April, 2008

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting president of Click Rain, Paul Ten Haken. Click Rain just opened doors a few weeks ago servicing a niche in the web market that is right up my alley - online marketing.

We swapped ideas about how to make web sites work for businesses; processes and methods too often overlooked by web owners thus making their site ineffective. A site without a marketing plan is like whispering into the wind. No one is going to hear you and you’ll loose out.

A marketing plan consists of a variety of solutions (all nicely outlined on Click Rain’s site). So I won’t get into that right now. I promised Paul I would share some of my favorite free web tools with him. So I decided to write it up in a post and share these with everyone.

Unfortunately my “favs” are stored on two computers, so this list will be a little incomplete. But I will update - it’s about time I finally got these pulled together in one place.

A Few of my Favorite Freebies (version 1)

• Google Webmaster -  Google is the king daddy of the net and this is a must read for anyone in the web world.
• Google Key Word Tool - you site isn’t anything if the search engines can’t find it. This tool will let you help you find those perfect key words.
• Keyword Tracker - not a freebie, but they do offer a trial version. Find the keywords you need to succeed online.
• Ethnio - a friendly new way to recruit people from your website for research.
• Website Optimizer - Another Google freebie
• Crazy Egg - awesome heat map tool
• Ajax Whois - looking for an open URL?
• Google Analytics - I used a number of analytics tools and this one comes out on top.
• Poll Daddy - create stunning polls and surveys
• Fleck -Add a note to any page, then send it to your friends or use it in a blog
• Foldspy - Different browsers, operating systems, screen sizes and user preferences mean a visitor to your site doesn’t see what you see.
• Denim - An awesome tool to create mock-ups and click-thrus
• Bubbl.us - a simple and free mind-map web application that lets you brainstorm online.

There are quite a few more, so version 2 will be much more complete and far better organized. Enjoy!

Get your own Mclovin ID

The cornerstone to any SEO strategy is “Link Love” - links from other sites to yours, and links on your site to other sites. SEOmoz has a great post asking readers for their best “Link Love” ideas.

Here are a few of my favs from that article as well as some of my own ways to build high-quality Link Love without emailing, paying, or even paying attention to search engines:

1. Whenever you use a product or service, be sure to blog about it. Then send an email to that organization letting them know about the blog. Also be sure to tell them that they’re welcome to quote your testimonial. More often than not, they’re return the Link Love with back to your site.
2. Create a promotion on your site offering a wonderful freebie to anyone who posts a comment or links to your site.
3. Add your logo and link to hilarious and viral marketing media such as Shoemoney’s McLovin ID cards. (see mine above).
4. Create freebies such as wallpapers and screen savers with your logo or a WP theme and submit them to galleries. Lots of Link Love to be had there.
5. Guest post on other’s blogs in exchange for a link to yours.
6. Contribute to Yahoo and Linkedin Answers along with a link to your site.
7. Create a free and cool widget using Sprout. The widget can then be posted on anyone’s blog.
8. Upload pictures to flickr and use them in your blog post. Link to them in the photos description.  The cooler the picture, the better the results.
9. Internal Link Routes. Just keep hyperlinking to places within your own site.
10. Be sure to use relevant text in the link. For example, links to my blog using “Carla Kay White” rather than “click here”.

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Not only is Switzerland (one of) my dream places to live, check out Google's offices there. Drool. I think this is the place to be geting a job right now. Check out this PDF for more images. Happy Friday!!

Lately a lot of my friends are starting businesses in my small town of Sioux Falls, SD. Then today I see that Sioux Falls is ranked #45 on a list by the CNN Money as one of the 100 best places to live and launch a new business.

What makes Sioux Falls so popular? First is the wonderfully low taxes. There are no state corporate or personal income taxes, and no personal property, inheritance or inventory taxes. Sales tax is just under 6%, and the total of taxes residents pay is among the lowest in the country.

The second reason is the low cost of startup. It costs an estimated 45% less to open a business here than in New York.

Having launched a business in London, I realize just how powerful this can be for competitive pricing. It's far more cost effective to hire someone in Sioux Falls than it is on one of the coasts.

The greatest drawback listed was that Sioux Falls is "a long drive from major cities." And with the airport dropping flights, it's getting harder to get around. So winning those top clients outside of the region is a lot trickier.

No. 1 on the list was Bellevue, Wash. Sioux Falls ranked between Oro Valley, Ariz. and Madison, Wis.

Get your own Mclovin ID

The cornerstone to any SEO strategy is "Link Love" - links from other sites to yours, and links on your site to other sites. SEOmoz has a great post asking readers for their best "Link Love" ideas.

Here are a few of my favs from that article as well as some of my own ways to build high-quality Link Love without emailing, paying, or even paying attention to search engines:

1.  Whenever you use a product or service, be sure to blog about it. Then send an email to that organization letting them know about the blog. Also be sure to tell them that they're welcome to quote your testimonial. More often than not, they're return the Link Love with back to your site.
2. Create a promotion on your site offering a wonderful freebie to anyone who posts a comment or links to your site.
3. Add your logo and link to hilarious and viral marketing media such as Shoemoney's McLovin ID cards. (see mine above).
4. Create freebies such as wallpapers and screen savers with your logo or a WP theme and submit them to galleries. Lots of Link Love to be had there.
5. Guest post on other's blogs in exchange for a link to yours.
6. Contribute to Yahoo and Linkedin Answers along with a link to your site.
7. Create a free and cool widget using Sprout. The widget can then be posted on anyone's blog.
8. Upload pictures to flickr and use them in your blog post. Link to them in the photos description.  The cooler the picture, the better the results.
9. Internal Link Routes. Just keep hyperlinking to places within your own site.
10.  Be sure to use relevant text in the link. For example, links to my blog using "Carla Kay White" rather than "click here".