Arma Coatings gets an online makeover!

Earlier this year we redesigned the website for Arma Coatings, a worldwide industry leader in providing advanced urethanes & protective coatings.

The new website plays a vital role in Arma Coating’s sales process, specifically the growth of their product licensing & franchising.

We blended the use of gorgeous photography & thoughtful copy to create this beautiful website. Check out some screenshots below!

Ally, John, and the gang at Gorilla Capital are great people, and they’ve got an awesome, fast-growing, and nationally-recognized business, located right here in downtown Eugene!

To all of our friends at Gorilla Capital, thank you!

When all site content was collected, we designed, built, beta tested, and launched Casso Consulting’s new website in just under 40 days. That’s lightning-fast in the world of web design. Casso Consulting’s new website features beautiful photography, provided by Mrs. Adams herself.

We’re really proud of our turnaround time with the Limelight Express platform. When you’re ready for one, give us a call!

Zack is an accomplished and highly sought-after pianist & keyboardist who plays with some big names. Just last year he played with members of pop superstar Lady Gaga’s band and R&B star Usher’s band. He plays with N ‘Touch, an R&B/Funk/Smooth Jazz band based out of Portland, which is made up of some of the hottest musicians in the industry.

You’ll also see Zack playing with several other bands, as well as the 2-time national championship University of Oregon Gospel Singers.

We just launched a beautiful & stunning website for Zack’s music career. The big takeaway with this website is that photography will make or break your website. It’s all about good photography. You must invest in good, professional photography. It will pay off in spades on your website. Whether you’re purchasing high-res stock photography or hiring a professional to take photos, you need to do it. This is a great example of why it’s so important.

Here are some screenshots from the new website!

Homepage:

And some photos that are in the website:

To see the rest of this beautiful website, and to learn more about Zack, visit ZackPoelwijk.com!

We reckon it’s time for some updates!

A season of prosperity at Limelight Department

The last 6 months has been a true season of prosperity for the Limelight Department team. Our explosion of growth has been a true testament to our marketing philosophies, and we’re very proud of it.

Ever read the book Water the Bamboo, by fellow University of Oregon alum Greg Bell? If not, go buy it. Today. It’s brilliant. Our story of growth follows Greg’s philosophy: You water a bamboo plant for three years, and nothing grows. Then, in the next 6 months, the plant grows several feet tall.

That’s what has happened with Limelight Department.

In the past six months we’ve doubled our staff, and nearly doubled our office space. We’ve put together a fantastic team of programmers (believe us; we’ll put our programming team up against anybody. Any time. Anywhere), graphic designers, marketers, and account managers.

We’re offering health benefits to our staff members, and couldn’t be more proud of being able to offer that kind of peace of mind.

We’re on pace for a record 3rd and 4th quarter in terms of revenue.

Not bad for a business that has grown through nothing but hard work, solid customer service, and bootstrapping.

Stay tuned for many more exciting things at Limelight Department!

The improving economy is on everyone’s minds lately, and there’s been substantial evidence in recent months that things really are starting to grow again, as the stock market has gained more than 50% from its lows in March earlier this year. Yet, just because that sector has seen gains does not mean that things are all rosy again. Unemployment is likely to remain high for the next few years, and the people in our communities who most need to credit in order to begin rebuilding their lives following job loss or home foreclosure are least likely to be able to get it. It’s not all doom and gloom though. There are opportunities for those in business who wish to make the difficult decisions to strengthen now where they can.

The immediate challenge for small- to medium-sized businesses in a down economy is how to attract new clients while at the same time maintaining old clients. You may be in a position of having customers reach the end of their contracts and not be opting to renew. This means, obviously, that you are facing a revenue shortfall, while at the same time possibly having difficulty enticing new clients to sign on.

Working alongside this is the fact that people are becoming more price conscious. Clients and potential clients want more for less. They are stretching an already thin budget even further, and being extremely reluctant to sign contracts, even though deep down, they likely know that hiring a professional, whether it be for web design, marketing, or whatever, would be in their best interest.

How should you position your business over the next few years, given what is likely to continue to be a very difficult financial environment for many people? Here are 10 ways to strengthen your business despite the economic downturn:

1. Contact Your Clients

Check in on each one with a phone call. If they are local, offer to take them to lunch or coffee. Find out what their needs and concerns are. They may have a need that you are not anticipating, or concerns that you hadn’t thought of.

Don’t feel worried that hearing from you may be the trigger that they’ve been waiting for to drop you. If a client is going to drop you from the job, and they’re really serious about dropping you, then a phone call from you isn’t the reason why. They’re going to drop you anyway, and if you get them on the phone and can begin to understand the reasons behind their decision, you are in a position to actually change their minds.

Call your past clients, don’t email or send a letter. Make some real-time contact. Ask them how their business has changed over the past few months and ask them what they might need help with that you are in a position to provide. Reinforce that your business is stable and you’ll be there for them, whenever they need someone.

2. Reinforce Your Value

For most small- to medium-sized businesses, when they have a need that their in-house staff can’t meet, they are unlikely to hire a new employee for that position. Most businesses will understand that they don’t need to employ someone for every possible job and are quite comfortable outsourcing when the need arises.

This puts you in the position of being valuable. They don’t need to pay for insurance, benefits, training or ongoing costs to hire you. Remind your clients that your services are valuable and can save them money in the long run.

3. Look at Your Pricing

As mentioned above, now is the time that contracts may be dropping off with no renewals and few new clients to replace them with. If you feel that this is happening, it’s a good idea to consider a restructure of your pricing plans. You don’t want to slash your prices to the lowest on the block, but you do want to make sure that your pricing is competitive. The clients that are looking for the cheapest option probably aren’t going to recognize the value of your work and what they’re paying for, so those likely aren’t the clients that you want anyway. You just want to reach that sweet point where you are attracting clients and still making money.

4. Consider Expanding

It may seem counter-intuitive to suggest this right now, but a downturn is an excellent time to consider an acquisition or expansion. For people with excellent credit, loans are available.

Expanding might also mean expanding your staff. Due to extreme job cuts in nearly every sector and industry, many highly qualified people are out of work, or looking for something more stable. Hiring a talented person, even if it is just part-time at first, can give your business new focus and life. Failing that, see where you can cross-train the employees you already have. Asking a new person to do a job can reveal sticking points that the person who does the job on a regular basis has either become used to or has never figured out how to deal with.

5. Choose The Right Add-On Services

Offering clients extra services can be a great way to earn trust and repeat business in times of economic growth, but it is especially true now.

However, make sure that you add on services that you know you can provide, that you can do well with your same attention to detail, and can complete promptly. Don’t offer any work that you aren’t 100% confident that you can provide. It’s OK to agree to do jobs that you normally wouldn’t do, but outsource them if they’re not your strong point.

6. Enhance Your Marketing

Many of your competitors have halted or drastically cut back on their advertising, so if you jump in there, you’ll be poised to reap the business they are losing out on.

Avoid trying to capitalize on “the recession” in your marketing. It has a negative connotation that can actually backfire, if it reminds your potential clients too strongly that they have less to work with. Also, if you don’t change your ad campaign fast enough when things start to improve, your message will seam fearful and dated.

The factors that drive people to buy goods and services are always the same, regardless of the economic situation: reputation, service, and price. Offer those things and position yourself to be there for them when they are ready to make that decision to hire you. Then follow through.

7. Go After Bigger, More Stable Clients

Smaller businesses that were struggling financially before the downturn will be the first ones to collapse when the economy is depressed as it is now. In order to keep your own head above water, don’t pursue the smallest fish in the pond. Go after the larger, more stable companies that still have weight to throw around and money to spend.

8. Form Alliances and Networks

When people have less money to spend and really want to be sure of their decisions, word of mouth recommendations become even more important than they usually are. Take advantage of local opportunities for networking that you may have shunned earlier. Get your name out as a valuable resource by calling other companies and seeing if there is any way that you can help them out. You may be able to teach their employees Flash skills; they in turn may be able to teach you SEO skills.

Also, join or start a peer-to-peer business group (such as Young Professionals Network, or Business Leaders Exchange) to elicit candid feedback and alternatives on what you are doing and what other businesses are doing to remain strong.

9. Reduce Your Overhead

Any expense that isn’t absolutely related to your business management should be cut. Where you can, identify items that you can recycle or reuse rather than buying new, such as printer cartridges. Dollars add up, here, there and everywhere.

10. Focus On Staff

It’s likely that your bottom line is hurting just as much as everyone else’s is. You probably can’t promise all of your employees big raises or better benefits, but your staff needs to know that you still value them. Your staff is the backbone of your business. Keeping them happy keeps them loyal to you and ensures that they will remain strong workers, working for you, not against you. Reduce your staff numbers only if you believe your business is in serious trouble and that is the only way you can survive.

Reassure your staff and contractors that you are doing everything possible, including the steps outlined above, to keep your business strong. Talk to them and find out what they need. Perhaps some would appreciate more flexible hours, or the opportunity to take classes to keep their skills current.

Maybe you are the only “staff” your business has. In that case, take care of yourself. Don’t go into “panic mode.” Realize that things will change, and new opportunities arise where moments ago there wasn’t one in sight.

Summary

The above steps are only 10 ways in which to keep your business strong when things are looking bad. Depending on your specific circumstances, there are other options you have. Take advantage of the business resources that are in your community that you might not be aware of. Cities and governments want to keep businesses strong and growing, and they are there to help.

The most important thing that you can do in this difficult time is to assess the state of your business and see where your processes, pricing, goods and services can be improved. It may mean learning to do more with less as many people are having to do, but when things pick up again, your business will be lean and mean and ready to take action.

These sayings are slogans. You remember these slogans from the past because they are memorable phrases—usually short, catchy, maybe rhyming, and usually used as part of a marketing campaign. This means that you don’t just hear them once while watching TV and then never hear it again. These slogans were effective because when they were used, during the heyday of these ad campaigns, these slogans were everywhere. On TV, on the radio, in print publications, and they were repeated often.

There have been countless slogans used throughout the history of advertising that no one remembers. If a shoe company used the slogan, “Since 1902” would you remember it? What about if a restaurant used the slogan, “Proudly serving you the best”? Probably not, but unfortunately, these are the types of slogans that most businesses come up with.

There is somewhat of an art to creating a memorable slogan. This article explores 5 key things to keep in mind while you are trying to develop a good slogan for your business.

1) Develop a logo, and following that, a slogan. If you are trying to change an existing slogan, then examine how well-known that slogan already is, and what steps you might need to take to re-brand yourself. But also remember that it is OK for you to change your slogan. Businesses change their slogans all the time. The scope and customer base of even a very successful business can change dramatically over five or 10 years, so don’t feel like your slogan is set in stone.

If you have already created some distinct graphics or a logo for your company but you haven’t extended that brand to a slogan, that can be an obvious starting point for you. If you don’t have a logo, create one, because unless you advertise solely on the radio, a slogan works in harmony with a logo to promote brand identity.

2) How do you want to brand your product or company? What image are you trying to project? Are you interested in a playful, catchy, rhyming slogan that has a connotation of fun and easy living? Or are you trying to cultivate an image of corporate professionalism? The more that you can refine how you want to be perceived, the closer you are to creating a slogan. Start by creating a list of adjectives that you feel describe your business effectively, and then narrow down the list to the most important three. Hopefully, you have a well-developed business plan and a clearly defined mission statement to draw from.

3) Sleep on it. Maybe a few times. Regardless of whether you are trying to create the slogan for yourselves or for a client, even a great idea looks different in the morning. Allow yourself plenty of time to come up with alternatives, play with your ideas, research, brainstorm, and consult with others involved in the project or business. Coming up with a slogan isn’t easy, and it does take some time and a measure of creativity that isn’t always possible to rush. Your final idea might be the first one you come up with, or it might take months.

4) Short and simple. Your logo shouldn’t be something that people need time to “get.” It should be instantly understandable and immediately effective at conveying its message. In most instances you will have mere seconds in which to make an impression, so something like “quality in products and services from the crossroads of where customer service and reliability meet″ is dead in the water. Aim for short, sweet, memorable, catchy, and simple. A (good) slogan should be no longer than one sentence, probably capped at 10 words (can you think of any slogan longer than 10?), and it should use easily recognizable language.

5) Memorable often equals rhyming, catchy, or funny. This is one facet of marketing in which humor is a good thing. A popular local business near me is a brewpub theater, in which patrons can watch a movie while enjoying food such as burgers and sandwiches and pints of micro brewed beer. Their slogan is “Not Sneaking Beer Into Movies Since 2008!” I love this slogan as it points out something pretty universal to people who attend movies in theaters, which is the practice of trying to sneak in some type of refreshment. It never fails to bring about a chuckle from patrons, and when a customer remembers your business with a smile, that’s a warm fuzzy feeling you can take to the bank.

The flipside if this is that something one person thinks is funny could be offensive or just plain dumb to the next person. Have some thoughtful people vet your potential slogan, to make sure you’re marketing up the right tree. If you can’t make it funny without being crass or groan-inducing, keep trying, or don’t try to be funny.

6) Be Honest. It might be tempting to slap the slogan “World’s Greatest Pizza” on each of your delivery boxes, but that’s a pretty hefty claim to live up to. Make sure your business delivers what the slogan claims it can. A restaurant near me bills itself as “the best” in the state. While the food is good, the fact is that it is very much like every other restaurant serving that type of food anywhere in the country. There is nothing about this establishment’s menu to distinguish it as the best at anything, much less outside of the city limits. Seeing this preposterous claim every time I drive by the restaurant hasn’t made me start believing that this restaurant truly is the best in the state. On the contrary, it has lowered the esteem I have for this restaurant because each experience I have there reinforces its mediocrity. So, avoid hyperbole. Not only is it commonly used, meaningless marketing jargon, but it can’t be substantiated and will often only serve to make you look desperate.

A slogan is an important part of your business branding, but it shouldn’t be as intimidating as writing a book. Luckily, there are some great examples of successful slogans to look at, so just start brainstorming and see where it leads you. Try and answer the question: What would your product say if it could talk?

See, all online copy is content but not all content is copy. What is the difference, if any, between writing copy for the web versus writing content? If you ask copy writers and content developers that question, you will get two different answers.

Dictionary definitions of copy and content are fairly interchangeable: matter to be printed; the subject matter of books or magazines; written material. There’s no mention of the Internet in these definitions. By their nature these are passive definitions, involving nothing more from the audience than that they view words on a page. But with all of the links, videos, audio, and interactive user-generated content, the Internet demands much more from—and offers much more to—its audience. An Internet audience is an audience of participants, not simply passive viewers.

Both content and copy can be interactive but let me put it this way . . . copy is what sells your prospects and content is what gets them to link to you or keeps them coming back (that’s why it’s called “sticky content”). Again, copy is sales oriented (hence “salescopy”) and content is just about everything else. Problems can arise when you have too much copy and not enough content.

For us at Limelight Department, we have mostly content on our main site and not much copy. We rely on our branding, portfolio, testimonials, and account executives to do our selling. For online sales we have satellite sites that speak to niche audiences and drive leads. The content have on our main site is articles, web tools, and tutorials—all the things that help people find the information they seek. This content encourages people to link to us and makes them want to come back for more. This approach is perfectly aligned with our philosophy of empowering and educating our clients so they can see the real value in the services we provide. But like all marketing, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Your marketing, your content and copy needs to be customized not just in print but throughout your marketing strategy. This might mean you need much more copy than us, or it may need to be organized in a different fashion.

Also, combinations of content and copy are highly successful. I might have copy at the end of this article saying: “If you’d like more articles like this delivered direct to your inbox, please subscribe to our newsletter.” That call to action would be a great copy addition to increase the effectiveness of this content.

Sites that are merely informative with no copy may wonder why they’re not getting any sales, or why people are leaving their site so quickly. So on the other side of things it’s easy to see how you might have too much content and not enough copy.

Reading something on the Internet should not be like reading a newspaper article or a book. With those mediums, there’s no content, no interaction. No links to follow, no music, no instructional video or tools. It is dynamic and interactive. It is personal in a way that newspapers can’t be because in most cases an Internet user chooses to be looking at exactly the page they’re looking at, whereas a newspaper plunks a whole bunch of things into one compact form and hopes that people pick it up. A person reading a newspaper is unlikely to continue buying newspaper after newspaper if they don’t find exactly the information they’re looking for, but a person on the Internet has one thing with the power to help them do exactly that: their mouse. And it’s free.

Readers may be excited to begin a book, but once they turn the last page, that’s it, it’s done. But if looking at your page is actively engaging and leads to another action or further engaging information, then it’s sticky content and sales copy. . . It’s successful! And that should be the goal.

When you’re trying to engage a web audience, your page shouldn’t be a one-dimensional experience. Your copy should be active and compelling, and like the intention of an advertisement, should lead to an action: buy, subscribe, join, download, call, email, contact, click. Have your content be informative, but also inviting. Create a compelling call to action. Learn to incorporate active language, verbs, and clear directives: buy now, join today, try this, download, click here. Leave them not simply informed, but wanting more.

You can sign up for our newsletter over on the sidebar to the right and get free articles like this delivered direct to your inbox!  ;)

There’s no absolute consensus on how important each element is, and it varies slightly from one search engine to another, but content weighs in as more important, probably about 70%, with inbound links making up the other third of this two part equation.

I would like to point out there are about 100 other factors that play a dynamic roll in acheiving top ranking but these are the foundation of everything else. If you don’t have these two, the rest is useless.

Step 1: Content, Content, Content

Much like the real estate mantra “location, location, location,” climbing the ladder to the top of Google requires great content. The bottom line is that visitors will not stick around to check out your site unless your content is worth looking at. This will not be an overnight process.

Writing for a website is a bit of an art. It’s important to use keywords, but the tone should be one of natural speech. If you’re using to many keywords that you’re stumbling across the words as you read them, and you’re sacrificing general readability to get more keywords in there, that’s a mistake. If you’re unsure, ask a friend to help you write something in a naturally conversant way.

Ideally, each keyword phrase should have its own optimized page. That’s not likely in reality, but you should limit your usage to no more than two or three keyword phrases per page. You should allow for about 200 words per keyword. For a paragraph of the length of this one you’re reading now (~190 words), use the keyword no more than two times within the body text. The keyword should definitely be in the page title, and should be used within the first sentence of the content. Beyond that, limit use of your keyword phrase and spread it equally throughout the page. Wrap up the whole page of text with another usage, to show the spiders that the content is relevant throughout. Incorporate the keyword as anchor text for links that lead to another page of your own site, particularly the first usage. The link should lead to another page optimized for a different keyword, but with related content. For content with two different keyword phrases, the same rule applies: about 150 words per usage of the keyword.

Step 2: Link, Link, Link

When linking, go for the highest quality sites with content that is relevant to yours. Link farms that link your digital photography equipment website to a running shoe website are likely not going to help you. When linking, be consistent in how you enter your website, because in Google’s eyes, “http://www” is not the same as “www”. Google considers links from high PageRank pages as more “authoritative” than links from low PageRank pages. Sites with PR of more than 5 will likely know they are in desirable link territory because they’ll be receiving a lot of link requests. So go back to Step 1 above, and start building that great content so that they’ll have no reason to deny your request.

There are several tools available that can help you determine the PageRank of a site. (This is not the same as a site’s placement in the search engine results pages.) The free Google Toolbar is one tool that can help you quickly determine the PR of any page you surf to. It will appear as a blue bar indicating a whole number strength between 0 to 10. Most high quality pages have a PR of at least 4. Only the most popular pages, like Google itself or something like CNN.com, have a PR of 10.

One thing to avoid if possible is a Links page, where all of your inbound links are essentially relegated to the content dustbin. Having all of those precious links going to one page, or all to your home page, is a big mistake and a waste of what could be major link juice. The links should go to your actual content pages, where they are most closely related to the content of the linking site. Most often, the home page is the highest PR page on a site, so the link should originate from the other site’s home page, to one of your deep content pages.

Inbound links to your pages should feature your keyword as the anchor text triggering the hyperlink, in other words, the keyword is the clickable part leading to your page. Surround the link on your own site with as much relevant content as possible. This is not the place to use generic, placeholder text.

The Method

Building links is a bit of a chore. The best way to handle it is to add it to your schedule and do it like any other task. There’s really no better way, other than great content as we just discussed, to build your website’s stability and authority on the major search engines. It’s a task that will repay you in full, provided it is undertaken with some care. The automated reciprocal link services are questionable. The links are often to low quality junk pages, or temporary, or are links to pages that can get your site blacklisted on Google.

It’s tedious to link manually, so the other option is to hire that service out to a professional. If you do choose to investigate paying a link service, find one that sets it up so your page links to another, which links to a different page, which then links to you. That way each link is counted as a one way inbound link by Google, which is the most valuable type of link to have. Periodically check your backlink profile, and make sure the links aren’t broken, and are to quality pages.

If you’re building the links yourself, take a little care with how you phrase your link request. Some people aren’t aware of the value of links, so explaining to them what you want to do and how it will benefit both of your sites will improve your odds. Don’t write the email like a caveman. Explain why the page you want them to link to is most relevant to the content they have on their own site. Link to it in the email so they can see the page and be sure that what you’re saying is true. Put the link to their site in place first. When possible, use the webmaster’s name, so they know you’ve actually done your homework and you’re not an automated linkbot.

Also, steady linking over time is much more important than just lots of links. Google want to see that people continue to see your site as a valuable resource over time. If links suddenly stop coming, it’s a sign that your site or page no longer holds it’s value. A priceless tool in combating this is to provide something related to your topic like an online tool, video or article (“sticky content”) that makes others want to link to it.

Summary

The goal of having a quality site is that people will naturally want to link to you, and while link-building will be something you have to do, it will be a supplement to organically-grown (so to speak) links on your site. As your content improves, you will get more links, and you will begin that climb up the Google ladder. Add in some links that were hand-picked by you, and improved content, and you’ll climb even higher.

What can Social Media Optimization do for me?

Unhappy customers talk to other people about their experiences. Happy customers talk too. But as the saying goes, the unhappy customer will tell 10 people how bad your company is while the happy customer only tells one person. Whether it’s in your favor or not, the fact is people will talk and that is powerful marketing that can make or break a reputation.

Social Media Optimization allows you to lead the conversations people are having about your brands by interacting with your current and potential clients.

What is Social Media Optimization?

In general, Social Media Optimization, or SMO, is generating publicity and interest in your brand through social networking sites and resources. SMO utilizes news sites, RSS feeds, blogs and blogging networks, videos, and image sharing, just to name a few aspects. The sharing nature of social media means that it is an ongoing, open dialog between you and the rest of the world. It strengthens connections between yourself and your customers and clients, and provides an increased opportunity to strengthen your search engine optimization efforts.

Creating profiles in social media communities such as MySpace and Facebook is an example of current social media efforts, as is blogging, either by creating your own or participating in someone else’s, by leaving comments or as a guest writer. Sharing your expertise through article marketing using RSS feeds, and posting videos to YouTube and photos to Flickr all create opportunities to other people to engage with your brand and share the content.

Social Media Optimization takes search engine optimization to the next level, the “Web 2.0” level, if you will. In other words, the second generation of web activity that is much more interactive than the way the web was originally—web-based communities and services such as the social-networking sites, wikis and tagging and classification technologies which make collaboration and sharing fast and easy. By participating in all of these opportunities where others in your industry aren’t, you position yourself as the expert and increase your online visibility in a tangible way.

Social Media Optimization is most effective when the good content is created to exploit its viral nature, meaning that it is quickly and easily shared and that people want to share it. A big part of this is building a trustworthy reputation for yourself. There is a sense of trust among the sharing communities online that shouldn’t be taken advantage of.

Eventually, the social media optimization will take on a life of its own, as the content you have created is continually shared. But the ongoing communication aspect of SMO means that people will constantly be holding you accountable for every piece of your content that gets shared online. Violating this trust or using questionable techniques will be unappealing to the online communities you are seeking to court, and will very likely result in a backlash that is the opposite of the positive attention you were hoping to achieve.

Gain and keep their trust

The goal of marketing online is to build communities with similar interests. People want safe places to share their thoughts where they know others will have a similar mindset. You should not be chasing down every single person online to be their “friend.” Without a group with similar interests, there will be no cohesive to spread your message.

Of course, it’s perfectly fine to belong to different communities and have different groups of friends within those communities. The goal should be to remain active by building friendships with people with similar interests and contributing relevant content in those communities. Highschoolers can compete with one another to have the most friends on communal sites like Facebook and MySpace, but the small business owner should be concerned with quality, not quantity. Online groups are like planned communities—people join because they already like and agree with that going on, so a savvy online marketers knows there’s no need to do everything “in bulk.”

In fact, conducting business “in bulk” in these communities (by friending anyone, sending unsolicited bulk messages, and contributing only link heavy advertisements) is the equivalent of spam. But spamming in the context of a social network is even more unwelcome, because the user can’t get rid of it or hide it like they can when it appears in their email inbox. It’s visible to everyone and decreases the enjoyment of the site for everyone. If you don’t have something useful or relevant to say in the case of social networks, don’t say anything at all.

How To leverage social media opportunities

There are many different ways to generate social media content, so don’t feel like you have to engage in each one. Find two or three that resonate with you and focus on those. If you put more interest into what you’re doing, it will be more well-received.

News sites such as Digg, Propeller, and Newsvine allow users to submit news articles. If you discover a breaking news story, share it or comment on a news story that someone else found. Giving fellow submitters a “thumbs up” for finding something interesting is a good way to encourage them to give you a “thumbs up” when you find something to share.

YouTube and Flickr are sites that allow users to upload and share different media files such as photos and videos. The benefit of these sites is that they are easily found in search engines, easily searchable, and direct people back to your primary website. Utilize them by filming or photographing your products or services in action.

Wiki sites like Wikipedia, WikiAnswers and WikiHow allow users to contribute content and edit the content that was provided by other users. There are numerous wikis available that are about specific topics.

Networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Virb and many others allow users to create profiles and join and create friend networks with others according to similar interests.

Bookmarking sites such as Stumble Upon, Technorati, and Del.icio.us allow users to bookmark sites they find interesting or informative. The bookmarked collections can be shared publicly. The more often a site is bookmarked, the higher it is ranked within the site, making it easier for additional people to find it.

Is SMO right for you?

While many businesses can benefit from social media, SMO might not be right for some others. These are some guiding questions to consider before embarking on a social media campaign:

• Social media involves sharing some personal information and developing online personas that reveal a bit of the personality of the people behind the brands. Are you comfortable with sharing specific information about you and your company?

• Does your company already have a blog or news feed that is regularly updated? If not, is there potential for your company to begin releasing regular updates?

• Social media operates most effectively when it is about something very specific. Would your products and services benefit from a specific content-driven marketing approach?

• While the pool of users of social media sites is growing and changing, most users are young and technologically sophisticated. Would your company, product, or service appeal to them?