Category Archives: Uncategorized

Guest Bloggers, Social Media Sites, Uncategorized, Work Connexions SMO

A Blogging Carnival Be Featured

A Blogging carnival is a world web phenomena where bloggers that are doing interesting or exceptional blogging can get free publicity within their own work sphere. It is similar to a magazine, in that it is dedicated to a particular topic, and is published on a regular schedule, often weekly or monthly. Each edition of a blog carnival is in the form of a blog article that contains permalinks links to other blog articles on a particular topic. If you would like to participate in the next Work Connexions blog carnival or synchroblog

If you would like to participate in the next Work Connexions blog carnival or synchroblog (Synchronised Blogging, or synchroblog, where a group of bloggers agree to post on their own blogs on the same broad topic on the same day.) then drop us an email or leave a comment in the blog entry of this news.

Marketing, Traffic, Uncategorized, work connexions

More Visitors by Joining Communities.

Over the weekend I was updating some of accounts that I have on certain networking site likes like, propeller, Marktd, WorkConnexions.

 

I have just taken a look at the stats for the last couple of days and I have had more that 150 percent increase in traffic. The main reason for participating in community is that you can engage a group of readers with similar interests.

 

But It is important to pick the right community first.

 

For example if you are into Art and photography than Stumble is a good choice, if you are into business development than try www.WorkConnexions.com.

 

Not only do communities provide extra resources for your particular interest.

 

They also give you the chance to show you skills. Join a community today…

Uncategorized

Phishing and your Google Adwords Account

This morning I got an interesting email from Google warning for Adword users that they have been a number of security issues recently. Apparently users of the service have been receiving emails telling them that they are at risk to money being transferred from there account. To counter this they have to click on link which leads them to a false site (phishing) Where the site operator is able to get there account information when the user tries to log in. From the criminal perspective is clever scheme. What surprises me is that anyone who would be using Google ad words or administrating it is unlikely to be an internet novice. The problem must be widespread for Google to be emailing all of us. What does that say about their user base?

Here is an excerpt from the mail:

“There are currently reports of phishing attempts that appear to be from adwords-noreply@google.com. These fraudulent emails ask users to update their billing information, take action on a disapproved ad, edit their account, or accept new AdWords terms and conditions. Please remember that the Google’s AdWords team will never send an unsolicited message asking for your password or other sensitive information by email or through a link.

 

If you need to change your account information, such as your billing details or your password, always sign in to your AdWords account from the main AdWords login page at https://adwords.google.co.uk and make the changes directly within your account.

 

We’ve included more information below on how to avoid phishing.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at http://adwords.google.co.uk/support/bin/request.py?ctx=cuffhelp.”

 

Consultancy, Guest Bloggers, Uncategorized, Work Connexions SMO

How to Business Blog Without Being Unprofessional

Writing on your blog is not gossip. While you could get plenty of traffic from your industry by spreading juicy titbits about your competitors and colleagues you will more likely grab yourself a bad reputation rather than more work or industry profile. Language can be an issue. I am not talking about swearing and such, most business people would know better than to drop bad language into a marketing tool. What I mean is tone and sophistication. You have to fit the voice to the audience. Of course I am pretty laid back here on this blog, while there are quite a few CEOs reading they tend to not be the stuffy stiff necked types (I know, I get emails from them!). You have to tune the language you use appropriately.

The best type of posts you can make, particularly in a service industry, is successful case studies.

  • What was their situation like before?
  • What were their goals or problem?
  • How did you work with them?
  • How did everything work out?
  • …

Most clients would be glad of the publicity, you just need to speak to them and get permission. Obviously some will not want specifics mentioning (particularly figures) or even to be named. That’s all fine. What matters is results and that you provide enough detail to be believable.

Talk to your clients about it and you won’t get into trouble. Going behind their backs is when you start getting into the sticky stuff.

The same is true when you want to write about exciting happenings in your own business. I imagine bloggers at Apple and Microsoft have a real hard time keeping mouths shut. There will be policies on what can and can not be talked about. If not, get some. Fast.

Many companies have footers on their emails

  • NOT to be repeated or reproduced
  • OK to email to company
  • OK to email outside company to specified individuals
  • Freely distribute

You can do the same and add a tick box for blogging if freely distribute doesn’t cover that.

Most business niches have news, tactics and events that are safe to blog about. This though is mostly filler. You can get that stuff anywhere. To make it more valuable you need to dig deep and find your hook or angle on it.

The best solution, if you haven’t already got a rich source of content to draw on, is to create some news. Could you run a competition? A survey? Interview some industry figures?

These don’t need to be massive ventures, scale to fit. While one past client of mine had a terrific success year on year with a global survey that was mentioned in television and newspapers around the world, another simply surveyed their own clients and as well as producing an excellent PR story also learned a great deal about what their customers look for and feel.

Bottom line you need to answer the question; “Could this have appeared on a competitors blog with no major changes?“. If the answer is yes you have a bland post and you need to work on it some more.

Just remember you can be interesting without being unprofessional. Focus on your reader. What is useful to them? How have you or your products helped people and businesses just like them?

Most of all, what makes you different to all the other businesses they could go to?

Visit Chris at http://www.chrisg.com/

business, E-Commerce, Relationship, sales, Uncategorized, work connexions

New Wcx Site Gone Live

One step back two steps forward.  We have gone live over the weekend with the new Business Development site. The key aim with this site is to offer companies and users a place to develop their Business and share resources. The old Work Connexions site was not meeting its user requirements and was proving expensive in time to maintain. Some of the many features on the new site included:

Groups, Email Contact, Advertising, Targeted content, blogging, Work Buddys…

Come over and take a look at www.workconnexions.net

 

 

 

Marketing, Traffic, Uncategorized, Work Connexions SMO

Who Should Publish the Company Blog?

Among the questions executives ask about social media is where should it be located? Who should launch, manage and publish the blog(s), vlog(s) and/or podcast(s)? The obvious choices are marketing, public relations, human resources or communications. However, making the right decision is both critical and complex.

To some extent, the answer lies within the internal structure of the business. Taking the org. chart into acount, to determine where social media should live, a business might ask questions such as these:

  1. Who is most likely to understand the use of social media and then to use it in ways that benefit our customers, our employees and our business most?
  2. Who has the time, budget and expertise to create engaging communications?
  3. Who is least likely to use social media to market and sell products?
  4. Who is most likely to use social media to draw customers into conversation with us; thereby, developing loyal customers, brand evangelists and new customers who appreciate our efforts to give them a voice?

These questions are the basis for the internal discussion. Whoever the business chooses to host social media, they must be excellent writers, they must be creative, they must have access to everyone within the business, they must be familiar with the customers and the communities in which the business has locations, and they must be trusted as open and honest communicators. Furthermore, they must have the courage and the ability to challenge managers and executives who want to turn social media into a bottom line tool.

Yes, social media, if done correctly, will result in return on investment in a variety of forms, including an increase in loyal customers who buy more and who talk positively about the company; an increase in the ability to produce more innovative and better products and services based on customer feedback; the ability to improve the company at every level, again based on customer feedback; and an increase in new customers as they learn about and come to trust the company.

That is the 10,000-foot view of where social media should reside and what to expect from social media. But like any strategy, before launching social media as part of your communications mix, every business should analyze the tools to understand what they do and how they may be used and how social media is and is not the right fit for your business. Using these communications tools is not to be done lightly.

My best advice is to study every detail and discuss all the pros and cons. And then if you decide social media is a good fit for your business, launch the tools internally first. Get employees from every functional area involved, and ask them to be your sounding boards. As in most things, employees know your customers best, and they will contribute incredibly good suggestions and recommendations, if you engage them and give them buy in.

For more information about Lewis Green visit him at http://lgbusinesssolutions.typepad.com/solutions_to_grow_your_bu/