The Broadcasting Model

It would be an understatement to say that customer communications models are changing. Old marketing and communications practices followed a we speak/you listen model. This worked out pretty well for business owners and marketers when people used to have more attention to spare or we could rely on the novelty of an advertising medium to break through the clutter. Unfortunately, the expiration date these days on novelty expires in months and not decades.

The issue now is that people don’t have the time or interest in listening. Before they expend their time and attention on your company or product an exchange of value has to take place. For today I’ll call that exchange of value, engagement.

The old model looked something like this.

Ye Old Marketing and Communications Model

The Interaction Model

Interactive online tools like blogs ushered in today’s interaction model and extends today in webinars, livestreams, chat rooms, virtual worlds and social networks. Clearly we have a lot of tools that make it possible to better listen. For those of you with businesses with retail locations this interaction model has always extended to the most powerful of interaction models – face time! The influence of online tools has grown and today small business owners are starting to see the value in listening more with online tools. But listening skills aren’t enough and far too many organizations are still stuck in the broadcast model.

The interaction model looked something like this.

The transitional model - think web 2.0

The Evolving Engagement Model

With today’s tools we have what we need to move towards a new engagement model that focuses more heavily on listening, processing, interacting, and broadcasting. Ideally, the net result is tangible engagement and then a lift in your brand and sales.

It probably resembles a formula like this.

Listening 30% / Processing 20% / Interacting 30% / Broadcasting 20% = Engagement

The evolving engagement model

I’m going to dive into the engagement model in more detail in future posts and we’ll bring it all together with an actionable process.

Julian, ed LOCAL Na8ion
where you are is where it’s at

New Ways to Engage your Customer Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

- Julian, ed LOCAL Na8ion

One of our sister practices at brand trampoline is called LOCAL Na8ion where we help small businesses harness the web to get more customers from their local city. Our slogan at LOCAL Na8ion is where you are is where it’s at. The slogan hints at how our physical and virtual worlds have become intertwined. At times, where we are is a state of mind, such as when we’re contributing to an online community, while at other times we are grounded in the context of our physical location and needs like when we go out to dinner or look for a plumber on Google.

Where your people are at has changed

The slogan is apt for our new service Brand Trampoline because where you are and where your people are (be they consumers, job seekers, or buyers of your product or service) has radically changed…if you want your company to be where it’s at you have to participate.

Every aspect of life is converging and connecting

Connections are now happening in multiple contexts and dimensions including our physical proximity and shared interests to our social networks of friends and associates on Facebook, Twitter, email and blogs, and yes offline too. Perhaps the ultimate mashup of all these interactions is TCFKAP – The computer in your pocket formerly known as a phone. Wait, did I just make a Prince reference?

Facebook is becoming the web’s top source of traffic

The web today is pretty search centric (that’s spelled G-O-O-G-L-E) but times are changing quickly, Facebook is fast becoming the web’s top source of traffic. Real time search results and social search are replacing the way we interact almost overnight. We have new interaction touch points, tools, and communication vehicles and in almost all cases consumers, job seekers, and local buyers are way out head of the typical enterprise - be they the mom and pop variety or the Fortune 500.

Companies of all sizes are making one of three mistakes

1. They’re failing to engage at all.
2. They not keeping pace with where people are moving due to budgets, expertise or red tape.
3. They’re failing to engage in a meaningful way, often in the form of broadcasting their information rather than following an interaction model (what we refer to as digital engagement)

We all need to let go of the paradigm where our company website is where it’s at. Not that we don’t need one, it’s just that your website has already become a spoke in the wheel as far as people are concerned while your business operations, marketing and PR are still treating it like sun that your customers all orbit around.

The new interaction engagement model

We’re going to take up the case of the new interaction engagement model in the coming week but you might not be surprised to learn that success in our new world is based not in technological expertise or marketing gimmicks but old fashioned common sense applied in a contextually thoughtful way. Not to sound smug but it’s called listening. Have you noticed how little room there is today for listening? It’s hard when everyone is an expert and all of us posses some fantasmic skill or solution for becoming wealthy, skinny or successful overnight. Listening and understanding are more important today than in any time in our history.

Rather than rushing to establish an online reputation it’s useful for us all to recognize that we already have one, just like we already have a company culture even if you HR team or CEO failed to launch a multi-million dollar culture initiative in the 90′s.

I look forward to picking up the conversation about the new engagement model (er, old) in the coming week. In the mean time we’ll be out there looking for threads of knowledge in this and other conversations and looking to engage in more understanding.

-Julian

Where you are it where it’s at Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

There’s a new way to get on page one of Google search results by using a jQuery web design.

How do you design attractive websites for people while feeding Google the text it needs to improve your search engine rankings?

Recently I talked about how designing your website in Flash is a disaster from a search engine optimization standpoint even it if looks great from a web design perspective. People like the look of Flash web designs but Google can’t read the content of Flash movies (like video) so Google can’t rank your website for relevant keywords. The end result is poor search engine rankings.

The opposite end of the spectrum is a text-centric web design. Google eats ups the keywords like a pig takes to mud but the text heavy website design leaves people cold.

text-centric web designs rank well with Google but perform badly with people. What's the alternative?

For years website designers and SEO experts have tried myriad techniques to produce a pleasing uncluttered visual design with a text-centric SEO friendly design for Google. In the last couple of years a new web programming language has emerged called jQuery and it is quickly becoming popular for good reason. Many designs using jQuery mimic the interesting visual effects of Flash but with one key difference. All the text within jQuery effects are 100% accessible to search engines. This is great news.

jQuery is the holy grail of web design and search engine optimization

With jQuery effects you can combine text headlines with keyword rich text descriptions and break up the text with design elements, video and pictures. This chunking of website content allows you to feed manageable amounts of information to people so they get the point of what you’re saying without becoming overwhelmed.

Click on the image above to see an interactive demo of a jQuery slider panel

Let’s consider an example. A popular jQuery effect is called the slider. It features a panel that slides to reveal more content. While the person looking at the website is getting nicely chunked information, the search engine is able to read (or index) 100% of the text from ALL the panels contained within the jQuery slider panel. Take a look at the Delegate design made by WooThemes (one of many jQuery designs available in our Percolator Package) . Make sure to click on the picture of the Delegate WordPress theme to see the demo and then scroll through the slider panels to see the content rotate through the design.

jQuery has many effects that can be used to chunk text heavy content into visual design that’s more manageable. For example, we used jQuery expanding panels on a website magazine design that shows multiple blog posts on one page, an action that would normally leave a person scrolling down the website page for days.

Instead we featured the article headline and a visual call-to-action for the user to read the post by simply clicking a plus sign. As soon as you click the plus sign you see the entire blog post. When you’re done reading, you click on the minus key to put the post content away and move on to the next headline. What would have been page after page of dense text has been reduced to a few inches of precious screen real estate.

Click on the image above to see a demo of the jQuery expander (look for the plus signs)

Page one of Google Search Results

jQuery is a design and SEO powerhouse and one you can’t afford to ignore if you want to appear on page one of Google search results while still having a great looking design!

Julian Seery Gude, ed LOCAL Na8ion

iTunes, QuickTime, iPhone or iPod download

Get on page one of Google with jQuery Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

Great web design isn't just about being original, it's about connecting with your website audience

How small business owners can chose a great web design for their company

The biggest mistake in web design is letting your own design taste get in the way of choosing a really great web design. This is especially true for small businesses where one person is the sole decision maker on the design. This post talks about what makes a business web design great and shares some simple steps on how you can avoid this trap while still achieving a design you love.

There are many elements that go into a great business web design. Things like originality, usability and the marketing content itself which include elements like your logo, website colors, marketing copy (text) and images. The business website must communicate the essence of your company (your brand) and lay out a convincing case for how doing business with you is better than your competition (differentiation). It can be a daunting challenge.

Let’s get something clear as to what I mean when I say great web design.

I don’t mean a work of art that wins a design award or feeds your ego. I mean a website design that motivates a large percentage of your target audience to take action, such as call, email or visit your business. That’s the kind of great design I’m talking about.

Now that we have a common understanding about what I’m defining as good design let’s talk about how to avoid your design bias overwhelming your primary goal of getting more leads from your website.

Here’s the secret?

Process.

Don’t beat your head on your keyboard just yet, I know that sounds dull. Don’t fret, because this process is really good at helping you create or select a great web design.

Web Design Process

• Identify your customer
• Make a list of your website requirements
• Make a rough sketch or example of your desired layout (called a website wireframe)
• Use representative placeholder text and images to agree on layout and overall design
• Write headlines, marketing copy (text) and calls-to-action
• Apply the skin of our new design last, after you have your layout, wireframe, text and images sorted
• Get feedback on the design from a small number of real customers

Let’s break each of these down and then you’ll be ready to put the process in place with selecting your next web design.

Identify your Customer

Remember how earlier I talked about how web design isn’t just the pretty face thet greets your web visitor? Here’s what your design should be about: communicating to your customer and incenting them to take action. Therefore wouldn’t it be nice if our design was customer centric rather than business owner centric? Say yes. Good job, you’re getting the hang of this process already.

Make a list of your website requirements

This is about what you want the website to do and what content you think you should include on your website. These requirements start out high level and then you get more specific until you have enough clarity to make them actionable.  For example, a high level requirement might be:

• Include email newsletter signup widget

The more specific version could be:

• Place email newsletter signup widget on home page and right sidebar of all pages and blog

Requirements insure your website actually has all the right parts needed to address your target customers’s needs.

Create a wireframe

Click to expand. A website wireframe helps you and your web designer visualize your design and agree on layout with no fisticuffs

Ever doodled a graphical idea on the back of a napkin so you could communicate what you mean to someone? Even if you don’t have the slightest design skill you can make rectangles, circles and scribbles that look like text. Today we do this when we make websites but we borrow an engineering process for it and call it a wireframe. What you’re doing is identifying a web design layout that you can apply your actual design and content to. Like we would apply wood or stucco to a house frame. How does this help? We don’t get emotionally invested in wireframes. We see the layout and can more quickly determine the right overall shape and flow you’re looking for. They let both you and your designer agree on a key aspect of the design with cool, calm precision. Don’t worry, there’s still time for mental anguish and hand wringing in the last two steps.

Use representative placeholder text and images

Ever seen a print mockup or website mockup of a design and it was full of text like this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam consequat ligula sed enim pharetra cursus. Praesent posuere faucibus metus in aliquet. Sed egestas erat at nulla imperdiet a rutrum mauris ultricies. Suspendisse varius nisl ut quam pretium nec aliquet nibh tincidunt.

Just like the wireframe, placeholder text and images help you narrow down your design look and feel without being distracted by the specific elements of your final design. When we use real copy on a design it’s impossible not to jump in and start wordsmithing your new marketing copy. We all do this. So don’t fight this urge, just don’t give yourself a chance to have the fight. Copywriting has a place in your new web design and it needs to get done before your designer starts to apply hair and makeup to your design (color, imagery).

Now that you have your requirements and design layout chosen you’re ready to start applying your marketing copy or text to the website. Hey, go crazy with your wordsmithing and headline writing. The tighter this stuff is the better the final design. You might wonder why we make text before we apply the last layer of lipstick to our design. It’s critical since your marketing copy is descrbing both your product/service and how you differentiate your business – all summed up to capture your company’s essence (or in marketing lingo your brand). This written description paints a mental picture in the mind of the reader. That’s good because that’s what your designer should have in mind before they design! Give this text to your designer to help them conjure up all sorts of images, colors, and ultimately a design that visually depicts what you’ve described in text.

Apply the skin of your design (hair, makeup, etc.)

With every other part of your design in place from your content, layout and navigation it’s finally the moment of truth. The designer has to bring all this together in a way that pleases your customer. And at the very least the design has to be something you believe in, even if it’s not to your exact taste.

The good news is that by going through this process you’ve already given your designer tons of feedback on what you need. Because of this your web designer often ‘nails’ a design on the first attempt and produces a design that knocks your socks off and more importantly those socks on your customer!

If you don’t like the design you’ll have already agreed on many aspects of overall design so you really hone in on what’s not working about the design. It makes this step less confrontational and faster to get through.

Get feedback on the design from a small number of real customers

Before you select a final design or throw your designers ideas out the window get feedback from 4-8 actual customers. It’s not hard to do – just get creative. People are happy to help out and no one has a hard time expressing their opinion when asked! You can ask your customer the obvious question: “how do you like the design of our new website?” but don’t worry about negative feedback unless it represents the majority opinion. Remember, just like you your customers have a design bias. So ask less subjective questions like ‘would this website address your questions and give you a reason to contact us?’. Use this real world customer feedback to tweak your design. Fixing design issues are typically small tweaks that can make a big difference like using a different picture or headline.

Wrap up

The process we’ve outlined is one that an interactive web agency like we have here at LOCAL Na8ion can do for you (including the actual design) but it can also feel too process heavy for small business and sounds expensive. It doesn’t have to be either of those things.

It’s true that this process (like any) can turn into a runaway. But you can avoid that by sticking to your goals and keeping your time and business size in mind. A website requirements list for Bank of America can be 50 pages long. Yours should fit on one. The entire process could take a big company six months to get through but you can follow each step in this process quickly and be done in a week. That’s a good investment in time given that your new web design will be around a few years.

Most designs made for small business don’t follow any process at all and the results are similarly hit and miss. You often feel you’ve accomplished your goal when you’ve selected a web design that you like. Don’t measure success by your design bias. Let the results of your web design be judged by the effect it has on producing new customers leads. Thinking this way will redefine your small business marketing in more ways than just your web design. It can be applied to all your marketing decisions.

Last Word

Can this process work with inexpensive design templates and WordPress themes? You bet!

Custom design can be expensive. A minimal design might set you back between $1000 and $8,000. That’s just the design, don’t forget you may need to budget for marketing strategy (identifying your customer and figuring out how to best connect with them), search engine optimization, social media optimization and copywriting. Great designers design stuff. Don’t ask them to perform SEO or develop a marketing strategy.

One of our specialties here at LOCAL Na8ion is the use of design templates for projects (we specifically use WordPress to power all of our business website projects). We believe in design templates so much that we used a design template on our original website and our recently ‘re-designed’ website. You’re looking at it and it cost me $70. It met my website requirements and it also looked much like the wireframe I made before I got into the hair and makeup phase of the design. Using templates for our client projects allows us to focus on providing services to small businesses that normally couldn’t afford them like local search engine optimization, training on how to use Facebook or online video to market your business.

Your website is just one part of an online marketing strategy to get your business new customers. Building your new design using this process gives your offline and online marketing a platform that can connect the missing dots in turning shoppers into buyers while saving you precious time and money along the way. Oh, and chances are pretty decent that you’ll end up liking your new web design, especially the results part where you make more money.

Julian Seery Gude, ed LOCAL Na8ion

The biggest mistake in web design Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

Issue 2 – March 2, 2010

Featured Article | Don’t let Flash happen to you

Last week I got a call from Fantasia Floral Design, a local florist on the upper east side of New York City. They were interested in the article I wrote on the Google Enhanced Business Listing. Before calling the business I performed a quick assessment of their website. What I found was a critical and all too common problem. Read full story…

Video Podcast | Think Global – Market Local | Episode 23 Local Knowledge

February 24, 2010 | For those of you who have products or services that can be sold anywhere the Internet has opened up new revenue and growth opportunities for small business that never existed before. But just because you can get business from anywhere doesn’t mean that your marketing effort should be similarly broad. While I encourage you to think globally when it comes to your ideas and marketing differentiation I would strongly suggest that you act locally when it comes time for targeting your message and advertising. Watch Video.

Watercooler | How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web

It’s impossible to market your business online today without paying great attention to Google. Watch them closely, obey their rules and reap the rewards of free leads pouring in to your website. Steven Levy of Wired Magazine published a very informative article February 22, 2010 called How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web. The article covers the evolution of their algorithm changes and gives us some great hints on what’s to come. Please read it.

Local 141 | Juicy links & status updates

March 1, 2010

Google just bought web-based photo editor picnik. Here’s my video lesson on picnik http://bit.ly/ruR4G & story here http://bit.ly/a5Q7Ap
Dec ’09 54% of small businesses used social media to monitor feedback about their business. Here’s how: http://bit.ly/diYSag
69% of small businesses used social media to post status updates or share links according to eMarketer http://bit.ly/99VW2T

February 27, 2010

How local is local?  @gsterling reports buyers make large % of purchases within 6 miles of home. http://bit.ly/dav8RJ
If u r unsure of how to write an SEO friendly article, blog post or press release then scribe for WP might help you http://scribeseo.com/

February 26, 2010

Great post by  @davidmihm on the complexity of local search (local SEO) http://selnd.com/ci90S5
Want better local Google rankings? Read this real useful post & video by  @localseoinc http://bit.ly/197jqE

February 25th, 2010

5 Tips for Using Online Video to Market Your Small Business GREAT post by  @morganb on  @reelseo‘s site http://bit.ly/aEEcpt
Small Business Owners: According to Forrester your chance of appearing in a Google search are 50X more likely with video than website text.
Small Business Owners: According to Forrester your chance of appearing in a Google search are 50X more likely with video than website text.

February 24, 2010

My latest LOCAL Na8ion video on local internet marketing for small business: Think Global – Market Local http://bit.ly/b0RzQS
Mobilize your small biz WordPress website with WP-Touch plugin. Works for iPhone, Android & BB Storm phones http://bit.ly/7acG7Q

February 23, 2010

How’s your mobile website? Mobile Local Search is now 28% of all digital searches http://bit.ly/bHFvXP

I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of Local Bits, Bytes and BS.

- Julian Seery Gude
LOCALNa8ion.com – Where you are is where it’s at

About | Local Bits, Bytes & BS is our weekly online magazine and email newsletter for small business owners that need to connect with local buyers for next-to-nothing using practical online tools and methods. We publish content every week that reveals secrets from the leading edge of local internet marketing, local search engine optimization, social media, online video, web design and WordPress.

Subscribe: You can find Bits, Bytes & BS online at www.LOCALNa8ion.com or subscribe to the weekly newsletter.

Local Bits, Bytes and BS | Weekly Issue No. 2 Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

iTunes, QuickTime, iPhone or iPod Download.

For those of you who have products or services that can be sold anywhere the Internet has opened up new revenue and growth opportunities for small business that never existed before. But just because you can get business from anywhere doesn’t mean that your marketing effort should be similarly broad.

While I encourage you to think globally when it comes to your ideas and marketing differentiation I would strongly suggest that you act locally when it comes time for targeting your message and advertising. The money you can make from competing aggressively in your local market can fuel your ambition to expand regionally or nationally.

In the mean time you’ll spend MUCH less time on your internet marketing, see results faster and things like social media outreach and search engine optimization are childs-play at a local level as compared to similar national/global efforts.

Here are a few examples

Local Marketing Effort

• Search engines: you only compete on your search terms with local geographic modifier (e.g. Florists Los Gatos not Florists EVERYWHERE)
• Advertising: you only have to rise above the local advertising din. It’s easier to make noise locally with any kind of online or offline advertising
• Social Media: you only have to target local users of social media with Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, an effort that will lend itself to a much more manageable social Rolodex.

Think Global – Market Local | Episode 23 Local Knowledge Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

At only $25, the Google Enhanced Listing is designed to highlight a part of your business (a coupon, video or just your home page) on the Google search results pages. A small yellow flag appears next to your business listing on the Google Maps 7-pack and also on the map itself.

Here’s an example of a local skateboard shop that was recently featured in the New York Times article These Battle Lines are Drawn in Yellow.

Click to enlarge: Example of Google Enhanced Business Listing

As a small business owner you’re acutely aware of how expensive and ineffective local advertising can be.

When paid search ads (pay-per-click ads) were new on Google and other search engines they were initially dirt cheap and highly effective. As the market became competitive and bid prices rose, the price to win a ‘click’ skyrocketed to the point where small business owners like you and I found ourselves in all too familiar territory – being spent out of the market. The same experience we’ve had with online banner advertising and before that print Yellow Pages, Newspaper, Direct Mail, Coupons and the PennySaver. The NYT article I cited earlier provides a great example.

“But one of his sure-fire ways to drive Web visitors and foot traffic — buying search ads on Google — got to be pretty expensive. Mr. Cowie, whose shop is just 1,000 square feet, found himself bidding for placement against deep-pocketed national chains, and having to spend $1,500 to $2,000 a month just to keep up.” - New York Times article These Battle Lines Are Drawn in Yellow

This experience is why we still use and champion organic search engine optimization, social media and web marketing. These methods have no associated advertising costs and the money invested in effective web design, marketing ideas and organic Local SEO are largely one-time costs that are quickly recovered, unlike ads that you have to keep paying for indefinitely with dubious effect.

The best part of Google’s Enhanced Business Listing is that it’s s flat fee. For now it’s also very affordable at $25 a month. We’ll have to wait and see how effective it is. In the early days early adopters will likely see a big impact but after the product saturates the Google maps listings expect results to dwindle sharply. Then we’ll be back where we started – finding unique ideas and marketing methods to make our business stand out and creating web designs, video and copy that converts shoppers into buyers.

Google Enhanced Business Listing for Small Business Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

Your marketing work isn't getting done, neither is mine, we need anoter plan.

The Problem

Small business owners usually agree that marketing is the toughest and most critical part of their business. After all, the number one reason businesses fail is lack of sales. Even as a seasoned marketer with over twenty years of marketing  and online experience I have to say that this small business owner agrees.

Early in my career I called on thousands of small business owners as a Yellow Pages advertising rep. Today I work with the same kinds of small and medium sized businesses on web design and internet marketing but the major challenges remain. Here’s what I used to hear in 1988 and what I still hear today when I talk with business owners.

• Advertising cost too much
• Advertising doesn’t work
• Marketing is a mysterious, confounding practice with little real feedback
• I don’t have time for this
• I want to work on my business, not marketing and advertising

As a small business owner myself I have to say that today I feel your pain. While I’ve been busy raising my two youngest kids and building my practice LOCAL Na8ion, I’ve had a hell of a time taking my own advice. While I appreciate the irony in this I don’t like that I’m not walking-the-talk. I’ve been like the landscapers who I used to call on who had a dirt front lawn – always too busy making their customer’s gardens lush and paying the bills to work on their own.

The Solution

So let’s talk about solutions. Here they are (and yes, I’m taking my own advice):

• Use tools & technology that save time and reduce complexity
• Build your marketing tasks into your daily routine
• ‘Microsize’ your marketing workflow until it actually gets done and then slowly raise the bar
• Leverage, leverage, leverage – anyone, anything, anytime. Remember to say thanks
• Find any way to take action today
• The more you do it – the easier it gets

I’m going to talk more about two items on my list: Microsize your marketing workflow until it actually gets done and The more you do it – the easier it gets. If I bit off any more this post won’t get written and I won’t move forward.

Microsize your marketing workflow until it actually gets done

Here’s the first clue if you’ve made your task small enough (microsize) to get the job done. Did you produce something that you can call DONE? Can you check off the task? Until you actually produce a result or a task you can check off you’re biting off more than you can chew. Break the task down into chunks, making it smaller so you can complete it.

I encourage you to make it small in a silly way – get really micro and creative! This kind of technique is about overcoming the mental hurdle in non-starters. Once you get something done, you feel accomplishment, you build mental kudos and success and with enough repetition – momentum! As you move forward keep doing the small stuff – it all adds up. Be wary of piling on. Recognize now that you will do this. Rather than letting that pattern seep back in to your practice go after it the very next day with a smaller task – microsize.

The more you do it – the easier it gets

I was trying to record a video blog post yesterday and it’s been ages since I’ve done one. It was rough, felt useless and originally felt like a waste of time. But here’s the thing – it wasn’t. I got some practice and that’s important because I’m way out of practice. The last video lesson or vlog post I put up was September 24th! Right now I’m slow, inefficient and rough around the edges. How’s that going to improve? Practice.

It’s no different than getting my two youngest kids to practice their violin. If they don’t practice for a few days, the next time they do it’s hell on them. So it might take me three more tries to get that vlog post done but the practice will make it sharper and easier to do the next time.

I know what you’re thinking. If I had microsized my work I wouldn’t have felt like I failed. You’re right. I DID fail in my original task which was to shoot, edit and post a new vlog post. That would have been OK if I was in a flow state, but I was far from it. What I needed to put on my task list yesterday was to practice a vlog post. That would have changed everything.

So, today I did something that is easier for me. I wrote a blog post. And this task is almost checked off. Which is good because in looking at my task list I see I’ve got three client projects to juggle, five loads of laundry to fold, a shopping trip, kids to take to violin, school, feed and look after and much much more. And if that goes well I might (just might) practice vlogging a bit more later tonight. If I do, that’s great but if it doesn’t happen I’ll have already produced a result.

Are there any practices that you use to get the job done? If so, please share them.

Marketing is hard – when are we going to find the time for it? Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

I’ve been working recently on a website design for a new client WestchesterInternetMarketing.com in Westchester New York. If you’re in their area and need help with local internet marketing, please look them up.

Westchester Internet Marketing turned me on to a great WordPress plugin to boost your search engine results and I wanted to pay-it-forward by letting you in on their tip.

I’m excited about this plugin because it will save me time in helping clients with their Local SEO and it will also help you, even if you don’t know much about SEO or achieving better search engine rankings.

It’s called SEO Automatic and it’s made by Scott Hendison over at Search Commander. As a web designer and marketer who specializes in WordPress I can say with confidence that Scott’s claims for the plugin are bang on.

“If you “already know SEO”, this tool shows you everything you can possibly think of, saving you untold time and energy depending on your skill and efficiency level.

If you don’t “already know SEO”, then I’ll not only show you “what’s wrong?” with a given URL, but I’ll give you and your team all of the necessary details needed to do things “right for SEO”.

Download the SEO Automatic Core Tweaks plugin here.

Julian Seery Gude, ed LOCALNa8ion.com

Set your local search engine optimization to Automatic Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

QuickTime, iPhone or iPod Download.

Today’s Local Knowledge video tutorial is a two-parter (this is part 2 of 2) so be sure to catch the first half by watching here.

This lesson shows you how to add a new blog post to your WordPress small business website while also optimizing your post for search engine optimization.

You’ll love this information if you’re a small business owner who wants to generate more sales leads from search engines like Google. To accomplish this, you’ll want to pair frequent website updates with our search-engine savvy blog post formatting tips.

Julian Seery Gude
editor, LOCAL Na8ion
www.localna8ion.com

What every small business should know about WordPress, Episode 21 Part IIIb Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -