Regular Website http://BataraImmigrationLaw.com

Mobile website that is much easier to read with Click-to-call and vital information for those using their mobile phone. Mobile Website

People are brutally honest about what they hate and love.  And, yes, they are talking about YOUR BUSINESS and how bad your website may look in their mobile browser.

From a consumer standpoint, I myself, get frustrated trying to find information and I all I get on my mobile is an unfriendly standard website.  Boo-hiss!

Why, just the other day I searched “business coach” while waiting to pick up my daughter and found that EVERY WEBSITE on the FIRST PAGE of Google DID NOT have a mobile ready site.

Talk about leaving money on the table!

Did you know that websites with mobile access rank higher in mobile browsers?  Uh huh.  They sure do.

But lets just keep that between you and me, ok?

If you are a technophobe or a Luddite, relax! There are ways of going mobile that don’t involve becoming a rocket scientist.

The example above is Immigration Attorney Carlos Batara’s mobile website, and his standard website.  You can see how Carlos gives just the necessary information people need while they’re out and about.

• His Click-to-Call phone number
• Office locations & Google maps
• What services he offers
• Videos
• Make payments

So you’ve already done the hard work by creating your primary website… now all you need is to lighten the load and go mobile!  (And, if you don’t yet have a website – no sweat! This will be a lot less painful!)

Blue Marble™ is a patent-pending marketing service offered by Phillips & Company

Wow!

Somebody is really thinking GLOBAL!  I’m talking about enormous QR codes that are being placed on roof tops so that they show up on Google Earth.

It all begins with a “Space Accessible Profile”, which is how your location looks on surveillance equipment used by Google Earth, Bing, etc.  Anyone, anywhere, in the world can view your location anytime they feel like it.  Big brother style, but not as creepy.

Today’s roof tops are merely blank canvases, primed and ready to be decorated with QR codes.  With the exception of a few barns that still stand with the year of their raising on the century-old slate roof.

An $8,500 install fee may seem pretty steep, but when you consider traditional marketing and advertising, it’s cheaper!

The QR code will be made available on Google Maps for at least 12 months from image capture. While standard billboards can cost between $10,000 and $30,000 per month on average and are limited by geography, a space-accessible billboard is available at a cost 75 to 98 percent less and to everyone on the planet with Internet access.

And there you have it… now, it’s your turn!  What can you do in your marketing to “raise the roof” and add value to your customers experience?

Hi Friend,

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If you have…

1. Scrolling, blinking text, butterflies and other animated images whirling around your homepage. Including falling snow, stars, puppies, or kittens…
2. An outdated copyright in the footer that says 2008 and you haven’t changed a single thing since…
3. Still have Flash on your website… or even worse, a Flash entry page…
4. Half a dozen different sizes and colors of text in the body of your website… and CLIPART!
5. MUSIC.  For the love of God – stop the highly annoying classical music that plays on your homepage. (Kill me now)
6. Outdated pics.  Your professional pics are >10 years old.
7. “FREE REPORT” – this term is so outdated and ignored by everyone.  Free report feels like useless information you got from someone else that you’re regurgitating and trying to dump on me.  No Thank you.
8. You don’t provide some of the services you have listed.  ”Sorry, I don’t do that anymore”
9. No interactivity or opportunity to engage. No blog, RSS feed, newsletter, social media.
10. You don’t even mention you HAVE a website because you’re too embarrassed for anyone to see it.
11. Bonus: Your site is all about you – WRONG.  ”I am looking for information, and I want it fast.  I do NOT care about you.  All I want to know is – What you can do for ME!”

If this is you, there is no need to be ashamed.  Put away your MembersOnly jacket, or for the ladies, your Reebok Pumps and Leg Warmers. I can get you updated very quietly and discreetly.  Click here to schedule an appointment.  No one will ever know!

Your website is stale.  It sucks.  It was supposed to be a means of attracting new clients in your target market.  But that never happened.

Let me take a moment to underline that a website is a tool. If you don’t use the tool, why have it?  An outdated website reflects badly on your business.  It says your either; 1) too busy/lazy to update it,  2) you don’t care, or 3) your out of business.

That being said, I think it’s important for you to understand that marketing online TODAY requires your website be a “hub” of your communications. Engaging and nurturing relationships.

How Do You Create A Hub?

It’s so easy to lose focus on activities that bring the greatest return for you.  (Like writing) Sure, I get sidetracked all the time – but staying focused, putting out good content that engages my followers keeps me stuck in their memory. That is where we ALL want to be!  Right?

Looking to the future of your website and beyond, here are thoughts to consider:

1. Content is the most important piece of your website.
   Not your design, colors, photos or anything else. You can have the ugliest website ever and still have tons of traffic if your content is relevant and authoritative – Google will see to that.
2. Make the content easy to find.
   Today’s website platform will most likely be WordPress which has category, search, and archive widgets. Use them.  (And don’t forget to tag & categorize your content)
3. Consistency.
   Lord knows I suck at consistency! I go in spurts – I’ll write great blog posts for a couple weeks then burn out. An interesting fact is that my older articles still bring traffic. I have one from 2005 that consistently shows up in my “most read” stats. So, do the work! Even if you have 1k excuses – do it anyway.
4. Sharing.
   Wordpress has tools that automatically Tweet, post to FaceBook & LinkedIn (and anywhere else) you want. And most people think you only need to share once. Not true! I was on a call yesterday with Guy Kawasaki and he automatically sets some of his stuff to tweet/post every 8 hours for a day or two. Each re-tweet would have a couple hundred clicks… So it pays to re-tweet your own stuff at different hours. (The web never sleeps!)
5. Engaging.
   Remember ANOTHER 80/20 rule – 80% helping, 20% promoting. Take time to thank people for following you. Comment, comment, comment, comment, and continuing comenting on other people’s stuff. Blogs/tweets/FB/LI. Not only does it open the door for communication, your comment creates a back link to your site – Google Goodness with a big red bow!
6. Consider Mobile users.
   Read these 2 posts I wrote about mobile marketing here: http://thewebcoach.net/in-u-s-31-own-smartphones-is-your-business-mobile-ready/ and here http://thewebcoach.net/web-coach-tip-mobile-marketing-strategies-and-7-tips-to-get-you-started-plus-wordpress-mobile-themes-and-plugins/
7. Schedule your “feed me & share” time.
   FIRST thing in the morning when I have coffee I open up my Google reader and skim over the news of a few chosen resources that give me inspiration to write. That usually gets the wheels turning and an article is born soon after.  If you have to get up a half-hour earlier to make this happen – DO IT!  It’ll be the best 30 minutes you spend each day.

After my article is written, then open up everything else on my computer – share my article, check in w/my social homes, engage, and then go on about my day.  I check twitter while waiting to pick up my kids, while dinner is cooking (be careful! I lost track of time and went to the grill to find this.) And before bed.  Sometimes if I’m watching TV in the evening I’ll bring my laptop and check in during commercials.

Many people talk about limiting your time online to XX minutes… But then, I feel that time becomes “reactive” time. I’ve only got 15 minutes to answer these messages, OMG! I’ll never make it! You should be ENGAGING during this time.

Save the responding to tweets/fb to 1x a day. Most people are satisfied if you get back to them within 24 hours. So spend your time looking for ways to help/engage your peeps. I pretend I’m a social butterfly with rainbow wings and pixie dust. Hey, whatever it takes! LOL!

I think Mars Dorian got it right when he said:

A lazy person does barely any work.

A good person does the work when he feels like it.

A digital crusader does the work EVEN when he doesn’t feel it.

So, don’t skip “the work” when you don’t feel like doing it. That’s amateur, and that ain’t you!

Now It’s YOUR Turn! What are your thoughts? Post below, I’d love to know what you think!

A website can just be a digital piece of real estate unless you use this one tactic that will serve as the foundation of your website.  Google loves websites like this and your competitors will have one heluva time trying to compete.

The bottom line is that blogging is like sex.  You can’t fake it. You can’t fake passion. You can’t fake wanting to engage with the public. If you do, it will ultimately be an unsatisfying experience for both the blogger and their readers.”

–Kevin Anderson, Freelance Journalist & Former BLOGS Editor for the Guardian

Powerful quote wouldn’t you say? Yes. Very much so.

This comes back to one of the most effective activities you can do for your business – writing.  And, I’m not talking about writing a thesis. I mean a heart-felt 400 to 500 word article about what you know.

Fact: Blogs keep growing in volume and VALUE.

Writing articles/blog posts can only increase your status as an expert in your field.  Just ask Jeff Herring, known as “The Article Marketing Guy.”

Jeff sez:

Article Marketing provides the 5 components your need for online success no matter your niche. Article Marketing is your vehicle for Content Creation, Online Visibility, Traffic Generation, List Building, and Product Creation. With Article Marketing you can master all 5 of these components faster, easier and with less overall human effort.

Hey! less effort – I like that!

Some people freeze up at the thought of writing.  They think they’ll be penalized by the grammar police.  What really matters is getting your ideas down on paper/word document.  Let me give you some numbers to help you get over the fear.

Fact: Writing articles about what you know and posting them on your blog can increase your site visitors by 55%. *

Companies who blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not.**

Companies who have greater than 51 articles, create 77% more monthly leads.**

Blogging frequency has a direct and SIGNIFICANT impact on lead generation.**

Fact: Bloggers are “Morning People”

79% of blog readers read in the morning as opposed to 64% at noon, 51% in the evening, and 40% at night.***

Blog reading peaks around 10am, and LINK sharing around 7am.  Comments peak at 8am.***

One of the greatest writers on earth is Dan Kennedy.  Dan usually begins writing around 5am because that is when he has chosen to block out time to write.  Ideas floating around his head or not.  Sick, sleepy or sluggish. It doesn’t matter – he makes no excuses.

Bottom line: commit to writing, blog early and often.

*Source: Hubspot, 2010**Source: Hubspot,  State of Inbound Marketing and Lead Generation Report, 2010***Source: The Science of Blogging 2010

Now It’s YOUR Turn! What are your thoughts? Post below, I’d love to know what you think!

You may have noticed strange looking squares on signs, magazines, billboards, webpages, and more commonly, store shelves. These squares are QR codes. QR (Quick Response) codes are kind of like a barcode, similar to what you see on every day products. Many QR codes have URLs and other hidden information that can be very helpful to research a product while you’re mobile.

Susie Blackmon's QR tag

QR codes have become so popular because nearly everyone has a camera phone, or “smart phone.”  If you have a smartphone, more than likely, you already have a QR code reader.  All you have to do is take a picture with a QR code-compatible application, and you will be taken to a site with more information about whatever it is your looking for.

A couple examples of their use might be to get the layout of your favorite theme park (Cedar Point @cedarpoint doesn’t have one on their website – tsk! tsk!)  Or, maybe you strike up a conversation with a really cool gal and she has a QR Sticker on her laptop or car.  Instead of digging for business cards, you can snap a pic of each others QR code to import contact info.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezie.

QR codes may look like complicated gibberish, but they’re easy to create. I created mine by going to the ZXing Project web site, selecting CONTACT from the drop down, entered my deets, and clicked on Generate.

To read more about QR tags check out these pages:

13 Creative Ways to Use QR Codes for Marketing – Fast Company
7 things you should know about QR Codes – Educause

Get QR software for your Blackberry, iPhone, or Droid.

**UPDATE** May 17, 2011

Mobile bar code scanning has increased by 4,549 percent in the first quarter of 2011 on a year-over-year basis, according to a Mobio Identity Systems study.  Women also show a higher interest in using QR codes, accounting for 68 percent of users.

For marketers, this means QR codes can provide a way to have an ongoing conversation with consumers.

“QR isn’t a one-off medium anymore,” Mr. Binns said. “Marketers can change their QR codes in ads each day, week or month, and have an ongoing dialogue with their consumer.”

Have you gotten YOUR QR code yet? 

More info about QR codes:

How to make your QR codes more beautiful @Mashable

Dubai to Give Every Building a QR Code

Starbucks & Lady Gaga Team Up On Scavenger Hunt

Now It’s YOUR Turn! What are your thoughts? Post below, I’d love to know what you think!

by Steve Shaw
Content makes the web go round. Think about it: emails, videos, articles, audio, ezines, newsletters, blog posts, tweets, web pages, and more. Every one of them led by content.

Without the ongoing delivery and production of content, it is difficult to exist in any meaningful way online. And without content, it’s certainly difficult to market yourself. You attract traffic with it. You build relationships with it. Essentially, you build your whole online presence with it.

Despite all the benefits, what stumps most business owners is the ‘A’ word – ‘About’. What do I write about? What do I create a video about? What do I tweet about? Sure, they may have the odd moment of inspiration. They may create some content … on occasion. But then they’re back at the A word again. The blank page staring at them. The pressure of being out of ideas. The knowledge that, without the content, they’re losing online visibility they would otherwise have.

But fear not, it doesn’t have to be like that. There is a never-ending source of inspiration. The best bit is, it’s right under your nose!

Where? Your customers, your prospects, your visitors — they contact you and ask for help, for information, for knowledge. They tell you exactly what they want you to produce content about: the information they are looking for you to provide. Sometimes, the incoming questions and dialog create the spark of an idea. Sometimes, several ideas. You just need to be aware and ready to record them. And sometimes, in providing an answer, you will have produced an almost complete piece of content. You can then use it in a myriad of different ways. Use it as the basis of a blog post or an article in next month’s newsletter. You can distribute it to article directories, communicate it to your list, develop a video or tweet it to your followers. And there’s an interesting side benefit: the more content you produce, the more ideas it tends to generate for further content.

Blogs are a great example of this. Here is how it works:

• You publish a great piece of content as a blog post and attract comments.
• You start getting questions you can then answer with further content.
• You get comments that spark further ideas for content production.
• And so the cycle continues.

In effect, a blog can provide you with an idea generation machine!

The starting point is using a simple ‘Idea Collection System’. And ensuring you get into the habit of using it.

For example, create a folder in your filing system where you can quickly drop ideas in. Here are some ideas on how it might be used in practice:

• You are speaking with a customer over the phone, and you get a content idea from your conversation. Scribble it down and drop it in the folder.
• A few paragraphs sent in reply to an email enquiry could be used as the basis of future content. Print it out and drop it in the folder.
• What if you’re asked a great question at a networking event? Phone your own voicemail before you forget. Then when you’re back in the office, pick the message up, note it down and drop it in.
• If you have people taking care of your customer support, train them to forward you questions that could form the basis of great content as they come up.
• If you notice a suitable comment on your blog that triggers a content idea, again print it out and drop it in.

It doesn’t have to be a physical folder, although I find that works best for me.

You could use a folder on your computer. You could email ideas to yourself and set up a filter so they’re easily retrievable in future. Or set up a separate email account. Even a pen and notepad can work well if that suits you and they’re always close at hand.

Get into the habit of using your Idea Collection System as soon as you think of an idea.

Otherwise, two things happen.

• Firstly, you’ll likely forget completely, and a great idea will be lost forever.
• Secondly, your subconscious mind will stop scanning for ideas. It will stop alerting your conscious mind when great content ideas arise.

When adding ideas to your Idea Collection System, make as many notes as you can at that time. When you go back to it in future, you will then know exactly what you were thinking at the time. It will also be easier and quicker to start creating the content right away. Otherwise, when you return to the idea later, you may find it obscure and discard what could have formed the basis of a great piece of content.

Once you are in the habit of collecting ideas like this, you will eradicate the ‘A’ word. You will start seeing ideas everywhere. The trickle of ideas at the beginning turns into a torrent. The ‘About’ question will never arise again!

So here is what you should do now:

• Decide what your Idea Collection System will be. A physical folder? A separate email account?
• Set it up, right now. Yes, right now.
• In the next hour, make sure you drop at least one idea in. This starts to get you into the habit. It’s the start of the trickle that will turn into a torrent. If necessary, review customer communications over the past week or so. Find something you can use.
• Train your subconscious to bring you content ideas by adding a new idea every day. It will soon become part of your normal routine.
• Finally start using these ideas to create some content. Set up a regular schedule of content production by blocking out time on your calendar on a regular basis. Ensure there are no distractions, and focus 100% on content production. (If you are not comfortable with producing content yourself, forward your ideas to a writer or someone else in your business to produce the content for you).

Start using the ideas in this article, stick to a regular schedule of content production, and you will start to get all the benefits content can bring you. For example:

• Regular communication with your list: this allows you to start building better relationships and become more ‘front of mind’ in the minds of your prospects and customers
• Regular content syndication: this starts attracting targeted traffic to your site from other sites as well as from the search engines
• Regular publication of new posts on your blog: you will improve the position of your site in the search engines, attract new traffic, and allow your visitors to feel more connected with you
• Regular tweeting of updates: build up your followers and enjoy the benefits of Twitter through having something useful to tweet about
• A regular offline customer newsletter: improve your relationship with your customer base, your most important asset, through improved communication with them

And of course there are many other ways you can start putting your content to work. Give content production the priority it deserves, and feed the benefits back into your business.

Steve Shaw

Steve Shaw is the founder of SubmitYOURArticle.com, the web’s leading article marketing service, used by thousands of small business owners worldwide to build traffic, leads and sales for their websites. You can grab a free report on how to attract sustainable, dirt-cheap, long-term, targeted traffic to your website at www.submityourarticle.com

Now It’s YOUR Turn! What are your thoughts? Post below, I’d love to know what you think!

1. Thou shalt use WordPress for your website/blog.

2. Post to your blog often.

3. Use social media - Facebook, Twitter.

4. Use lots of videos.

5. Be real and personable.

6. Make sharing easy.

7. Create a kick @ss  freebie that over delivers.

8. Always respond to comments.

9. Sharpen your saw.

10. Create evangelists.

BONUS: Learn to sell.

• "The Irresistible Offer: How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less" by Mark Joyner
• "Integrity Selling for the 21st Century: How to Sell the Way People Want to Buy" by Ron Willingham
• "Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness" by Jeffrey Gitomer