Can You Digg It? Why Should You?

With all the attention that's paid to increasing traffic to your website or blog, don't forget the impact that social-bookmarking services like Digg, Technorati, Yahoo Buzz, and others can have on your number of visitors.

Why? Well, it's not as simple as adding keywords to your site or paying for clicks on AdWords. Building traffic by using these services involves 1) providing valuable, relevant content and 2) being a good "Netizen" - citizen of the Internet.

If that sounds alarming, let me assure you - the rewards can easily pay off your effort!

So let's start with a few questions.

• Do you (like many people) follow the news primarily online?
• Do you have certain issues, causes, or businesses you follow in the news?
• Do you wish you could see more about your favorite topics, or more from writers who see the world as you do?
  

If you answered "yes" to all three questions, this is where you can enlist the help of Digg and the other social bookmarking services: Technorati, Delicious, Stumble, Reddit, Care2, Buzz, and more (see  SocialMarker.com for a partial listing).

These services allow you to "bookmark" an article, blog post, YouTube video, or just about anything else as a sign of your agreement, enjoyment, or approval. This equates to a virtual vote for the item, a sign of your interest. As other people cast their votes along with yours, Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc., take notice, and - surprise - the item rises in the search engine rankings.

Not only that - it is rising twice over: first with the Digg posting, and also with its own URL (web address). So someone searching for information on that topic will see that page listed not once, but twice. If it has been bookmarked through other services, their listings may also show up individually.

Are you beginning to see the potential? If, for example, you're worried about the number of articles contesting the reality of global warming, you can take action by bookmarking the best articles you can find that support the idea. You can do this in multiple services (Care2.com is particularly good for this purpose) and your votes will draw the attention of other social bookmarkers, who may add theirs. And - thanks to your combined efforts - those articles will rise in the search engine rankings, and attract yet more attention


You can bookmark blog posts, news articles, YouTube videos or just about anything else. Just look for widgets like the one at right, the Digg widget at the end of this post, or other widgets labeled "Share". You can even bookmark websites, though that is not the best use of these services if the site content does not change frequently.

Can you bookmark your own website? Yes - but it's not the best strategy; by and large, social bookmarkers don't appreciate blatant commercial self-promotion. If you want to increase traffic to your website, the best way is through providing high-quality, relevant content in a marketing article or blog post, and providing a link to your website (click here for one example). Then bookmark the article or post just once per service, to submit it to the system.

There are three key rules of "Netiquette" to remember when you're bookmarking your own content....

• Digg unto others as you would have them Digg unto you - bookmark others' work liberally so they will be more inclined to bookmark you. It's a five-second process - clicking the widget, entering the title and a brief description, and executing your vote - and it's warmly appreciated by the author.
  
• A"Digger" who Diggs only his/her own content is quickly identified as a spammer. Submitting your content is OK - and your credibility in each bookmarking community rests on your also voting for others' content.
• Finally, trust the process.  Provide a social bookmarking widget (or two, or three) to make it easy for your readers to bookmark your content. It's OK to tell a few friends about your newly uploaded content and invite them to bookmark - but don't attempt to game the system by telling all your employees to go online and bookmark your company blog's latest post. Digg, etc., will quickly catch on and you will be penalized for fraud. If your content has value, it will rise on its own merits; if not - well, it won't. 

If you're just too swamped with daily business to create relevant, high-value content that will win votes (and traffic, and higher search engine rankings), contact Your Words' Worth for help. We can create one article or blog post, a series, or an ongoing stream for a week up to a year, as well as providing consulting, training, or strategic planning. services.

Selling High-Tech Products to Non-Technical Buyers

Penny-pinchers. Tightwads.Cost-cutters.  

Not very attractive descriptions, are they? Rather reminiscent of Scrooge in an overcoat and muffler, counting up his fortune by candlelight, perhaps?  

But these words take on a new, positive meaning when you're talking about energy savings these days. It's not just the "tightwads" who are setting their thermostats to lower temperatures and adding layers of clothes, or rolling low-wattage space heaters from room to room.  

As Benjamin Franklin said, "A penny saved is a penny earned." And negawatts - the energy not consumed, resulting in the dollars not spent - are the hottest new income stream. The question of the day is - how can I get the greatest value from the lowest energy expenditure?  

Problem is - this is bordering on the territory of engineers, where jargon and technical specifications can confound the average consumer.  

Are You Selling What Your Customers Want To Buy?  

When you're a green company targeting a shivering clientele - whether you're selling pellet stoves, biobased insulation, or tankless water heaters - the key to your success is simple: How well are you communicating the benefits of your product?  

Floor-walking sales staff have known for years - sell the benefits, don't drone on about the specs. Educate customers through the buying process, making sure they have all the information they need to make a good decision.  

But how do you translate this to online shopping? The concepts are very much the same.  

How Will Your Product Make a Difference In Their Lives?   

Most online shoppers don't want to be immediately confronted with a long sales page that overwhelms them with industry jargon, long lists of features or specifications ...or even technical terms. What's a BTU? How does it relate to a watt? How do you figure BTUs per square foot? How (yes, really) do you figure the number of square feet to a room or home?  

Sure, you'll always get a few informed buyers who have done their homework and want to skip right away to compare product features. But for many consumers, the question is - how much value will this product give me for the money I'm putting out? And specifically - how fast will it pay for itself in energy savings? Compared to this, everything else is embellishment. They're looking for the big picture, the concepts, not the details yet.  

Answer The Important Questions First, Then Give The Details  

So give the big picture first. Load your product page with the benefits - the practical impact on the buyer's life - not features. If the product will keep them warm for pennies per day, say so! Describe its energy consumption with easy comparisons: for example, "hour for hour, equivalent to running a ceiling fan." Communicate in ordinary, conversational terms...the language your customers speak.  

List the features and specs? Of course - but not on the first page your prospect sees. Make them easily available, but not intiimidating. Think of the first questions your customers ask, and put those answers at the top: the product's Energy Star rating, for example.  

Make It Easy and Convenient  

Don't assume anything. Make the process as convenient as possible. Even if a consumer knows how to figure the number of square feet per room or watts per BTU, for example, you'll win points if you provide a  handy online calculator that will keep them from reaching for the pencil and paper.  

Include customer ratings and reviews for the product, if possible, as well as text fields where new buyers can give their own feedback, and/or ask questions. Realize that most consumers shop around, visiting several websites before they settle on one vendor. Make it easy for them to come back to you with a bookmark or a wish-list email.  

Be The Expert Resource They Can Trust  

Most important: demonstrate that you understand their comparison shopping. Offer your visitors a free report listing, say, the 10 questions they need to ask to get the best product for their needs. Make it an incentive to opt into your email list, and be sure to check in with them a few days later, to offer further information or support if they need it.  

The less you assume, the more you educate, the more your clients will trust you. Help them to understand the high value of your product with high-value content.

What Drives Green Consumers? Probably Not What You Think.

As a green business owner, you're out to change the world. You're driven by passionate environmental concerns; you spend time educating yourself about the eco-issues of the day; you work to conserve energy and water to reduce your footprint on the planet.

But is your target audience buying from you for the same reasons? Probably not.

According to the latest national study by Shelton Group, most of the consumers who buy green are doing so for reasons that may have very little to do with environmental issues.

Specifically, the study debunked six cherished myths:

• The economy, not the environment, is #1 on the list of green consumers' concerns. The environment falls at #8.
• Nearly 75% of green consumers save energy to reduce their bills; only 26% are doing so to reduce their impact on the planet.
• Many green consumers are actually uninformed or ill-informed about basic environmental facts
• Rather than being a monolithic market segment, green consumers tend to fall into two mindsets - "engaged green" (optimistic, extroverted, and open to innovations) versus "mainstream green" (generally more pessimistic, introverted, and driven by familiarity and security)
• Most (roughly 75%) of green consumers are not influenced by their children in making green household decisions
• Even those consumers who know the facts about environmental issues do not always make greener decisions based on their knowledge.

Shelton Group Founder, President and CEO Suzanne Shelton uses the study outcome to emphasize the importance of knowing your clientele. Rather than marketing based on myths, she advises using sales figures as a way to judge your success in reaching your audience.

As a green copywriter based in a small, conservative community, I found the study mirroring my personal experience. In fact, I've spent much of my time fielding questions from local prospects who wanted to go green, with reasons that were more often economic than environmental.

So I expanded my business to include an eco-consulting sideline through the national company Green Irene. As an independent eco-consultant for Green Irene, my aim is to educate clients who are just starting to go green, through offering public and private workshops, green home and office makeovers, Green-Seal certified products, and referrals to local green professionals.

The viewpoint is pragmatic - rather than assuming that my clients are motivated by environmental knowledge, I focus on the immediate impact of environmental issues on their lives and budgets. And I find that when they become aware of the double benefit they gain by buying green -- not only are they helping the planet, but also making investments that will pay off in savings over the long term - their incentive grows.

Is this a pure-green motivation? Maybe not. But in the end, does it matter? However a client ranks their financial health versus the planet's health, the fact remains that their green buying decisions can serve both in the long run. It's a matter of demonstrating long-term value over short-term cost.

Bottom line? The more you speak to your clients' immediate concerns, and the more you inform them about the economic and environmental return on investment for their green buying choices, the more motivation they'll have to continue.

Customers Buy Green When They're Involved in the Outcome

"First they laugh at you, then they ignore you, then they fight with you, then you win." That was Gandhi's description of India's path to freedom against the British.

What he didn't say, however, was that ultimately the response to your message depends on how well you engage with each individual in your audience to demonstrate the value of your offering.

Instead, that was consultant Melissa Schweisguth's conclusion in her article Engaging Consumers to Green Up Their Act, based on the latest series of studies about the average American consumer's path to greening.

This gradual culture shift is a topic of endless fascination to marketing statisticians as businesses try to track why consumers do - or don't - buy green. And in the past four years, at least, the numbers - or the interpretations? - have wiggled a little from one side to another, but the core message remains the same:

There is still a gulf between the passionate and informed uber-green consumers -- those who know how to recognize truly sustainable products and are willing to pay more for them -- and those who are progressively less aware and committed.

For example, 95 percent of the consumers in one study said they were interested in buying green, but only 63 percent actually looked for green products when shopping.

Why? When consumers are less informed and committed, they're also often confused about environmental issues and data. And as a result, the economic value -- the price -- of green (or greenwashed) products and services often trumps their actual sustainability-based value.

So how to overcome this confusion?

According to Schweisguth's interpretation, the answer is information and an invitation to action. Educating the consumer and inviting him or her to engage with your company, products and services.

Or as the Cluetrain Manifesto put it - engaging in a conversation rather than a sales spiel. Content is still the key, but the question is -- how are you using that content?

As Schweisguth says, "The opportunity goes beyond selling green products or services to include education on using products more sustainably and tips for reducing one's ecological footprint overall."

So what does this mean for you as you present your products and services to these less-informed consumers?

A quote from master-marketer Perry Marshall comes to mind: "No one ever buys a drill because they want a drill. They buy a drill because they want a hole."

In other words - what is the desired green goal for these consumers? Is it a lower energy bill or water bill, a less toxic indoor environment for their kids, freedom from fear about contamination of their food or water? How does this product or service help to achieve that goal - and how can they achieve the goal in other ways?

When you tie your company, product or service to an environmental issue or goal, you aren't just developing a responsible brand identity and just gain the enthusiasm of consumers who share that concern - you also have the opportunity to inspire them to get involved in environmental action.

So, for example, you could plan a public-service event to promote your green message - and your products. If you were selling green cleaning supplies, say, you could offer an information campaign about the health hazards of chemical cleansers and the risks of unsafe disposal. It would all lead up to a swap-out day for your customers to drop off their toxic chemical cleansers with you for safe disposal at a hazardous waste site, in return for a discount on safe organic cleansers.

Or, if you are marketing items to support waste reduction and recycling, you could sponsor a local stream clean-up and offer free cloth bags and reusable water bottles to participants. The trash they pick up alongside the stream will anchor the importance of using sustainable products.

Bottom line? Don't just sell to your customers...inform them. Not only will you gain their trust and their business, but you'll also give them practical tools to make their lives and homes greener.

Who Knew? What Sustainable Businesses Gain from Marcal's Green Re-Branding after 60 Years Making Recycled-Paper Products

It's been a long time coming, but a true-green paper company is finally stepping up to get the recognition it deserves.

Marcal's Secret Deep-Green Roots | GreenBiz.com

After nearly 60 years in business, it turns out that Marcal - the company that makes a range of affordable, high-quality paper products - has been quietly using 100% recycled stock all along.

Why does that matter - and why is Marcal's new positioning such news?

Well, when you consider that 98% of the paper products we use to wipe our mouths, noses, hands, and derrieres are manufactured from virgin wood - some of it from centuries-old trees in old-growth forests, primarily in Canada - and when you consider the ongoing loss of rainforests throughout the world - Marcal's quiet green policies suddenly make a lot of difference.

Problem was, while the company has been doing the right thing all these years, they were not positioning themselves as a green company or publicizing the reasons for their choices.

And in a steadily greening market that could have vaulted them to riches, Marcal instead went through bankruptcy and was sold in 2007.

It's really rather hard to believe, given the cultural changes that were going on at the same time. For example, in 2004, Greenpeace launched its Kleercut campaign to protect the boreal forest of Canada, and listed Marcal in its literature as one of the few companies not using virgin paper for single-use products. And then in 2006, sustainability tipped into the popular media with Vogue's Green Issue. And one year later, this uber-green company went under...never saying a word to tap into its perfect market.

The Canadian Boreal Forest

Now, with the new CEO, Tim Spring, in office, Marcal is finally positioning itself to fulfill its potential as a green company that sells 1) inexpensive, ordinary products for the ordinary person's budget - not ultraspecialized, high-end boutique items -- and 2) green products that meet and exceed the quality standards of the non-green equivalents.

In other words, "Joe Sixpack"can afford to buy Marcal products, and expect them to work.

What does this say for your green business?

First of all - if you are running your business on green principles, is this part of your marketing? Have you gotten certified and listed as a green business by organizations like Green America or Green Seal? Are you involved with green networking organizations? Does the public know that you're green?

Second - if you have based your business on a particular green issue, educate your public! Yes, Marcal's products offered solid quality and competitive pricing, even if no one knew their green secret. But that wasn't enough to keep the company from going under in competition against the giants Georgia-Pacific and Kimberly-Clark. Meanwhile, eco-activists struggled to alert the buying public that they were, in effect, wiping their noses and bottoms on irreplaceable old-growth ecosystems.

If you're passionate about the green choices you've made, tell the world why! You'll not only be helping your product - you'll be helping to make a difference. Use a blog, social posting, information products - get the help of copywriters to communicate your passion and green social marketing consultants to place your message where it will be seen.

Third -would Joe Sixpack want to buy your product? Roughly 25% of the American public does not factor sustainability into their purchasing decisions. And unfortunately, there's a certain market segment that believes green products are overpriced and/or substandard...recycled tissues are scratchy, nontoxic cleaners don't work, etc., etc.

These are the people that green businesses need to win over...and Marcal is demonstrating the best way to do so, with affordable, high-performance products that are 100% sustainable.

It's great to know that this little company is finally positioning itself to get the attention it deserves!

Attract Local Customers with an Online/Real-Time Strategy

On eBay, your customers can “shop victoriously.” On Amazon, Overstock, and the big-box e-commerce sites they can get deep discounts, wide selection, and never-leave-the-sofa gratification.

So how can you motivate local customers out of the house and through your door?

Actually, it’s not as hard as you might think. With just a bit of creative thinking, along with some info-marketing and social-networking strategy, you can combine the best features of online and real-time business to bring local customers over your threshold.

Here are just a couple of ideas for blending your online and real-time marketing tactics:

• Combine online information marketing with real-time events to add value to your customers’ experience. For example, if you are a veterinarian, you might offer an e-course on recognizing common seasonal ailments, along with an in-office demonstration of ways to keep pets healthy during cold weather. For additional incentive, offer participants a discount on related on-site services.


• Set up a website survey to learn about your customers’ most challenging problems. For example, if you are a beauty consultant, you could ask about their biggest winter skin challenge. Then set up a real-time, on-site talk answering their specific questions and offering a discount on related products. Have your talk digitally recorded or videotaped, and offer (or sell) it on your website as an information product.


• If you offer more products in your real-time store than you’re able to list online, you can offer a special discount to website visitors who bring in an online coupon to your brick-and-mortar store. They’ll discover your on-site inventory, and you’ll learn more about their buying habits and needs.

If you’re combining your online and real-time campaigns, don’t forget to promote them in both venues. For example, info-marketing tactics offer valuable training to the public, and you can legitimately promote your presentations as educational events in local newspapers. Be sure to send out press releases.

Be sure, also, to include social-marketing options in your strategy. Using your blog and social networking platforms like FaceBook, you can promote both your online campaigns and your real-time, on-site events.

Last but not least, don’t forget to target local business-to-business traffic. If your Chamber of Commerce offers Member-to-Member discounts, match your offer to your customers' known needs, promote it through the Chamber, and proudly link to the promotion on your website.

The One Budget Item You Can’t Afford to Cut

For those of us whose parents survived the Great Depression, the recent economic downturn may have stirred deep-rooted reflexes to scrimp and save: cut expenses to the barest minimum, DIY wherever possible.

The problem is – applying this mindset to a marketing budget can set off a long downward spiral of dwindling prospects, dwindling conversions, and ultimately dwindling profits. The “Depression mentality” simply doesn’t translate to a successful business.

Why? It doesn’t take an Arthur Miller to point out that in-person and online relationship marketing has overtaken the old Willie Loman-style product-based marketing that was measured by doorbells rung and shoeleather worn through.

It doesn’t take a Zig Ziglar to point out the value of networking through your local Chamber of Commerce, through professional groups, through service organizations. Getting your physical presence and your name in front of your target audience, investing in your community…and seeing them invest, in return, in your services.
And that’s just the beginning. When you move these same principles online, your influence can be magnified exponentially.

Your website is just the beginning of your online presence. It’s a platform from which you can demonstrate not just your products, not just your services, but something more important than either: your expertise. By providing interactive features and information products such as articles, special reports, e-books, e-courses and teleseminars on your website, you can…

• Position yourself as an expert by answering the questions they want to ask. Not just the simple questions about product specs or service logistics, but deeper questions about bigger issues: What is the difference in energy savings between a triple-pane and a double-pane window? How does acupuncture speed healing? Can I control basement flooding with landscape design?
• Educate your prospects by providing the information they need to make good purchasing decisions.
• Provide compelling reasons, within that information, for them to buy from you.

Bottom line: when businesses are scrambling for clients and sales, the deciding factor is usually not going be the specifics of what you do or sell. After all, how many other businesses offer variations on your product or service?

In the end, the deciding factor is how your prospective clients perceive your business. Is your business voice friendly? Does it tell them what they need to know and want to hear, in their terms? Does it focus on their needs and desires, rather than on what you want to tell them?

Your presence online and offline is your first step to creating a relationship with your prospective clients ...and this is the make-or-break factor in marketing your business. In an unstable economy, the strength of your marketing is the strength of your business.