Internet Marketing Toronto - Ignite!

Do you think before you speak?

Discover 10 simple steps on how to be a more well spoken individual. If you are anything like me than you have blabbed a few times without thinking first. I have always joked that the filter between someone’s thoughts and words somehow did not develop in me. Joking aside, a colleague of mine came across this article and I found it to be brilliant and helpful.

The brilliance of this article kicked in for me when the authors said that ” Recognizing that we do not always say what we would like to communicate is an important realization…” How many times have we all been in sales meetings, staff meetings, or social functions and have said something that just didn’t come out right? I know I have had this happen to me. The worst part is that not only did what you mean not come out in words correctly but it may offend another person unnecessarily or send them the wrong message entirely.

To slightly digress for a moment to a personal story. I was in a staff meeting about 4 years ago when I used to be a district manager for a retail chain. The message to the team was about the restructuring going on in the company and the scrimping we were all going to have to do during this time of transition. Only one of the three stores that I managed were there and by the end of the meeting their faces were absolutely somber and depressing. The entire room thought that I was about to conduct a lay off. When the realization came that I was referring to additional Christmas staff, the entire room let out a huge sigh of relief. Talk about sending the wrong message with my words! I remember feeling so concerned before the meeting about how upset the team might be that I was going to be making them work over time during the holiday season.  I didn’t even consider how the message was coming out of my mouth. It was a huge misunderstanding and when I had the same discussion with the other two stores, I DEFINITELY corrected my delivery of the message.

The steps, tips and warnings that are outlined in this article are very helpful and I want to share some of them with you. Feel free to share your own “That time I…” stories! The authors break down 10 steps to consider when in any situation.

Step 1: Observe yourself

When does this situation occur for you? Are you with friends, colleagues, potential customers? Figure out what triggers the speaking before thinking incidents. The article recommends starting a journal of events that you can refer back to when identifying the pattern. As a part of this journal I would recommend that you journal not only the situation but also acknowledge the way you feel when having these occurrences. For example, if you know that you are angry every time it happens…there is your pattern.

Step 2: Recognize your situation

Pay attention to your surroundings. If you are in a similar situation to that of your last communication blunder; acknowledge that. If you know that you tend to have a verbal blunder when in a staff meeting with your boss; don’t try to deny it…recognize it!
Step 3: Observe the conversation

The article lays it out perfectly: “If you know that you’re in one of ‘those’ situations, the goal is for you to process information.” Mentally step back and out of the conversation. Listen to what everyone else is saying…keep your mouth locked shut during this time. Next time you are in that staff meeting, keep your opinions, jokes, thoughts, ideas or comments to yourself.

Step 4: Observe the people

How are the people in the room communicating with one another? Are they drawing pictures to illustrate their thoughts? Using fast and short sentences? Complex verbiage? The article notes that people generally speak the same way that they understand and absorb information. You married couples out there…take note of this step! I know I will.

Step 5: Formulate responses

As humans, we tend to think everything revolves around us as individuals. It takes discipline to break out of this thinking. What is important to remember is that your communication should be based on how others absorb the information. When formulating responses, consider Step 4: Observe the People. Recall how others were communicating. If you notice that a prospective client is drawing images on their notepad to communicate their thoughts; possibly include a diagram in your responses to their questions.

Step 6: Consider the Information

Consider the following acronym; ENATA.

E ffective

N ecessary

A ccurate

T imely

A ppropriate

Don’t just speak to hear your own voice or say something because you think you should. Others will recognize your inauthentic attempt and not consider your words to hold any value in the future.

Step 7: Gauge the reaction

As you are considering how to contribute to the conversation…be mindful of just that: you are making a contribution. Generally, most people notice they are having communication issues when the reaction of those they are communicating with are less than pleasant. Anticipate the reaction and attempt to formulate a positive and constructive comment.

Step 8: Be thoughtful of your tone

Tone can translate into a stronger message than the actual words you are using.  Consider sarcasm, sincerity, excitement, boredom and other emotions.  A change in your tone could dramatically change the type of reaction that you get from those that you are communicating with.

Step 9: Communicate

Okay, you are prepped.  You have observed the conversation to gauge the possible reactions, prepped what you will say, the tone in which it will be delivered and why it is ENATA.   Go for it…say something…remember not to interrupt or talk over anyone else because that will throw off your delivery.

Step 10: Repeat

Consider and reconsider all 10 steps while in conversation.

The steps above sound like a long process and they very well may take a long time the first few times that you try this.  Once you are doing these steps regularly and practicing the “think before you speak” cycle; it will be as easy as brushing your teeth in the morning.  Communication blunders may not only occur in negative situations when you are upset or angry.  They can also come in the form of an inappropriate joke or insincere response.  There are some additional tips and warnings in the article if you would like to read more about this topic.

Check out the full article by clicking here.

~S

Windows Live Mesh

Windows Live Mesh certainly falls neatly into the category of Cool Tools.

With Windows Live Mesh Microsoft promises the freedom to share you personal files and folders across all your devices seamlessly and also access them on your live desktop online.

It sounds intriguing and I’ve signed up for the Beta program. I’ll post an update on what I think of it once I’ve had a chance to use it for a while.  A couple negttives  I see to it right now is that the service is only offering 5 gigabytes worth of storage while my personal files currently consume more that 10 gigabytes, and do I really want Microsoft storing all my files? Perhaps it may be a better solution to offer the synch technology with any online storage service such as Amazons S3.

First things first - let`s see how well the service works!

Yahoo! Search Index Updates

Yes, as can be expected, Yahoo! has released some search index updates!

It’s true, they’ve released some more updates to the index. As a result there should be some ranking changes this month. However, as we always see, any drop in rankings that may result will always work themselves out over the course of the following weeks, so rest assured all will be well!

For more on the update visits the Yahoo! blog.

Internet Marketing Video Blog now on Internet Marketing Toronto - Ignite!

Hello IMTI! readers. My name is Tony Cohn and I am an internet marketing consultant here at Spark. Each Friday, I will post a new installment of “Cohn’s Corner,” which is a weekly video blog on internet marketing. Today’s episode is a discussion of the social network Twitter. Enjoy!

Tags: Internet Marketing, spark internet marketing, tony cohn, video blog

The Importance of Authenticity

Many of us have started writing online by populating blogs, FAQ sections, and articles on our websites. A lot of new blogs are used as marketing tools online or as areas for personal venting sessions. What ever the reason for the publication of your words; one thing is certain, make sure they are your own words.

There is importance in writing authentic original content online to ensure search engine happiness. A whole other element to writing original work is also within the user experience. To balance pleasing both the search engines and the user is a winning combination. Authenticity is important for many reasons but the four that strike me the most are:

1. The Blah Factor.

There is nothing worse than a person writing something in a blog after being forced to or pulling it from a source they do not completely understand. What you are left with is a boring and dull story or article that will soon be forgotten. If the topic is not something you can be passionate about or speak to in a casual conversation, you aren’t likely to write about it well.

2. Ummm…that’s not what I said.

I am always up for pulling good information and putting it in our blog because I am not an expert in everything I am interested.  It is necessary to credit where credit is due.   You must reference the people, podcasts, books, blogs, articles and comments from whatever source you pulled them from. Personally, this blog post by Blog Herald has some great tips that remind us what the best way to reference a blog is. Although there is no set method for referencing, there are some great tips in this article. More importantly, if you are going to reference someone else’s work and discuss it yourself…get the facts straight. There is nothing worse than a blogger misconstruing another blogger’s work….talk about missing the point!

3. Sincerely Yours,

When writing online, be sincere. Everyone has a different way of writing and there are certain undertones in all of our works. If you are a regular follower of this blog, you should be able to have a good idea of whom the author of an article is before even looking at the name. Further to that, if you are writing a blog and can’t picture yourself verbalizing your written work, be sure that your writing will likely come off fake and misunderstood. When writing essays for school or proper documents for work, of course a certain type of language needs to be used. When writing in blogs, articles, and other online mediums…don’t be afraid to get a little personal with your words.
4. Search Engines don’t want to see it twice.

One of the worst moves you can make for your company online is to duplicate your content. I have seen this in many forms. Most commonly people will duplicate their websites and put it on a separate domain name, blatantly copy someone else’s work, or write something in a blog and then copy it as an article elsewhere. Even if you wrote it….you can’t write it exactly the same a second time. If your goal is to increase your online presence and gain popularity with the search engines, be mindful of your content and ensure its authenticity.

~S

New Keyword Research Tool - Facebook Lexicon

I happened to be on Facebook today (yes, during work hours…) and noticed something interesting in my news feed:

Do people talk more about skiing or beaches?
“Facebook Lexicon counts how many times words get mentioned on Walls all over Facebook. You can find out the answer, or run your own searches, using Lexicon.”

It appears that Facebook is releasing some very interesting data about what keywords are on people’s walls. Specifically it is measuring the amount of times the term “obama” is written vs. “clinton” as an example.

Why is this important? Quite simply put, advertisers on Facebook (and Google, Yahoo and MSN for that matter) now have access to keyword research data on one of the most popular sites on the internet.

Unfortunatly it dosen’t give raw numbers (taking a page from Google’s Keyword Suggestion tool I say) but it does show some good comparitive data.

As you may know, advertising on facebook includes the option to target users with specific keywords on their pages - this tool made that job a whole lot easier and I expect that we will see more Facebook advertising as a result of their willingness to share this sort of information.

Thanks Mark Z. I appreciate the data.

Tags: facebook keyword data, facebook keyword research, facebook ppc

What will make your business succeed?

There is only one thing in this world that I believe can truly help you grow and thrive in any business: YOU! How can you stay effective and productive at work? Get healthy!

Traditionally, this blog has been about internet marketing, business development, news and other related matters. Something that is equally important is the individuals who run and fuel the ideas that shape our world. It is important to all of us that our businesses and relationships are doing well. Nothing in our lives or careers will succeed if we are not healthy. Part of the Spark Internet Marketing mantra is to help our clients and others through valuable information. Therefore, we are going to do a series on Health and Wellness in our blog.

Our first topic of choice is food…we all eat, we all love it, and most of us don’t eat the right things. Granted, I am not an expert in the food industry; so to help us along this journey, we are going to take a little advice from those who do know about this industry. A book was recently published by Michael Pollan called In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. The book is simple to read and offers straight forward tips that a five year old can remember. His message is about the types of food we are eating and how unhealthy it has all become. With all of the fad diets and the radical recommendations on food, this is a refreshing change. Pollan is not asking for something radical that no one has ever heard of. He is asking you to look at what your eating and question whether it makes sense or not. Below is a list of some points from the book. If you have a chance, grab it and read it. You can also watch Pollan’s interview on The Hour podcast.

1. Avoid food products containing

a) Ingredients that are unfamiliar unpronounceable
b) More than five in number
c) That include high fructose corn syrup

2. Avoid food products that make health claims
3. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle
4. Get our of the supermarket whenever possible and check out farmer’s markets
5. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves
6. You are what you eat
7. If you have the space, buy a freezer
8. Eat like an omnivore
9. Eat well-grown food from healthy soils
10. Eat wild foods if you can
11.Be the kind of person who takes supplements (don’t actually take them)
12.Eat more like the French or the Italians, or the Japanese, or the Indians, or the Greeks
13.Regard non traditional foods with skepticism
14.Don’t look for the magic bullet in the traditional diet
15.Have a glass of wine with dinner
16.Pay more, eat less
17.Eat meals
18.Do all your eating at a table (a desk, or car seat are not tables)
19.Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does
20.Try not to eat alone
21.Consult your gut (to know when your full - not when your plate is empty or you’re out of time)
22.Eat slowly
23.Cook and if you can plant a garden

Take care of your best asset…you!

~S

Yahoo To Run Limited Test of Google Adsense For Search Service In The U.S.

Yahoo has announced this past week that it is going to run a very limited and short test of Google’s Adsense for Search Service in the U.S.

The Microsoft - Yahoo! merger drama got just a little more complicated last week when Yahoo! announced in a press release that they are running a very limited test of the Google Adsense for Search Service. It’s a short 2 week deal that would show Google Adsense results on 3% of U.S. searches only. According to the press release the test will apply only to traffic from Yahoo.com in the U.S. and does not include their extended network of affiliate or premium publisher partners.

According to Yahoo! the test does not mean that Yahoo! will join the Adsense For Search program. They are simply testing out potential business relationships to maximize stakeholder value. Baloney!

In my opinion it’s obvious they are trying to shake up the talks with Microsoft in order to get a higher share price in the deal. Microsoft on the other hand is a strong negotiator and I doubt such a tactic will cause them to change their minds. In fact, Microsoft’s Brad Smith responded with the following:

“Any definitive agreement between Yahoo! and Google would consolidate over 90% of the search advertising market in Google’s hands. This would make the market far less competitive, in sharp contrast to our own proposal to acquire Yahoo! We will assess closely all of our options. Our proposal remains the only alternative put forward that offers Yahoo! shareholders full and fair value for their shares, gives every shareholder a vote on the future of the company, and enhances choice for content creators, advertisers, and consumers.”

I happen to agree with Microsoft on this one. A merger with them would provide a strong competitor to Google in the search marketplace - while a small merger with Google would only limit the competition. The question is will regulators weigh in on the merger talks and dictate what will happen? To date we’ve not seen much merger regulation on the Internet mostly because it did not have too much of an impact on world economies. That does appear to be changing slowly and I fully expect their to be some involvement in these talks.

So what do you think about these latest events? Is Yahoo! seriously considering partnering with Google? Or is it just a negotiating position with Microsoft?

Content Management Systems - Stay Away From Home Grown!

When it comes to content management systems we always recommend that a client not develop their own.

The Internet has been around for a long time and as a result many types of applications have been developed and fine tuned. E-Commerce and Content Management fall into this category of applications. While you can still develop these applications from the ground up there are many reasons why you should not. Here are but a few:

1. New software is always buggy - existing solutions have had most of their bugs worked out
2. Feature Rich - existing solutions have all of the features, bells and whistles you can ever imagine needing
3. 3rd Party Extensions - most existing solutions have a plethora of 3rd party solutions which will extend the functionality with limited cost
4. Search Engine Optimization - existing solutions have been hammered by Internet Marketers to the point that they all support the necessary SEO features to ensure your site ranks well in the search engines

By not using an off the shelf solution such as Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, TypePad, Express Engine, or MS Sharepoint (for those who have the extra money or need) you really run the risk of investing alot of money on a solution that will not support you in the long run and certainly won’t make it easy to capitalize on the inexpensive leads available through solid Internet marketing services.

If your company is embarking on a redesign of your site and content management is a core component I highly recommend you pause for a moment and seriously consider the options available to you. It could mean the difference between a successful new launch and failure! Would you rather be the one responsible for this years growth in the bottom line vs a decline? Take the time to make the right choices!

Social Networking for Beginners

Many individuals and companies are all interested in this form of activity called “Social Networking”. With all of the different websites out there…where does one begin?

Social Networking can be a great way of communicating with people in and outside of your circle of friends whether local or international. It allows you to meet new people based on a  variety of criteria or no criteria at all. This new and growing form of communication is very beneficial for many businesses as well. A business can interact with others online and position themselves as knowledgeable in their industry and drive potential traffic to their site.

Many businesses have been able to find contractors, clients, partners, or just new friends through social networking means. I am sure most of you know how important it is but wonder where on earth do I start? There are hundreds, likely thousands by now, social networking sites. Our team at Spark Internet Marketing put together the top five that we feel can provide a good starting ground.

WARNING: Any addictions as a result of social networking on these sites is the responsibility of the user and in no way can you blame me for it!!! :)

#1: www.LinkedIn.com

LinkedIn allows you to connect with a range of professionals and their networks. My personal favourite part of LinkedIn is the questions area. You can post a question to your network and their extended networks or you can answer a question. For example, if someone has a question about investing, if you have any knowledge about it or are in that business, answer the question. You would be amazed at how many discussions get started from a simple question and how many business connections you can make. When you join…add me to your network.

#2 www.Facebook.com

If you haven’t heard of Facebook…get out of your bubble and give it a try! Facebook allows you to connect with people, start and join groups about specific topic, post topics of discussion, launch events and so much more. Politicians, businesses, and individuals alike find value in this social networking platform. I love Facebook and frequent it daily.

#3 www.YouTube.com

Youtube.com allows users to post their own videos for the public to view, rate, and comment on. Businesses post educational videos about their industries, procedures, products, systems, client testimonials, etc. Individuals post home videos, how to’s, clips from television shows, speeches and more. Politicians, especially with the USA Primaries still in full force, are posting messages every day. You can put your favourite Youtube.com videos in you Facebook account or link to them from your blog, website, or even Linkedin.com. One thing is for sure, the internet has gone audio visual…its not just about reading information, it has now evolved into a new level of user interaction. I will stop there and save that for another blog post!

#4 www.plaxo.com

As a beginner…it might be confusing to have 2 or 3 different social networking sites that you must remember to log into. I recently signed up for Plaxo.com based on the advice of one of my colleagues here at Spark and am learning some pretty cool stuff everyday. What makes Plaxo.com fantastic is that you can have multiple social networking sites feeding into your “Pulse” page and give you updates from your extended LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, etc sites. You can also compile an online calendar and contacts that syncs with your Outlook…this is great for those that travel. More importantly, with Plaxo.com, you can update everyone by posting information, photos, topics, questions and more.

# 5 www.Ning.com

After exploring the top 4 sites…you love social networking at this point. Why not create your own? That is the mantra of Ning.com. Ning.com is new to me and I just recently began checking it out. What I find amazing about it is that one can build their own mini social networking site about whatever topic or interest that they like. Businesses can create industry related or even company specific networking sites that offer free advice or information to interested people. You can invite and share it with whomever you want. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

Social Networking is only as beneficial as the effort you put into it. Don’t join everything you can think of…start with one or two and grow from there. Did I mention that it is free? It is!!!

~S