Successful Business Web Presence

Just came across an article from Mashable about the "4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence". Website, Newsletter, Blog, and Social Sites -- all vital aspects of creating an online presence. Good read.

http://mashable.com/2010/02/10/business-web-presence/

Business Goal Setting

I love the new year and taking the time to set goals for myself. However this year I have determined to also create time for business goal setting. I have over a hundred domain names, about 20 websites, and much more to do. But if I don't set specific goals, I may come to the end of 2010 and discover I have haphazardly gotten further along, but have not really accomplished what I could have done if I had gone about it with a plan.

There is power in being specific with business goals, writing them down and creating a plan to achieve them. If you don't write down a goal, it's not really a goal. If you don't create a plan, then your goals likely will not be accomplished.

Internet marketing is a wonderful and fun way to create successes. There are so many areas where goals could be set. I could set goals for getting high quality backlinks to my sites. I could create better website templates and each month launch a new site. My business goal setting could be focused on only financial outcomes (but then I'd still need to create smaller goals and a plan to achieve that additional income). Whatever I determine this year, I predict it will be a very productive way to increase my reach and enhance my existing internet properties.

In your own business goal setting, you may ask yourself or your business leaders the following questions. What is our main business? How are we getting better? What can we do to serve our customers more efficiently? How can we create more momentum? How can we assist our employees in becoming more effective and enjoying their work more? How can we generate more income and better quality products? At the end of 2010 what do we want to have achieved?

Google Email - "Undo" Feature!

As reported by MarketingVOX: Mere days after Google unveiled an email preview feature for YouTube videos, Yelp reviews and Flickr and Picasa photos, Gmail Labs is introducing yet another feature that enables marketers to preempt a botched email blast.

Undo Send enables users to effectively unsend emails that were prematurely sent — or that contain errors.

The window of opportunity is a small one, however. "This feature can't pull back an email that's already gone; it just holds your message for five seconds so you have a chance to hit the panic button," writes the Gmail Blog.

"And don't worry – if you close Gmail or your browser crashes in those few seconds, we'll still send your message."

To activate Undo Send, visit Gmail Labs > Settings and switch on "Undo Send." Thereafter, users will see an "Undo" link on every sent email confirmation; once "Undo" is hit, users are sent back to the compose window.

Facebook to Launch IM Service

"Facebook is poised to launch its own instant messaging service as early as next week. The service will be built into Facebook profile pages.

Facebook's plans may be bad news for third parties like Social.IM and FriendVox, which built IM apps on Facebook.

The announcement comes a week after Bebo, the third biggest social network, was purchased by AOL. AOL says the merger's success hinges upon the successful integration of AIM into Bebo.

MySpace also offers a rather sporadic IM service, which debuted in 2004.

Early this month, Facebook announced a music partnership with iTunes, right on the heels of MySpace, which itself is developing a music service with the four major record companies."

http://www.marketingvox.com/facebook-to-launch-im-service-037361/?camp=newsletter&src=mv&type=textlink

Hiring Marketing Students

Hi all --

I'm looking for a couple of marketing students who would like to earn money this summer (on commission). I have a CD about The Testaments (LDS Film) and need creative marketing for it. I want people who love the film, love the LDS culture, can think outside the box, and want flexibility in their schedules.

I have a list of about 50 ways we can market the CD, but don't have time myself to do the marketing.

If you're interested, let me know -- romayallen (at) hotmail.com.

vSpring Top 100 Entrepreneurs for 2007

Congratulations to two of my brothers - Curt Allen and Paul Allen for being included in the 2007 vSpring Top 100 Entrepreneurs. I think this is the 3rd year they have been on the list. Very Cool! Read the vSpring Press Release

Seth Godin in Utah?

Here's a post by Paul Allen about the possibility for Seth Godin to come to Utah.

Utah blogs are buzzing about the chance we have to get the legendary Seth Godin to visit Utah as part of his new book tour. We just need 500 people to each pay $50 (and get 5 copies of his new book) so that he will stop here on his tour.

I took a trip to NYC two years ago to hear Seth speak, so I paid a lot more than $50. He was the keynote speaker at an advertising conference, and he slammed traditional advertising and explained in a powerful way how the internet changes everything. To hear him speak in Utah would be incredible.

I still think his “Permission Marketing” is the best book ever written on appropriate email marketing. I refer people to it all the time.

So please check out this message from Phil Burns, and jump on the bandwagon. We’re running out of time:

He started one of the first internet companies, yoyodyne, which was acquired by Yahoo, he then became a VP at Yahoo. He more recently started a Web2.0 company, squidoo. He is always talking about internet marketing – he’s one of the experts on it, and he has one of the most popular blogs on the internet.

…. We have a HUGE opportunity to get Seth to come speak to us here in Utah! People have tried to get him to come speak here in the past but to no avail. Now, it will take the efforts of us all in order to bring him here on May 24th of this year!

To get him here, we need to get 500 people willing to pay $50.00 to hear him. Not only will you have an opportunity to hear him speak, you’ll get 5 copies of his new book, The Dip. We are gathering pledges to pay to hear him to see if we can get 500 people to pledge (instead of gathering money up front).

If you’re interested in hearing Seth speak, there are a few things you need to do.

· First, pledge to pay $50.00 at http://www.pledgebank.com/SethGodinUtah

· Next, blog about it! We’re trying to create a blog storm about this, even a quick simple post advertising this will help a lot

· Third, tell everyone at work or who you think will be interested about it!

· Finally, all the details and updates are being managed at a new site, http://www.wordmob.com keep an eye on the site for details

Here’s Seth’s blog post announcing this opportunity: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/the_dip/2007/03/the_dip_tour.html

There’s a big catch here, we have to have evidence of a large motivation to do this my Monday (like, in 3 days)! We have a tentative date from Seth that he’s been kind enough to hold for us, but we have to show we’re going to be able to make it so, please, if you’re interested, stop what you’re doing and go sign up here: http://www.pledgebank.com/SethGodinUtah RIGHT NOW! Then blog about it asap, encourage other to blog about it and talk about it all day!

This is a pure grass roots effort, it will only work if those who are interested (YOU?) take 5 minutes and actually do something about it – so please help out!

Thanks!

Phil Burns

CEO TagJungle.com

This is a brilliant way for an innovative author to start a new book tour. If he gets 5 cities to get 500 pledges at $50 each, he’ll sell 12,500 copies of his book, generate $125,000 in revenue, visit 5 cities with an energized audience, and generate a ton of publicity for once again, being so innovative.

Let’s hope that Utah will pull this off and make it on his list of cities to visit.

Google Opens up Mobile Search

Google is opening up their mobile search for use by anyone. The Google mobile homepage will allow widgets to be added so users can customize and personalize their content. Plus, you will be able to remember past search locations so that future search results will be more relevant.

What will be cool is that you can search for movie times from your mobile device, and then buy tickets from your cell phone/PDA or whatever you're using. Pretty cool. Can't wait to see it working smoothly.

Yahoo Launches Mobile Advertising Market

Yahoo is creating an advertising market geared toward cell phones. Marketers will be able to put ads on both Yahoo's mobile services as well as on the services of other publishers. The network only has 3 publishers currently: MobiTV, Opera, and Go2 but the network will be expanded quickly over the next few months.

Business Expo at UVSC

I was at the Business Expo held at UVSC in Provo yesterday. I was really happy that I attended this year. I got a free ticket from Funding Universe (an organization that helps entrepreneurs with creating effective business plans and getting funding from investors.) So, it was kind of a last minute decision to attend.

Bill Rancic -- the famous "Apprentice" winner was the keynote speaker for the first day. I didn't get a chance to hear him, but he spoke about having passion for what you do.

I really enjoyed seeing all of the business resources in Utah Valley. There were internet marketing companies (all of whom talked down to me as a woman -- like I didn't know anything about computers or internet marketing -- hmm), but I decided to think of it as funny rather than offensive.

I actually had some new business ideas as I saw what some vendors could provide my current business.

I made a bunch of new contacts, and I even won a really nice Golf Bag from Zions Bank. Yeah! Very cool. So, overall it was a great way to spend my day.

Blogger and Digg

I have a question for you. Anyone who has used the new Blogger and Digg successfully. With the new templates and widgets in Blogger I have found it difficult to add Digg and Adsense at the end of each blog article -- rather than just at the bottom or top of the page. Have any of you used Blogger and Digg and do you have any suggestions on how to do this?

Overture Removes Bid Tool

For those of you who know about internet marketing and SEO (search engine optimization) today we all received a huge blow. Overture removed their bid tool from their servers and rumor has it that it will not return. I use this utility all of the time for internet marketing. However, with the release of the new Yahoo Panama advertising model -- hopefully their new tools will be more efficient and more reliable.

It's very frustrating to find something that works well for you and then to have it gone without warning. I guess I'll have to be patient while they work the bugs out of the new system.

Paul Allen - Genius Internet Entrepreneur

Hey all,

My brother, Paul Allen, is one of the most brilliant minds of our day. I may be biased, but I hear it from everyone who knows him as well, so I think it must be accurate. Paul has founded many successful companies including MyFamily.com, Ancestry.com, Infobases Inc., LDS Media, 10x Marketing, and more. He is in the process of creating several more. He know the technology industry better than anyone I know (except perhaps for my other brother Curt Allen, who founded Folio Corp, and Agilix.)

The best thing about Paul is that he is willing to share his vast expertise freely with others. He has a blog that any internet entrepreneur would benefit from reading. Not only does he analyze the industry, but he shares his experience about how to be successful. If you are starting a new business, want to be an internet entrepreneur, and want to learn from the best -- Paul Allen -- his latest website is http://www.infobaseventures.com/ and you can read about his companies and latest business ventures. Then for more information read Paul Allen's Blog.

Anyway, trust me -- it will be well worth your time to read! I know he's my brother, but I learn so much from him and want others to benefit as well.