BeforeTheWalls.com

November 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment

We didn’t abandon blogging, we just moved forward to a new blog - check out our content at BeforeTheWalls.com.

Everyone’s an Expert at Something… Use #2 for ‘Meet The Founders’ Video

July 6, 2008 | 1 Comment

Everyone’s an Expert at Something… and at some point, a reporter will be looking for that expert. That’s the tagline for a free service called HelpAReporter.com from Entrepreneur, Consultant & PR Dude Extraordinaire Peter Shankman. Peter started this free 3X daily email blast to connect reporters with currently over 12,000 experts as sources for stories. It’s simple… media send out their needs for story sources and, if you fit their need AND are a subscriber to the HARO service, then you can respond. A pretty simple way to get press & potentially expose your expertise wider than your existing world.

Read more

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‘Meet the Founders’ Video Profile Use #1: The ‘About Us’ Page Comes to Life

July 2, 2008 | 2 Comments

Most ‘About Us’ pages offer a fairly dry and mundane snapshot of the most important part of any company: the actual people behind the company. Some include photos, but most are just the obligatory team bio’s that are rarely ever read. Core Values tend to come next. No offense, but if you have to state that one of your core values is ‘integrity’, then I think you are kind of missing the point. Then there comes the Mission Statement, which typically claims to be revolutionary, usually includes something about synergies and then pays homage to their customers, employees, stockholders…no one cares. This is old school people. Read more

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Congratulations to the participants and winner of BIG AUSTIN’s BIG Idea day!

April 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

BiGAustin held their Big Idea day luncheon last Friday which is an event to award the winner of their annual business plan contest. Hundreds of small ‘micro-business’ entrepreneurs submitted their business plans and participated in a three month selection process. Three finalists were chosen and got to present their business at the BiG Idea luncheon where several hundred in attendance were asked to submit their vote for the winner. The winner received a $5000 award to help grow their business along with additional support services provided by Big Austin and their many partner sponsors. We participated in the BIG Idea Day by donating our time to produce ‘Meet the Finalists’ video profiles of the participants. Read more

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BigAustin Video Profiles

April 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

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Content Synergy Method

April 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

It doesn’t matter if you sell to businesses or consumers; all buying decisions are made by individuals… people. Marketing has changed and people (your buyers) have changed. They don’t want to be sold-to anymore. They have grown tired of the same old usual platitudes – quality, service, blah, blah.

Today, marketing needs to be about creating an ongoing conversation with your prospects. Read more

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Get Off Your Computer - It’s About Real Life Connections

March 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment

 My brother/business partner and I are heading to WordCamp Dallas this weekend - actually being held in Frisco, TX - just north of Dallas. (As a side note, I told Julie Gomoll of LaunchPad Coworking last week that this is being held in Frisco and she was just about to remind me that “folks in San Francisco don’t like being referred to as Frisco” until I clarified  - Frisco,  Texas. )

In any case, we’re using this weekend to connect with a bunch of WordPress related people with whom we’ve been emailing, commenting on their blogs and otherwise connecting through Social Media. If you are going to WordCamp Dallas - please comment or drop me a line. We’d love to meet!

It is actually perfect timing because we’ve just started a  new trend for ourselves - getting off our damn computers and off of people’s blogs - and actually going to meet them, grab coffee or a beer. We’ve initiated some pretty amazing new relationships this way so far, but in only the way that could have come FROM Social Networking & our own Social Media strategy.

If you write a blog on a regular basis, whether about your take on the coming election or sharing your expertise on Content Marketing, obviously, over time, your personality tends to shine through. All the better for getting to know someone, or someone getting to know you, before a real life, face to face meeting. You actually walk in knowing the person rather than walking in cold. How cool! In the last few days, we’ve had some pretty amazing meetings that all spawned from blog postings, content on our websites and just general desire to know more like-minded people.

We first met Julie Gomoll to talk about LaunchPad Coworking - coming to Austin in the next few months. Check it out - you’ll love it. And, we are going to begin working with Julie and her team to create a regular video profile of their process as they work with their architect and move to open their space.  More to come here - I think you’ll love it.

 Next we had coffee (lots of coffee that morning!) with Jack Hollingsworth. Jack runs a long time high-end stock photography company here in Austin. He’s a very cool Austin business owner who is in the throes of rethinking his whole approach to business life. We met in his amazing studio and talked all things photography, video production, blogging and social media. We intend to continue that relationship and do some fun, profitable things together as we go.

So, I challenge you to get off your butt, leave your computer on your desk, and go meet at least 2 new people each week. Don’t try to turn them into sales calls, don’t look for how you can make money off that person - just make a new connection with someone you want to know. Then, do it again, and again. It turns out, that’s how real, fun and passionate business happens naturally.  

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The New Way…Only Way to build a Website

March 14, 2008 | 2 Comments

When was the last time you refreshed your Website or even updated content with new information for that matter? If you need to think about it, then it’s been too long. For more reasons than I can fit in this post you need to keep your content fresh and relevant. But, let me point out 2 of the two most important: 1. The search engines will reward you for it and 2. Your customers flat expect it and need it if you want to help them buy what you sell. ‘Nuff said.

You don’t need to look too closely to notice our entire website is based on WordPress. This is not by accident – we are all about helping our clients present fresh content and WordPress makes it easy. You cannot beat it for its dead-easy to use content management system and search engine friendly structure. Now anyone can update their website. Because WordPress is easily optimizable, your site will naturally rank higher for search terms related to your business.

Is it a website or is it a blog?

Our site is based on the Revolution theme by Brian Gardner at BG Media.
Brian has blurred the lines between a website and a blog. His themes feature drop down navigation and home pages that look more like a homepage than a blog…in fact it is a website and a blog…all in one. Brian flat makes WordPress sit up and do tricks, which is great news for the rest of us. And he is back at the ‘lab’ brewing up new themes as we speak.

We got a Face Lift!

Think WordPress will cramp your style and not give you the design flexibility you need? Think again. We needed a website refresh and wanted a clean, uncluttered design - our goal was to frame our content rather than be flashy or splashy. We turned to Randa Clay at Randa Clay Design. First of all, she is a top notch designer and has worked with some of the big guys like The Limited and Victoria’s Secret coordinating and executing full scale marketing initiatives. Secondly, she is a WordPress wizard and has become the defacto expert in designing for WordPress. If you want it done, Randa can probably do it in WordPress and do it well. Have I gushed enough? Well you get the picture. We couldn’t be more pleased with the result.

If you would like to achieve a similar result, give one of us a call! Or click here

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What ever happened to Speaking in Plain English?

February 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The need pontificate in silly, arcane, language is alive and well and still spouted by corporate giants for corporate giants. It is embraced, evangelized and even rewarded at the top corporate ranks and right there leading the charge are the high flying marketing giants rolling out a consistent flow of language that absolutely no one can understand.

The following snippet is actually taken verbatim from a current, big time, cutting edge internet marketing firm – renamed with a fictitious moniker to protect the guilty:

“What makes Fancy Pants, LLC unique is our ability to synergistically combine many areas of digital marketing expertise to deliver exceptional solutions for our clients.”

What does that mean? I mean really, this is a big company with ostensibly some of the most talented and well paid people in the industry creating marketing language for some of the largest companies in the world…and that is how they describe what they do?

I can just imagine how a consult with these guys might go:

Me: So how could you help my company with marketing?
Fancy Pants, LLC: Well, we can synergistically combine many areas of digital expertise.
Me: So I need that?
FP: Indeed, to truly measure velocity it is critical to unite strategy, insight, creativity and technology.
Me: And what exactly does that do for me?
FP: It will give you the ability to radically transform your business to deliver exceptional solutions.
Me: So, can you just sum it up for me?
FP: Reaching your customers in today’s complex environment requires relevant interactions at every stage from awareness to conversion and retention. We unite strategy, insight, creativity and technology with rigorous program management to create integrated, interactive solutions. Consequently our solutions resonate with your customers to produce measurable success.
Me: Thank you, that was very informative.

Huh??

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Local Search Tip - Google Local Business Center

January 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment

As we all know, when running a small business it is vital that we find the highest value services to support your company’s growth. So, if you don’t have a Google account yet, go get one now.  

 Among many great tools and services, you’ll have access to the Google Local Business Center. Not sure what that is? Go to www.google.com and enter a local search phrase, such as ‘Austin Mercedes Repair’. You’ll see a handful of local companies come up in the ‘Local Business Results’ section, which even include maps to the providing companies. This is a huge step in being found when someone is searching for what you sell in your local market.

 If you haven’t done this, go do it now. Either log-in or register for a free account at Google.com. After logging into your account, choose ‘Local Business Center’ and complete the process. Another simple and powerful tool to raise your exposure to people who want to buy what you sell.

If you are trying to build exposure to your blog or website, then I would suggest that you subscribe to either our RSS or Email subscription. I will show you techniques, tips and strategies to help you raise your profile with your prospects. So join me and follow along.

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