Thank you to Laura MacPherson from Northstar Creative for teaching us what we can do to make our website more prominent on search engines like Google.

Did you know that 39% of people online are using search engines? And 33% of the people online are actively shopping for something? This places great weight in the businesses that are displayed when users search for your industry. In order to organically move the link to your business to the top of the list.

Here is what you can do on your website to make it more search-engine friendly:

•  Metadata – in the page titles and descriptions, make sure your location and keywords are in both.

•  Web Code/Programming – a handcrafted website is usually coded cleaner, which Google likes. Make sure your web designer is familiar with CSS/HTML standards.

•  Web Copy – Google likes text, and is getting smarter at reading text on websites. In writing copy, be sure to use keywords and synonyms of keywords, making about 70% of the text to be keywords. Make it read like a newspaper article, putting the most important information at the top.

•  Blogging – blogging keeps you current in your industry, and having a blog on your website drives traffic to it.

Here is what you can do off of your website to drive traffic to you:

•  Links are Votes – Google counts each high-quallity link to your site on other sites as a vote of confidence. If another website has a link to yours, this is a good thing, and the more, the better.

•  Directory Listings – take advantage of listings in free and paid directories.

•  Article Syndication – write and syndicate articles.

•  Blog Commenting – commenting on industry-related blog posts can draw like-minded individuals away from that blog to your website.

Thanks to Bryan Jeter from Lister, Jeter, & Lloyd CPA’s who schooled us on Tax 101 as part of the Greer Community Chamber Convention. For more information on tax related subjects, be sure to consult with a professional.

Here are some key points that we learned about taxes:

• Keep track. Have an eye on your taxes throughout the year. One thing that Bryan hates having to say to a client is that they have to pay $10,000 to the IRS next week. Keeping tabs on your taxes doesn’t change the amount you have to owe, but you’ll be able to tell in June what you will owe in April. At least you will know what you will have to pay, so maybe you could scale down a little during the year. Don’t take that trip around the world and 86 the remodel of your home.

• You can still get good tax cuts on buying energy efficient products in 2010, but not as much as you would for the tax year of 2009. If you buy solar panels or geothermal heating elements, tax credits could take up to 30% off of your purchase, making that break-even analysis more toward your favor.  Also, there is a good tax credit for buying an electric vehicle. These tax cuts don’t justify the purchase in itself, but if you were going to purchase a car or already looking for a new energy source, green is the way to go.

• Under the new HIRE Act, if you hire an employee in 2010 that had been unemployed for at least 60 days, you’re eligible for a tax credit. If you continue to employ that person for a year, you get an additional tax credit of $1000. This is a brand new tax credit that goes into effect this month, and it’ll give employers more incentive to help your community by employing those who currently don’t have a job.

Through new litigation going through the United States Congress, personal income tax is dramatically changing, and the tax cuts of earlier in the decade will expire after last year. For more information on the changes, sit down with a tax preparer, and they’ll be able to talk you through what’s coming up.

Thanks to Jon Evans (@bigjonevans) and Glenn Bourquin (@DDMotors) for throwing this info out into the universe for us to soak up. And thanks to Greer Chamber for holding the Community Commerce Convention, and giving these two guys a place to launch the ideas from.

We are at the Greer Community Commerce Convention, and just finished our first session: Tweet Your Marketing with Social Networking. Jon Evans and Glenn Bourquin enlightened us on social media and how we should use it. So what is social media? Its building those connections and communicating through social networks and media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter, etc. Sharing conversation and content to build communities, engage your consumer, build credibility, educate, inform, and be found (yes, Googleable is a word!) Social media is biggest shift since the industrial revolution. Here’s what Jon had to say, and did he begin with some shocking statistics:

- Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months when it first began, currently has over 400 million.
- Wikipedia is more accurate than Britannica
- There are 200 million blogs online.
- 78 percent of consumers trust peer recommendations while only 14 percent of consumers trust advertisements.

So now that you know how important social media is, why should you use it?

1. Branding—branding yourself and your product to move ahead of your competitors. Creating a buzz about your product—finding a way to excite people about what you do.
2. Online reputation management—see what others are saying about you, and control what is said.
3. To establish yourself as an expert—use forums and blogs to establish yourself, get your name out there, and showcase your skills.
4. To build relationships, and become more personal—This one is a no brainer. Social media allows you build relationships and move forward with your business—and it’s cheap!

Things to avoid
Creating profiles everywhere!
—Pick 1 or 2 to actively be a part of and be consistent with it. People will give you one chance, and if its not intriguing, they’re done.

Selling to everyone immediately
—Your initial goal is to build relationships. Too much sales will turn people off. You don’t want to take it from a personal thing to a television commercial.

A few notes:
Define your target market, your objective, your capabilities, and your policy on who can edit, respond, and interact with your social media channels. Answer questions that are asked of you and turn negative posts and comments into something positive. Measure your results, and refine your strategy to create the most value for your customer.

Social media isn’t the magic bullet but it provides a world of opportunities. People go online for two reasons: to be entertained and to find information. TiVo and things like Pandora and satellite radio has eliminated commercials. Traditional advertising is more push push push; social media is push, and then pull in. Social media is there for you to captivate your consumer. Keep it relevant. Listen. Have a goal. Make it personal!

Thanks to Harry King (harryking30@gmail.com) for teaching us how to develop a value statement, as part of the Greer Chamber Community Commerce Convention.

How to Design your value statement

First, create three columns:
1. Things I do well (in business)
2. Processes I use
3. Things my clients need

- Take a few minutes to list a few of those things in each column. Be throrough. Don’t skip the processes!

“If you can demonstrate to me that you have a process to help me solve my problem, I have a whole lot more confidence that you’ll help me solve it right,” says Harry King. “You can only do so much with your skills and work ethic. The next level is process.”

After you have your value statement, try it out:
- Come up with your target audience.
- List the opportunities you can help them realize.
- List the processes you use to help them

A sample value statement:
“My name is Harry King, and I’m a professional Sherpa. I help guide people up their mountains. What is the toughest mountain you will climb today?” (the open “follow-up” question leads into conversation.)

The Dos and Don’ts of a good value statement
- Be sincere
- Be respectful of your audience
- Have a compelling hook
- Write and re-write your statement. It may take months or years to come up with the perfect statement, but you want it to come across naturally.
- Ask the question: “What’s in it for them?”
- Don’t wing it. Have a well-planned statement.
- Prepare several follow up questions.

Scott Whelchel, with the Clemson Small Business Center, discussed creating and/or analyzing your current business model. Here are the key principles he shared that we think you need to know.

Write/refine your business plan. Whether you’re a brand new business, or a business in search of direction, formulating a business plan will help you focus your perception of who you are, where you want to go, and how you’re going to get there.

There are certain questions to ask yourself when creating a business:

•    Does it support who we are? What is your birthright; what is your reason to exist? Does the world really need another bank, magazine, marketing firm, etc.? What do you have that’s unique and that the community needs?

•    Is this business even possible? Is it going to cost you a boat-load of cash to reach your goal? It may be a great idea, but it may not fall into the realm of reality for you.

•    Is it profitable? It may be a great idea and affordable, and not ever make you a dime.

•    Does it help us achieve long-term goals? Can it build wealth for the family business, build name recognition, or move you father down the line?

Writing a business plan forces you to focus your business’s purpose, narrowing you down from all the things that you could do to the things you should do. It requires critical thought and analysis, asking yourself the tough questions and really challenging yourself. You may think you know what kind of customers you want to sell to or what kind of partners you want to work with, but upon further analysis, you may think differently. You may think you know how you want to reach your customers, but when you research it further you realize that it’s not the most effective tool. Whelchel warns, “If the success of your business hinges upon social media—be careful.” While it may aid your marketing now, it may not help to reach the long-term goals you set for yourself.

A business plan should describe the operation of your business, clarify and outline the financial needs of your business, help you effectively manage your business, and build your confidence and credibility as a business. At some point you have to communicate your vision in writing to others.

Remember, the magic isn’t in the written document itself, but the magic is in the process. Asking yourself the tough questions now will save you the trouble later down the road. Investors and lenders will be able to see that you have carefully thought out the vision of your business, and employees will be more aware of what you expect from them.

Key Tweets from @InsideBlackBox (www.twitter.com/InsideBlackBox):

•    Remember: you can’t be all things to all people. Know your position in the marketplace.

•    You get farther at the end of the day if you focus on fewer targets in a specific target market.

•    Common theme in looking at your biz plan (old or new): Research and Refine. Challenge your ideas and study your (target) market.

•    Your momma won’t tell your if your biz plan stinks. Go thru the process; challenge assumptions.

For more Twitter coverage of the speakers at this year’s Greer Community Commerce Convention, hit up search.twitter.com and search #GreerCCC

Join the convo using that same hashtag in your tweets!