You've heard us talk about social media campaigns, as well as content marketing. We maintain that both are essential pieces to a complete Internet Marketing Campaign. Click here to read an article written by Heidi Cohen which not only backs up our process, but also offers an excellent chart to help explain the similarities & differences between social media & content marketing. Heidi is a great resource for us at Branches PSP. Give her blog & twitter feed a good look through to help boost your marketing plan.

Dear friend:
As you know, I have been selected to be one of 30 entrepreneurs to board the DC Startup Bus headed to SXSW in Austin, Texas. This is a great honor for me, my company, and by extension, for Annapolis. We leave this Tuesday morning. And, I need sponsors to make this happen. Any help would be greatly appreciated and not forgotten!

Background:
The Startup Bus mission is to foster innovation and entrepreneurialship, two things our economy needs. Thirty entrepreneurs on 10 buses originating all across the country literally have 3 days to completely produce a new startup business together. (from concept to code to product) When we get to SXSW, each bus will get to pitch their idea to some of the world's biggest corporations, angel investors, and venture capitalists. The best biz wins funding for their business. This is a once-in-a-lifetime-chance.

Our Expenses:
Startup Bus pays for nothing. We are responsible for absolutely everything. Our costs will be just over $2500. We need your help to affray these costs and are willing to say thank you in a big way.

In exchange for your sponsorship, we would like to offer you or your business the following:
- we'll put your business logo, synopsis, personal message, and (if you want to) a YouTube video of you/your business on our website
----- The YouTube video is up to you, of course. But, I strongly recommend it!
- link to your website and social media too 
------ which is great for SEO, b/c your website will be linked up to the SxSW sites, the Startup Bus sites, and social media

We will have behemoth angel investors, capital venturists, and all kinds of local businesses and people visiting our website because of this. This event will put us, our website, and our friends on the national stage. 

The trip, the judging, and the finals will be filmed. Yeah ... it's that big. :-)

THANK YOU for helping to make this happen for us! Your help will NOT be forgotten. 

We need:
- Food for the bus trip (there are a few vegans on board and also a few gluten free allergies).
- Food and House Supplies during the conference.
- Daily Transportation to the conference.
- One SxSW badge ($950 - my previous price was incorrect).
- Transportation back from Austin, Texas.

Please consider:
- Any contribution can be considered an advertising expense because of the exchange for advertising on our website, social media, and YouTube Channel.
- We won't turn down a PayPal or Credit Card donation. But, Gift Cards, Cash, or Checks are preferable since we are leaving in just two days.
------ Checks can be picked up by Shawn Cochran tomorrow in Annapolis or mailed.
------ Credit Card or PayPal donations can be made on the Branches PSP website in the Community Support section under "What We Do".

Thank you and God bless you for supporting this adventure!! 
Entrepreneurs WILL change the world. 

Yours very truly,
Jennifer Cochran
BranchesPSP.com

Google Voice Numbers
Annapolis: 443.252.2010
Harrisburg: 717.842.0241

Growing Business from the Ground Up!

###

If you would like to chat with me about this, please email me at Jen@BranchesPSP.com or use GoogleTalk to chat with the same email address.

And . . . PLEASE SHARE THIS NOTE OR MENTION THIS ON YOUR PAGE. SMALL BUSINESSES SUPPORT EACH OTHER.

Do you use GMail or another email service . . . and everytime you click on a link for email, Microsoft Outlook launches?? 

This article from Google Chrome explains how to change your Google Chrome settings to launch GMail instead. Pretty handy. ;)

Original Article :  http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1382847 
###

Allow websites to open special types of links

This article applies to Google Chrome on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome OS.

Chrome allows web services to ask if you’d like to use them to open certain links. While most links generally take you to another page, some links can open programs and perform other actions. For example, mailto: links can open your email program and webcal: links can add events to your calendar program. These links are referred to as protocols and the programs they use are called handlers. Many web services these days, including Gmail and Google Calendar, can act as handlers.

For example, when you open Gmail in Chrome, a message may appear at the top of the page asking if you'd like to allow Gmail to open all email links. If you click the Use Gmail button, Gmail's compose window will open the next time you click a hyperlinked email address on a page. Click No and your computer will continue to open email links the same way as before.

Allow or disable site handler requests

By default, web services are allowed to show messages about protocol links when you visit their sites. To disable or re-enable these messages in Chrome, follow the steps below.

1. Click the wrench icon  on the browser toolbar.
2. Select Options (Preferences in Mac and Linux; Settings in Chrome OS) > Under the Hood.
3. Click Content settings.
4. In the dialog that appears, find the “Handlers” section:
   • To allow requests, select “Allow sites to ask to become default handlers for protocols.”
   • To disable requests, select “Do not allow any site to handle protocols.”

Choose a default handler or remove a handler

Use the Settings page to manage the web services you’ve allowed to act as handlers.

###



 

SEO - Creating Sites For Users or the Engines?
By Larry McCullough
Published 11/26/2008 (!!! 3 years is like 30 in the SEO world, but these principles remain true)


What’s more important? Creating sites for users or the engines? The answer is both. 

Your favorite thing about having a blog may soon be this - they naturally attract search engine traffic. Blogs already have optimized site architecture. Most are set up with a clear navigation, where every page is set up to link back to the other main pages. They also have the inherent potential to be well-linked. 

Primarily a site should be designed for the user, with search engines in mind. Google tends to talk out both sides of their mouth when they say, “Don’t do anything special for the engines”. Yet, they create a webmaster tool center where you can submit a sitemap, and get information about how the engines see your site, errors and what key phrases your site ranks for. That gives new site owners a little bit of confusion. 

I like sites that are easy to navigate, pleasing to the eye and that help sell whatever it is you need to. Pages should be set up as landing pages. The great thing about your blog is that it can get so well-indexed that you have the potential to show up for any number of four word phrases that are relevant to your industry. This way you can give the visitor everything they need to make a purchase or fill out a form. At the same time you can optimize these pages for the engines and use the pages for your PPC campaigns. I believe in doing sites this way. It brings the visitor a much better experience. 

The perfect site is not only user friendly, but optimized for the engines. You need to target where people go to in order to provide them with the information or product they need. There is nothing worse than having people landing on a page that is optimized for a phrase but offers no information about it... It brings the user a bad experience and you a missed sale or lead. You have a choice. You can target a general high traffic keyword you have little chance of ranking well for and get barely any traffic. 

Once you have a page optimized, you can streamline the transition from viewing what you have to offer to facilitate a purchase. You can also provide related content and links. This, in turn, will help with you PPC because Google is now checking to see how relevant your landing pages are to the keywords you buy. 

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Sometimes a site's structure (the relationships between its content) must be altered too. Because of this it is, from a client's perspective, always better to incorporate Search Engine Optimization when a website is being developed than to try and retroactively apply it. 

In the grand scheme of things, you do need to optimize your site. However, if you do not have usability for the user, your traffic won’t convert. Non-converting traffic is worse than having no traffic at all. It’s a webmasters nightmare. Make a good quality site that will attract natural links to it in order to obtain any form of long term presence within the search engine results page.

###

HERE IS WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY : 
Google search algorithms have changed DRASTICALLY since this first was published. Google Panda, Google Fresh, Google Plus - have all FORCED SEO gurus like  Larry and like our very own Jen Cochran to change the content of blog posts and where links lead to (more hyper-local, geo-specific considerations). But, indeed, the broad strokes contained in this article remain the same. Good stuff.

- SHAWN COCHRAN 
Branches PSP

Marketing without a call to action is like taking the time and care to put on your shirt, jacket, and hat, but not bothering to put your pants on.

This brilliant, easy to digest eBook doesn't just "sell you" on call to action marketing. It shows you how to do it - successfully. 

If you don't know what a call to action is . . . 

Everything you need to know is contained in this classic eBook out of HubSpot. For those of us lucky enough to be responsible for whether a consumer actually takes action or not (actually picks up the phone to call, fills out a contact form, sends an email, makes a donation, or purchases a product) this eBook is a **must read**.

Each and every blog post, every social media post, each flyer you make, each advertisment you pay hard earned dollars for - heck, every single email you send - should include a call to action.

January's eBook from Hubspot is out ... and it rocks!

Branches is in the process of setting up our G+ page. Actually, we're so busy in the process of setting up our clients' pages, we barely have time to post up here!!

SO - give it a look-see and tell us whether *you* agree that it's one of the best HubSpot joints in a long while.

If you're really into social media - I mean head over heals devoted in love with social media - check out Nimble. 
TAKEN FROM THE NIMBLE WEBSITE:  http://www.nimble.com/ 
Some reasons to choose Nimble

Your Networks, All In One Place
Unify all your contacts, calendars, conversations from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google. Monitor the most popular social networks from one screen, engage prospects, and build deeper relationships. see more

More Revenue in Less Time
Nimble’s sales automation tools will enable your company to accurately track all business opportunities so you can close more deals in less time. see more

Smart and Magical
Stay more connected than ever to your contacts with notifications on job changes, birthdays, comments, likes, invites and more. see more

Nimble Integrations
Nimble now integrates with 3rd party applications to create a true closed loop marketing system for your social business. see more


 

BY LILACH 109 
The rising popularity of social media has led to growing recognition of its use to companies and the need to incorporate social media into business plans. But businesses often have little experience with this new medium. 

Consequently, there is a growing demand for people with expertise in social media. But unfortunately there is not enough supply of real experts. There has been an increasing number of people claiming to be experts. Gary Vaynerchu even commented that 99.5% of social media experts are clowns. 

Not everyone who claims to be a social media expert truly is one. There are a lot of fakes around who claim they are experts but in fact know little about social media or business. It’s important to be able to identify the fakes so you can avoid being a victim of a fake expert. But how do you distinguish the ‘real deal’ from the ‘fakes’? Let’s look at some key indicators…

• An expert should be an active user of social media. They will have updated profiles, regular updates, and maintain a regular blog.
• The fakes often have a narrow view of social media. So you should consider: Have they moved beyond the generic channels of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube? Are they engaging in the right channels for their niche? Social media experts move beyond the obvious and are well-attuned to where their niche hangs out.
• They are an experienced and active user of social media. They have been using the medium for some time and have lots of practical experience using it.
• They are up to date with the latest social media trends and are using the latest tools. i.e. they have got a Google+ account.  As social media is constantly evolving, one cannot be an expert unless they are up to date. People who claim to be experts without reading the latest blogs, researching upcoming trends whilst engaging with the latest  news are not real experts.
• Fakes often have lots connections but lack quality connections. An expert will go for quality over quantity. Whilst the fake might have lots of Facebook likes orTwitter followers, they lack relevant followers and actual customers.
• Fakes use social media primarily to promote a company’s services/main messages without engaging with users. Experts will interact with their followers, commenters, etc.
• Fakes claim to be general social media experts and lack a specialist area of expertise. Social media is a broad area; it’s not possible to be an expert of it all.
• Fakes lack real business sense and have little or real evidence of their previous business success. They don’t know how to turn fans into customers. They lack insight into their customers and lack any drive to meet customer needs.
• Fakes often adopt an over-optimistic position without any careful consideration of the specific company’s circumstances. You should be wary of people claiming social media is the only strategy – It’s not – it should always be complemented by other elements of marketing. Social media doesn’t replace solid marketing strategy; rather it is used to enhance it. You should also be wary of those claiming it is essential for every business – Whilst using social media effectively is becoming evermore important for business success, employing social media is not necessarily the right strategy for every company. Determining whether it’s the right strategy requires careful analysis of the company and the context in which it operates.

Unfortunately these ‘fakes’ can give social media a bad name. It’s so easy for people to jump on the band wagon and say they’re a “social media expert”.

But remember social media is a great tool but only when in the hands of someone with the understanding and experience of how to use these tools and successfully implement social media strategies. There is a need for real social media experts who know how to use these new communication tools effectively.


##

Original Post about Social Media Experts