Kulula Embraces Movember

South Africa's numero uno quirky budget airline do Movember...

How To Develop An Online Presence For Your Business in 4 Easy Steps

All of the steps outlined in this post, except for the first one, can be completed for FREE. If you've constantly been hearing about Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare 'and social media', and don't know what the heck any of it means, or worse, how to use it, fear not, you've come to the right place.


This post will guide you through, from scratch, how do get your business online and how to start growing it's online presence. The internet and social media is a way for potential customers to find you, to connect with you and for you to communicate with them.

1. Get a website.
If you haven’t already got one, your first step to developing an online presence is to get a website for your business. First you will need to register a domain name - make sure it is relevant and easy to remember. There are lots of agencies and independent web designers who will be able to register and develop a site for you. This shouldn’t be too expensive and depending on your site, development shouldn’t take longer than 2 weeks.


Make sure you approach a few designers before you decide on one to use. Take a look at their portfolio of work, and make sure their websites are in line with what you want in your site. Compare their portfolios and quotes, and ensure you can have a good working relationship as you will need to communicate with them on an ongoing basis in order to update your site. Use a site like eLance.com to post your needs and find a designer. I usually follow 3 rules when determining a site design, these are:


• Simple. Keep it simple. Only use relevant, interesting and eye-catching text and pictures. Do not bombard your viewer with an abundance of content. Include information that will be of use to them but will also set you apart in some way (highlight your USPs).
• User-friendly. Make sure your site is easy to navigate and not cluttered. Your products/services and any information relating to them (price, color, size, etc.) should be readily available. IMPORTANT – ensure your contact details are easily found.
• Stylish. I do not mean stylish as in fashionable or cutting edge, but rather that your website conveys quality. It must look professional. Your website is the online face of your business, and the internet is increasingly the first stop for people interested in your business. Therefore it is crucial that your site conveys a great first impression, it needs to communicate that your product/service is of a high standard.


2. Register your business and website on directories.
There are a number of online directories that range from very broad and general (Yellow Pages) to product and location specific (Restaurant Directory in New York). Do a thorough search of all online directories relating to your business. For example if you are a plumber in London, do a thorough search for all London directories and then for all service and plumbing specific directories. Take your time to register your details and website on these directories. This will help your business get found and also improve your website’s search engine rankings.


Some of the bigger global online directories are:


• www.anywho.com/
• www.dmegs.com/
• www.phonenumber.com


3. Get your business on the map.
More and more people are using Google Maps and MapQuest to locate businesses in their area. Firstly, do a quick search of your business on Google Maps. If it is located with the correct address; congratulations. If not, you need to get it on Google Maps also known as Google Places.


First register your business at Google Business Center. Google Places aggregates a number of popular directory's addresses in order to position places on its Map. Again registering your business on relevant directories (Step 2) will help with this and imrpove your rankings on Google Places.


There are large number of reviewer based community sites, such as Yelp and CitySearch, that are used to position business and give them ratings and reviews. Get a friend to write a quick (positive) review about your business on these sites and submit all the correct details (address, opening-closing times, services, etc.). Encourage any friends and family to start logging on and writing reviews of your business. This will help your rankings and your business will come across in a genuinely positive light to anyone who reads the reviews (free marketing).


4. Create a Facebook page
By now I’m sure that you have your own personal Facebook page, if you don’t you will need one in order to register a Facebook page for your business. A ‘page’ for your business is not the same as a personal page. A personal page will more often than not require an ‘accepted friend request’ before someone can view information on your page and post comments, whereas a page is easily found by search engines and can be viewed by anyone with a Facebook account.


Setting up a Facebook page is slightly different than setting up a profile page, but is easier. Go to this page http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php and follow the very easy steps. Make sure you enter your business’s address and website correctly.
You can now link your website to your Facebook page, with a simple ‘like’ button. The html code is easily available. Speak to your web designer in order to set this up. It should take less than 10 minutes.


5. Open A Twitter account
Social Media, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Foursquare, blogs, etc. all seem to be the current buzz word. A lot of brands and business are panicking and not sure what to do. Don’t worry, as long as you have a Facebook page and a Twitter account where people can easily find your business you are in good shape.


You can also set up a Twitter account and link this to your Facebook page so when you update your Facebook status your Twitter account is updated simultaneously. This is particularly useful in helping potential customers find your business, and provides a fast and easy 2-way communication channel. Keep in mind that you don't need to constantly update your status. Rather use it promote any specials, deals or interesting news about your business. View your Facebook and Twitter as another line of communication between you and your customers. If they compliment you, thank them. If they express a complaint make sure you deal with it quickly and effectively.








You now have the option of using Facebook ads. These are very effective in targeting your specific market segment and will ensure your page increases the number of ‘Likes’ but will not necessarily lead to more sales. I would recommend initially growing your page organically, get your family, friends and associates to ‘Like’ your page and recomened it to their friends and so on.


Congratulations! You now have a significant online presence for your business. You should set yourself a time limit of 3 weeks to sufficiently complete these 4 steps. It will take about 2 weeks for Google, Yahoo! And Bing to start ranking your sites and pages.


This is a beginners guide and only covers the basic steps to initiating and growing your business's online presence. In a few weeks I will be looking at how you can further your online presence using blogs and Facebook ads.

Sesame Street Does Madmen

Story Of Water

I first came across The Story of Stuff while doing a course on sustainable business in Uni, the short documentary about the one-way life cycle of material goods and consumerism really struck home with me. I always find myself thinking back to it when Steve Jobs announces the next generation Nano.


Annie Leonard, the environmental activist behind the short animated clip, which has been shown in schools and universities across the globe, has now come up with this; The Story of Water...









Ja, I think it's a about time you bought yourself a re-usable bottle... save yourself cash and do that tiny bit to help the environment. Carrying a bottle of branded water has reached the point of being a fashion statement, but so was smoking 5 years ago. Then people realized it killed you and was a waste of money. Same vibe here.


I'm quite a fan of these.

Happy Halloween

With the 30th of October just around the corner a deluge of Halloween ads and themed store fronts have been popping up everywhere. Both of these ads for Levi's 501's are from AboveGrey and are written and directed by Ezra J. Stanley.

This video was the winner of Best Commercial Award at the 2009 Burbank International Film Festival.



This ad won the same award this year. It's got a similar vibe, but different ghouls. Again he uses contrasting sounds really effectively.

Stand Up If You Love Fig Rolls

Jacob's have started an humurous ad campaign for their Fig Rolls (not to be confused with McVites Fig Rolls) which involves men and women dressed in skin tight red shiny full-body suits, supposedly representing 'taste buds'. The ad revolves around the taste buds referring to each other as 'buds' and each of them vying for a bit of Fig Roll- which makes their taste buds stand erect...

Taste Buds

Here is the ad...




Jacob's have taken to promoting this campaign under the line by getting groups of people to dress in the taste bud body suits and run around certain busy areas of Ireland promoting the fig rolls. This was caught on Friday on Henry Street, Dublin.



I reckon this is a top notch complete campaign. After I captured the video of 'Stand Up If You Love Fig Rolls', I went back to the office and told all of my colleagues about the unusual awesomeness I had just witnessed. They had all seen the ad on TV and we all immediately started talking about Fig Rolls. This led to one of the girls running off to Tescos to by a pack of fruity biccies. Although they were McVites and not Jacobs.

I think the whole ad strategy is very effective, particularly as it is slightly off the wall which is good for WOM. However, special emphasis needs to be placed on the fact that they are Jacob's rolls and not McVites. It's not clear enough, and a bit confusing. The last thing you want to be doing is spreading WOM for your competitors. Perhaps some more distinct Jacob's branding is needed?

Kit Kat - Catch a Recession Break

This was spotted in the bus stops around Dublin (Ireland; where the Celtic Tiger has been hit harder than most other economies by the recession).

I think it's a unique angle to go for, which actually fits in with the brand's positioning: take a temporary break by chomping down on a Kit Kat choc and stand the chance to catch a permanent break from all your recession-accumulated debt. It's not too exciting, but let's face it everyone turns to a bit of chocolate during hard times.

Crap New Gap Logo

Yesterday standard US clothes supplier Gap unveiled this entirely new logo...

As you can see, it's crap. And the rest of the world tends to agree; with designers and fans everywhere expressing their collective disapproval of Gap's new logo. So much so that there is already a mock twitter account, user-genreated logo competitions and even a Crap Logo Yourself webiste. 

The people (social media) have spoken, and Gap seem to be listening, last night they updated their Facebook status asking for users to submit their own take on a new logo for the company.

So in less than 24 hours Gap have announced a new logo, received a truck load of backlash, and called for a user subtmitted logo's in response- all through power of social media. Impressive.

(Source: Mashable)

Black Music

I snapped this while cruising a mall in Mallorca, apparently in Spain they classify music according to race. I wonder where Bloc Party would fit in? or the Beastie Boys? or Prince?

 
I don't think that would go down to well in Musica in the good old Republic of SA.

Arthur's Day

17.59 , Thursday 23rd September - "To Arthur!!", could be heard throughout the streets of Dublin as people toasted to the great  man who discovered Guinness. 

Last year to celebrate 250 years of The Black Stuff, Guinness hosted a series of music events throughout the city. Tickets were a reasonable 10 Euro and this gained you admission  into 1 of 28 venues, ranging from small pubs (Pygmallion's) to designated gig venues (The Academy, St James Gate). The catch - you have no idea who is playing at your venue, its a complete 'surprise'. The line up was great, including The Kooks, Calvin Harris, The Roots, Ok Go, Razorlight, The Magic Numbers, David Gray and the Wombats. Basically wherever you were, you were guaranteed a top class show.

Riding off 2009's huge success Guinness decided to do it all again this year. While it wasn't quite as big and successful as last year's, everyone who got involved had a grand crack.

Here are some pics of the event...

251 years of Bovril flavored alcoholic protein shakes!!

Social Media for Good in Dublin

This is the front page of the daily Dublin Metro Herald....

Several Irish skobies  were seen two nights ago forcing a lit firework in a dogs mouth, which blew the animal's lower jaw off. Consequently the dog had to be put down. This is disgusting and unacceptable behavior, and the Irish public (including myself) are rightly outraged. In response a group has been created on Facebook calling to give up any information regarding the incident that will lead to these men being found and charged.


 Previously bringing this scum to justice would be the sole responsibilty of the Garda, however now with social media tools the public are able take a stand and actively make a difference.


Please sign the petition on this link....
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/find-and-prosecute-the-thugs-who-killed-the-dog-in-dublin-with-fireworks/

Awesome Urinal Art

I caught this over the weekend while taking a leak at a pub in St Georges street, Dublin. There was no branding or marketing attached to the picture. Just the bar going for a cheeky vibe. Lag.

Samsung N210 Netbook

So here is my little baby I just got today, and I mean that in the most literal way possible. This 'netbook' is smaller than your nether regions after a dip in Clifton 4th's icy Atlantic water during June.

Basically this is where the magic/action is going down... (placed next to protein shaker for complete perspective)

I must confess I originally opted for the Sony M Vaio, alas when I got to Argos in both the Jervis and Ilac centres they were all out. The closet I got to getting my hands on one, was a pink display model in the Sony Centre. While I am completely comfortable in the knowledge that I could have pulled off the pink netbook look; after reading up a few reviews and ratings online it turns out that the Samsung has a higher resolution screen and a stiffer more responsive keyboard, AND has a battery life of 12 hours as opposed to 4.

So here I am the proud new owner of a cute little Samsung N210.