DQ Makes Deals

Image via Wikipedia

In a time where bad news is on every channel the one place I can take comfort in are companies that are gearing up for Spring/Summer. Dairy Queen has just announced on their blog:

We would like to treat you to the DQ Sweet Deals menu on your next trip to a DQ store.  It’s on us.

Here is all you have to do:

1. Write a blog post linking here about what deal you’d make with us to try our Sweet Deals for free.
2. Once you’ve done this, email blog@idq.com with a link to your post and your mailing address and we’ll ship you a gift card.

Only the first 250 bloggers to email us with the link to their post and address will win a gift card, so act fast!

While it’s not a car or a cruise it is something that people would actually enjoy during this economic recession. So, the deal I’d make for DQ for this? Hmmm…I would video myself smashing (i.e. eating hardcore) some DQ treats and post it up. While there is no shame in my game when it comes to ‘free stuff’ – this takes the cake.

Now, it’s only open to the first 250 bloggers so I REALLY doubt I’d make the cut but hey, you never know. Try it yourself and let me know if you won.

When People Talk Businesses Better Listen

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days then you wouldn’t know but Facebook earlier this week changed their Terms of Service (ToS) and the bottom line is ‘they own you’.

Really? Well, yes and no. In their change of ToS they decided to state that they are able to use any content you inputted on their site. This can range from photos, blogs, comments, shared links, etc. They would have free range of your content. So, basically they would own you.

This didn’t go over to those who actually read over the ToS and demanded change. In less than 72 hours the ToS was being ‘reevaluated’ which means, “We screwed up and we’re going to fix it.”

What does this tell a business out there? Well, quite simply like the title of this post stats, when people talk businesses better listen. PERIOD. In this technology advanced world making changes online can happen rather quickly and in all honesty need to just to be able to adapt to ever-changing networks that are out there.

This set-up was very similar to when Google’s Chrome was released and their ToS were pretty much the same. I think it is safe to say that people are coming to realization that want their content and want to keep that way – no matter what.

What say you?

How To Sync Flickr and Twitter

I’ve been using Twitpic for quite some time now and as much as I like it I find that it doesn’t help me in the social media aspect of utilizing ‘pictures’ and ‘videos’.  I’ve had a Flickr account for awhile but never dived into it, just because I’ve been told by the wife that I take too many photos. So I took a step back from Flickr until recently when I’ve been using my camera mms feature to show some pics.

The dilema was how to sync my Flickr account with my Twitter (@drivenmg) I put a tweet out there and got an excellent response but the one that turned out most used was from @stroma:

Twitter/Flickr Help ROCKS

I thought he was right on point so I started messing around with it and found on my Flickr page my Photo Stream’s RSS Feed:

Flickr Feed

Which, if you do have FireFox is not hard to find out. Next was just syncing it up with a twitterfeed account and making sure all the information was correct:

Testing Out TwitterFeed Flickr Sync

Then…you wait to make sure it works:

Twitter / Flickr Sync Working

Now the reason for so many was because I was testing out the mms feature which is basically sending a picture to your flickr account via email (or mms) and then posting to your account. It wasn’t posting fast enough for me and I do not have a “PRO” account so that’s why all of them came right after midnight.

Test it out but make sure you keep in mind twitterfeed WILL grab your newest photos that haven’t posted just like a blog post so be careful to not spam (like I did – on accident).

Hope you find this useful.

How To Determine Your Keywords

I talk with numerous people about the importance of keywords. It’s never been the amount rather the quality of them. A prime example is if your site is selling “widget A” then having keywords of “widget B, C, D, etc” are not necessary and hurt you in the long run.

Why? Well, you’re not going to be referring to the widget’s B,C,D, etc – you’re only going to be referring to “A” so when Google see’s this they can tell you’re just putting in ‘extra’ words/phrases to gain more attention.

A real example would be that if your niche is “Chess” then writing about “Checkers” isn’t going to be relevant to 1) your readers and 2) google. Google will crawl the article(s) and see “checkers” and do the math and the result will come back that its not revelant to the topic and domain at hand.

So, how do you determine your keywords/phrases? It is actually quite easy. Look at your niche and look at those in that particular market – see what keywords they might be using. By going using Googe Suggest you can see what people might be searching for in that niche market.

From there I would highly suggest taking your competitor’s keywords/phrases and narrowing them down. If they have “Chess” then you need to have “Chess Openings” or even “Top 10 Chess Openings” or to get more particular you could have “Top 10 Chess Openings Held by Grand Master {insert name here}” to even get MORE specific would be “Top 10 Chess Openings by Grand Master at {insert a tournament here}”.

Is all this making sense? The key is to get specific in your niche market as well as your keywords/phrases. Don’t let the big numbers get to you – such as finding out in Google Suggest that “Chess Online” is search returns:

Results 1 – 10 of about 4,490,000 for chess online. (0.24 seconds)

Yet, searching for “Chess Online with Grand Masters” gives you:

Results 1 – 10 of about 2,170,000 for Chess Online with Grand Masters. (0.31 seconds

Dropped in half but still widely searched. You keep doing this until you find what you need to and then write around it.

The point of it is to get as specific as possible it is then that Google finds you and you start becoming pivotal in that marketing niche. You can’t start out as #1 for “Chess Online” from the get-go…well, you could BUT it would take a fantastic domain name – great referral links – good internal links and much more. So aim for the lower numbers before hanging with the big numbers because in all honesty people will be going to the site with the specifics before going general.

Why Aren’t You Using Google Tools?

Pretty basic question but yet people are still not doing using it to gauge keywords and phrases. So, when I did a rather quick search this morning on a breaking story the last few days, “joaquin phoenix rap” I wanted to see what type of traffic is was generating.

The story itself is still braking so I’m not surprised that there aren’t a lot of people in on it but truthfully publishers need to be aware of things like these as well as marketers. When a story likes this breaks and your ‘niche’ could benefit then that phrase is going to be pennies on the dollar.

What tools am I talking about? Look below the search box and you’ll see.

Google Tools

KW Research – Think Aaron Walls SEOBook tools and there you go.

AW Sandbox – Adwords search for any type of keywords/phrases and how popular they might be.

Traffic Estimator – Traffic on the keyword/phrase when it comes to Adwords.

Trends - Is this a popular trend (which is good for comparisons)

Insights - Where (location) are people searching for this phrase/keyword.

Sktool - Search Based Keyword tool per url.

Sponsored Results – Whose already buying those keywords/phrases?

100 - filter just the top 100 results.

CSV – get the results of your search exported to an excel file.

I am currently debating on diving into each of these more in-depth but I would first like to hear from you all. Do you use these items first or see where they might prove useful to you and if so which one(s) and why?

Top Three Mistakes A Company Can Make

Business Meeting

I was having a discussion with a business owner the other day and they were in the midst of getting quotes from various businesses on what could turn into continuous work.

They mentioned a story of one of the quotes and felt the need to share it with everyone because I have been seeing this more and more which shouldn’t be especially when we are in an economic recession.

Arrive Late – No Call

This is a two party mistake. I was in the military and their favorite quote was that if you’re on time – you’re late. I make it an effort to arrive work at LEAST 15 minutes early but the average has been 30 minutes.

If you are going to a meeting and not sure of the location – check a map system and get directions. Call a day ahead to make sure where they are located and what major roads they might be off of. This can be done usual by the gate keeper (which helps you when you arrive and can make quick chit chat).

There is nothing worse then being late to a meeting and not calling only to find out that the other party got tired of waiting and is in a new meeting (possible a competitor) or gone.

No Paperwork

So, you get there late without calling and low and behold you don’t have all your paperwork. That’s strike two!

There is no such thing as being over-prepared. If you need contracts – print off 5 blank ones just in case. If you know you’re meeting with one person for the company then have two or three sets of proposals just in case more people join in. This way everyone in there can look over the paperwork.

Pushing The Schedule To Reschedule

Okay, you’re late – forgot your papers and now when they are trying to set up a new time slot for you, you try to push it to another time. Strike three – YOUR OUT!

You need to start eating some humble pie when your late (or miss) a meeting and are at THEIR mercy for a reschedule. To say, “no, that time won’t work for me how about later that day,” shows that you don’t really want to get your bid in. An alternative is to let them know what days you’re available, “If you don’t mind meeting up on Thursday or anytime next week – or maybe before / after hours depending on when you need to turn in the proposals.”

See the difference there? The second shows your available times along with trying to work with them and willing to do anything to meet up with them.

What do you think?

Your Profile Is Your Resume and Your Brand

The title really says it all, in all honesty. In social networking people will spend can spend anywhere between 5-10 seconds looking at your profile or 2-5 minutes. The difference? Your resume / brand that you put down on your bio.

Some people (and companies) fail to realize this and I see this all the time. Mismanaged brands and resumes on various social networks. In order to be proficient online you need to have some sort of synergy. A perfect example is to make sure you ‘screen name’ matches your projects. If you go by “Joe Schmoe” but your screen name is MikeDirt – people won’t be able to connect it*.

*unless the company you are working for’s name is “MikeDirt”*

Image by Fati.m.a Maria via Flickr

In social media networking is key – from Facebook to Twitter a profile can make or break a possible key connection. A few ways to make sure you stay on top of this is actually pretty simple. Just about every network has the same profile boxes: “Bio/About” “Favorite (whatever)” “website/blog” etc…

Before joining all these networks make sure you prep these boxes. Spend a day or two tweaking these things. A good suggestion is to check them every quarter. Spend one day checking all your network profiles to ensure they have all the correct information. It is possible that you got a new job, complete a project – keep these in mind.

What I HIGHLY suggest is keep a folder or a document that keeps track of every profile you have and what you inputted just in case something were to happen from a hack to a basic update.

LinkedIn is a given resume builder and should truly go without saying. However, few people tend to make sure the links they provided are even working anymore. If you were in charge of product development website that is no longer around – let the people know that. Don’t just put down the website. If possible have a screen shot of it (of which you should already have in your portfolio anyway!).

So, today take a look around on the various networks you participate on and make sure the links are updated and the information is correct. Afterall it IS your resume AND your brand!

How Your Company Can Compete In A Recession

If you’ve been living under a rock or with the Amish then you know our economy is in a downward spiral of a recession. So, how are companies staying afloat when just about every day more layoffs are happening?

They adapt. It’s simple – it’s easy (said than done). If a company is able to adapt then they will be able to pull through this recession with no problem.

Anyone who knows about ‘recession’s know they don’t last. They might stick around for awhile but sooner-or-later they are gone and companies are back to making those big dollars.

I read this headline this morning: T-Mobile Offering Four-Month Payment Plans For Cellphones and Accessories, and wondered why I haven’t been seeing more of this. T-mobile is doing it where you don’t even have to pay interest or any finance charges during this period.

Why haven’t more companies taken this road? Instead of doing a net 30 jump to net 90 as long as payments are made every 30? This is something that companies to really think about during a time period where people are truly scared to spend money. Just about every business is hurting yet people want more bang for their buck so by offering premium products with discounts and a ‘payment plan’ they are thinking their getting a deal.

Try it out and let me know what happens.