We’re presenting our High ROI Online Marketing seminar this coming Thursday, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm at The Commerce Center in South Bend, in cooperation with the North Central Indiana SBDC; here’s the program overview:

This session takes you into the fast changing (and sometimes bewildering) world of SEO (Search Engine Optimization; both black hat and white hat), SEM (keyword marketing), data feeds, email marketing, social media, viral marketing and more.  You'll leave this session with a deeper understanding of which of these marketing methods work best in what circumstances, (depending on your business objectives), along with an explanation of key marketing metrics and some practical ways of measuring and maximizing the ROI from your online marketing efforts.  

We have a few complimentary seats available; let me know if you’d like to attend as our guest and I’ll put you on the short list; (while these spots last).  

First Priority for a Start Up: MO.com Interview

I had a wide-ranging interview with MO.com that’s just been posted today; we covered important first steps for start-ups; (including my view of the TOP priority); advice on selling a business; growth strategies and more.

Check it out. MO.com Interview with Stephen Antisdel

Good, Bad, and Ugly Websites Illustrate Best Design Practices for 2012

We'll be presenting "Essential Website Design Elements" at the Commerce Center in South Bend, March 22, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. This is the second of a three part series we're providing in cooperation with the North Central Indiana SBDC.


Here's the seminar description on the SBDC website:  This information packed session helps you translate your carefully crafted Internet strategy and business model into a website design that not only looks great, but can help you reach your business objectives. Dozens of examples of good (and bad) design will be shown to illustrate essential website design elements and best practices for branding, value proposition, Unique Selling Proposition, website usability, navigation, the conversion funnel, site content tips, on-the-page SEO, elements of trust and more.

Details on registration for the seminar are in the press release; here's a link:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/2/prweb9225626.htm  

Internet Strategy seminar at ISBDC

We’ll be presenting an updated seminar on “Developing an Effective Internet Strategy” next month at the Commerce Center in South Bend. This is the first of a series we’ve developed in conjunction with the North Central Indiana SBDC and will be followed by a seminar on essential website design principles in March, and high ROI online marketing/social media in April. The content of each can stand alone, but the Internet strategy seminar is somewhat foundational.  Here's the info from our joint release:

The North Central Indiana Small Business Development Center and Precept Partners announced the first of three, Internet centric seminars with “Developing an Effective Internet Strategy” on February 16. The opening session will be presented at the Commerce Center, in South Bend, Indiana.  The program is offered as part of North Central ISBDC’s popular “Taking the Fear Out of Technology” series of educational seminars. The three month Internet focused series will discuss Internet strategy, website design and online marketing.

Content for the seminars has been developed by Precept Partners, website strategy, design and marketing consultants based in nearby Buchanan, Michigan. Stephen Antisdel, manager of Precept said, “In the first seminar we’ll explain a step-by-step process to help you develop a profitable Internet business strategy and business model. We’ll also share a number of online tools to help you analyze your competitors' relative strengths and weaknesses.”

The North Central ISBDC’s Regional Director Jan Fye said, “It’s important for us here at the ISBDC to help our clients make informed decisions in every phase of business ownership.  We are delighted to be working with Steve, and Precept Partners, to offer this series!”  The North Central ISBDC program description explains that the methods discussed in the Internet Strategy session have been used to generate over $100 million in revenue in B2B, B2C and service businesses.  Antisdel adds, “This seminar is a must for business owners interested in growing their company in the online channel.”

 

Google+ Pages in Organic Search Results

Google+ Pages (for business) are starting to show up in organic search results; what we’re recommending for our clients.   

In view of the importance of organic search visibility (and SEO) for businesses of all kinds, I thought it noteworthy that Google+ Pages are now starting to appear within their search results. From what I see, it’s mostly big companies showing up now, but Google has every incentive to include a company’s Google+ Page as an SEO ranking factor going forward; it’s another way they can drive Google+ adoption.

Exact numbers are hard to pin down but Google+ now likely has north of 50 million users. This is far short of Facebook’s 800 million, but we see a different demographic tilt to the Google social network. It’s a difference we think will be especially important to B2B sectors.

Based on our analysis, we find Google+ users are generally more business oriented, include more knowledge workers, are a bit more male than female (at least for now), and tend to be a little younger (Gen X and Y) than the typical Facebook user. To the extent that your target market includes this demographic, setting up a Google+ Page for your business could make sense beyond its SEO value.

I've included a link to an informative article in PC Mag on how to set one up: 

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2397264,00.asp

 

New FernwoodBotanical.org website launch

We're happy to announce the launch of the new FernwoodBotanical.org website this week; what an amazing place! Details are on Webwire. http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=150254

Chrome continues to take share in the browser wars

Google's Chrome browser continues to take share; now just ahead of Firefox and gaining on IE. Good time to confirm how your website renders on Chrome.  http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9222322/Chrome_edges_Firefox_grabs_second_browser_spot