The numbers are in- both Statcounter and ComScore show Microsoft’s Bing search engine, launched two weeks ago, chipping away at the solid hold Google has long maintained on search engine traffic.  Within a week after it launched, Bing had jumped Yahoo! for the #2 spot, and caused Google’s market share to drop 6 points.  Granted, the drop was from 78% to 71.99%, but if early data is any indication, Bing could be poised to make even bigger gains as more users become familiar with its features.

So what does this all mean for the average business?  If you’re spending money on online marketing services, such as SEO (search engine optimization) services or PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns, the fact that there’s a new search engine on the block is big news- and can mean some big changes in your online marketing strategy:

Time to make adjustments? Not so fast…
If your web traffic has gone a little haywire in the past few weeks, you’re not alone. But don’t make any quick decisions to change your site or find a new online marketing service just yet. As users switch to Bing-which uses different algorithmic variables to return results based on certain keywords and business segments- you may have seen a huge spike, or a huge dip, in web traffic.  Google also made adjustments to a few processes during the past few weeks.

Think about content.
Rumor has it that Bing rewards content-rich pages more heavily than other search engines.  As Bing becomes more popular, it may be a good idea to focus on finding more quality content for your site.  Most online marketing services can help you with this- if they don’t provide copywriting services, they might be able to recommend a source that does.

Think about links.
Microsoft search engines typically give more weight to internal (inbound) links, as opposed to Google, which purportedly values external links more.  If you have the ability to edit site content yourself, make sure all internal links are working correctly.  You can also enlist web designers or search engine optimization services to create internal links that make your site more navigable, increasing your search engine ranking in the process.

Be thorough.
Bing removes duplicate results from search engine pages- one of the initial complaints about the service is that some search results return a “low ranked” page- for example, rather than displaying your site’s homepage, a product page would be displayed.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking that customers will see your homepage first, be blown away, and keep browsing.  They might just land on one of those other pages- you know, the ones you haven’t updated in a while.  Be thorough when you update information on your site.

Consider PPC.
As Bing becomes more popular, spending more on pay per click services might be good idea.  Microsoft typically produces a high return on investment for pay per click efforts.  Coupled with the highly qualified traffic Bing is predicted to generate, a PPC campaign might be looking like a better investment.  A skilled online marketing professional will be able to help you create the best PPC campaign for your goals.

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It’s official- Facebook has become the most popular social networking site in America, edging out MySpace by a slim margin: 7.278 million U.S. users are now on Facebook, compared to 7.255 million using MySpace. To many, Facebook’s surge was inevitable, especially now that it offers one of the key features that differentiated the two sites: personalized URLS.

Over the weekend, over 5 million current users scrambled to get their hands on a vanity username- a feature already provided by MySpace.  Businesses with fewer than 1000 fans or users who created pages after May 31st, when the announcement was made, must wait until June 28th- next week- to register a username of their choice.

As it turns out, many popular companies have been using Facebook for a while. According to a 2008 study by Rosetta, 59% of the top 100 retailers maintain branded Facebook pages. Here are five companies you’ve probably already heard of that are harnessing the power of social media to build an online reputation:

1. Starbucks

The coffee giant uses Facebook as part of a successful online/offline marketing strategy.  Starbucks’ love for Facebook is mutual- Facebook recently announced Starbucks as one of three “Blue Ribbon Award” winners: companies with the “top most creative and innovative campaigns and most engaging pages each month.” (See #2 and #3 below for the other award recipients)

2. H&M

Also a Facebook award winner, the trendy discount clothing retailer has taken advantage of several different advertising tools on Facebook, helping boost it’s international and U.S. popularity.

3. Vitamin Water

The recent “Great Debate: Kobe vs. LeBron” campaign tied in television ads with a Facebook page asking fans to “state the case” for their choice in an online video.

4. Nutella

The fan-created page for the chocolate hazlenut spread ranked #3 on Facebook earlier this year- even though the company spent only $300,000 on advertising and didn’t even create the page itself.

5. Microsoft

Users with a Microsoft corporate e-mail address were among the first to be offered accounts when the service was extended beyond the student user base in 2006.  Microsoft also owns a small stake in Facebook, the purchase of which included the right to place ads on the site.

Facebook- and social networking in general- is becoming a very valuable tool for businesses of all sizes.  From corporate giants like Microsoft and Coca-Cola to smaller, local businesses, companies of all sizes are discovering the value of online marketing and social media.

If you need to improve your interactive marketing efforts, visit our quote center for online marketing services.

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Google’s new trademark policy, which will allow in certain circumstances the use of registered trademark names by non-trademark holders within an ad copy, will become effective on June 15th, 2009. Under Google’s current trademark policy, trademark names can be used without restrictions only in keyword lists. Trademark holders can request that Google bar the use of their trademarks in ad copies.

Under the new policy, however, resellers of a trademarked product and sellers of component parts to the product or product accessories will be able to use the trademarked names without restrictions. Unimpeded use of trademarks will also be extended to informational reviews and articles or written content providing general information about a trademarked product.

While it is true that Google’s more permissive policy will likely result in increased sales, trademarked companies still remain worried about the effect of having their brand names used by Internet advertising services.

Last Thursday, Google employee Dan Friedman wrote a statement on the company’s web site saying that Google’s decision was fueled by a desire to fall in line with the rest of the industry. “We are adjusting our trademark policy in the U.S. to allow some ads to use trademarks in the ad text,” Friedman wrote. “This change will bring Google’s policy on trademark use in ad text more in line with the industry standard.”

Previously, Google had maintained a strict rule of not selling trademarked terms as keywords. This was because the sale of such search terms to rival companies would enable some companies to use the trademarks in their ad copies so that related searches would pull up more links to the rivals’ web sites than links to the web site of the actual trademark owner. In other words, rivals could use a competitor’s trademark.

Such a case, many argue, could prove disastrous for companies that have spent years building up the popularity of their trademarks. At the same time, a set up like this would be incredibly profitable for Google, which does not distinguish between trademark owner and rival when looking for the highest bidder of a search keyword.

As part of its impetus for changing its trademark policy, Google cited the current policy’s inability to allow companies that sell multiple brands of products to use the name of their own brands in their purchased Google advertisements. This means that if you are a phone system provider, you can advertise specific types of phone systems in your ad copy. The new policy will also allow individuals who “don’t own a trademark, or who don’t have explicit approval from the trademark owner, to use it” under certain circumstances. These new parameters for trademark use, wrote Google’s Friedman, “will help you [i.e. advertisers] to create more narrowly targeted ad text that highlights your specific inventory.”

Google is offering to investigate any claims of trademark abuse by trademark owners. However, it has stated that advertisers are ultimately liable for the keywords they decide to employ in their advertisements. Google will begin taking ads containing trademarked terms this Friday.

The news of Google’s new policy change have many industry insiders worried that the move will inevitably result in a slew of legal battles. Already Google’s announcement comes at the heels of recent lawsuits filed against the Internet giant. The first of these was filed by the sales management software maker Firepond, who argued that Google should not be allowed to sell keywords containing a company’s trademark to competitors.

A similar lawsuit filed by Rescucom against Google was revived in April 2009 after having been dismissed in court in 2006. American Airlines also sued Google in 2007, claiming that by selling the keyword “American Airlines” to others, Google was letting people “seek a free ride on the reputation and goodwill” of the American Airlines name.

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I shared a podium yesterday with Aldonna Ambler - an award winning entrepreneur and founder of TheGrowthStrategust.com. She has the BEST ADVICE for writing a business plan that I have ever heard. When you start, she said, keep it simple. Before you start answering the questions though she strongly recommended taking a pile of about 10 sticky notes or sticky mailing labels and write DAMNED IF I KNOW on each one. Just write as fast and as much as you can. You CAN DO THIS - it is your business, your dream, your passion. As you are quickly whipping through the questions - when you come to one you can’t answer just stick your Damned If I Know sticker on it and keep going, answering the questions that you can.

Once you finish all the questions with written answers or a Damned If I Know sticker, talk with your accountant or CFO, seek expert advice on the M3 Message board or talk with your coach to help you with those answers. Most of the Damned If I Know questions will probably be financial ones, and that’s OK. You will quickly complete you plan and be ready to learn from the reactions, questions and suggestions you get by showing it to others.

By the way, if you need more than your 10 Damned If I Know stickers you probably need to do more work on your basic business concept, target market and financials before you can move the plan to completion.

Believe in you.

It depends how you do it.

Going to cocktail events and social hours, grabbing business cards and tossing yours around, brief handshakes while looking over that person’s shoulder for the door or the next person in the room.

Nope, that doesn’t work.

Connecting, helping others first, taking a sincere interest in them and their business, helping them see opportunities they may not see themselves.

That’s what I’m talking about.

And yes, it is work. Just like building any relationship, it requires commitment, follow up, and heart.

And it’s worth every minute.

Do you make networking a regular part of your business and marketing strategies?

Are you connecting in person (or over the phone if geography is a challenge) with people you meet online?

How are you contributing to your networking relationships? Just this morning, on a call with a colleague, I thumbed through my mental Rolodex for a connection that will help her grow her network and her business.

Easy, peasy, Japaneasy. It took about 5 minutes to make the connection and a warm introduction. She’s off and running, with gratitude, and I feel very good about it.

How’s that for honoring a “Givers Gain” philosophy?

How do you use networking in your business? How has it helped you? Tips to share?

When people think about marketing activities they usually think of tactics like having an ezine, direct mail, sending an email, networking, holding a teleseminar, and so on.

But I think the one marketing activity that weaves its way through all marketing tactics is the activity of creating connection.

Connection is the glue that holds together your marketing plan and really, your business.

If you are not building connection with your prospects, clients, affiliates, joint venture partners, peers, assistants, referral partners and vendors - then you’re not going to gain their like, trust and respect.

They won’t join your list, subscribe to your ezine or newsletter, buy your products, sign up for your teleclasses, attend your workshops, or become a member of your mastermind circle.

If people don’t feel a connection with you, they won’t tell other people about you, share their questions and concerns with you, invite you into their business via the telephone or email, want to partner with you or make joint ventures together.

So you see, creating connection is the number one marketing activity in my experience because everything else will follow from that connection.

Think about that the next time you sit down to craft a sales page, write an email, draft an outline of a new product, create a new service, write an article and any other marketing activity you do.  Focus on creating connection and you’ll do just fine!

As consumers, we get offered upsells all the time:  the car rental company offers upgraded insurance packages, the furniture retailer suggests scotch-guarding the fabric, the fast food joint wants to super-size your meal, the electronics store offers extended warranties, and so on.

So why do most small business owners cringe when it’s suggested that they should be utilizing upsells in their day-to-day interactions with their customers?

Many of us tend to think we’re being pushy salespeople or we’ll make our customers angry at us for wanting more of their money or time.

It’s all in how you approach it.  If you have created products and services that truly help people, then telling them about something else (an upsell) that could increase their satisfaction or help them faster or easier is almost your duty.

Unless you’re upselling in a really obnoxious or annoying way, most people will either upgrade and say thanks for the great offer or just say “no thank you”.

Of course, only some clients will take advantage of the upsell offer but if you don’t let people know about it, then you’ll have no one buying your add-ons!

Take a look at all the different components of your marketing strategy to identify areas where it makes sense to let the customer know about an upsell product or service:

• the thank-you page in your shopping cart can list other products people may want to buy
• the email to people providing the download link to an electronic product they’ve purchased can have a suggestion for the next ebook that would most benefit them
• an insert in a workshop/seminar binder telling them about some products and services they may find beneficial in implementing what they’ve learned at the seminar
• a thank-you email after purchase, telling people about a membership club or teleseminar series they may benefit from as well
• a flyer inserted in the monthly newsletter mailing informing people of an upcoming seminar or teleseminar

Don’t be afraid to upsell your customers - just do it in a helpful, non-pushy and authentic way, and watch your revenue increase.

Can I help it that I am smiling from ear to ear?  I have been floating on air for the last 24 hours.  Let me explain.  I have been telling our clients and writers alike to engage with our readers for quite sometime.  Of course, their response is “yes” then they never do anything about it, or should I say their response is “I never get anything out of it”.  Quite honestly, I wonder if people know what “Engage with your readers” really means.

I asked one of our clients to join every Social network they thought would have their target market and start engaging them in NON-sales copy.  If you are into online marketing, you can see the blank looks on their face.  You see, we are entering a second Internet phase; businesses are downsizing and trying to stretch every dollar looking for efficiency.  They’re shifting their budget from PPC, while using SEO for organic traffic.

What does that mean?  In simple terms, great content with a mix of social media. The new era of marketing, which created the foundations of marketing on the web, made its way to a new buzz in the industry - Inbound Marketing.

What Is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound Marketing focuses on bringing the customer to the business, instead of the business searching for the customer

In outbound marketing, the “traditional” way, companies use poorly targeted techniques to bring in customers.  They use radio and T.V. advertising, spam, cold-calling, print advertising, junk mail and more.  In other words, they use every method that most people get irritated about.

These techniques are long out-dated, less effective and more expensive, thanks to technology.  TiVo, spam filters, caller ID that blocks cold calls and tools like RSS render print and visual advertising almost useless.  While these methods of advertising still work to some extent, it’s much more expensive.

Inbound Marketing flips outbound marketing on its head.

The Internet opened up whole new avenues and marketing possibilities.  Instead of television ads that scream at potential customers to “buy, buy, buy”, or junk mail that gets thrown away, inbound marketing has a gentler, more persuasive technique.  Entertaining, informative videos, interesting blogs, useful content and tools – inbound marketing is a soft, inviting whisper rather than a pounding sledgehammer.  With these tools and techniques, highly qualified customers are attracted to the business through a combination of curiosity, confidence and trust.

The Three Components of a Successful Inbound Marketing Campaign

1.  Content:  Every Inbound Marketer knows that content is king.  Information and persuasive writing, helpful tips and tools help attract potential customers to the company’s website or business.

2.  Search Engine Optimization: Potential customers find this informative content much easier through SEO.  Building your site, and building up inbound links to your site, through optimization and website design “best practices” maximizes your search engine rankings.  SEO brings your product, website or company into the public’s eye, so they can begin the buying process.

3.  Social Media:  When the content is truly helpful, informative and interesting, people tend to discuss it with their friends, family, co-workers etc.  Distributed across several networks, it gains credibility and authenticity, making it more likely to draw people to your website.

You’re wondering what any of that has to do with the smile on my face?  In one day I was able to prove that using inbound marketing can not only save you money by getting free targeted traffic, but you learn that investing in your company’s future sometimes has it’s rewards without trying.

I was featured in Businessweek.com for engaging in Social media.  That alone has sent our website a nice boost of traffic.  I know I may not get all the business that‘s out there but, the way I see it nobody does. However, the new business I do get can result in a higher base of  happy customers, more referrals, and ultimately more sales.

I remember when my business coach talked about creating products and services that would be ongoing and provide recurring revenue.  At the time, I was just starting out and getting one little ebook created and off of my plate was proving to be an arduous task.

The thought of doing something on an ongoing basis scared the heck out of me!

But now that I’ve gotten some marketing tactics running consistently and smoothly (well, most of the time!) and have a few products and services to offer people, I’m re-looking at the thought of ongoing services to offer.

Who doesn’t get excited when you hear the words “recurring revenue”?!  Especially for us small business owners who have experienced the whole “feast or famine” nature of doing business at some time.

But it’s not just the money that gets me excited; it’s the fact that I would have loyal, stick-around clients and customers that I could really have a meaningful, rewarding business relationship with.  To me, it’s always been really satisfying to see people progress and learn over a period of time, and get to share in their triumphs and missteps and really see them grow.

There are many examples of ways that you can “sign up” clients for a lifetime:

• set up a members’ only blog or forum
• send out a CD every month
• sell a subscription to your monthly newsletter
• have a membership program
• have ongoing coaching calls
• have a “book of the month” type of program
• have a teleseminar series

There are many ways to offer ongoing help and assistance to your prospects and customers - you’re limited only by your imagination and your target audience’s needs!  So start brainstorming today and reap the rewards of recurring revenue and an ongoing connection with people.

Having an information product is the best way to do something once and get paid for it over and over again.  It’s the way smart business owners and solo-preneurs stop trading time for money and start trading all that great, valuable knowledge in their heads for money!

So where do you start?

Here are 3 ways for you to inexpensively and quickly create an info-product:

1)  Offer a teleseminar or teleclass

• record it using audioacrobat
• offer the MP3 or burn some CDs and offer it with a transcript if you want

This is a good choice if you are starting from scratch and aren’t already doing any training or workshops.

2)  Use an existing training program or workshop

• record the training or program and offer with or without the transcript
• if you already have a recording, then just package up with an introduction and sell as an MP3 or CD, or as a higher end product that included both the transcript and audio
• if you’ve only got the written version, record it yourself using audioacrobat

Choose this one if you are already delivering some content to people and you can take advantage of an existing program or booking.

3)  Re-purpose existing articles, reports and blog posts

• collect the best ones, add an introduction and sell as an ebook
• record some of the articles and add an MP3 or CD to charge more

This works well when you have lots of existing content (i.e. articles and blog posts) that is still relevant and “fresh”.

As you can see, creating info-products - especially “beginner” ones - can be inexpensive, quick and painless!  Take a look around you and see what opportunities you can take advantage of to make simple, yet valuable, information products that you can offer to your prospects and clients.