The Amish don't use computers but their example of a simple lifestyle can be applied to effective website design. Simplicity in a website can make your information extremely functional and helpful to your customers. Look at how you can do more with less when telling your story on your website. Copyblogger has a great post with more details comparing the Amish lifestyle to smart web design at the link below.

In a world of surfers, all you can do is work to make the best wave you can. The real revolution is that you get to make waves, not just ride them.

What waves are you making?

When it comes to marketing strategies, content marketing has just been crowned king, far surpassing search engine marketing, public relations and even print, television and radio advertising as the preferred marketing tool for today's business-to-business entrepreneur.

Late this summer, HiveFire, a Cambridge, Mass.-based internet marketing software solutions company, surveyed nearly 400 marketing professionals about the state of the business-to-business, or B2B, market, and discovered that marketers are retreating from traditional marketing tactics such as search marketing and have made content marketing the most-used tactic in their brand-enhancing tool box. Fact is, according to HiveFire's B2B Marketing Trends Survey Report, twice as many B2B marketers now employ content marketing as they do print, TV and radio advertising, according to the survey.

So what exactly is content marketing? It's the creation and publication of original content -- including blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos and photos -- for the purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand's visibility, and putting the company's subject matter expertise on display. HiveFire's researchers found that an impressive 82 percent of B2B marketers now employ content marketing as a strategy in their marketing programs. Coming in at a distant second place is search engine marketing at 70 percent, followed by events at 68 percent, public relations at 64 percent and print/TV/radio advertising at 32 percent.

One of the best ways for small businesses to connect with their customers is through sharing their story on line. Meaningful information that helps solve customer challenges and helps build stronger relationships is a big benefit that can be built through valuable content marketing.

Social media marketers feel that having a presence on social sites is more important than advertising there, but there are still challenges related to keeping a community running online.

In July 2011, Microsoft Advertising and Advertiser Perceptions surveyed social media marketers in six countries around the world and found that 74% of them thought it was very important to have a presence on Facebook, but only 57% felt the same way about advertising there. On Twitter, presence also carried more weight, with 47% of respondents saying they thought it was very important. But in Twitter’s case, there was not as much of a difference between presence and advertising, at 42%.

And engagement in social media channels is more important than simply being present. Connecting, being helpful, authentic and providing value to your customers is becoming more important than ever. With the recent changes to Facebook's activity streams engagement is necessary to show up in the top posts part of people's personal walls.

It is in the best interest of every business to be paying attention to their customers in social media channels and create real customer value in these networks.

Savvy retailers know shoppers often go online to research and price compare, with the intention of making their purchase offline. Therefore, work with all teams to drive shoppers online presence with the purpose of driving brick and mortar sales. If you fail to make the online-to-offline connection with your users, they will go and shop with a brand that does.

Desktop and mobile search are increasingly being used with local intent. We’ve talked about the growth of mCommerce sales online, but it’s important to  recognize (and have key stakeholders in your company recognize) that there’s significant offline value to being found in mobile search.

In addition to considering both the online and offline benefits of paid search, brands need to think holistically about the online consumer journey during holiday, and the need to be visible across multiple channels.

Small business owners need to be visible in search when consumers on doing their online research about what and where to buy for the holidays.

How are you optimizing your findability in mobile searches for your business?

Until now, it hasn't been easy to choose exactly what you see in your News Feed. Maybe you don't want to see every time your brother plays a game on Facebook, for example. Or maybe you'd like to see more stories from your best friends, and fewer from your coworkers.

 

You also couldn't hear directly from people you're interested in but don't know personally—like journalists, artists and political figures.

 

With the Subscribe button, we're making it easier to do both. In the next few days, you'll start seeing this button on friends' and others' profiles. You can use it to:

 

1. Choose what you see from people in News Feed
2. Hear from people, even if you're not friends
3. Let people hear from you, even if you're not friends

 

Choose What You See in News Feed

You're already getting your friends' posts in News Feed. With the Subscribed button, you can choose how much you see from them:

 

• All updates: Everything your friend posts
• Most updates: The amount you'd normally see
• Important updates only: Just highlights, like a new job or move

Having the ability to further choose how your news feed looks sounds like a big benefit to Facebook users. This new feature also looks a lot like with Google+ is doing with their subscribe circles.

Why Do Sub-Groups Matter So Much?

Because unlike a private-oriented social network (Facebook), a public network like G+ (with its Twitter side) doesn’t require that your friends join for it to be useful and engaging. All it requires are frequent posters or “content creators.” Right now, the most important “feature” of G+ is the community itself — people like Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki and Trey Ratcliff who are posting interest content there. (Have you ever heard the stat that 5% of Twitter users create 75% of the content?) G+ doesn’t need you to have a critical mass of your friends or users in a certain area to be interesting (that’s Color’s problem). And Google doesn’t have to do what many other competitors in this space would or will do, which is make direct, concerted attempts to capture small niches/subgroups of users all at once. Because G+ is a potential “Facebook replacement” that also has a Twitter side, G+ will continue to grow & grow and as a critical mass of your friends start using it, you’ll then be able to use it in a more Facebook-y fashion.

Put another way, G+ basically is a combination of Facebook & Twitter. That’s what makes it different. It serves both purposes: private communication among friends, and public shouting to the world.

Good article from Tom Anderson (MySpace founder) about Google+ and how it will be a part of your on-line life through sub-groups around your interests and the public nature of it's content sharing.

I'm seeing the ease of public sharing photos along with conversations right in that sharing to be a big benefit for photographers and any content creator desiring to build their story and on-line reputation.

Google+ has too many benefits to ignore.

What is the primary goal of a local retailer?  Getting people into the store.

If you are an online business you want to drive traffic to your website because that’s your place of business.  If you are a traditional retailer, you still want that web traffic – but your end game is using it to get face to face with prospects and customers in your store.

Here are a few ideas for accomplishing this.

#1 – Use Video to Share the In-Store Experience

#2 – Complete your Business Place Page on Google

#3 – Think Like a Community Manager

#4 – Conduct Free Educational Seminars

Most of my work is with small businesses, especially retailers. Many do not get the opportunity to use social media to help shape their story, build relationships with customers and bring people back to their store more often.

Jeff's tips above are excellent ways to develop your business in social media.

Video of the experiences inside your store will give current and future customers another touch point to your store, hopefully creating more top of the mind awareness.

Filling out your Google Place page is a must. Use photos and videos on the page too. Whenever someone searches your business in Google (who uses the yellow pages anymore?) having a Place Page is going to enhance their search results of your business.

Your business is a community. The more you can maintain ongoing relationships the more potential for more visits to your store. Social media is one why to enhance community relationships.

Share your knowledge and the knowledge in your supplier network with in store events. This gives people another reason to visit and increases the value of your store to them for future purchases.

If you need ideas on how to implement these ideas and more in your store we are here to help.