Aaron Weiche

Matt McGee at Small Business Search Marketing recently featured a HubSpot post on business blogging and it's impact on traffic.  Not a big surprise to me that business's that blog regularly see as much as 6 times the organic search traffic. Did you catch that, 6 times more?

Matt closed his recap this powerful statement:  A good company blog is an exceptionally powerful SEO weapon.

I agree 110%, probably even more.

A key word in that statement though is "good".  As the HubSpot article points out:

"A follow-up study shows that the mere act of blogging does not guarantee more site traffic. Anyone can set up a blog and leave it idle as initial excitements fade. Businesses that actively manage their blogs, however, fare much better than those without blogs."

Great info to consider for any business wanting to improve online. Maybe it's time you considered a business blog to contribute to your business efforts ... not just setting it up, but managing a good one.

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There are a couple of events going on right now, each on a different scale in size and web design.  In my opinion, one is a fantastic web design, the other is completely a waste of clicks.

The 2010 Winter Olympics Web Design - Gold Medal
The Vancouver 2010 web design is a wonderful mix of colors, theme, layout and tons of content. Photos, events, video, interviews, medal counts and so much more. It captures the energy of the games while easing interaction will all of the events and stories.

My only critique of this web design would be the left alignment.  It just makes a site feel crowded and crammed to me.  I get what they were trying to leverage with the design elements to the right, but they should have stayed true to center alignment.  Here is another post full of great Olympic design examples.

The Minneapolis Home & Garden Show - DNQ
Locally, the Minneapolis Home & Garden Show event kicked off today and this web design is about as lame, boring and unfriendly as it gets.  It gets the Did Not Qualify award for not being worthy of finishing the race.  I'm sure the Home & Garden Show is very interested in bringing in as many attendees as possible, but this website won't motivate a soul to get off their couch.

I could even forgive the poor web design if the content was solid, but that's a whole different kind of fail.  How about some photos or videos from past shows (non distorted please).  Show me what the experience is.  Let me know about concrete deck builders, granite fabricators or tree care specialists.

Now only if I could say I was going to attend both events this weekend.

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Those of us with an iPhone know that the device will try to locate WiFi connections for use when possible.  If you're like me, you find yourself laughing at some of the strange and odd names that homes and businesses give their WiFi connections. A few weeks ago, when in Maple Grove, I think I stumbled on to a restaurant using their WiFi connection name for marketing.

Now this could be just an accident and with my marketing mind I'm reading too far into it.  But it's the first I've ever seen someone use their main service/product and phone number in their network name.  Sawatdee in Maple Grove is the owner of this example and their food is pretty solid.  They also have a current coupon online for 50% off a second entree.

If it is on purpose, I like it.  An easy and small approach that can't hurt and can only help. I grab my iPhone to check email or use the web while shopping in downtown Maple Grove ... and there is Sawatdee letting me know their is Asian food nearby. This would also apply to any nearby laptop users attempting to connect to a network at an office or coffee shop.

What do you think?  Accident or Advertising?

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The last 2 iPhone apps I've downloaded are pretty cool, both in content and features.

The first is the This American Life app.  I'm late to the party on this fabulous NPR show, but their new app gives me access to all of their nearly 400 episodes included in the $2.99 price.  Here is a video clip on the release of their app and all of its great features.

The second is the NBC Olympics App.  While the apps best features are for those actually attending the Olympics, there is still plenty of info for events, medal counts, video and more.

Also tempting is the Olympic cow bell app, but I haven't pulled the trigger on that yet. Do you have a new favorite app or two?

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Dan Gustafson of The Social Media Weekly show on KRWC AM 1360 in Buffalo, MN interviewed me last week for a segment.

• Link to the show file

We talked about social media in general, my Punch Pizza post on their social media promotion, Facebook's new design and the Local University seminar I attended last week.  I always enjoy talking anything web and look forward to chatting with Dan again on his Social Media Weekly show.

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I'm headed out to Spokane, Washington tomorrow to sit in on the one day Local University put on by GetListed.org.  This local search focused workshop is being headed up by David Mihm, Matt McGee, Mike Blumenthal as well as some other great small business Internet marketing minds.

As much as anything I'm looking forward to hanging out with David and Matt.  Those two guys are on my short list of great local and search marketing minds, write blog posts I read frequently and worth a follow by any business on Twitter. I have had the chance to interact with both of them over the years via email, social media or projects as well.

One other goal besides the knowledge, networking and beer(s) ... is working with David to bring one of these Local University sessions to Minneapolis.  It would be fantastic and of great value to the business community here. 

I'll post pics and a round-up later this week.

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Nothing comforts a broken heart like food. Punch Pizza, with seven Twin Cities locations reached out to passionate Vikings fans on Sunday on various social media sites offering a free pizza the next night to help them deal with the devastating NFC Championship loss to the Saints.

The result was nearly 10,000 pizzas given away (number from Punch Pizza), customers lined-up out the door, local TV news coverage and thousands of mentions on the web. Genius.

Few restaurants in the Minneapolis / St Paul area have been as savvy or active with social media as Punch Pizza and their latest interaction produced some incredible results. 

Let’s look at a few of the ingredients to Punch’s most recent online success (they’ve had a few).

The Method:  Punch has been socially active on the web for some time now. They use Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, Flick and their website. With over 5,000 Twitter followers of @punchpizza and 7,000 Facebook fans, Punch has plenty of customers to interact with. 

Timing: I loved the fact that they were prepared and jumped into the mix at a time when social sites were busting with chatter from the game.  Overtime has just ended, fans were crushed and Punch offered a small bit of light. Timing matters, Punch knew this.

The Offer:  Punch was ready to roll with 2 offer options, one to celebrate a Vikings win, the other to comfort the masses with a Vikings loss.  The Vikes lost and so Punch sent out a tweet and posted the offer to their Facebook page, free pizza was the cure.

The offer/coupon was posted to their Flickr page. All you had to do was print or show it on your phone to get a free pizza for dinner on Monday night.  Punch has carried out multiple marketing campaigns that integrate all of their social tools together, which is always a great move.

Conversation Effect:  Punch leveraged their community, network and customer base to turn a ripple into a wave.  One offer, one tweet and one Facebook update created well over 3,000 clicks to their coupon.

This Twitter mention graph from Squawq shows how they generated over 370 tweets in 2 days, a massive spike form their normal mentions and activity.

Their Facebook status update gathered interaction from a few hundred in the form of “Likes” and comments. See a few of them below, wouldn’t you love this conversation about your business?

You can also factor in they gathered new followers and fans on these accounts thanks to the mentions and interaction.

Traditional Coverage:  I haven’t been able to pin down from Punch Pizza if the local media was contacted or they picked up on the buzz from the social networks themselves, but Punch was featured on the 10pm news on KARE11.  30 seconds of air time showed sad Vikings fans getting cheered up waiting in line at Punch Pizza locations. (photo below from Kare11)

As one Vikings and Punch fan shared on camera: "I am really sad about yesterday because I thought this was the year and the pizza will definitely help because there is no better pizza. So, I'll get over it real quick and we'll put on our purple for next year," says Tere Haas as she waited in line in the cold.

Outcome: I don’t know how you could ask for anything more out of a promotion like this.  Social interaction, branding, traditional media coverage and 10,000 pizzas in the hands of your faithful and newly found customers is a huge win.  I think you can measure this social media marketing and I'd bet they are pouring over the data generated past what I've outlined. ;)

Punch Pizza and their marketing minds (agency and/or internal) are commended for putting together a great social promotion. My only issue was that I wasn’t able to get to the Wayzata location last night and get my free pizza.

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Here's a small, basic, but fun example of building a bit of social media ... literally.  Employees at Walmart in Baxter, MN built a great display of Pepsi products to support the Minnesota Vikings quest to reach the Super Bowl this Sunday vs. the Saints.

Where it get's social is they then uploaded the photo the StarTribune.com's user submitted photo area ... which can then lead to someone else sharing it, blogging or tweeting about it or more.  Yup, that further sharing just happened.

I have no idea if they added the photo anywhere else on the web, but it sure was easy to add on more exposure after it was built.

Any retail business could have a little creative fun with their product or store display and then push it to a few social networks.  Social media doesn't have to be complex, you just have to take many basic things a step further and share.

I'd like to see the display come true. Go Vikings.

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I just finished reading You've Been Yelped, a great article on Yelp.com put out by Inc Magazine writer Max Chafkin. Two weeks ago David Mihm outlined Yelp's Coming of Age in a detailed post. If you're into local Internet marketing at all, read them both.

Max illustrated both the good and the bad for small business owners affected by the website.  The customer reviews posted on Yelp can make or break a small business and as the article details, it can drive an owner downright crazy.

As a business owner myself I see both sides of Yelp.com's offering and effect on small business.  I think the collection of opinions of others experiences is great for the consumer to crowdsource to find great services or products, but I also question if the right filters can control the inmates running the asylum.

Running a small business is tough enough, you'll never please everyone and now anyone can shout it out to the masses ... permanently.  That said, an owner can learn a lot from customer insight and feedback.

Maybe the best thing to hope for is reviews being held to a responsibility code, where constructive criticism is allowed (and welcomed), but childish savaging or outlandish claims are left off.  I think we all know that some only look for ways to whine, rip or rant whenever possible.

So is Yelp the answer to running a better business?  Is it the answer to helping consumers?  I don't have a clear answer on those 2 questions, but I do know that it's not going away.

As one owner quoted in the story stated: "Ignoring Yelp gets you nothing. You can't hate the future."

My hope is that Yelp's future brings a better balance to small business and consumer interaction.

One last time, it's a great article so go and read it: You've Been Yelped - Inc.

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Gary Vaynerchuk put out a great video looking at social media interaction from brands today and how it may be an expected interaction in the future.

The video has great examples of how things like free shipping, post holiday sales and social media interaction from athletes and big brands have produced a "Wow!" in the beginning, but grow over time to be expected by the consumer.

Some great food for thought. Is your brand ready for the expectation of personal interaction?

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