Staying on top of the latest social media sites is a full time job! I am a little leary of jumping

What is Pinterest

on every new site and wait for it to demonstrate that is has something unique to offer and some ‘staying’ power.

Along comes Pinterest.

Unique – no words – just images

Staying power – it has hit a cord with millions!   (There were about 120, 000 users about a year ago and today there are over 6 millions users!)

What is Pinterest?  Pinterest is nothing more than a virtual bulletin board where you can display and organize all the awesomes images you find while browsing.

Find a great idea for decorating your house – pin it on your  ‘home decorations’ board.
Find some fab shoes for an outfit – pin them on your ‘wish list’ or ‘shoe board’.
Find that dream vacation pic – pin it on your ‘Wish I was There!’ board.

I can tell you that it is addictive!

What is a Pin?

A pin is simply any image/photo/pic you add to your Pinterest account.

You can add a ‘pin’ from a website or from you computer.

A great way to get started is to peruse some of the boards on Pinterest and re-pin images that you like.

Let’s say that you are interested in wreaths. Just enter the term ‘wreath’ in the search on the Pinterest home page and you will find more pictures on a variety of wreaths than you can imagine.  Scroll through and simple click on the images that you like and re-pin them to a relevant board.

You will want to install a ‘Pin It” button on your browser  to make it easy to pin images you find while browsing the web. (Just go to the “Goodies” page and find instructions specific for you browser.)

How to Get Started…  Coming soon..

To get a Mind Map on Pinterest, please send an email to pinterest!@aweber.com or use the form on the right.

If you have wondered about whether or not you need a mobile website for your business, you need to watch this video! NOT

Ok, here Matt sounds like a politician where he really doesn’t answer the questions!

The answer: it depends… if you have mobile users searching for you business then a mobile website is imperative!  If  mobile users are not searching for you then, it would be nice to accommodate mobile users but not critical.

There are two different posts on how to handle mobile sites.

If you have any questions, please comment below.

Linda
PS Mobile Website Design Demo – Dentist

Simply scan the image on your smartphone and you will be taken to the demo site.

Video by Google’s Matt Cutts

I just watched this video by Matt Cutts, a well-known Google reprsentative. In this video he explains

•  Googlebot has a specific user agent – Googlebot-mobile
• Use a separate URL for your mobile site
• Serve up your regular website for the Googlebot and your mobile site for Googlebot-mobile

Questions to ask your mobile web designer:

1. Does the redirect script differentiate be Googlebot and Googlebot-mobile?
2. What is the URL of my mobile site?
3. Does the robots.txt file allow the Googlebot-mobile?

(Use a mobile scanner to see the mobile version.)

As with a regular website, you want your new mobile website design to found by the search engines!

Here are a few basics you need to consider:

• Mobile Sitemap – a mobile sitemap contains all pages that are mobile optimized. There are a few differences from your current website but your mobile web designer should be able to take care of creating a mobile sitemap for your mobile website.
• Accept mobile bots – make sure your robots.txt file accepts mobile search bots.  The Google bot is: ”Googlebot-Mobile”
• Mobile Friendly – your mobile site has to conform to certain standards.   Check that your mobile-friendly URLs’ DTD (Doc Type Definition) declaration is in an appropriate mobile format such as XHTML Mobile or Compact HTML.

There are many companies that study the how consumers use their smartphone as well as the environment in which they use their phones.

• Are they using mobile Internet while in their cars?
• Are they at work?
• Are they at home?

You should be asking yourself, how can I jump on the mobile bandwagon?  Well if you are a business owner you need to have a mobile website!

I am not talking about scrunching down your current website so it fits on a smartphone.  I am talking about having a mobile optimized website.  Your mobile website should have the key information that your prospects are looking for.

In fact if you can deliver what you market wants before your competitors you are will get first mover advantage!

Your mobile website doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive. It just has to have what your potential customers are searching for!

You don’t have to change your current website!  Just have your website designer add some code which detects whether your visitor is on a mobile browser.  If they aren’t, the user is directed to your main website. If they are a mobile user then they are sent to your mobile website.

The problem is that most business owners don’t realize that mobile websites can be relatively easy and are very affordable!

Think through what your potential customers may be looking for while they are watching TV. How can you solve their problems?  How can you get your solution in front of them?

Mobile usage is only growing and you need to have a mobile optimized website in order to start engaging them.  The will just leave a traditional website!  Make it easy for them to find what they are looking for… Make it easy for them to navigate your mobile website,,, Make it each for them to take action.

At the end of 2009, almost two years ago, Morgan Stanley published a report:

The Mobile Internet Report: Ramping Faster than Desktop Internet, the Mobile Internet Will Be Bigger than Most Think

Morgan Stanley did a thorough job of analyzing the mobile market and you can certainly read the entire 96 page report. (Link at the end of the article.)

As a business owner here are some of the key take-aways that you need to understand to grow your business.

1. The mobile web will be bigger than desktop Internet use by 2015
   The mobile web is growing faster that desktop  and will continue to grow way beyond desktop usage.
2. The growth of global wireless data is expected to grow 29% per year
3. The mobile platforms are raising the bar for mobile users allowing them to connect and communicate in an unprecedented way.

If you are not collecting information from your current customers, you are missing the boat!

Why? Because every customer who comes in your door has the potential to come in on a repeat basis if you give them the right incentive. If you are not collecting their information when they come in the door then you may never see them again.

Have you noticed that different websites offer you free information in exchange for your name and email. This is typically called an ethical bribe.

The website owner offers you something of value.  If they are good at marketing, they will offer something that is relevant to why you landed on the website.  It is an offer that interests you then all you have to do is give them some information.  In most cases this is just your name and email.

Have you thought about why they ask for this information?  They know that they may never see you again!
They know that there are millions of places you can go for information and they want to be able to continue
to give you value so that you are inclined to come visit again and eventually buy from them.

As a local business owner, you are no different.  Customers arrive at you place of business for a variety of
reasons.  They may have seen a print advertisement in a magazine, newspaper or flyer.  They may have
seen a coupon in paper.  Maybe they found you in the Yellow Page.  More often people are now searching
online for local information.

You have paid money to bring in customers and now you want to keep them coming back. You can do this
by offering coupons through emails.  It isn’t hard to do but you do need the name and email of your  customer.

There are a variety of ways you can do this. The easiest is to have a form for the customer to fill out while
they are paying for their merchandise.  Remember you need to give them an incentive to sign up. You could
offer a coupon that they can use on their next visit.

Every so often you could send different incentives to bring your customers back.  You can also offer news,
tips and information that will help your customer make better buying decisions or will educate them in some
way.

The key is to offer value!  This is a great way to begin to develop a relationship with customers and keep
them coming back.