Thanks for your comment.

Best,
CB

I love hearing about the success you’ve had with your blog. It’s the most powerful platform I’ve encountered for being able to share information about your company and business. As Hans mentioned above, it’s important to make your content reusable and share-able to increase exposure and reach people outside of your immediate circle; blogs do that.

Thanks for sharing.

Best,
CB

Christine, thanks for this informative post.

What an excellent addition and reminder! The more we can share, the better and the more likely we are to reach new audiences – as you say. Something to keep in mind in re-using content is to never forget to add your own interpretation [the human, personal element] and to give attribution – which also seem to help further spread ideas.

You bring to mind David Meerman Scott and his World Wide Rave.

Thank you for contributing!

Best,
CB

Your #4 tip is one that we have used and it really works. I have had my blog for about 2 1/2 years and post weekly. I see in my blog stats that people go to our website quite a bit after reading an article.

It takes time to get the word out but in the long run it is really worth it.

Great post, but I want to comment on #5. I agree with you to make your content unique and not copy content from other websites. Although people also appreciate when you point them to interesting content on other websites.

But you should also present your content in such a way that others can go ahead and re-use it. The more people that use your content the better. This will only help you to get more exposure and reach people that you would otherwise have missed.

BR,
Hans

Best,
CB

Thank you!

Best,
CB

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

Best,
CB

Their website still has the April issue, but it might be worth keeping an eye out for when the May issue arrives online. Perhaps it will include that article in full.

Fair or not, it’s been interesting to see how Flash has been in the cross-hairs recently.

But back to the original point. I agree flash for the sake of flash is a waste. A dopey splash page entering a site is a waste of everyone’s time. But the nice little flash module that about 50% of sites use nowadays to rotate 3 or 4 hero spots on the home page actually contribute a nice look and experience. To me, the issue there is not coding, but content. If the content in the hero space isn’t repeated, and in more depth, elsewhere on the page (i.e., outside of flash), then it’s time to bring in the SEO consultant.

Thanks for the discussion.

I want to talk about the comment about hard sell. Even in the store you shouldn’t have a hard sell, but you certainly should see. The best approach is a helpful approach. Give customers the information they need to make a purchase. This goes for offline and online. Too many “Social Media Experts” push this no advertising or selling on social media and that is plain wrong. The research I have seen indicates people do not mind receiving information about products. That is why they become Fans. Yes you should have a mix of engagement and of information broadcasting.

What about the point that Mike Klassen makes? What is an effective solution for iPads, etc.? I’d love to hear your perspective.

Thanks for being part of this discussion.

Best,
CB

What that look-n-feel of your site does is communicate how well you have thought out the value you offer visitors. Simple truly is better especially when done from the perspective of potential customers and not cluttered up with all the gory, flashy trappings that are remnants of the hard sell/shouty days.

Thanks for sharing your friend’s marvelous example! I hope lots of other business people learn from him.

Best,
CB

My friend has a local plumbing biz specializing in tankless water heaters. As you can imagine, most plumbers have crappy looking websites. His, however, is very simple and polished, filled with useful info — in layman’s terms, to boot.

Even though it hasn’t been updated much in the past three years, many new customers still tell him that HIS WEBSITE is what convinced them to go tankless AND to buy from his company.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that the intangible look-n-feel of your site is equally important as the other things you’ve mentioned. Don’t hand the reins to your nephew, hire a designer so your website makes the right impression.

Jeanne

But the new iPad has the same Flash limitation. And if you’ve followed the Apple vs. Adobe battle, Apple has no intention of displaying Flash on either product.

The iPad is more geared toward web browsing. And despite what anyone may think about Apple or the iPad, they sell a lot of products and the iPad is no different. You don’t want to lock those people out.