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Out of the Fog Marketing Blog
Tips, thoughts and topics on marketing for small to medium-sized businesses in Michigan and
throughout the world. Contributions by Chris Slocumb, Casey Frushour, as well as other members of the Clarity Quest team.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Site Maps Point the Way to Better Search RankingsOne of the simplest things you can do to improve your company's natural search rankings is post a well-constructed and properly coded site map on your website. Site maps are a great way to be found by the search engines. A properly-constructed site map provides anchor text links to pertinent pages throughout a Web site. For small sites below 100 pages, you can provide links in the sitemap to every page. Larger sites should categorize the site and provide links to only the most relevant pages throughout the site. Google's Webmaster Guidelines page has several tips for creating and then submitting your website's sitemap. Labels: Michigan SEO, search engine optimization, sitemaps, web site maps, website development
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Keys to Starting a Business BlogMario Sundar, the person who started the corporate blog at LinkedIn, recently posted a great article entitled Corporate Blogging 101: 10 Easy Steps to Get a Corporate Blog Up & Running.Mario's Top 10 List1. Define your vision 2. Designate an editor or chief blogger 3. Earn the approval of your internal teams 4. Define your categories 5. Enlist contributors and plan posts 6. Create a blog calendar:
7. Define your template/layout 8. Stick to the categories 9. Veer towards content that provides value
10. Measure progressLabels: business blogs, corporate blogs, mario sundar
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Words, Words, Words
The foundation of any successful internet marketing effort is establishing a list of keywords and phrases to emphasize on your site. Most search engine optimization and full-service marketing firms offer keyword research and analysis. You'll find deals on the web offering keyword analysis for under $100. But beware, those low-cost marketing firms do not take the time to understand your business, your target markets and your competition. The best keyword analysis is performed by a marketing firm that truly understands your marketing plan and product positioning. The phrases with lots of volume and lots of competition are easy to find. Finding those keyword gems with large volume and no competition in most cases demands the researcher really understands your business and product offerings. Labels: Internet marketing, keyword analysis, SEO
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Why Top Advertising Agencies Don't Eat Their Own DogfoodThe top 5 ad agencies know that public relations gets you more bang for the buck than advertising. Read the complete story on InternetWorldStats. Labels: advertising agencies, public relations
Monday, July 16, 2007
Getting the Most from Your MarketingSeth Godin had an amazing quote in his blog last Friday..."The art of marketing is not finding more money to do more marketing. It's figuring out how to tell a story that spreads with the resources you've got."
Read closely..."spread the story" is the important keyphrase. You don't have to have a $200K per year chief marketing officer or a glitzy New York PR firm. You just have to make the most of an established and reasonable marketing budget.
Our firm handles marketing for a Seattle biotech firm that consistently gets kudos from Fortune 50 pharmaceutical firms for its marketing efforts. The CEO consistently hears "You guys are all over the place." Yet the entire marketing budget for this firm has never topped $150K and in the first 3 years of the firm's existence was never over $75K. This is less than the salary and benefits for ONE senior level marketing executive!
Outsourcing marketing efforts has let the company focus more budget on the "story" and less on in-house resources.
Labels: biotech marketing, outsource marketing, Seattle biotech, seth godin
Monday, July 9, 2007
 Personalize Your PR
Many small companies miss out on the full potential of a press release by not sending the release directly to a targeted media list. Yes, wire services can be great in getting the message out to a large audience. However, you will get much better online and print media coverage if you email the release to selected editors and reporters in your field at the same time or even before you distribute the press release over a wire service.
Many reporters will accept a release with terms "under embargo" which means they will not print the story until the date you indicate. This way the reporter has time to prepare the story or conduct interviews in advance of the actual news coming out. Labels: embargo press release, public relations
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Professional Networking Sites
Professional networking sites are great ways to find connections between people. While I've never got a lead off one, clients have mentioned checking my recommendations and customer testimonials on these sites. Here are two popular business networking sites.
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 www.linkedin.com A must for many professionals, LinkedIn allows people to recommend you, find you via your location and expertise, and prompts users to advertise their experience and education for potential clients and employers. -
 www.spoke.com Spoke is a large “freemium” service that boasts thirty-five million people and almost a million companies. Use the service to find potential clients and employees.
Labels: business networking sites, LinkedIn, Spoke
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Crain's 100 Most Influential Women SurveyCrain’s Detroit Business published its last list of the “100 Most Influential Women” in Southeast Michigan in 2002. They included entrepreneurs, civic leaders and top executives at the largest companies in the southeast Michigan area. Five years makes a big difference in business. So in 2007, Crain’s again asks: Who are the most successful businesswomen in metro Detroit? Nominations are due by July 13th.
Labels: business list, metro Detroit business, Michigan business, michigan survey
Ann Arbor on the VergeOur home of Ann Arbor was featured in the latest issue of Fast Company as city on the verge of being a startup hub. Winners is this category were London, Austin and Madison, WI. Labels: ann arbor business, Michigan business
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