True, this is nothing really new about personal branding. There are experts on it, books about it and passionate detractors. However, with sites like Twitter and Facebook creating very valuable property if you can get your name and/or your company name to extend your personal brand, it is more important all the time. Most people don’t know who the heck you are but they can through techniques like Personal Branding and establishing yourself as a Thought Leader in your area of expertise. Jay lays out a nice and simple 10 point plan to accomplish this and own your “personal brand” and the space you plan to occupy.

10 Simple Rules to Effective Personal Branding

1.) Be Your own Brand Manager (develop your brand marketing plan, how are you going to promote, set specific measurable goals)

2.) Determine your USP (what makes you distinctive, how can you enhance your unique skills)

3.) Follow Your Passion (where do you like to hangout, what do you

4.) Listen to everyone else

5.) Embrace Your Inner Author (Create Unique Content)

6.) Build Your New (Set a goal to make a few quality connections, give to get ask about them, Ask about them)

7.) Volunteer to Shine (Develop new skills, enhance skill through freelance opportunities)

8.) Innovate to Lead

9.) Be Entrepreneurial – Entrepreneur is a verb

10.) Speak Up! – Go to Toastmasters, Presentation Zen

I think that no matter how you feel about the term “Personal Branding” you can’t deny that with all the content and bombardment of information we receive every minute of the day it is harder and harder to be recognized. Jay is convinced that this will become even more critical in participating in Web 2010 and he is probably right on target.

What are your thoughts and feelings on “Personal Branding”?

I know there are experts out there, dectractors and people learning this approach and I want to hear from you all. Leave a comment on whether you think this will be important now, next year and beyond.

Photo Credit: Digital Mommy

As I was writing this yesterday I was reviewing my blog feed and saw Chris Brogan’s post “Please Write this Robert” which talked about Robert Scoble’s post about Web 2010. What I didn’t realize until I read Scoble’s post was that he was commenting on the All Things D Conference held last week by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg. It was there that they were trying to capitalize on marking their conference as the start of the Web 3.0 era. Scoble called them out on this and addressed this by remarking that this type of innovation comes in at different times and that using a 2.0 or 3.0 really hurt the innovation process. Kara Swisher didn’t take too kindly to this in her response and so a blog fight has ensued.

What was sad is that they missed an opportunity to see Jay Berkowitz give his Web 2010 presentation which was not planned but coincidentally timed to these blog posts by Robert and Kara. The bigger point is that we are stepping into the next era of the web and 2010 is next year so this title is appropriate and forward thinking without getting too futurist on everyone.

In his talk last night, Jay pointed out 10 areas that are going to comprise our world and trends next year. Here are the highlights:

Area #1.) Micro-communications – Short communications for a short attention span. We will take our news in small bits using tools like Twitter, Qik, 12Seconds. Interesting case of @missionpie – they use Twitter and posts the pies they have this today and business is up 20% a day.

Area #2.) Virtualization – Businesses and segments going virutal. Virtual Assistants, Virtual Employees and Virtual Meetings. Tools – Guru, GoToMeeting, MyBusinessAssistant

Area #3.) Free Stuff! - Amazing free produrts with a revenue model attached. Wordpress, Podcasts, SEO Quake Toolbar, Google Analytics, Compete, Spyfu

Area #4.) Social Search – Crowsourcing opinions and interacting with community. Tools like Twitter Search are instantaneous and is faster than Google. Angie’s List, BazaarVoice and Threadless.

Area #5.) Customer Service ansd the New Marketing Department – Monitor your branding social media and develop a dialogue with your customers and prospects. Tools like Radian6 and CoTweet are extremely effective.

Area #6.) Disintermdediation Part 2 – Take advantage of “news hole” and engage directly. Tools like HelpAReporterOut are taking out the middleman.

Area #7.)  Super Widgetization – Develop applications to go direct to desktop. Facebook apps, iPhone apps, WeFollow, Twitter Apps, Widgets (widgetbox, clearspring)

Area #8.) Video! - Videos build viral traffic and conversion – Youtube, HowToVideos, Name and Tag videos with key words. Use Tubemogul, Great Thumbnails

Area #9) Personal Brand (PeoplePool, Google Profiles) – Create a unique brand and own it

a.) Be Your own Brand Manager (develop your brand marketing plan, how are you going to promote, set specific measurable goals)

b.) Determine your USP (what makes you distinctive, how can you enhance your unique skills)

c.) Follow Your Passion (where do you like to hangout, what do you

d.) Listen

e.) Embrace Your Inner Author (Create Unique Content)

f.) Build Your New (Set a goal to make a few quality connections, give to get ask about them, Ask about them)

g.) Volunteer to Shine (Develop new skills, enhance skill through freelance opportunities)

h.) Innovate to Lead

i.) Be Entrepreneurial – Entrepreneur is a verb

j.) Speak Up! – Go to Toastmasters, Presentation Zen

Area #10.) The Semantic Web – Evolving extension of the web and not just just an interconnectivity but an understanding of data. For more on this area I would review the Wikipedia explanation and Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the Web) seminal article on Semantic Web in Scientific America.

For more great nuggests of trends and marketing goodness, check out presentations by Jay at his site at http://Presentations.TenGoldenRules.com

The featured speaker was Jay Berkowitz, CEO of Ten Golden Rules. You can see him below, next to the event’s hashtag (#socstardom3), which you can search on to find Twitter posts, photos, videos, event recaps (including Mayra’s) and other related content:

Jay Berkowitz speaking at SocStardom3

The event generated a lot of great crowdsourced coverage, (also, Jay’s presentation slides will soon be available from the Ten Golden Rules Web site), and I believe we’ll be doing a followup entry focusing more on the specific topic of the presentation (”Web 2010: Discover the 10 Strategies Defining Your Future”), so I’ll just stick to a quick topline and throw in a few takeaways from the event.

Jay’s presentation was fast-paced and well-structured, built around those 10 general themes fleshed out with examples and basic and advanced strategies for each. While people versed in social media and social marketing techniques (or can fake their way to that claim) probably won’t find any new revelations from each particular bullet, they do tie together to give a coherent picture (perhaps even a functional roadmap) of things social marketers will want to stay on top of.

And there were some great illustrative examples. For the first theme of microcommunications, we saw the example of Mission Pie of San Francisco, which uses its Twitter presence to keep customers up-to-date on their latest offerings, and consequently have seen a 20% increase in business.

Also mentioned as another icon of engagement was the somewhat mysterious Twitter user Iconic88, whose positive posts make him one of the most retweeted humans in the Twittersphere (and whom Jay met and will be featuring in one of his upcoming podcasts).

In the realm of social search, we were told of online pet supply retailer Petco’s experience improving sales 50% through the addition of user ratings and reviews, and how even negative reviews help sales, by adding authenticity to the reviews.

Jay also mentioned that an opportunity with underdeveloped potential is video, both because it helps conversions, but also because a lot of people still don’t know what to do in that space, and have yet to become  competent in producing good video. (Something I can personally attest to, at least to the latter part.)

During the Q&A period, discussion topics included the ever-popular “how do I make money off my content now?” (as opposed to building my name for future business) — a number of people chimed in on everything from ad services, affiliate marketing, and using free content to push people down the marketing funnel. (Jay also mentioned PayPerPost as a possibility, though many, including Jay, find the concept offputting.) There were also questions about specific tools, including strategies for using Twitter clients to follow large numbers of people, and looks into how other cultures use social media (for example, Asia being ahead on mobile and mobile payment, and Australia generally lagging 6-12 months behind in areas).

We concluded with an around-the-room introduction, and then Shashi called in to Jay’s podcast comment line (206-888-6606) so we could record a group thank-you:

In summary, it was another good event, and I say to anyone dissuaded about heading out to Rockville because of geography or that weird Maryland vs. Virginia vs. DC regional feud-thing: You’re missing out.

If you’ve got your own impressions of the event or a writeup or photos you’d like to share, please leave a comment below.

He and Shashi sat down and talked about Internet marketing and the future of the web using tools like Twitter.

Here is the webcast (it is about 30 min)

Now, everyone (and I mean everyone) wants to know how they can get their stuff in the first view on the first page of search engines. Better search results positioning means more eyeballs, more eyeballs means more clicks, and more clicks hopefully leads to more customers and revenue.

There’s a lot of good SEO information that you, as the small business owner, can take away, but there’s also a lot of voodoo, handwaving, and hucksterism, too. When I take a look at SEO advice, I focus on things that help you present your information, in a way that’s clearer and better-organized… for both search engine spiders and humans. That way, you (hopefully) get better search results positioning, but you also get better engagement with customers and visitors.

Here’s what the four interviewees have to say about increasing your small business’s visibility through search:

Chris Baggott, CEO, Compendium Software: Branding really isn’t the goal of SEO — it’s how to get found. Blogging is a great tool for leveling the playing field for small businesses when it comes to SEO, especially in local search. Because most small businesses are local, that can be an advantage in search over a corporate behemoth that has locations all over the place — if they’re blogging.

David Berkowitz, Dir. of Emerging Media & Client Strategy, 360i: SEO is an opportunity for small businesses to get more of their content out there, and to build relationships that lead to inbound links. By engaging with the community, the community helps good sites bubble up to the top.

Jay Berkowitz, author, “Ten Golden Rules” Podcaster: SEO is really important, and you can help your SEO by doing some basic things; at the very simplest, add keywords to every page — pick 2 or 3 main keyword phrases to focus on for the site, add them to the title, and use them 3 times on each page (in the first paragraph, in the body, and in the bottom paragraph.)

Lee Odden, CEO of TopRankMarketing.com (looks like there’s a “d” missing in his name in the video caption, sorry about that, Lee): Find out what bloggers write a lot about and let them know if you’ve got something they’d be interested in by leaving comments.  Another tactic is using optimized press releases, which will drive inbound links. Search engine rankings will increase if they find the keywords on your site, and you get inbound links from sites that are also relevant to those keywords.

SEO is an entire industry, so there’s plenty of stuff to say about it. Leave a comment below if you have a thought to share about the ideas presented in the video, my characterization of them, or thoughts about SEO for small business in general.

- Everyone should have a web presence
- If you are doing business beyond five miles from your office you need a least a web site
- Word of mouth is critical and the web helps in that
- At the very basic on your site should be directions and information on your business

The complete video is below. It is definitely worth watching a few times to get all these important goodies that these experts in the field can provide.

All for small business: connecting you to the experts
I really liked the Network Solutions Solutions Stars video conference when it first released October 29th. It featured an online video interview series with top social media and marketing minds from BlogWorld Expo. They discussed challenges facing small businesses – and tips available – regarding their online presence and social media outreach. There were (9) segments to the video series. And throughout this month, I look forward to recalling some of the highlights with you here at Solutions Are Power.

Revisiting the cool stuff: a recap of Rising Above the Noise
Straight from the experts, here are some quick, smart bits from those interviewed. They talk on weeding through online ‘chatter clutter’ to a better online presence for your business. By all means(!), check out the full (3) minute clip below and the full series of conference clips mentioned above anytime.

Darren Rowse, Author, ProBlogger:
talks on finding the right voice for your online presence, the tools, and knowing the challenges that small businesses face;

Scott Monty, Global Digital and Multimedia Communications Manager, Ford Motor Co:
addresses interruption marketing and other hurdles for small businesses to conquer in building their online name with customers;

Jay Berkowitz, author of Ten Golden Rules and podcaster:
knows how to help your business compete through the online ‘noise’;

Robyn Tippins, Community Manager, Yahoo Development Network
believes enthusiastically that anyone these days can make it big; and she shares more on how your business can avoid being ‘the needle in a haystack’ in Web 2.0;

Jason Billingsley, co-founder, ElasticPath with Linda Bustos, blogger
learn how to transcend the ‘me-too’ mentality in online retailing and to get ahead when so many businesses are learning to reach out through social media;

Liz Strauss, Social Web Strategist, producer of Successful Blog
reveals her #1 suggestion when finding your online customer community;

Warren Whitlock, Book Marketing Strategist
gives away a few ‘you gotta be … ‘ tips;

Don’t stop! …just hit play to get even more.

Below is a video of our conversation, but here are some highlights:

The first thing you need to do is start a web site

He cleverly suggests that you go to Network Solutions and use the web site builder (which we think rocks) to get something built quickly and get yourself out on the Internet. This kind of service provides excellent templates so you can focus on writing good copy and talk about what value you can provide potential customers. The goal is to get people to your site and convert those leads into sales. The quickest and shortest path is to have an offer for customers.

Have an offer for customers

Beyond providing value to your customers you really need to offer them something. Jay uses his e-mail newsletters and e-books as excellent content so potential customers get a sense of your knowledge and expertise. For example, after going to his site he smartly uses a quick two question survey to find out what type of content you were looking for and if you found it or not. If you answer those two questions he gives you three quick offers, $100 in Yahoo! advertising, Sign up for the e-mail newsletter, or Subscribe to their Podcasts. Brilliant.

Use previous content for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Jay points out that people send information to subscribers but some don’t actually post it on the site for visitors. Not only is this a way for people to see what they might be getting and be motivated to sign up, it is excellent “Search Engine Juice”. Search engine spiders are always looking for updates to sites and indexing content that is relevant to people’s search queries. Jay’s site is an excellent example of this because I can find all of his resources (i.e. Blogs, Newsletters, Event Presentations, Podcasts, Top 10 Lists) and see why the services they provide would be valuable to any company that is looking to become a customer.

Lastly, so Jay what are the 10 Golden Rules?

1. There are no rules
2. The Internet is not television
3. Create a Unique Value Proposition
4. If you build it they won’t just come
5. Subscription Models Survive
6. Remember the 4 P’s
7. Trust is Golden
8. Use the right tactic
9. The Best Never Rest
10. Lead the Trends

To download the free e-book and learn more about the 10 Rules, click here.