tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37749154033296113082010-02-09T08:28:25.304-05:00My Thoughts on Website Design and Social Media for Growing Your BusinessJoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-15246729305754726732010-02-02T17:08:00.003-05:002010-02-02T20:52:27.268-05:00

Select Appropriate Pictures. It is no surprise that pictures are an important part of your website's content. But it appears as if many small business owners do not spend much time selecting or taking pictures. I'm going to give a quick test you can give your website to see if the pictures are appropriate and a guide to help you select the good pictures. Test Your Website:Selling Products If your

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-80453731996137770992010-01-26T23:39:00.001-05:002010-01-27T14:10:33.875-05:00

Simplify Your Website. Sometimes small businesses try to do too much with their website. I want to suggest that small businesses  simplify what service or products they offer on their web site. I'm not suggesting that websites should highlight only one product. I am suggesting, for small businesses, it is beneficial to concentrate content on one service or product area. Although it might mean

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-22809403696441480122010-01-19T13:12:00.000-05:002010-01-19T13:12:33.343-05:00

Using UDRP to reclaim your domain from a cybersquatter. Last week at a Painesville Chamber meeting I overheard another attendant complaining that someone had the .COM version of their company's name. The cybersquatter wanted $10,000 for the domain, and the business owner wondered if there was a service to negotiate a fair price. I told him about the UDRP and suggested that he might be able to

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-28535433840875316742010-01-13T13:49:00.001-05:002010-01-13T13:50:30.298-05:00

Before you post a comment about the telephone not being social media, let me offer an alternative title: 2009's Most Often Forgotten Marketing Tool for Small Business - The Telephone. The last few years have seen a lot of press coverage about  using social media to market business. When I am asked by clients to help them with their website or internet marketing they all want help with social

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-46971401122124038232010-01-04T15:19:00.013-05:002010-01-05T11:22:08.106-05:00

Everyone seems to be making New Year's Resolutions, and small business owners are no different. Here is a list of four resolutions for your businesses web presence. 1) Start Using Social MediaI am going to start using social media to interact with my customers. First I am going to listen and understand my client's concerns, then I will talk to them. To listen to your clients, you need to find

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-6495881554535176022009-12-24T12:43:00.203-05:002009-12-25T15:01:51.428-05:00

This is a continuation of posts related to improving your company’s web presence. In a previous blog I discussed how to select SEO keywords. Today we are going to look at what to do with those keywords, where to place them and how to place them on a page. Unlike previous posts, you will need to understand HTML (or work with a developer who does) to implement these suggestions. You Are Writing

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-58955506553742289272009-12-18T15:09:00.008-05:002009-12-23T15:08:10.104-05:00

Head Shots Not Only For Actors  I want to encourage everyone to upload a professional photograph for their LinkedIn profile picture. These images can server four purposes. It sends a subtle reminder to people that you are a real person and not an impersonal corporation. People like to deal with other people. It can make meeting someone in real life easier. If you agree to meet with a potential

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-12110266976465211742009-12-14T11:36:00.182-05:002009-12-24T12:18:00.993-05:00

This week we continue the series of posts related to improving your company’s web presence. Past blogs have discussed simple usability testing, web design, and a basic SEO Review. Today I'm going to look at another SEO issue: Selecting Keywords. Choosing keywords is one of the easiest things to do and yet picking the correct keywords is one of the hardest. This article assumes that you are new

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-6493457227232667302009-12-07T23:59:00.011-05:002009-12-24T12:17:41.038-05:00

This week we continue the series of posts related to improving your company's web presence. Past blogs have discussed simple usability testing, web design, and a basic SEO Review. Today I'm going to look at additional issues related to SEO. Some of this week's issues require a bit of HTML to identify or fix. Using Images not Text for Content:Does your website use images instead of text for large

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-24160715600937017962009-11-30T17:43:00.046-05:002009-12-14T14:14:51.522-05:00

This week we continue the series of posts related to improving your company's web presence. Past blogs have discussed simple usability testing and web design. Now we are going to look at some specific website issues related to SEO. You do not need to understand HTML to see if your site suffers from most of these SEO issues, but some issues require a bit of HTML to identify or fix. Reusing the

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-39814694235341736332009-11-24T23:19:00.017-05:002009-12-14T14:15:41.331-05:00

This week we continue the series of posts related to improving your company's web presence. Last week I talked about a simple and easy test for site usability and design. Now we are going to look at some basic website design issues. You do not need to understand HTML to see if your site suffers from these design issues, but you will need to know HTML to fix some of them. Displaying too Much

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-13657525929081844362009-11-17T23:09:00.010-05:002009-12-14T14:16:25.781-05:00

Improve Your Businesses Internet Presence: Are you feeling overwhelmed? Do you have a nagging feeling you could do more to improve your company's internet presence. This next set of articles will give you a list of tasks you can use to get started. Small business owners can feel overwhelmed by all the different jobs they need to do. There are tasks related to their web site: Setting up a

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-72600705662685481292009-11-10T09:38:00.005-05:002009-11-30T17:56:29.385-05:00

You read the correctly. I don't think LinkedIn (LI) profiles are part of social media marketing. They lack the interaction that is a large part of social media. LinkedIn does allow for some interaction, through Status Updates and the Answers section of the site. Overall I would classify it as an information tool, which should be part of a marketing strategy. Useful Marketing ToolLinkedIn can be

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-85796089707517667592009-11-04T15:18:00.006-05:002009-11-30T17:54:37.232-05:00

There are several Won'ts for social media. If you are starting to market your small business using social media, you should understand these Won'ts. Understanding and remembering these Won'ts will help prevent you from becoming disappointed and frustrated with your social media marketing. You will be less likely to give up using social media to market your company. Social Media Won'tWork if you

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-73274178421575664392009-10-24T14:40:00.048-04:002009-11-30T17:54:06.448-05:00

Write for your audience and tell them the main point first.  You have 7 seconds to attract their attention, well written content can keep them reading. What to Write About?Do you have a hard time thinking of anything to write about? Or are you like me? I always have something I  want to say, the problem is picking the right topic / issue to write about. The most useful tip I have heard is, "

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-34249704371482774132009-10-20T22:43:00.008-04:002009-11-30T17:53:00.518-05:00

Social Media for Small Business - Part TwoPart One dealt with planning your social media strategy, now comes the actual doing. What should you blog, tweet or share with your friends / customers? For this entry I will concentrate on blogging. What to Write About?You need to figure that out for yourself - unless you are willing to hire someone to figure that out for you. Hopefully you have done

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-53536299711746665562009-10-13T23:01:00.020-04:002009-11-30T17:51:37.501-05:00

It is not the questions that are important but that they remind me to keep my audience in mind. Why this subject?What is the difference between a blog and twitter? What about a blog and a website are they the same? The answer to these questions seems obvious, and maybe it is to you. But last month, they were serious questions by attendees at a social media and internet trends presentation, for

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-69328631573320649512009-10-06T08:17:00.013-04:002009-11-30T17:50:18.251-05:00

Planning is the first step for businesses who want to enter the world of Social Media Social Media for Small Business - Part OneI recently gave a talk at a Lorain County small business group, the discussion was centered on Social Media and small businesses. After talking to this group I realized that many small business owners, when it comes to social media, are unsure about  what to do, how to

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-60372164669777091102009-09-27T21:37:00.008-04:002009-10-26T08:04:46.532-04:00

Sidewiki Turning the web into a kindergarten  playground Sidewiki  - Commenting on webs sites: This week Google released an addition to their tool bar called Sidewiki. This allows people with a Google account to write comments about any site. Anyone with Google's tool bar and the Sidewiki plugin, can view  comments left by others. People with this add-on can post and read comments about any web

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-69829628838530165472009-09-21T09:16:00.003-04:002009-10-26T08:06:11.116-04:00

Small Business are Successfully Using Social Media.   Last time I posted a blog, it was about companies I thought do a good job using media to promote their business. I also promised a look at some smaller business successes, so here they are. LocalGetaways.com -  a travel web site for the San Fransisco Bay. Part of what they did was simple in concept - but implementing it took a bit of courage.

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-42034045959724787812009-08-24T11:24:00.010-04:002009-10-26T08:07:28.438-04:00

Companies Promoting Brand Using Social Media "What can we do with social media or web 2.0? ", that is a very common question. Try a search on Google for social media marketing and there will be over 200,000,000 results. I thought I'd talk about some companies I think have done a good job using social media to promote their brand. (These are in no particular order.) Sharpie pens - they created

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-55318012069369492652009-07-08T22:49:00.007-04:002009-10-26T08:08:20.810-04:00

Can It / Will Work - Yes With Some Effort: That seems to be the question being asked by everyone, these days. Can social media be used to help the bottom line of a business? Is it hype or a practical tool for marketing products/service. Knowledge Networks did a study about how people use social media and release the results this spring. It reported that 5% or less of people regularly turn to

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-27274756596884552392009-06-29T16:57:00.006-04:002009-10-26T08:09:56.008-04:00

Planning to Tweet or Blog? Better Be Prepared to Write More Often Tehn You Do Now. The different segments of web space (traditional, web 2.0 and social media) each have their own user expectations, particularly regarding content. This seems obvious, but I have not seen any studies or recommendations regarding how often one should tweet, blog, update facebook or web content. Here are my

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-47237475262908395202009-06-11T14:52:00.012-04:002009-11-17T23:15:17.436-05:00

What is web space?: It is a concept that encompasses the methods to convey information over the internet. In conversations with clients I find it convenient to break up the internet into three categories: Traditional Internet - This segment is composed of static web sites, e-newsletter, and emails. Web 2.0 - (A phrase coined by Darcy DiNucci in 1999) Traditionally is described as containing rich

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774915403329611308.post-26550970523668496102009-05-29T09:08:00.007-04:002009-11-17T23:15:44.762-05:00

Goals what are they? In my last post one of my comments was that companies should "Set up some reasonable goals" if they are going to enter the social media web space. One of my clients asked what are realistic quantifiable goals and how can you measure them? Two Types of Goals: My answer was that there are two type of goals. The first type of goal can be describe by the nebulous term "Brand

JoJo @ Zajonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315048633845505455noreply@blogger.com0