make it your post title, and then answer the question in your blog post.

  • Monday you write “Why Do We Need an HR Strategy?”
  • Tuesday you write “Why is HR Important?”
  • Wednesday you write “How Can HR Contribute to an Organization’s Competitive Performance?”
  • and so on.

I think you can skip “Who Played H.R. Pufnstuf?” although I’d keep it in my back pocket for a rainy day. Or maybe turn it into, “What Can H.R. Pufnstuf Teach Us About H.R.?”

I even created this embarrassing video called How to Create Killer Blog Content With Keyword Questions at YouTube. Enjoy.

Rich Brooks
Ready for American Idol?

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Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, How-To Web Marketing Videos | 6 Comments »


Formulists: How to Make Better Twitter Lists

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

Yesterday I wrote a post about how to use twitter lists. While doing the research for that post I stumbled upon a cool site called Formulists that helps you create automatically updated lists. With Formulists you can create lists to help you:

  • filter your followers (say, if you want create a list of people from San Diego or who have tweeted in the last 48 hours)
  • find new people (people like you, people like someone else–say people like me)
  • manage your followers (like people who just started following you or people who added you to a list)
  • track your interactions (people you mention and RT)
  • and create custom lists.

There are plenty of filtering tools, and the lists self-update.

I created a video called How to Use Formulists to Manage Your Twitter Lists which you can watch at YouTube or down below.

Rich Brooks
List Me, You Know You Want To

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Posted in How-To Web Marketing Videos, Social Media | 3 Comments »


What Are Twitter Lists and How Do You Use Them?

Monday, October 18th, 2010
Multitud // Crowd

Photo Credit: PictFactory

People often ask me how I can stay on top of what’s being said by the thousands of people I follow on Twitter.

The simple answer is, “I can’t.” Nor would I want to; a lot of what’s being said by the people I follow on Twitter is pointless drivel or extremely self-promotional

(Not your stuff, though. Your stuff is brilliant.)

Instead, I use Twitter Lists, which are self-created groups of people on Twitter. Lists help you organize people in ways that make sense to you, and help improve the signal to noise ratio of Twitter. You can call them whatever you like, and can add or remove people at any point. Examples include:

  • Locals
  • Industry Experts
  • People I’ve Met IRL (In Real Life)
  • Bacon Lovers
  • People with Beards

Another good use of lists is when going to industry events, assuming much of your industry uses Twitter. I often add people I meet at a conference to a list so I can follow what they’re saying while they’re at the conference.

Furthermore, you can make Lists public or private. Public lists can be viewed and even followed/subscribed to by other people while private lists can only be seen by you. Though the people on the list can still be followed by anyone, only you know you made that list. Good for lists such as “Ugliest People on Twitter” or “People On Whom I Will Have My Revenge”

Making a List is easy, and can be done on Twitter.com or through most 3rd party apps like TweetDeck. However, I did notice some problems recently with Twitter lists created on the Twitter iPhone app not showing up on the regular site or on 3rd party apps, but that was hopefully a temporary glitch.

Since each app has its own way of adding people to a list, I’ll just stick to explaining it on Twitter.com. You can either visit the person’s profile page, or click on the “Following” link on your own profile to pull up  a list of all the people you follow.

From there click on the lists icon and select the lists on which you’d like that person to appear.

Once you have your lists you can choose to view tweets just from that list by selecting it on Twitter.com, or setting it up as a column in your favorite Twitter app, such as TweetDeck or Hootsuite.

Twitter caps lists at 500 people, which may seem like a lot, but after exhausting “Mainers” I’m already halfway full on “Mainers Too”. Or halfway empty, if you’re a Twitter list optimist.

Twitter List Tip: If you’re putting together a list of good resources, (Twitter Geniuses, Bourbon Aficionados, or People Who Might Survive the Zombie Apocalypse,) make sure you include yourself. Since other people may subscribe to your list, you want them to be able to see your tweets, too, right?

Rich Brooks
I List Therefore I Am

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Posted in Social Media | 4 Comments »


Social Media Snake Oil

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

You know that scene in a Western where the snake oil salesman rides into town? He inevitably has a confederate—that person in the audience who no one from town has ever seen before, but when he claims that “once he was blind but now he can see” everyone starts reaching for their wallet.

It’s funny, right? We wonder how anyone could be so stupid as to believe that this elixir would cure gout, shingles, constipation, rheumatoid arthritis and alcoholism. Especially since these were primarily made of alcohol, when they weren’t laced with morphine or cocaine.

So why do we fall for it now? Why do we believe people who tell us that they can get us thousands of followers on Twitter? (Never mind that they only have six followers themselves.) Why do we believe it when people promise us untold riches through Facebook marketing? Or that for very little money they can get our message in front of hundreds of thousands—if not millions of people through social media?

In short, why do we believe there’s a shortcut?

Lately I’ve seen an influx of snake oil sales associates in social media. (In some regards, I guess that means social media has arrived.) Their techniques rarely involve creating a content strategy, or providing anything of value. Rather, they are focused solely on black hat tactics that value the wrong things.

  • They create dozens of similarly named, identical channels on YouTube showing the same collection of infomercial videos. They create dozens—if not hundreds—of Twitter accounts to create mini-followings for businesses.
  • They buy Facebook fans for businesses.
  • They hack the YouTube algorithm through technological methods or by hiring people in 3rd world countries to watch the videos. (Are these people your audience? If not, then why do you care if they watch your video?)

In short, these businesses are spamming social media.

When someone promises you something that sounds too good to be true…well, you know the rest. If a company is using unsavory techniques, or won’t tell you how they’ll get you thousands of views on YouTube, or tens of thousands of followers on Twitter, or a top ranking on Google, just walk away.

It’s not that these companies can’t deliver on their promise; in fact, I’m guessing they can. But do you really believe that it will last? Do you believe that Google—the company that owns YouTube—won’t realize that they’re algorithm has been hacked? And who do you think Google/YouTube will punish once they’ve discovered the black hat campaign that got you 50,000 views over the weekend?

Meanwhile, the snake oil salesman moves on to the next town.

It’s been my experience that black hat success is short-lived. Meaningful, long-term success, takes time to accomplish. Your company is worth it.

Rich Brooks
My Snake Oil Allergies Are Acting Up

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Posted in Business Philosophy, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Social Media | 6 Comments »


How to Use Public Speaking to Build Your Business

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Photo Credit: Angela Coulombe

Recently I’ve been fielding questions from people on how I got started with public speaking and whether it’s help build our company. To answer that question this month’s flyte log, our email newsletter, is entitled How to Build Your Business Through Public Speaking.

Public speaking has been a great lead generation tool for flyte. Although I purposefully never use the podium as an advertising platform, I’ve found that educating the audience is a great way of establish expertise, warming leads, and collecting contact information.

As far as how I got started, I didn’t wait to be asked. A friend and I decided we wanted to drum up business for our respective companies and we just put on our own marketing presentation. We even charged a fee for it to pre-qualify attendees…we only wanted people there who were serious about learning.

Since then I’ve done both paid and free speaking engagements, both for flyte (classes & webinars) and for other organizations. I’ve had great presentations and ones I’d rather forget. Like the time my voice shut down right before I was due to take the stage. Luckily the conference organizer knew my material and was able to fill in. About 15 minutes later my voice came back and I was able to continue.

Another benefit of public speaking is that it forces you to know your material inside and out. It’s an old saw, but it’s true: you don’t really know a subject until you have to teach it.

Although public speaking scares the heck out of a lot of people, it can be a a powerful tool that establishes your credibility, sets you up as the expert, and generates a steady stream of leads for your business.

Please check out How to Build Your Business Through Public Speaking for more information and how to use the web to maximize your returns.

Rich Brooks
I Never Met a Mic I Didn’t Like

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Posted in Business Philosophy, Entrepreneur & Small Business, flyte news, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

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