EvoBloggito

Business in 2010: Still Evolving After All These Years*

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jan 2, 2010; Category: Blogging, Business, Communication, Marketing, Zeitgeist; Tags: Blogging for Business, Business, Change, Economy, Entrepreneurs, Future; One Comment

New Year’s resolutions aren’t part of my tradition. They’re too easily forgotten or ignored, and they seem to focus primarily on end results rather than on underlying issues that create the need for improvement.

However, because the end-of-year holidays include more days off than I’m used to in a 2-week period, I usually do end up thinking about how things have gone over the previous year and where I’m going in the next. While I don’t exclusively think about business at such times, I’ll restrict this post to my reflections about Evo’s business (believe me, it’s better for both of us ).

My business has changed fairly dramatically in the past year, and blogging and blogs have played a big role. Evo has been in business since May, 2000—nearly 10 years. In terms of business activity, 2009 was not awful, but not great (until the last couple of months). My long-time business partner left the company in August and, while that has limited Evo’s ability to do some things, it’s also created profitable opportunities for collaboration with other companies.

I originally selected "Evolution" as part of the business name because I knew we’d have to evolve to be effective, as well as to stay in business. Back in 2000, I thought of websites primarily as online brochures. A lot of people still want static, set-it-and-forget-it websites that somehow bring them tons of business. It doesn’t work that way in 2010, and it really never did. I’m excited that websites can play an active role in marketing for a price that is well within the reach of most small businesses and organizations. My focus is now primarily on helping businesses and organizations incorporate blogging and blog-based websites into their marketing mix. In September, I developed and released a highly-customizable WordPress theme, Evo4 CMS, specifically for creating blog-based websites, and it’s greatly increased both my flexibility and efficiency in the implementation phase.

The challenge is that blogging, engaging online with customers, and keeping your website updated requires some time and effort. Definitely not a set-it-and-forget-it scenario. In 2010, I have to do a better job of communicating the benefits that kind of time and effort can bring about. Depending on how well I’m able to do that, next year should be a great year for Evo. And, I will have put some real tools in the hands of people to help them manage their business, which is a good feeling.

So, I’m focusing on two things in 2010:

1. collaboration with other developers, marketers, and consultants
2. helping businesses and organizations acquire the web-based tools and knowledge that allows them to manage their own marketing

I’m looking forward to it. Still evolving (and maybe still a little bit crazy) after all these years.

*apologies to Paul Simon

Fear of Blogging, and the Opportunity it Creates for People Who Aren’t Like Most People

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Oct 20, 2009; Category: Blogging, Business, Search/SEO, Zeitgeist; Tags: Blogging for Business, Change, Zeitgeist; One Comment

According to Seth Godin, there are two reasons people don’t buy (or do) things:

1. They don’t know about it.

2. They’re afraid of it.

If you don’t know about blogging and the substantial benefits it can bring to your business, that’s at least partly my fault. My business, and my mission, is to help businesses understand how and why to use blogging and blog platforms to grow their business. I’ll work harder at that: I promise.

The Psychology of Fear

I can detail all the advantages, show you examples of other businesses that have made blogging pay off, explain how much less money you will spend for the same or better results than you’re getting with your newspaper and radio ads, even plead with you (if I suddenly misplace my dignity); everything short of promising success. But at some point, you have to find the courage to do something different from what you’ve been doing, and different from what most people have been doing.

As the economy changed from orange alert (mild fear and wariness) to red alert (duck-and-cover NOW!), I had imagined that small and medium-sized business owners would be actively looking for something that would give them an edge. But I read an article (now long-misplaced) that suggested that the psychology of an economic downturn for most people is to hunker down and either do whatever they were already doing (but harder, with desperation), or to stop doing even what they were doing, while waiting for economic winds to blow more favorably. I can testify from the difficulty I’ve had convincing some businesses that blogging is at least part of the answer to their marketing dilemma in a down economy that this is the case.

Fear, apparently, is exaggerated in economic difficulties, and most people are even less likely to try something new, even if it holds the potential to overcome or mitigate the problem that’s the cause of their fear.

Now for the Opportunity

Here’s the good news for you if you’re even a little bit courageous: while your competitors are hunkered down waiting for the sun to warm their backsides again, you can get a jump on them. I’ve never talked to a business blogger who didn’t tell me they wished they’d started sooner. While you can’t start sooner than you start, you can start sooner than your competitors. Like most people, your competitors will wait until almost everyone is already on the bandwagon. By the time they’re figuring out "Step 1," you can be doing business with their ex-customers. Yup, it’s the law of the jungle. Survival of the fittest.

If I can help you with the issues you will face as you boldly go where few have gone before, please let me know. I can almost guarantee, those issues all have reasonably simple, easy-to-implement solutions.

A Business Lesson from Riding a Motorcycle

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: May 5, 2009; Category: Blogging, Business, Marketing; Tags: Blogging, Business, Change; No Comments

Almost every motorcyclist who’s been riding for a while knows that being either too bold or too cautious can get them killed. On a bike, surviving or thriving in traffic is best accomplished by being aware of what’s happening around you and acting—and sometimes reacting—appropriately.

I doubt it’s necessary to explain how being too bold or aggressive can lead to bad things happening (I’m sure you’ve seen a few stupid stunts by riders who are too bold), but how can being too cautious be dangerous? If you ride according to predetermined notions of caution, you can invite trouble into your pathway. For instance, let’s assume you come up behind a driver talking on his cell phone who, in his distracted state, can’t seem to pick a reasonably steady speed and weaves from one side of his lane to the other. You can sit behind him and maybe be present when something bad happens. Or you can flash your lights to get his attention and go around him, leaving what ever bad stuff might happen behind you.

Business is a little like that. The economic downturn is making things a difficult for most businesses right now, and most seem to have the idea that this might not be a good time to get too bold. In most cases, I’m sure that’s a good thing. But it’s possible to kill your business by being too timid or cautious, as well. This is not a good time to hunker down and try to survive, focusing on nothing but reducing costs. If costs are an issue, then clearly you need to reduce costs, but you can’t "save" your way into prosperity, or even survival. What makes far more sense is looking for greatest return on the money you must spend to operate your business.

This is a good time to look at your marketing practices and strategies and look for greater return. Honestly and seriously compare costs and results, and I’m guessing you’re going to arrive at the conclusion that you need to change or update your marketing approach, and that changes to your website, and perhaps your entry into blogging or social media, are in order. Why? Because that’s what works, and the cost is much lower than for other forms of media and marketing strategies.

Less money out, more money in. Isn’t that how businesses thrive?

Because The Light is Better Here

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Mar 14, 2009; Category: Blogging, Business, Marketing; Tags: Blogging, Business, Change, Economy, Zeitgeist; One Comment

It’s a punchline to an old joke you’ve probably heard, but just in case you haven’t, it goes like this:

Coming out of a bar at night, George sees Harry, a friend and fellow bar patron who’d left minutes before, on his hands and knees searching for something under a lamp post. "Harry, what did you lose?" asks George. "I lost my keys under a car," says Harry. "If you lost them under a car, why are you looking under the lamp post?" asks George. "Because the light is better here," says Harry.

Obviously, Harry’s judgment is impaired. He’s looking where it’s easier to look, rather than where his keys might be found.

What Harry is doing is not unlike what a lot of businesses do, as they continue to look for customers with broadcast media, print ads, and press releases. Though their customers are increasingly not to be found in the audience for those "tried and true" methods of marketing, that’s the marketing territory they know (or are being sold), so that’s where they continue to look. I’m sure they’ve noticed their results are not what they once were, but maybe if they "turn up the light…"

If their customers aren’t where they used to be, where are they? Most of them are on the Internet, either making purchases or researching purchases they plan to make. Who do they do business with? With whoever they find online who engages them with content that answers their questions and solves their problems. They start with Google, and they find answers and solutions without leaving their chair.

That doesn’t necessarily mean they buy online, although sometimes they do. Sometimes they find a website or a blog that speaks to them about what they’re interested in. They subscribe to updates and develop a relationship with the company. When it’s time for them to buy, that company gets their business.

That was an oversimplification, but the techniques of making your business findable—and engaging those who find it—are not complicated. They don’t require much money (especially in comparison to traditional marketing), but they do require time and effort, and a willingness to learn something you might not be familiar with.

Business people who want to stay in business follow their customers. If their customers are not "under the light," they find them where they are.

12 Reasons Businesses Should NOT Blog

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Mar 6, 2009; Category: Blogging, Business, Marketing; Tags: Blogging, Change, Humor; 4 Comments

Last week we posted 7 reasons for businesses to blog. We’re big supporters of blogging as a low-cost, high-effect means for companies to engage their market.

But we recognize not for everyone is cut out to be a blogger. If any of the statements below apply to you, you probably should not blog, at least not for business purposes.

1. You’re so busy writing orders and making trips to the bank to deposit money, you don’t have time to blog.
2. You have no expertise in anything that anyone would be interested in. (Twitter might be a more suitable platform.)
3. You’re illiterate. (Actually, we’re not sure this is a good reason.)
4. You try to avoid walking within 10 feet of a computer without your tinfoil hat on.
5. There’s a ghost in your computer who gets angry and zaps you when you touch the keyboard.
6. Every time you try to write, it reminds you of when your third-grade teacher intercepted your love note to the little girl behind you and read it to the whole class, correcting your grammar and punctuation.
7. You have a rare form of Tourette’s Syndrome that manifests itself in your writing.
8. You’re not interested in any form of marketing that doesn’t give you a shot at an Addy award.
9. You’re in the witness protection program and you need to keep a low profile.
10. Your website is in the witness protection program and you’d prefer it didn’t attract attention.
11. You told your mother you’re a piano player in a whorehouse and you don’t want her to be disappointed when she finds out you’re a blogger.
12. You refuse to participate in any activity that doesn’t have a proper name. “Blogging” indeed!