Effective Status Updates

The first time I went on Twitter, I was like, "This is it? I don't get it."

It soon became clear that one of the Internet's most powerful social media tools is your status updates. On most social networks, your friends' status updates are the first thing you see. You can quickly browse over them to get caught up with everybody, and easily make comments wherever you want to throw in your two cents.

To reverse this, your online friends, associates and other contacts, are always exposed to your status updates. It is impossible to avoid them unless you are one of those anti-social-networking freaks. (just saying)

Given the importance of your status updates, the question then becomes: How do you make your updates effective and focused on your business?

Here's three simple rules to follow:

1. Personalized: Wherever you can, add your own personalized flavour to your posts. Keep your personality, wit, and sense of humour.
   
2. Interesting or helpful: Add your own expertise and advice, tips and tricks (for free!).
   
3. Personal/professional ratio of 4/1: You are encouraged to update your status at least every 24 hours. This leaves lots of room for personal posts and professional posts. I'd suggest that you post 4 personal posts to every 1 professional business post. This will keep people interested in following your status and then when you sneak in a business advertisement, people will appreciate it, not be overloaded by them. They will also be sure to read them because they genuinely want to know what you are up to as a person like them.
   

Examples of a personal post:

• camping was rained out this weekend!
• late driving the kids to school again :(
• on my 5th cup of coffee and it's only 7 am, lol

This establishes you as a real person and other people have been there and can relate to those posts. It might put a smile on your friends' faces and they won't be able to resist commenting.

Now... mix up your personal posts with a professional/business plug. For example, after I'm done writing this blog article, I will post the topic and link in my status updates, thereby reminding people of my business and expertise.

Good examples of a business/professional post:

• 3 networking meetings in 2 days may be a bit much!
  
• halfway thru my business mtg this morn i realized my fly was down =(
  
• is checking out http://animoto.com for making videos for Facebook and websites
• Read my blog article, "How I was caught Phishing": http://allisonkessler.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-i-was-caught-phishing.html

A really successful business/professional post contains an element of humour that makes people laugh. They will remember laughing and they will remember you.

So now you have no excuses. Just accept how important updating your status is to your professional/business, as well to you on a personal level. Make it part of your daily routine like taking your vitamins.

Google Analytics & Keyword Research Tools

I offer Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services. My services include basic industry research, including online research. I find out what keyword words and phrases your customers use to find a business like yours, and analyze how your direct competitors have optimized their websites. My goal is to have your website perform competitively in organic search engine results.

But what happens if you want more?
And what is "more" anyway?

I once sent a client to my Search Engine Marketing (SEM) partner. My SEM partner gave my client a free-initial consultation and a quote of just under $2,500 (initial fee) and a 6-month maintenance plan at (approx.) $500/month. I was copied with the quote, and my client came to me and said, "the costs sound reasonable ... but the problem is that I'm not exactly sure what she's selling."

My point here is that SEO and SEM is what everybody thinks they want... two very HOT items... but these same customers may not know what these intangible services really are.

Some good questions may be:

1. What am I really getting for all that money?
2. Are there any guarantees?
3. Do I have to pay "monthly maintenance" for ever?

In my opinion and professional experience, there are two next steps that include Google Analytics (and/or your website statistics program) and keyword research tools. But before I outline these tools/steps, I have to warn you about something. If you want to undertake these tasks, you need to be the following type of person.
You:

• Enjoy sifting through reams and reams of data:
• Think spreadsheets are the cat's meow;
  
• Enjoy looking at pretty graphs (the idea of making pretty graphs works you into a frenzy), and
• Will seriously analyze the data at regular intervals and incorporate strategic changes, testing and experiments into your online marketing plan.

To say you are detail-oriented is putting it mildly.

So, to summarize this rant, my services include the basic (organic) search engine optimization. And I have had fantastic results and tangible success from my efforts. However, I am NOT this detail-hungry type of person to perform the next steps and charge for it. I have tried for many years to find a partner to outsource these services to - and who would also be a good fit with my business - to no avail.

Now, onto the next Steps!

Step #1: Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free service and you can login with your Gmail account info. I would suggest signing up for Google Analytics, putting the code on your site, and then letting the stats accrue... even if you have no current plans to do anything with them at this time.

1. First you have to login (or create your login) using your Gmail account.
2. Then you create a new account (a new website account). It will ask you for your URL, geographical location, timezone, etc.
3. Finally, it will give you the code to add to the bottom of each of your web pages. If you are not your web designer, you have the option at the bottom to email the code for your website to your web designer.
4. Add your web designer or someone else as a USER to your Google Analytics account. (A User must have a Gmail account.) Simply make sure you are in your website profile. Look for "User Manager" at the bottom.
   
5. Wait for some statistics to be recorded.
   

The benefits of using a Google statistics tool is that it is connected with Google Adwords (pay-per-click listings), etc., so that if you decide to pay for any listings in the future, you will have the most complete set of statistics for your return on investment. I have heard that Google Analytics is far more complete than any free website statistics that comes with your web hosting. (But don't quote me on that! I haven't personally compared them.)

But this is as far as I go. I bought "Google Analytics for Dummies" or some such book (which I can't locate this second), but it was not a light read. I tried to delegate it, but that didn't work either. So... go buy your own book and good luck!

Step #2: Keyword Research Tools/Services

Stay tuned for Step #2 in my next blog posting!

Creative Project Management

To be effective and successful, creative project management must be anti-traditional.

The kind of challenges a creative project manager regularly encounters include:

1. Scope creep and project scope changes. Many of the best ideas will develop during the creative process - so be prepared for this. It is impossible to predict at the outset where all of the twists and turns will be.
   
2. Working quickly to ride each projects' momentum, while at the same time incorporating breathing room for the designers. The clients also need time to try on the ideas and make sure they are a good fit for them, their employees and clients.
   
3. Having to work within inflexible budgets.
   
4. Having to work to strict deadlines.
   

Here are some tips on how to make your creative project management style anti-traditional!

1. In your estimates, lay out each proposed project separately, and, if possible, each project should be then broken down into individual steps.
   
2. Work step by step, and have your clients agree to working step by step. So if the project scope changes, you don't have to reconsider an entire client-approved proposal. You can easily incorporate scope changes mid-project.
3. Bill step by step, and/or incorporate progress billing into your system. I used to bill 50% up front and then the other 50% upon final project completion. And each project actually incorporated several mini projects. Unfortunately, by doing this, you run out of $$ to finish the last half... and may not get paid for it up to 6 months upon final project(s) completion! It's hard to run a business like this.
4. Work quickly on each step within a project like you have just procrastinated for a month on a project due for school tomorrow. Seriously! Some of your best work is produced when you are late and will have to face the consequences :) The time to rest is after certain steps are completed 100%. And be sure to reward yourself for a job well done.
   
5. Meet with your clients in person and have telephone meetings. Miscommunications are avoided this way, even though you may think email communication is quicker. Miscommunications can take longer to clear up so don't be shy, call your client and be a pain!
6. Use 37 Signals' Basecamp to manage your creative projects. I'm not sure what I'd do without Basecamp.
7. Eliminate needless paperwork and administrative steps.
   

I would love to hear any of your tips for creative project management!

Why I Hate Burgundy

Colours... the foundation of our world. Who would think it's so complex? Designers know better!

One of the first things you learn in life are colours. "What colour is this circle?... red", "what colour is this square?... that's right, blue!"

But the range of different colours is exponential. And the name that you call a certain colour depends on your experience, teachers, and geographical area in the world you grew up in. Not only that, but men and women see colours differently. Their eyes are actually built differently. And you throw in various intensities of colour-blindness, and all of a sudden a simple subject isn't simple anymore.

So, when a client asks me to try out the colour burgundy, I have to overcome my urge to puke burgundy chunks into the toilet. What's burgundy to one, may be maroon to another, may be red to another, may be pooh brown to another. It's a very difficult colour to pin down and reach consensus on.

Web Colours vs. Print Colours

Colours, for design purposes, have all been assigned a number value. This insures you have the EXACT colour. However, printed colours use a CMYK value and web colours use a HEX value. I'll spare you the boring details! So, when you want to take your web/monitor colour and have it printed, you have to either convert it to CMYK, or actually colour match with your eyes.

Graphic designers and professional printers have CMYK books showcasing all of the colours you can choose for your print job. What you may have to do is hold up the colour book to your monitor and pick the printed colours by hand.

Insist on a Proof

This is a very good reason to insist on printing a proof of your business cards (or whatever you are getting printed) before printing off an entire batch and realizing the colours aren't correct.

Think Again!

So, next time you think about colours - especially if you are in the middle of choosing your branding colours, think twice before settling on burgundy :)