Content Marketing Doesn't Work

This may seem like an odd article coming from someone who makes their living in the content marketing world. But when I say that content marketing doesn’t work, it’s true. It doesn’t work for many companies because they either have the wrong expectations or the wrong creation and promotion strategies. And when content marketing isn’t deployed correctly, it doesn’t work.

Content marketing is a bit of a buzz word. The idea has been around for a long time, but it’s recently garnered attention as social media and SEO have started valuing content more and more. Add to this the fact that customers are doing more research before they make a purchase, and you can see why content marketing is getting more attention than ever before.

In the chart you can see that content marketing has actually surpassed search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) in search popularity. In fact, of the big four digital mediums, it trails only social media marketing in current interest.

But What Is Content Marketing?

The dangers of trends is that there is a lot of misinformation around what the trend really is. Because of this, I’ve seen definitions of content marketing ranging from native advertising to blogging to social media. Technically these are all forms of content, and yes they are also forms of marketing, but does that make them content marketing?

For this article, let’s limit the definition of content marketing to this:

Content marketing is the act of a company, business, or organization producing and promoting informative content to engage and interact with their target audience.

Why Doesn’t It Work?

Simply put, content marketing doesn’t work because it needs two attributes to be successful, a long-term commitment and high-quality content. And both of these requirements have high demands in terms of time and effort. Because of this, they are often ignored in an attempt to make content marketing more scalable and easier to deploy.

But unlike SEO and PPC, you’re not dealing with an algorithm when it comes to content marketing. You’re dealing with the reactions and emotions of your living, breathing customers. And that can’t be gamed, hacked, or exploited. Instead, you need to plan and deploy a content marketing campaign with the same care and attention that you would any other major company initiative.

Consistency

Content marketing requires time and effort. And these are two things that are usually in short supply in most growing companies. So, how do you find them? You democratize your content creation. Instead of trying to shoulder the burden of content creation with one person or one department, the responsibilities should be spread around the company. This accomplishes two things. First, it allows the workload to be shared and ensures that there is always someone fresh ready to step up and produce content. Second, it gives your message many different perspectives and voices. This is great for keeping the content from becoming stale and tired.

Another great trick to remain consistent is to have a well-established plan going into your campaign. This means that you sit down and write up your content calendar and your promotion strategies. And you need to make these as specific as possible. Ambiguity in your calendar will open the door for dropped initiatives and forgotten tasks. So assign hard due dates and make sure that everyone sticks to them.

Finally, in order to stay consistent you have to make sure your content doesn’t become a chore for you, the producer. To do this, mix in many different types of content so you’re always working on something that challenges you in a new way. Here’s a short list of a few types of content that work great:

• Blog Posts
• Infographics
• Slide Decks
• Case Studies
• eBooks
• Whitepapers
• Videos
• Quizzes
• Audits
• ROI Calculators
• Memes and Images

As you can see, content marketing isn’t dependent on having a blog. Yes, a blog is a great tool for content marketing, but it’s only one piece of the larger puzzle.

Once you have a consistent plan, you now need to focus on the quality of the content.

Quality

When it comes to the quality of your content, I like to liken it to the décor of your home. You want to produce content that you’d be proud to take home and hang on the wall. If you wouldn’t be caught dead with your content adorning your house, then you shouldn’t be using it to try and engage with your customers.

For the penny pinchers out there, it’s an unfortunate fact that you often get what you pay for when it comes to content creation. This doesn’t mean you can’t outsource your content creation, but you should expect to get what you pay for. That’s why for smaller companies it’s usually a better idea to create their content in-house.

So, whether you’re outsourcing your content creation or taking care of it internally, you need to ensure that you’re producing content on the right topics. To do this, you need to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. At our firm we use in-depth buyer personas and customer journeys to give us an idea of who our target audience is and what we should produce.

Once you know who they are you want to help them. You do this by solving their problems. So, instead of producing content that’s all about you and your company, you should produce content that answers questions and helps them solve the challenges they face. As I’ve stated many times before, no one wants to download your brochure.

And don’t scrimp on the details. There have been many studies that the content that’s shared and engaged with the most is long-form, in-depth pieces that are supported by research and statistics.

This means you shouldn’t be killing yourself to produce new content every single day. But rather, you should focus on producing high-quality pieces. As long as you’re doing that consistently, then arbitrary cadences don’t matter as much.

The Proof Is In The Pudding

A friend of mine, Jake Baadsgaard, who owns a conversion optimization and PPC company called Disruptive Advertising, realized early on how much impact content marketing had on his marketing efforts. And we’re talking about a guy who works with PPC every day. Be that as it may, he knows that his PPC efforts are much more effective when they’re supported by content marketing.

“We have one of the most active and informative blogs in the PPC industry. And it produces great results for us in terms of traffic and customer engagement. But the temptation to short-cut the content production and promotion was a major challenge I needed to overcome. But a dedication to writing and planning has allowed us to stick to our guns and produce content that we’re proud of and that we know our customers want to engage with.”

Jake is not a natural content marketer. He would rather spend time on marketing activities that can be easily quantified and graphed in an Excel sheet. But his blog has been active for over a year and the posts they publish are long-form with great insights and research. This has led to syndication of the content, speaking opportunities, and interview requests. But without that commitment to quality and consistency, he wouldn’t have experienced those fringe benefits.

Put It All Together

So the next time you hear someone tell you that they don’t see the value in content marketing and that they never saw results for their efforts, they’re probably right. Because as I’ve outlined in this article, content marketing won’t work unless you focus on what’s important and have a long-term plan for success.

Original article can be found at http://www.forbes.com/sites/miketempleman/2015/08/17/content-marketing-doesnt-work/ 

DeliveryMaxx has the answers and tools you need to successfully create the content you need to work for your business.  For more information visit http://www.deliverymaxx.com 

Digital Marketing Done Right - DeliveryMaxx

2015 Best of Rockwall Awards DeliveryMaxx for Management Consulting Services

DeliveryMaxx is one of the most talked about digital marketing companies in the country with their patent pending digital solutions program.  In short, DeliveryMaxx has discovered a way for businesses to provide an opportunity for all of their customer to share their great experience with their friends and family through a digital network that is the strongest on the World Wide Web.  Not only has DeliveryMaxx developed a unique program that separates its clients from their competition, the program also increases Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Online Reputation Management (ORM), Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Content Management (CM) all utilizing one simple app.

The great thing about DeliveryMaxx is that they use common sense business principles combine with today’s technology creating excellent results for their clients.

DeliveryMaxx started a little over five years ago as a customer retention program and quickly adapted helping business to take advantage of marketing and advertising on the internet.  “When DeliveryMaxx made the conversion to digital marketing, we saw a need for businesses to be able to advertise and market on the web.  There were too many companies taking advantage of their clients not knowing or not understanding the proper way to navigate advertising on the internet.  Unfortunately, these companies actually harm businesses more than helping them and we quickly decided to help companies work digital media correctly” states James Schaefer, Chief Operating Officer of DeliveryMaxx.

The app can be downloaded by anyone, but will only be able to be utilized by DeliveryMaxx customers.

“DeliveryMaxx was created methodically filling in all of the gaps that dealerships were unable, or did not know how to fill to complete the circle of attracting a new customer, providing great service or products, and having them share their experience immediately with friends and family” explains Schaefer, thus providing automotive dealerships and other organizations with a unique ability to increase CSI Scores, Sales, Customer Loyalty, Service Revenue, Online Reputation, Search Engine Optimization, and Branding.

Industries served by DeliveryMaxx includes automotive dealerships, real estate agencies, youth sports teams, churches, celebrities, service, doctors, hotels and attorneys.

Recently, DeliveryMaxx was chosen for the 2015 Best of Rockwall for Management Consulting Services due to the program meeting all of their client’s marketing and advertising needs.

DeliveryMaxx is a privately held company providing social media marketing, web-based solutions, customer retention, and other advertising services and is based in Rockwall, Texas.  Founded in 2009 DeliveryMaxx is the preferred provider for companies needing to improve web presence, online reputation, customer satisfaction, sales, and innovative strategies that enables them to confidently deploy their mission-critical products and services in today’s competitive environment for market share.

For additional information about the company or its products and services, visit www.deliverymaxx.com.

Marketing 101

Source: SBA

In order to successfully grow your business, you’ll need to attract and then work to retain a large base of satisfied customers. Marketing emphasizes the value of the customer to the business, and has two guiding principles:

1. All company policies and activities should be directed toward satisfying customer needs.
   
2. Profitable sales volume is more important than maximum sales volume.
   

To best use these principles, a small business should:

• Determine the needs of their customers through market research
  
• Analyze their competitive advantages to develop a market strategy
  
• Select specific markets to serve by target marketing
  
• Determine how to satisfy customer needs by identifying a market mix
  

Marketing programs, though widely varied, are all aimed at convincing people to try out or keep using particular products or services. Business owners should carefully plan their marketing strategies and performance to keep their market presence strong.
Conducting Market Research
Successful marketing requires timely and relevant market information. An inexpensive research program, based on questionnaires given to current or prospective customers, can often uncover dissatisfaction or possible new products or services.
Market research will also identify trends that affect sales and profitability. Population shifts, legal developments, and the local economic situation should be monitored to quickly identify problems and opportunities. It is also important to keep up with competitors' market strategies.
Creating a Marketing Strategy
A marketing strategy identifies customer groups which a particular business can better serve than its target competitors, and tailors product offerings, prices, distribution, promotional efforts and services toward those segments. Ideally, the strategy should address unmet customer needs that offer adequate potential profitability. A good strategy helps a business focus on the target markets it can serve best.
Target Marketing
Most small businesses don’t have unlimited resources to devote to marketing; however, the SBA wants you to know that you can still see excellent returns while sticking to your budget if you focus on target marketing. By concentrating your efforts on one or a few key market segments, you’ll reap the most from small investments. There are two methods used to segment a market:

1. Geographical segmentation: Specializing in serving the needs of customers in a particular geographical area.
   
2. Customer segmentation: Identifying those people most likely to buy the product or service and targeting those groups.
   

Managing the Market Mix
Every marketing program contains four key components:

1. Products and Services: Product strategies include concentrating on a narrow product line, developing a highly specialized product or service or providing a product-service package containing unusually high-quality service.
   
2. Promotion: Promotion strategies focus on advertising and direct customer interaction. Good salesmanship is essential for small businesses because of their limited advertising budgets. Online marketing is a cheap, quick, and easy way to ensure that your business and product receive high visibility.
   
3. Price: When it comes to maximizing total revenue, the right price is crucial.  Generally, higher prices mean lower volume and vice-versa; however, small businesses can often command higher prices because of their personalized service.
   
4. Distribution: The manufacturer and wholesaler must decide how to distribute their products. Working through established distributors or manufacturers' agents is generally easiest for small manufacturers. Small retailers should consider cost and traffic flow in site selection, especially since advertising and rent can be reciprocal: a low-cost, low-traffic location means spending more on advertising to build traffic.
   

The aforementioned steps combine to form a holistic marketing program.
The nature of the product or service is also important in citing decisions. If purchases are based largely on impulse, then high-traffic and visibility are critical. On the other hand, location is less of a concern for products or services that customers are willing to go out of their way to find. The Internet makes it easy for people to obtain goods from anywhere in the world, so if you’re worried about reaching a certain market, selling your product online may do wonders for your business.

Aston Martin #DB10 - #AstonMartin

The next Bond adventure hasn't even hit theaters, and yet we already know what car he'll be driving. The Aston Martin DB10 is 007's official ride in Spectre, and is being developed specifically for the film. That kind of thing happens when a character and car maker have been linked for 50 years. Only 10 will be built, so the odds of you parking one in your garage are essentially zero, but if past concepts are any indication, you'll be seeing echoes of its streamlined design in production Aston models very soon.

Amber's Army - Benefit and Live Action - January 17, 2015

Amber was severely beat, strangled, sexually assaulted and left for dead at the hands of her soon to be ex-husband. She has an amazing will to survive and managed to get herself untied and get help all while her young daughters were in the home asleep. Amber will be out of work for a while and is in need of our support. She and her family have a long road to recovery and are asking for your support and continued prayers.

Please contact Tiffaney Alderson at 832-465-5942, to schedule a donation pick up or drop off.

They’re Back LIVE on Air from McKinney Buick GMC

Perfection is rarely duplicated.  However, October 18th live from McKinney Buick GMC; the boys from The ANE Show will once again dominate the airwaves with the most talked about Automotive, News and Entertainment radio show in the Dallas and Fort Worth area.  After a brief hiatus, (rumor has it that Doc was renegotiating a long-term deal) Jim “Doc” Proctor, The Guru Josh Deaton, Jeff “Bubba” Thompson and James “The Spin Doctor” Schaefer will pick up the mic every Saturday morning at 9 AM on Clear Channel Radio’s 1190 AM.

The show is not your typical radio talk show.  There is a definite purpose to the hour long program.  The ANE Show which stands for “Automotive, News, and Entertainment” provides information for consumers and dealerships alike helping listeners find the right vehicle for their needs.  However, the show doesn’t take the typical approach to just providing the same information about the automotive industry every week.

Each week, listeners will be able to interact with the cast of characters through social media as well as visit with this team live on location.

The “Doc” and “Bubba” have spent many years in the automotive industry helping put car buyers in the right vehicle.  They built a great reputation for providing great vehicles for fair prices, and even more for going the extra mile to make buyers happy.  “The Guru” and “Spin Doctor” created a patent-pending digital marketing company (DeliveryMaxx) that blends social media and online reputation to help any company, organization, or person that utilizes the web to share or sell their products or services.  Combined, listeners will be able to understand the automotive industry learning how best to buy vehicles as well as keep up with the latest industry news.

In addition to being informed about the automotive industry, real world news, sports and entertainment will be discussed during the show.  There will be plenty of opinions and fun to be had every Saturday morning.

You can tune in at 9 AM every Saturday Morning to 1190 AM and follow The ANE Show on Facebook or Twitter @theANEshow to be part of the conversation.  Just write your questions or comments into the timeline and hear how the cast responds.

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AIAIAI x Stones Throw scratch banner from AIAIAI on Vimeo.

How Small is your Community

I can remember growing up in what I thought was a small Central Texas town called Harker Heights.  You know, the type of community where you would walk out of the house around 8 AM after breakfast with the family and then be home before it got dark just in time to have dinner with the same kin.  I knew everyone in a 3 mile radius (at least that is how far I would ride my bike daily in all different directions).  On Sundays I saw the same 150 people in Church.  During school, I played with the same kids on the playground.  A big event would be the “new kid” that entered school.  Every Saturday, I was at some sporting event, whether it was a game I played in or one that my sisters competed in.  During dinner time, as my family and I sat around the wooden table breaking bread; I would hear about vacations, deaths, births and typical events that others in the community were experiencing.  It became even more exciting when I visited my Aunt who was always more than happy to share all of the plights, trials and tribulations that our extended family and friends were experiencing.

This was a time that the nightly news came on at 5 PM and then again at 10 PM.  You had to make a phone call pressing buttons on a home phone.  The cord would restrict your movement and if you didn’t memorize the number you would have to look it up in a big book.  There were 12 channels on the TV in the family room.  If your parents didn’t pay for HBO which came out in 1972, you had to squint your eyes to watch in on the fuzzy channel 2 (in my case, I would see a movie I wasn’t supposed to watch and go to my friend’s house across the street to watch it.) Some households still had black and white TV’s like the one that sat on my dresser in my room.  ATARI was about 6 years old and Donkey Kong was the craze.  However, we only played it at dark because there was too much going on during the day.

Now my father was a principal and we moved to several different towns throughout the state of Texas.  We started out in Harker Heights (a smaller town outside of Killeen, Texas) then moved to an even smaller town in North Texas called Valley View where the elementary, middle school and high school were all in one building.  From there my family moved to Gainesville, then Denton, and finally settled in the historical town of Kilgore.  Each town was the same.  I made friends in school and church.  Once we moved, I started all over again and made more friends in another community.

Although technology hadn’t invented the cell phone, satellite radio or all of the other instantaneous satisfactions we have today; I was completely informed of what was going on every day.

Today I live in a suburb just outside of Dallas, Texas and not much has changed in my small community!
However, my community is NOT Rockwall, Texas where I live today that I am talking about here.  Sure, there are parts of Rockwall that are my community, but that is only where I lay my head at night.  I will explain further how I have come to this realization.

My community is very small.

Recently, I spent a month on a farm my wife and I just purchased in Northern Michigan.  I was very apprehensive about spending such a long time away from all of my electronic devices that allow me to work and communicate with the world in the same fashion I have become accustom to.  If truth be told, I think I was the most worried that I wouldn’t have access to a 24 hour news station that kept me up to date with what was happening in the world.  (The town we bought the farm has a population of less than 500 people, no cell towers within an hour and very poor internet connection.)  With a simple purchase of a Verizon JetPack; I found out how small my current community really is but how informative they can be.

Today I noticed ten birthdays, a couple of family members enjoying a beer in Ireland, one of my son’s coaches daughters getting married, my sons friend playing with a Lion in Florida, my wife’s friend sharing her determination in losing the “baby fat” from her recent delivery, several comments about how it is Monday, a friend told me they don’t like Fake People, one of my daughter’s teachers was collecting backpacks for children in Nairobi, and a college buddy of mine  whom I haven’t seen in person in years playing volleyball in his pool.

Yesterday, a former colleague of mine text me.  Now this may not seem like much but we hadn’t talked directly for over 10 years and we knew everything about each other like we had worked together daily.  We didn’t have to carry on a whole lot through text because we knew how our families were doing, what ventures we were up to and all of the experiences that have happened to each other over the last decade.

I can even tell you right now that my childhood best friend who I met in Kindergarten is spending the week in Pikes Peak, has an highly trained chocolate lab, a kid who celebrated his birthday a couple of months ago and is deeply in love with his beautiful wife.  Again, might not seem significant except the last time I talked with him in person was the 5th grade and that was only because I visited him when he moved off to Virginia from Harker Heights.

Yet, my community is very small.

You see Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Flickr and so many other social media sites allow us to experience the day to day lives of people we have come into contact with.  We are able to see kids grow up and get married, enjoy in their successes and consul during tough times.  Social Media has allowed each of us to develop our own personal communities just like the one I grew up in as a child.  Although we have jobs, kids and other life obligations that keep us from talking in person or seeing some of our oldest friends; we are still able to keep them as a daily part of our lives.  My personal community is built of the best of old colleagues and friends from every place I have been employed or lived.  It continues to grow, but only at a pace I allow it to grow.

My community is small compared to many on Facebook as it only consist of 532 people which is just a little larger than the small township our farm resides on in Northern Michigan.  However, it is my community, and the great thing about my community is I can retreat back to it anytime the everyday stresses start to mount.

For more information on how you can utilize Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest or other social media sites into your business community visit DeliveryMaxx at http://www.deliverymaxx.com or contact 888.936.6299.

Why Is Utilizing Social Media in Customer Service Important?

Some people may find this hard to believe, but even today in the year 2014; I’ve routinely heard customer service representatives refer to social media as a “fad”.  A surprising number of business professionals put next to zero value in managing online social media accounts because they fail to see its importance.

I would like to share with you something I learned Sunday evening: There’s a branch of Avis/Budget car rentals in Portland Oregon that provides awful customer service.  Wait actually I can be even more specific.  The branch is the one on Washington Street, and the awful customer service is taking rental car reservations despite having zero cars on the lot.  Not specific enough?  The woman at the desk actually yells at the customers, “It’s not our fault we ran out of cars!”  Oh, and her name is Ursula.

You probably think that in order for me to know all of these details I must be that customer who was yelled at.  Nope.  Well, then the customer must be a close friend or a family member.  Nope.   Perhaps, I’m a close friend of Ursula.  Nope.  Well, maybe I’m actually Ursula and this is some sort of confession.  Nope.   Actually, I don’t know the customer or anyone involved personally, nor have I have ever even been to Portland…or Oregon…or a state that borders Oregon.  Also, I’ve never dealt with any branch of Avis or Budget – I’ve actually never rented a car and I didn’t learn this information while searching for anything remotely related to renting a car.  I read about the customer’s horrible experience looking at my Twitter feed.

That’s a screenshot of just one of an entire slew of Tweets from comic book writer of Batgirl, Gail Simone.  She detailed her entire experience Sunday evening on Twitter for her 52,000 followers to see.  And as you can see above this tweet received 14 re-tweets and 52 favorites.  Each snippet of her experience has similar or greater than share numbers.  That means that the original 52,000 followers that the tweets were shared with are now extending further beyond her network to followers of followers and so on.  As a comic book writer, Gail Simone doesn’t have millions of followers like big-name celebrities, but the effects are evident.  It’s probably a good thing a big-name celebrity never complains about a business online.

Oops, maybe they do.  Now, these are extreme examples, if you’re running a local business odds are Will Smith isn’t going to come by and then follow up his visit by slamming you on social media.  However, the average person has over 250 people in their personal networks.  And if one or two per week are complaining about you online, it doesn’t take very many weeks to cripple your business.  And as you can see, complaints aren’t just going to review sites such as Yelp or Google.  Each day the number of users on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, etc. are growing exponentially.  And if you handle your business and online reputation the correct way, customers on these sites will be telling their hundreds of friends how great you are!

Above is an example from Gail Simone the same evening after her ordeal was resolved by another branch and you can see people are perfectly happy to favorite and share the good opinions of your business as much as they do with the bad.  This is why there’s no need to view Social Media as a hassle, because the reality is proper management can turn Social Media into the best thing that’s ever happened to your business.

DeliveryMaxx is a full digital service provider for Social Media Marketing, Online Reputation Management, Search Engine Optimization, and complete Content Management program.  Their Patent-Pending Program cannot be duplicated and gives their family of clients a competitive advantage.  Clients include automotive dealerships, attorneys, church organizations, non-profits, hotels & hospitality and many more.   For more information visit http://www.deliverymaxx.com or contact 888.936.6299.

Five Steps to Controlling your Online Reputation

When I was a kid, my southern Baptist Preacher father used to tell me I could never outrun my reputation.  I wasn’t the fastest kid around, but Jesse Owen, Carl Lewis, and Usain Bolt can’t outrun their reputation either.  Now with Social Media and hundreds of Online Review Sites- this fact is more real than ever; especially for businesses.

Today, ninety percent (90%) of all buying decisions are made before customers ever contact the business or organization they are interested in.  That means Automotive Dealerships, Churches, Attorneys, Real Estate Agents and any other business you can think of is not immune from anyone with a PC, tablet, or smartphone from sharing their experience perceived or otherwise about your organization.

So how do you make sure your Online Reputation reflects the real story that you want your potential customers to see?  The following steps to having a great Online Reputation is easier than you might think.

1. Provide a great product or service.  Yes, we all know that sometimes you will not be able to satisfy the most arduous consumer.  Later in this article we will discuss this point.  However, most consumers when making a purchase expect their product or service to perform as advertised.  If this happens 100% of the time then usually your reputation will be strong.
2. Thank your customer.  By letting your customer know that you know they have choices and you appreciate their business you have taken one of the easiest steps available.  It is a fact.  You are not the only game in town.  Consumers have more choices than ever, and they know this.  Let your customer know that you are happy to have earned their business every chance you get.
3. Give your Customers a Chance to Talk.  Now, most people do not go home and take the time to write a great review.  (Some customers do, but most don’t).  Most Online Reviews are written by individuals who feel they did not get the treatment or value from the business they patronized.  Usually businesses never know that this customer was unhappy until the review has been posted for the world to see.  This will happen to the best of companies or organizations.  So, if you have taken care of Point Number 1 and Point Number 2 then you will not have to worry about many negative reviews posting on your personal review sites.  However, you must ask your happy customers to share their wonderful experience online.  In general, customers would love to share their great experience if it is easy and convenient as long as the first two points happen.  If you are receiving ten positive reviews for every one negative post then your Online Reputation will be solid.
4. Respond to all.  Businesses and organizations should respond to every review.  All too often, most reviews are never acknowledge online in a public forum.  Take the time to thank the customer for taking the time to write the review.  Second, address the information (both positive and negative) in each review.  That means you must read the review.  It shows you care.  Do NOT post a generic response because you are telling the world that you really do not care about the time your customer took to share their experience.  Do not just respond to negative reviews or to only the positive reviews.  This also sends a poor message to the group of consumers you are not responding to.
5. Social Media is also Online Reputation.  Understand that your Online Reputation is not only expressed on review sites such as Google, Yelp, CitySearch and others.  Your reputation is anything and everything that is posted online.  That means Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, WordPress and other Social Media Sites also hold the keys to your Online Reputation.  Businesses must have a plan to understand and work their social media network.  A recent blog; ‘Is your business Social’ shares the importance of understanding how to allow use Social Media to improve your business.  It is very important to blend both Social Media Marketing and Online Reputation together to help share your story with the world.

Now unless your digital legs are stronger than the most tested athletes of all-time than you will need to place your efforts into Online Reputation because you cannot run from it.  Since the beginning of time, reputation is everything and your business has to have a plan.  As you have just read, it isn’t hard to understand what to do about managing your Online Reputation.  You just have to do it, and have the right plan of action.

DeliveryMaxx is a full digital service provider for Social Media Marketing, Online Reputation Management, Search Engine Optimization, and complete Content Management program.  Their Patent-Pending Program cannot be duplicated and gives their family of clients a competitive advantage.  Clients include automotive dealerships, attorneys, church organizations, non-profits, hotels & hospitality and many more.   For more information visit http://www.deliverymaxx.com or contact 888.936.6299.

Rules that guide the elite

The Six Rules That Guide Elite Employees - Reblog

By Brian Adams
Source - www.forbes.com
Date: 6-23-2014

Purpose is the engine that drives elite performance. Clearly defined goals are the tools that make achievement of purpose possible. Elite employees can tell you where they are going, how long it will take them to get there and what steps they will take along the way.

After managing a couple hundred people, I've noticed that elite employees are hard to find. This may be because elite employees have the mentality of elite athletes, even from their first endeavor. They know what they want and they shoot for the stars. However, in life we don’t get what we wish for. We get what we work for. To be successful, you must pursue your goals relentlessly, regardless of what others may think. To try is to risk failure — the greatest hazard you will face. The safe path would be to risk nothing. But the athlete who risks nothing, does nothing, learns nothing and has nothing.

I've experienced both good and bad employees, and how their actions towards work differ. Here are some rules that elite employees follow — mostly intuitively — on their journey towards goal attainment:

Rule 1: Live the Journey

This is the process of becoming who and what you want to be. You will appreciate things you achieve in your life in direct proportion to the price you pay for them.

As you travel this road, you learn much about who you are and how you can continue to achieve certain goals throughout your life. This journey is about the growth of you as an individual, not about the firsts, seconds or thirds. These will come as you remain focused on attainment. It’s something far more inwardly rewarding.

Rule 2: Defeat Doubt 

Defeat doubt through belief. Action cures fear. Imagination and thoughts determine your future reality.

As Bryce Courtenay says in his book The Power of One, “The Power of One is above all things the power to believe in yourself, often well beyond any latent ability you may have previously demonstrated. The mind is the employee. The body is simply the means it uses to run faster, jump higher or perform better. Only a sustained and invincible belief in yourself will allow you to maintain your integrity and achieve the goals you have set for yourself.”

Don't hold yourself back because you haven’t done something before. If you believe you can do something, you probably can.

Rule 3: Don't Get Stuck in the Muck

Quite simply, this means staying focused. Once you begin the journey, see it through to the end. Show grit. Three important factors to consider:

• Attraction: Focus on what you want and move towards it with drive and determination. Exhibit an unwavering work ethic.
• Distraction: Know what you don’t like and move away from it.
• Reflection: Objectively assess what you have to change to reach the top.

Rule 4: Embrace Problems

If you don’t have any problems, then your goals might be too small. Realize that if what you are trying to achieve was easy, everyone would be doing it and it wouldn't be special. The problems you will face represent opportunities in that they identify areas for you to grow. In the end, you will appreciate your victories substantially more due to the work you put into overcoming them.

Rule 5: Lead Rather Than Follow

If you are doing what everyone else is doing, you will end up where everyone else is going. Elite employees are willing to do what most other employees are not. In other words, it takes someone special to be someone special. Ask yourself this question: Are you doing enough to “just get by,” or are you actively investing in getting better?

Rule 6: Find Champions for Your Cause

Realize that in order to reach your pinnacle you need help along the way. You need direction, reassurance, resources and maybe even someone to light your path. You must surround yourself with people who believe in you. Find individuals who will champion your cause.

Although goals provide the motivation — and form the reason and incentive — that directs our activity, it is the work we put in that makes us great. The best employees know this, and invest in themselves to move step by step closer to their goals.

What Is Organic Search Engine Optimization / SEO

Reblogged

June 18, 2014 | By Jennifer Bourn

The goal of pretty much every website owner I know is to be ranked number one on Google for their preferred keywords and key phrases — but to someday, possibly claim that number one spot, you’ve got a lot of work to do. You’ve got to maintain the site, update it with new, valuable, and relevant content, market the site, and optimize it.

There are three basic components to a well-optimized website:

• Search engine friendly, user friendly, smart design
• Compelling content that gets visitors to take action
• Optimization to maximize your website’s effectiveness

At Bourn Creative, we’ve got you covered with drool-worthy search engine friendly design, and hopefully our blog has helped and provided resources to create compelling content. Now it’s time to optimize your website and all the content in it.

Over the next several posts, I am going to share several different ways you can naturally optimize your website for organic search and I’m going to show you EXACTLY how to implement each step, including:

• How to Optimize Website Content For Search Engines And People
• How to Optimize Images And Photos
• How to Optimize Website Links
• How to Use the HTML Title Tag For Search Engine Optimization
• How to Use the HTML Meta Description Tag to Improve Your SEO
• What You Need to Know About The Meta Keywords Tag and Using Keywords
• How to Optimize Blog Posts For Maximum Results
• How to Create Content That Attracts Ideal Clients Who Don’t Yet Know You Exist
• And More!

But First, What is SEO / Search Engine Optimization?

Simply put, search engine optimization, also known as SEO is the practice of getting found online.It encompassed everything you can do naturally or organically (unpaid) to help boost your results in the search engine results pages (SERPs) so more people can find you.

Why Search Engine Optimization is Important to The Success of Your Website

Most of all major website traffic comes from search engines — especially traffic from new visitors that have never been to your site before. If you don’t show up in the search engine results pages when someone searches for a keyword or key phrase associated with your website, you’re losing opportunities to connect with those who are looking for what you offer.

After all, no one can hire you, buy from you, or learn from you, if they don’t know you exist!

Many elements of search engine optimization, like writing an HTML title for a page or an HTML meta description, alone can seem insignificant, but when you combine them together, the results can be pretty powerful!

While SEO is important, please heed my words of caution:

While every little bit of optimization helps and makes a difference in the success of your site, there is no guarantee that optimizing your website will put you in the first spot on the Google search results page — or even on the first page for that matter (even Google says this publicly). And, even with an expertly-crafted HTML title tag and meta description tag, there isn’t a 100% guarantee the search engines will use the ones you write and not make one up on their own.

Important Things to Note About Organic Search Engine Optimization

• The experts at Google (and all reputable search engines) tell websites owners to create content for your users first and foremost, and search engines second. Never should a search engine come before your user in priority.
• Search engines are looking for the same thing your visitors are — appealing design, simple navigation, smart site structure, valuable and helpful links, valuable and relevant content, etc.
• The goal of a search engine, especially Google, is to provide the searcher the best, most relevant, helpful, useful, informative websites possible based on their search query — Weird, obscure, or too clever headlines don’t help.
• Don’t put your eggs all in one basket. One optimization strategy won’t do a lot of good all alone. While optimizing your site will definitely help, you also need to constantly publish new optimized content, create social proof, build authoritative and quality links to your site, work to improve your site, and more.
• SEO is not only about inbound links or backlinks, your outbound links are important too! Who you link to makes a difference because the search engines want to make sure that if they send someone to your site, you’re not sending them somewhere totally irrelevant.
• Don’t forget about internal links! Internal links — links between pages of your own website — are important because they help both visitors and search engines find and access more pages on your site.
• Don’t get caught up in search engine optimization as the “get found magic pill.” You should never put more effort in optimization than in improving your website, refining your content, and testing/tweaking your conversion points.

Avoiding The SEO Smarm

Before I dive into learning SEO and optimization best practices, I want to make sure we’re on the same page about those “SEO Experts” who email you.

Just because you received an email with your website URL in the subject line or in the actual email itself, doesn’t mean someone actually looked at your website, cares about your website, or really knows your missing out of a hot keyword opportunity or that your rankings can be increased.

• Usually these emails are generated automatically by a computer program or pieces of software and they are sent to millions of people around the world, with the hope that a few will say yes.
• Any service provider guaranteeing you a number one ranking or page 1 ranking without a continuously ongoing plan to keep you there doesn’t know what they’re doing.

Think about it — every person who does what you do in the whole world wants that same spot and they’re all trying to get it too. If you’re lucky enough to score top ranking for a hot keyword or phrase in your niche, it’s going to take work to stay there — otherwise someone else will take it from you.

Any service provider guaranteeing you a number one ranking or page one ranking without doing any research or confirming the keywords or phrases that you can compete successfully on, doesn’t know what they are doing or they just want your money.

Anyone can earn a top ranking on Google for a keyword or key phrase that no one is searching for — that’s easy! But who cares about that? And, with focused effort most people can make it to page one for a long tail keyword phrase, but staying there for more than the blink of an eye is a whole different story.

If you’re going to hire an SEO company to help boost your site’s visibility online, you want to go with the company that:

• Works with you to research keywords and see where you can be competitive
• Provides a keyword research report and a recommended package focusing on specific terms
• Provides recommendations and guidance on how to use the selected keywords in content, blog posts, guest posts, links, and more
• Includes continuous reporting, stats, and course-corrections in their package
• Has a plan/option to continue with them to monitor and maintain any high rankings achieved
• Doesn’t just talk about keywords and links, but actually creates a plan to improve your site and make it more appealing to search engines through content, blog posts, landing pages, and more
• Doesn’t pitch, sell, or recommend bad, frowned upon, or blackhat practices (some still do this)

So remember, nothing about your search engine ranking can be guaranteed and your site’s position and rankings, along with everyone else’s changes every day. But with consistent effort, and by taking advantage of every optimization opportunity you have for your site, you’ll already be way ahead of the competition.