Ever wished your business had a mobile app to offer your customers and clients?  Mobile apps (applications) are, in fact, vital to an increasing number of small businesses. Prospects and clients need to reach you easily and immediately. They need to find you quickly among all the competition out there. They need to see your logo, find your location, examine your products/services, and pursue your links. You can’t wait for them to get home to their desktops (and neither can they).

Still, it is a daunting technology which presents fears of getting into the mix – and of staying out of it. There are concerns about set up, pricing, and expertise. It’s a sunk cost to large corporations, but the same costs have spooked small business owners.

App Express is 2011 start-up ready to bring mobile apps to small businesses owners– at a price and ease they can afford. In the words of Mary Beth Brendza, CEO of App Express, the company wants to enable small business owners “to run their business from their pocket.”

They offer an attractive and easy to navigate website at http://appexpress.com The site offers videos, trials, and samples (only fitting for a website claiming to promote same.) It promises professional and sophisticated maps to facilitate payment making, appointment scheduling, daily couponing, deal messaging, and social sharing. And, they provide you with the pricing.

25% of all US mobile users (smartphones, tablets, PDA’s, etc.) use only their mobile device (and mobile apps) to shop, schedule, set appointments, make payments, and so on. The growth in sale of mobile devices and such uses is exponential in speed and size.

Current and future customers rely on their mobile devices to the increasing exclusion of their desktops and laptops. Look around the room at your next Chamber of Commerce lunch to see people multi-tasking. For good and bad, mobile apps have become an integral part of our personal and work-lives. Google Mobile Ads reports:

• 9 out of 10 smartphone searches lead to action (purchasing, visiting a business, etc.)
• 24% recommended a brand or product to others as a result of a smartphone search
• 95% of smartphone users have looked for local information
• 88% of these users take action within a day
• 77% have contacted a business, with 61% calling and 59% visiting the local business
• 79% of smartphone consumers use their phones to help with shopping, from comparing prices, finding more product info to locating a retailer
• 74% of smartphone shoppers make a purchase, whether online, in-store, or on their phones
• 70% use their smartphones while in the store, reflecting varied purchase paths that often begin online or on their phones and brings consumers to the store
• 71% search on their phones because of an ad exposure, whether from traditional media (68%) to online ads (18%) to mobile ads (27%)
• 82% notice mobile ads, especially mobile display ads and a third notice mobile search ads

The times, they are achangin’, and we need to be on board. It is vital for small business to be able to develop a cross-channel strategy and implement an integrated marketing strategy that makes puts you in the hands of mobile users.  Mobile apps might just be a great way to make that happen!

Whether or not to register a TLD – or Top-Level-Domain – is the newest challenge in front of small business owners. It’s not an easy decision and requires some thought.

Internet domain names are registered with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). They have filed 100+ million names which do not admit duplication. So, for example, if the name www.maria’srestaurant.com is already taken, you can’t call your restaurant Maria’s or you need to find an alternative for your domain name. Top-level-domain names will open wider categories and optional choices. A new TLD choice allows you to distinguish your business from others with similar names, others in the alphabet, others without your performance standards. It is a marketing boost. If you are registered, licensed realtor, you can separate yourself from the pack; yours will be an exclusive address in an exclusive directory. And, ICANN will be there to police the exclusivity.

But, clearly, there are critics and those who don’t see the need. There is a short and long-term expense. The cost to apply for the TLD is no big issue, but there are immediate and subsequent costs in marketing materials in advance of, during, and following the re-naming. This involves planning, marketing materials, and stationery and billing. Owners have to decide on the timing for this – and the subsequent value. In addition, apparent changes in direction threaten customer goodwill. Customers establish relationships with websites; they learn to navigate them, know where to find information, know how to contact you through the site. You may not want to jeopardize this.

In a poll offered by The Wall Street Journal, 53% of respondents think the idea of a TLD is a good move while 46% do not. That split indicates some lack of clarity on this issue. Small business owners haven’t had very specific labels in the past. The web address usually ends with a .com, .biz. .net., or .org. TLDs offer very specific identifications, such as, .realtor, .contractor, .restaurant, .florist, and the like.  

Every small business has been or will be approached sooner or later to purchase new domain names. There are aggressive and numerous campaigns to sign you up with wildly contrived IDs. They layer on costs for international addresses and renewal fees. The ICANN reputation is singularly positive. It’s history and processes are transparent, and not a bad place to place your trust. The small business owner’s decision is individual:  investigate the options, the process, the expense, and the value to your business at this time.

A web administrator can take all the operational “web” problems off your hands – including updates, postings, and new products. But buyer beware:  not all web pros are created equal. Some are very capable, but some could cost you your business. Make sure you know what yours should (or shouldn’t) do for you, then hire accordingly.

A top-notch web administrator should have these skills and abilities:

• Portfolio: Look at finished product, achievements in design, coding, and construction. If programming is over your head, let the candidate demonstrate speed and accessibility, search response, and use of other Search Engine Optimization tools.
• Responsive: You need responsible and maximum use of time. You want as much product as possible, and you want it on time. Very often, the site building parallels your product development and issue. You need web administration that reflects latest prices and catalogue info.
• SEO Background: SEO specialization is vital. This field is very complicated and ideas and tools prove very short-lived. Make sure this “search-ability” is a live issue with your candidate. Ignore the techie talk, and ask for demonstrations.
• Web Analytics: Interview web administrators for knowledge, skill, and ability with Compete, Google Analytics, SiteMeter, W3Xounter, and other web analytics tools. You want an administrator able to drill down into a website to determine and improve customer traffic to the site.
• Collaborative: Web administrators can show self-confidence close to arrogance. You need a partner. While this partner may have the upper hand with web skills, you are the customer with profits to lose. It’s in the administrator’s interest that you succeed; structure and develop the partnership.
• Social Media: Social marketing channels are multiplying. Staying live and competitive among these channels requires a dependable juggler.
• Server Savvy: Your web administrator will handle all upcoming programming issues. S/he needs to understand side scripts, such as CGI Scripts, PHP, and Perl modules.

Of course, you need to negotiate your best price, but skill does not come cheap. I would recommend that you limit your search to web administrators who made this independent work their career. Try to ignore those otherwise un-employed consultants.

Is your website an empty grave? Is there any life to it? This is not just a question of content and design; you need to find out if top search engines can find your site.

If search engines cannot locate you, your site is dead in the water. It needs a tombstone to locate it.

It helps to understand that Bing, Google, Yahoo, and other search engines cannot find pictures or animation effects. Search engines do not look for “pretty.” You can build the most visually striking website, but no one can find it if it does not have what search engines need.

I hate to oversimplify, but in general, your website should have tabs, headlines, and content. To see if they are search optimization live, place your cursor on anything that you want to check for life. If the cursor turns into a small hand, the spot is alive and can be found by search optimization engines.

Build your Website with these tips in mind.

• Tell your website designer that “pretty” is nice but not priority. It is more important that a header provide a live link back to your homepage. In addition, the site’s pictures, logo, and company name should link to the site’s blog and Contact Us page.
• Enter a live email address and Skype phone number on the Contact Us page. And, put a footer, including your email, website, and phone number, on every page of the site.
• Never put a design artist in charge of your copy. You want print, size, font, color, and background that can be read easily. Comprehension trumps appreciation.
• Outsource content writing to a professional who understands search engine optimization (SEO). This includes keywords, key phrases, and relevant hyperlinks. Make sure your descriptions, tags, and metatags include these keywords and key phrases.

Now, if you build your own site, revisit it frequently to refresh these keys. Then, ask someone else to explore the site with these tips in mind and build on their advice. If someone else builds your site, stand over their shoulder and pester them towards perfection.

Absent this approach, your website has no life, that is, search engines cannot find it. Save your money and prop a tombstone against it.

Small Business Saturday is dedicated to supporting small businesses on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.  Are you ready?  Start now to include the project language in your signage, marketing materials, and website.

 Small Business Saturday 2011 (November 26, 2011) is the second year for this nation-wide venture. With heavy participation by American Express, FedEx, and Facebook, this is a huge marketing thrust to bring customers to main street shopping opportunities. (Other sponsors include Business Matchmaking, Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street Center, National Association of Women Business Owners. SCORE: Counselors to Americas Small Businesses, Women’s Leadership Exchange, and Yelp!)

 These collaborators want to recognize the nation’s small businesses and their importance to the US economy, job creation, and contribution to local communities. This can be a great chance to jump-start your small business at this time of year. This marketing support clearly embraces storefront retail and service businesses, but it can also benefit on-line businesses – if you want to take advantage of it.

You can visit http://smallbusinesssaturday.com to learn more about the project. The website has links to signage, e-Marketing materials, and $100 worth of ads on Facebook.com. This will let you bring some consistency to your advertising and outreach in terms of language and visuals. Those with on-line businesses would be smart to copy the logo, signage, and e-Marketing language to their websites early enough to grab attention by Thanksgiving. The site even lets you share your info with other small businesses and offer Groupon type of coupon opportunities.

If you customers register their American Express card at www.facebook.com/shopsmall, they are eligible for a $25 credit when they use the card on Small Business Saturday. In addition, FedEx will print posters on the FedEx Office Print Online application at a one-time 20% discount.

Last year’s Shop Small Business Saturday campaign saw 100,000 businesses download the marketing materials, 10,000 businesses sign up for free Facebook ads, and 200,000 American Express cardholders registered their cards for the $25 break. Moreover, American Express will donate $1 – for every person who “likes” Small Business Saturday on Facebook – to Girls, Inc. to support young women who want to be the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

 Here’s some 2010 numbers that should catch your attention:

•  Small Business Saturday was featured in over 3,000 items in national and social media.
• The coverage reached more than half a billion prospective customers.
• Over 40 elected officials endorsed the coalition.
• 1.2 million liked the idea on Facebook and 30,000 tweets were sent.

 This is an exposure you cannot ignore.

 Now, what should you do? Explore the Small Business Saturday website and related materials. Print your flyers and hang your posters. If you’re a Main Street storefront, recruit your neighbor stores to join the initiative. If you’re an on-line business, post a link to your website, make a discount offer, and e-market your customer base and prospect database. Here’s a marketing opportunity on a platter. You still have time to make it work for you!

Microsoft’s PowerPoint has long been the way to make slide presentations for training and marketing. Few small business owners can claim mastery of the program – although most of us hunt and peck our way towards more or less acceptable presentations. PowerPoint bundles with Microsoft Office, but there are options for those who don’t have the program, don’t want to pay for it, or don’t want to use an MS product.

First, consider how many presentations you make. There was a day when we couldn’t make enough slide shows, competed with each other for clever visuals and animation, and learned to track presentations with sound and time.

However, as new software makes videos easier to create, save, and incorporate into websites, webinars, and websites, we have lost some interest in slide presentations. Still, slide presentations are still a useful tool in your kit of marketing options. So, if – and only if – you have mastered PowerPoint and still feel the need for something more, consider these options:

• Prezi.com  Prezi is a dream. Explore the handsome website to imagine what it can do for you. It produces slide shows that do not appear to be slide shows. Instead of sequential frames, Prezi enables a free-flowing moving picture experience. The potential is best experienced in large big-screen presentations where scripts are more visual and verbal. It is less useful for training where you may want and expect some passivity and static sequencing. The biggest negative is the price and the annual license renewal fee.
•  Google Docs Presentation The thing I like is the ability to collaborate with others in real time. You can train and market by inviting others – customers, sales staff, or suppliers – to plan and create the presentation. It is free as is the Cloud storage. But, It lacks PowerPoint’s library of themes and colors. It has fewer transitions and animation schemes (which most people overuse anyhow). And, it does not import or export PowerPoint formats.
• SlideRocket.com  SlideRocket is probably my favorite option, a first class platform that is available free (with some storage limits). I find it very intuitive and easy to navigate. It invites collaboration, imports and exports PowerPoint slideshows, and videos. And, it integrates easily with content from YouTube and Flickr. There is also a Pro upgrade for $24/month and custom pricing for larger corporate needs. You need to figure out if your usage and need warrants the cost, but this is a gold standard.
• 280 Slides.com  The site presents a workspace very similar to PowerPoint in appearance, making it easy to navigate by anyone familiar with the Microsoft program. But, it allows you to upload existing presentations, so you don’t have to start from scratch. It includes autosave, integration with YouTube and Flickr, and ease in posting to SlideShare and running presentations from your browser. 

Mac’s Keynote, Zoho Show, and Spresent, all have striking tools and additional options. You need to determine how many presentations you do with what frequency. You need to assess just how much you can bring to these programs in terms of your creative skills and computer savvy. And, considering how mis-steps can affect the professional appearance of your work, you may want to pay a pro to bring these tools all together for you.

Klout is a real time and relevant benchmark for those who market through social media.  Are you using social media to build and market your small business? You are wasting your time – if you don’t know how big your audience is.

Klout.com is an analytics platform that scores your reach. Klout cross crunches variables in Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and other social media. The result is a score based on:

• True Reach reports the size of your audience based on the engagement of your followers, friends, and those who interact with your messages.
• Amplification Probability indicates how likely your posts are to provoke likes, comments, retweets, and the like.
• Network Score measures the influence of your audience. If you know you are reaching the “right” people, it’s all the difference between broadcasting and targeting.

This is a qualitatively stronger index of performance than search optimization scores in the past. Klout’s final score ranges from 1 – 100, but the average score is in the 20s, and 50s and 60s are considered high.

Klout ignores spam and inactive accounts, and it focuses on the content your audience shares. It also counts the lists you have been added to and what happens to your content once you send it. It monitors if your messages spark reactions, conversation threads, forwards, and retweets or texts. It measures inbound and outbound messages to show how probable it is that your content will spread.

This helps you to identify influencers, users who are likely to communicate and promote your product or service. Influence drives action. Influencers suggest you go to a movie, check out a YouTube video, or promote a product. To reward these influencers, you can offer Klout Perks, exclusive, free or discounted products, services, or experiences to your friends and audience.

Klout is important because it measures the depth and breadth of your social media marketplace and quantifies and qualifies their subsequent influence. It is the closest thing you have to an index of your return on investment.

Caution: Still a work-in-progress, Klout can be manipulated. On the other hand, time and motivation spent on gaming the system doesn’t really make sense. PeerIndex, TweetLevel, and Twitalyzer are alternatives. But, Klout.com is easier and more intuitive to navigate. It’s exciting to see a solution to this need in the works! Check it out.

Small business survival depends on creating fresh awareness of your product or service.  A marketing strategy that puts you in front of your prospects is key.  In a supply and demand economy, it’s up to you to press consumer demand.

Here’s a challenge! Implement one new marketing idea – each week. Experts will tell you that your marketing plan does not have to be complicated or expensive, but it does require consistent activity.

You can do this without a huge investment of time or money with simple effective small business marketing ideas:

• Go social. Use social shopping sites to get your products in front of more potential buyers. Start out slow and be selective about the inventory you feature – choose products that create a buzz and reinforce your branding identity.
• Create buzz. Get everyone talking about your business. Launch a marketing campaign that falls outside what’s been done before. Make your campaign memorable and, thus, unforgettable. Distribute an unusual promotional tie-in or invite customers to a sponsored event, such as a ball game.
• Warm up to cold calls. Cold calls can be an effective sales driver for a small business. They don’t necessarily have to happen on the phone because you can drop by local stores, club, or chamber meetings.
• Develop collateral materials. Printed marketing materials still have a place in the modern business world: fliers, brochures, and postcards for direct mail and trade shows. Resist the urge to save by designing the pieces yourself; enlist the services of a skilled designer to create a professional image.
• Start blogging. Make your website visually compatible with your collateral materials. If you don’t have a blog, start to blog now. An inexpensive, high-returning online marketing strategy, a blog gives you presence and credibility while it provides customers with value-adding content. As a bonus, the constant stream of fresh content and strategic keyword usage will boost your site’s rankings in search engine optimization.
• Send regular emails. Contact established leads and customers with predictable regularity. Make sure each message contains a relevant, value-adding benefit to the recipient. To save time and money, consider leveraging the services of an email provider who can assist with template design, email deployment, and list management.
• Consider a newsletter. Customers love information, so become an instant authority. Design and email a monthly or quarterly newsletter, or use it to introduce a new product or service. Make it an e-zine, and you avoid printing and postage costs.
• Hire a copywriter. Your written content – whether it’s an email, brochure, or web page – directly reflects your business. Take the time to find a professional business writer whose style and experience is a good fit for your business.
• Be generous with discounts. With consumers pinching pennies, catering to their budget-minded sensibilities can get you far. Try sending coupons with your next mailer, or include them in a bundled coupon package. If the fit works, advertise on Groupon.

The most important thing is to be authentic. Deliver messages directly relevant to your brand or audience and don’t make promises you don’t keep, or potential buyers will move to a competitor whose campaign rings true.

Remember, small business marketing ideas will be just that – ideas – unless you take action to implement them. Don’t waste time … get started!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is part art, part science. And while much of the process can be left to the experts, it’s important for small business owners to know the SEO basics.  Such knowledge informs decision making at many levels of your business.  If nothing else, it helps you distinguish between the SEO “experts” that really understand the process and those that just want to take your money.

Put simply, the more activity you have online, the more likely you are to appear in search engine results. That is what you call SEO.   If your website url is in your social media profiles, or if you blog or post articles, you increase your chances of being “found.” And while anything you do on-line using your business identity can drive traffic to your website, the following considerations can help maximize your efforts.  

• Keywords are important. Chances are, you already know that much.  But wait – there’s more!  The better you know and understand your target market, the easier it is for you to identify keywords and phrases that those consumers are using to search for providers like you.  If you can match your website’s keywords and phrases to the search phrases your target market is entering, you’ve significantly increased your chances of being found by the very consumers you want to reach. 

• Well-written content keeps readers coming back. Once you’ve identified keywords and phrases most relevant to your target market, work them into your copy. Again, no surprise there.  But again, there is more to the story!  Every accountant is using broad search terms like payroll, taxes, accounting, and tax services in their own web copy. How can you further differentiate and refine your own keywords and phrases to make it even more likely that the right prospects will find you?  You might try adding a geographic reference, such as Texas payroll services.  Or perhaps you enjoy working with a particular industry.  Why not use a phrase like accounting for widget makers? 

• Add a blog to your website. Blogging several times each week automatically improves your search engine optimization. For instance, if you own a catering service, you might blog about recipes, menus, and events.  While blogging actually helps you add a large variety of keywords and phrases to your website, it is still important to consider your target market, what those consumers consider important, and how they might search for those solutions.

• Include links to other sites. These hyperlinks generate interest in what you do by associating your site with the internet traffic of others. In fact, it’s not unusual to request a reciprocating link. Blog posts on your site might link to the site of a  business or professional whose products and/or services complement your own.  Be careful though, that you make wise choices about with whom you choose to associate your business.  These types of associations are difficult to undo.

When a consumer goes online to find a business, search engine optimization makes the search easier and faster. Small business owners need to know how this works and what you can do to improve your rankings on major search engines. These are things you can do yourself – for little or no cost. It isn’t hard to learn but the payoffs in increased traffic can be significant!

What does Google+ mean to your small business?  Yes, it’s a networking application to share messages, photos, videos, and so on. But Google+ co-opts Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter and introduces elements we haven’t seen before.  Here are some ideas for how your small business might implement features such as Circles, Sparks, Hangout, and Stream.

Circles are groups of friends.

You label each circle. What you share within one circle stays there and does not share with other circles – unless you direct it to. Circles avoid that “share with everyone” problem in Facebook.

Google users might have separate Circles for friends and relatives. However, the small business owner could create one Circle for vendors, another for customers, and another for advisors. In addition to communicating back and forth with members of your Circles, you can instant message, chat live, or video chat. And, you click and drag to add or delete members.

A Google+ icon appears at the top of Google products. It notifies users of Google+ contacts. A drop down reveals conversations in progress, allowing you to observe or join. It also lets you access all your other Google apps: Picasa Web Albums, Google profile, Google+ Stream, Buzz, and Google contacts.

Sparks are similar to Twitter Tweets.

A business owner would enter a list of interests: product lines, customer needs, product applications, business news, etc. Sparks report browsing traffic in these areas.

A Hangout is a Skype-like feature.

You can organize a live video meeting or sales presentation with up to 10 members of a Circle. You could conduct a morning meeting while you are traveling or introduce a product line to a group of customers.

The Stream refers to your conversation threads.

You can post your personal thoughts, likes, or dislikes just as you do on Facebook’s Wall. But, you could also use the Circles to manage your business communication and your privacy.

Despite the hype, Google+ is not yet available. What we know comes from tech media that have enjoyed a preview. You can sign up on a wait list until Google+ is ready. I predict people will continue their social networks, but Google+ will be the way to go for small business operations.