My Success Story: Small Biz Owner Takes Control of Website
When I hear a good success story, I want to share it. And this time, it’s about my website.
I’m a small business.
As other small biz owners out there can likely attest, often the key to sanity (and profitability) is knowing what to do in house and what to hire out.
Minor updates or changes to my website definitely fall into the in-house category. I want the flexibility to make changes fast and without fees here and there.
Now I can. The "how" is what’s interesting.
I moved my entire Stories That Sell website onto a WordPress blog platform on the urging of my longtime web guy, Ray Gulick of Evolution Web Development (Evo).
Evo created the award-winning Evo4 CMS WordPress theme platform.
The move immediately gave me two huge benefits:
- Allows me to change content dynamically
- Boosts my site traffic
I should have done this sooner! Here’s why:
Search engines love change
If you blog, then you know how easy it is to publish content up on the web immediately.
Now, the same goes for my website. It’s about the easiest and cheapest content management system I could have.
Not only is my blog integrated right into my site (so blog readers see site navigation), but I can change ALL the other content on there easily - add new articles, update event dates, put up a press release.
As Ray says, "blogs are search engine magnets," with frequently updated, relevant content, so a blog platform naturally gives the site a traffic edge.
200+ percent more traffic
With the move, my blog now lives on my main book website, so anyone visiting the blog may browse the rest of the site.
That alone raised my site traffic more than 200 percent in the weeks following the change.
Moving forward, my site’s traffic should continue increasing because of the search engine effects of regularly changing content.
I didn’t realize the power of dynamic content until now.
Want to know more?
SocialMediaExaminer.com Launches – New Free Social Media Magazine for Businesses
A couple of years ago, I started feeling some serious "peer" pressure.
"You have to start a blog," they said. So I reluctantly did.
Next, "You need to be on Twitter!" they continued to pester. So, I did that, without even knowing what Twitter was at the time.
And then, "You should start a LinkedIn group." Again, done.
And what now? I’m one of "them" – a social media convert telling all my colleagues and friends that they NEED to be using these tools.
I’m not the only one. 75% of marketers plan to increase social media use in 2010 (eMarketer)
The world’s leading social media experts – on one site
Honestly, it pays off. Probably two-thirds of my website and blog traffic comes directly from social media. I also learn a ton from those I’m connected to on sites like Twitter and LinkedIn.
So when Michael Stelzner asked if I would contribute to a brand-new, free online magazine about social media, I didn’t hesitate for a second.
Launching TODAY, Social Media Examiner is designed to help businesses discover how to best use social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to find leads, increase sales and generate more brand awareness.
Some of the biggest names in social media will weigh in, such as Mari Smith, Denise Wakeman, blogging expert and co-author of ProBlogger Chris Garrett, and Jason Falls, who has crafted social media campaigns for top corporations.
My part? In-depth case studies about how businesses use social media.
Live video Q&A – today
Today, the site kicks off with live Q&A sessions:
- 7 am Pacific: Chris Garrett
- 9 am Pacific: Denise Wakeman
- 11 am Pacific: Mari Smith
- 1 pm Pacific: Jason Falls
Fresh content this week
Here’s a sampling of the content launching just today, with more coming later this week.
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Video: Mike Stelzner interviews Coach Deb at SocialMediaExaminer studios
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Top 10 Easy Steps to Starting a Business Blog – Denise Wakeman
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Social Media Marketing Lowers Acquisition Costs 39 Percent for TakeLessons.com – Casey Hibbard
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How to Create Headlines That Go Viral With Social Media – Chris Garrett
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The Power of the Retweet: An Interview With Dan Zarrella – Mike Stelzner
Check it out. Personally, I’m excited to learn more about social media.
Expert Insight on Using Twitter, Blogging, Facebook for Business
Event Alert:
How to Use Social Media Marketing to Grow Your Business
Do you know how to use social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to gain exposure, drive traffic, build partnership opportunities and generate quality leads?
Discover precisely how to use social media to grow your business at Social Media Success Summit 2009 – professional development conference for marketers and business owners.
Leading experts Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV), Darren Rowse (Problogger), Mari Smith (Facebook guru), Jason Alba (wrote the book on LinkedIn), Ann Handley (MarketingProfs), Brian Clark (Copyblogger), Chris Garrett (Authority Blogger) and Denise Wakeman (BlogSquad) have joined forces to share their closely guarded secrets to social media success at this LIVE online summit.
Learn how to qualify for a $200 savings (expires May 14th) and lock in your key to success. Visit this site and get an immediate gift valued at $39 entitled "Achieving Social Media Marketing Success (Secrets From Three Successful Marketers)."
Pointing You to Customer-Story Resources
Two resources this week to check out:
1. Free webinar – I’m the presenter on a free webinar tomorrow (Thursday, 1/22 at 4 EST) that covers some of the basics of customer stories: why they are powerful, ways to use them, tips for making them effective, and even a small business owner talking about how he uses case studies. Find more info and register here.
2. Guest blog post – Check out Jay Ehret’s The Marketing Spot for simple steps in my guest blog post, "Seven Steps to Capturing Your Customer Stories."
The Story You HAVE to Hear
A friend of mine has a very compelling story to share. He built his business from the ground up in a pretty short time with a single lead-generation tactic.
The guy in this video did something that every business needs to pay attention to.
You can see the video here. No need to do anything; it will just start playing.
In this video, he shows how this approach worked for big-name companies (and how he got 60,000+ leads for his business).
He’s actually giving away a bunch of high-quality videos.
Check it out:
http://www.whitepapersource.com/cmd.php?Clk=2376778
Order from this site and get TWO bonuses!
Companion ebooks to Stories that Sell!
Get the most out of Stories that Sell with The Marketer's Toolkit AND The Writer's Toolkit. These additional resources provide proven tips to help you succeed with success stories.
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