Something for the 34% of Ad Agencies That Have No Blog

January 21, 2011

 

As important as it was for your ad agency to have a website, it is now equally important that your agency have a blog. A blog is becoming the gateway for agency new business.

Ad agencies need to rethink their approach to new business and intensify their focus for creating magnetic content that will attract prospective clients, rather than relying primarily on the interruption model of cold calls an unsolicited direct mail, which consumers are responding to less and less.

In a recent Ad Agency New Business Survey that I recently conducted, 64% of the 430 responding ad agencies said they have a blog. For the remaining 36% of the agencies that don’t but should, I’ve compiled the following check-list to help get your agency’s blog quickly up and running for new business:

  • RSS Subscription button so your readers can opt to read content through a tool such as  Google Reader. Readers may also choose to get these feeds for new content from your blog through their in-box. You can easily set this up through Feedburner.
  • Email Subscription: provide a linked-button for readers to opt-in to receive your email newsletter.
  • Also provided linked-buttons in your blog’s sidebar for people to be able to connect with you through your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.
  • Use a Facebook app to post new content directly to your Facebook account. There’s also a similar app for LinkedIn. Anytime you posts, those posts will automatically be published to your social media accounts.
  • Provide readers a way to ‘Like’ and ‘Tweet’ your posts. Also provide the button-links for your readers to easily share content through sites like Stumbleupon, Digg, Reddit or that would allow them to share it through an email or print out a copy.
  • Host your blog on your own domain. You never know when you might want to change from a WordPress or Typepad blog to something else.
  • SEO Measure: the number of your inbound links and the power of those links.  You can use Page Rank Checker, a free tool, to check the current page rank of your blog. Rankings will range between 1 and 10 (with 10 being the highest)
  • Unique post titles, less than 75 characters. I recommend consistently including key words to dominate in Google (i.e. for me it’s  ”ad agency new business”, which I include in almost every post title.
  • Post 2 to 5 times per week, 1 ‘original’ post for every 4 to 5 ‘resource’ posts.
  • Average post length should be 350 to 450 words. Less than that your post probably doesn’t have enough valued content to make it worths someones effort to click-through. If it’s more than 450 words, the amount of content is daunting and they often wont even begin to read your content.
  • People generally don’t read word-for-word online, they tend to scan. Make your posts scannable. Use bold, italics, indention, quotation marks, bullet-pointed and numbered lists.
  • Add links to your posts when appropriate. Be sure to provide attribution for resources used in your post and links to your primary resources.
  • Add 1 image per post, it will make your copy visually more interesting and emphasize your primary point.
  • Check your blog’s analytics frequently (once or twice a day) to see top posts, number of page views,  referring sites, search engine terms, clicks, incoming links, etc. Keep your blog traffic trending upwards from month-to-month.
  • Your blog should be easy to navigate by your readers. Provide at least 10 to 12 blog post categories and search feature for your blogs content. Highlight your top posts in a sidebar widget.
  • Make it personal. Include your photo in the blog’s sidebar and a welcome which states the purpose of the blog and ways for your audience to connect. Keep in mind that people want to work with other people that they know, trust and like. Your blog provides them that opportunity.
  • I would recommend that you add and About page, Contact page and Services page for when a reader wants to check you out further, in their on time. Provide specific information about your first-steps with a new client so that they know exactly how to engage you. For example, my first-point of engagement with a client is a social media | new business workshop.
  • Be sure that you have a nice a clean blog template that allows for easy navigation and also highlights your content. Content is more important than design and is key to your blog’s traffic.

Here are some additional agency blogging resources that may be a help to get you started:

2 Comments | Agency Blogs, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Vote for Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blog of the Year

January 19, 2011

The following 12 ad agency blogs are all Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blogs of the Month for 2010. Please review and vote for your favorite as the Ad Agency Blog of the year.

Click Here to vote for your selection. The winner will be announced in 1 week.

8 Comments | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Talk Is Cheap: Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blog of the Month for December

January 12, 2011

26 agency blogs were submitted for Fuel Line’s Ad Agency Blog of the Mont for December. The blog, Talk is Cheap, Strategis, Stoughton, MA was selected by 66% of the votes. Second in the voting was L&S Unscripted, Lawrence & Schiller, Sioux Falls, SD.

strategis, as our name implies, is a strategically based marketing communications company, one prepared to creatively tackle any challenge a client puts forth. if your company, organization or brand is in need of smart, results-driven, media neutral, inventive, smart (did we say that already) ideas – you should probably contact us.

our agency has been at the forefront of the social media revolution. we assist our clients by starting one-on-one dialogs with their consumers, their customers via online tools such as social networking, search optimization, consumer generated content and online public relations. it’s smart to work with strategis – and our smarts make you look smart.

fyi: strategis also provides awesome strategic counsel • brand management •  market research •  account planning •  public relations •  event marketing •  advertising •  web development •  direct marketing •  media planning / buying •  creative development • results tracking /reporting• hr recruiting solutions and branding • diversity marketing

You can also follow Strategis on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

Strategis’s blog will automatically be included in Fuel Line’s Ad Agency Blog of the Year.

Fuel Line’s Blog of the Month not only provides examples of agency blogs but it is an opportunity for agencies to showcase their blog and participation in social media, generating traffic and interest in their site.

How is your agency using a blog for your new business? Submit it for December’s blog of the month.

Ad agencies all need an integrated social media strategy if they are ever going to see the payoff from their participation in social media. An agency blog should be the central component. The place you can drive targeted online traffic through SEO, Twitter, email newsletters, Facebook and LinkedIn.

A blog becomes the “gateway” to your agency and the“face” of your agency. As important as it was to have an agency website, it is now equally important to have an agency blog.

But … having a blog isn’t something you check off your list of social media “to do list.” Nor is it a place to lead with agency capabilities and credentials. It must be of benefit to your audience.

Here is a collection of agency blogging resources:

2 Comments | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blog of the Month for December 2010

January 4, 2011

The following 26 agency blogs have been submitted for Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blog of the Month for December. Review and vote for the agency blog that best understands social media.

Cast your VOTE by CLICKING HERE

These are the ad agency blogs submitted for the month of December. The winner will be included in the voting for Fuel Lines’ Ad Agency Blog of the Year:

  1. Daily Axioms, Axiom Marketing, Bloomington, MN
  2. Digitally Approved, Fanscape Inc., Los Angeles, CA
  3. Emotivator, Emotive Brand, San Francisco, CA
  4. Engauge Blog, Atlanta, GA
  5. Fluid’s Big Idea Blog, Fluid Studio, Salt Lake City, UT
  6. i love e-mail, i love e-mail agency,  Malmo, Sweden
  7. Kelsey Pulse, Kelsey Advertising & Design, LaGrange, GA
  8. L&S Unscripted, Lawrence & Schiller, Sioux Falls, SD
  9. Marketing OC Blog, MarketingOC, Orange, CA
  10. MediaCom Beyond Advertising, MediaCom, London, UK
  11. Nology, Nology Media, Seattle, WA
  12. Oh no, not another agency blog, Brokaw Inc., Cleveland, OH
  13. Outside Voice, Origin Design + Communications, Whistler, B.C., Canada
  14. Overdrive eMarketing Blog, Overdrive Interactive, Boston, MA
  15. Priority Integrated Marketing Blog, Priority Integrated Marketing, Minneapolis, MN
  16. PubliGestion’s Bloggers’ Block, PubliGestion, Petion-Ville, Haiti
  17. Sharp Ideas, Cactus, Denver, CO
  18. Smart Marketing with Larry Weintraub, Fanscape, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
  19. Sparksheet, Spafax, Toronto, ON, Canada
  20. Spring Blog, Spring Advertising, Vancouver, BC, Canada
  21. Talk is Cheap, Strategis, Stoughton, MA
  22. The Green Detectives, Enviromedia, Austin, TX
  23. The Net Impact Blog, The Net Impact, St. Louis, MO
  24. The Lead, Padilla Speer Beardsley, Minneapolis | New York
  25. The Reach Blog, Reach Marketing, Irving, TX
  26. Third Degree Creative, Third Degree Advertising & Communications, Oklahoma City, OK

Fuel Lines Agency Blog of the Month for November: Welt’s Weekly Smack Down!,Welt Branding, Cincinnati, OH

If you would like to submitted your agency’s blog for next month’s vote, send me an email and include:

  • In your email’s subject line – Blog of the Month
  • Blog title:
  • URL:
  • Agency Name:
  • City/State:

Some additional agency blogging resources:

1 Comment | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Welt Branding: Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blog of the Month

December 16, 2010

“It is the people who figure out how to work simply in the present, rather than the people who mastered the complexities of the past, who get to say what happens in the future.” Clay Shirky

Out of a list of 30 agency blogs, Cincinnati, Ohio agency, Welt Branding, has been chosen as Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blog of the Month for November. Their blog, Welt’s Weekly Smackdown! received 45% of the 179 votes cast. Second in the voting was Sparksheet, Spafax Interactive, Toronto, Ontario, CA.

At Welt Branding, we contend that nobody’s an “expert” in social media. How can you master a landscape that is always shifting? However, you can be a marketing professional. Social media is simply a marketing tool that marketing professionals can use.

We use social media and blogging as tools to drive results. Some companies think just having these devices is enough; it isn’t. To use the tools as intended, requires constant monitoring and regular updates. We develop your resources and get the most out of them.

With a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, we have built communities that strengthen our web surface area. Our blogs also create community, but provide a better venue for targeting audiences.

Welt’s Smackdown is a mix of topical news with marketing twists and tips. Are you tech savvy? Do you have an interest in marketing? Then Generation Nerd is for you. This blog is built for the latest marketing tech news. On Lab Smack, we are working with the University of Cincinnati marketing students to get a college perspective on marketing.

Post on our Facebook wall at Welt Branding
Tweet us at  WeltBrand
Or join our LinkedIn group at Welt Branding: Challenge

Welt Branding’s blog will automatically be included in Fuel Line’s Ad Agency Blog of the Year.

Fuel Line’s Blog of the Month not only provides examples of agency blogs but it is an opportunity for agencies to showcase their blog and participation in social media, generating traffic and interest in their site.

How is your agency using a blog for your new business? Submit it for December’s blog of the month.

Ad agencies all need an integrated social media strategy if they are ever going to see the payoff from their participation in social media. An agency blog should be the central component. The place you can drive targeted online traffic through SEO, Twitter, email newsletters, Facebook and LinkedIn.

A blog becomes the “gateway” to your agency and the“face” of your agency. As important as it was to have an agency website, it is now equally important to have an agency blog.

But … having a blog isn’t something you check off your list of social media “to do list.” Nor is it a place to lead with agency capabilities and credentials. It must be of benefit to your audience.

Here is a collection of agency blogging resources:

Leave a Comment » | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Fuel Lines’ Ad Agency Blog of the Month for November 2010

December 9, 2010

The following 30 agency blogs have been submitted for Fuel Lines’ Ad Agency Blog of the Month for November.

Review and vote for your favorite. The winner will be featured in Fuel Lines article and included in the voting for agency blog of the year.

Cast your VOTE by CLICKING HERE

The agency blogs submitted for the month of November:

  1. 5 to 9 Branding, Cameron Christopher Thomas Advertising, Denver, CO
  2. Bill’s B2 Blog, Mintz & Hoke Communications Group, Avon, CT
  3. Blogmaster 2000, mediaRif, Kaysville, UT
  4. Creative Triage, ABZ Design Group, Charlotte, NC
  5. Daily Axioms, Axiom Marketing, Bloomington, MN
  6. Digitally Approved, Fanscape Inc., Los Angeles, CA
  7. Emotivator, Emotive Brand, San Francisco, CA
  8. Energy Efficiency Marketing, Kelliher Samets Volk, Burlington, VT
  9. Engauge Blog, Atlanta, GA
  10. Fluid’s Big Idea Blog, Fluid Studio, Salt Lake City, UT
  11. Kelsey Pulse, Kelsey Advertising & Design, LaGrange, GA
  12. L&S Unscripted, Lawrence & Schiller, Sioux Falls, SD
  13. Marketing OC Blog, MarketingOC, Orange, CA
  14. MediaCom Beyond Advertising, MediaCom, London, UK
  15. Nology, Nology Media, Seattle, WA
  16. Oh no, not another agency blog, Brokaw Inc., Cleveland, OH
  17. Outside Voice, Origin Design + Communications, Whistler, B.C., Canada
  18. Overdrive eMarketing Blog, Overdrive Interactive, Boston, MA
  19. Priority Integrated Marketing Blog, Priority Integrated Marketing, Minneapolis, MN
  20. PubliGestion’s Bloggers’ Block, PubliGestion, Petion-Ville, Haiti
  21. Smart Marketing with Larry Weintraub, Fanscape, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
  22. Sparksheet, Spafax, Toronto, ON, Canada
  23. Spring Blog, Spring Advertising, Vancouver, BC, Canada
  24. The Green Detectives, Enviromedia, Austin, TX
  25. The Lead, Padilla Speer Beardsley, Minneapolis | New York
  26. Third Degree Creative, Third Degree Advertising & Communications, Oklahoma City, OK
  27. The Reach Blog, Reach Marketing, Irving, TX
  28. Trendspottings, NOISE, Milwaukee, WI
  29. We Think. We Can. Blog, Murdoch Marketing, Holland, MI
  30. Welt’s Weekly Smack Down!,Welt Branding, Cincinnati, OH

    Fuel Lines Agency Blog of the Month for October: B2B Ideas @ Work, MLT Creative, Metro Atlanta, GA

    If you would like to submitted your agency’s blog for next month’s vote, send me an email and include:

    • In your email’s subject line – Blog of the Month
    • Blog title:
    • URL:
    • Agency Name:
    • City/State:

    Some additional agency blogging resources:

    Leave a Comment » | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    MLT Creative: Fuel Lines’ Ad Agency Blog of the Month

    November 18, 2010

    Congratulations to MLT Creative, Atlanta, GA. Their blog B2B Ideas@Work, was selected by Fuel Lines’ readers as the Ad Agency Blog of the Month for October with 201 votes out of the 409 votes cast.  Second in the voting was 5 to 9 Branding, Cameron Christopher Thomas Advertising, Denver, CO.

    MLT Creative, based on the east side of Atlanta, GA, with a Northeast office in Rhode Island, was founded in 1984 by partners Billy Mitchell, Craig Lindberg and Glenn Taylor.

    Known as the Idea Launch Pad for B-to-B marketers, MLT Creative’s services include strategic planning, positioning, brand development, advertising, direct marketing, inbound marketing and sales promotions.

    MLT Creative’s blog will automatically be included in Fuel Line’s Ad Agency Blog of the Year.

    Fuel Line’s Blog of the Month not only provides examples of agency blogs but it is an opportunity for agencies to showcase their blog and participation in social media, generating traffic and interest in their site.

    How is your agency using a blog for your new business? Submit it for November’s blog of the month.

    Ad agencies all need an integrated social media strategy if they are ever going to see the payoff from their participation in social media. An agency blog should be the central component. The place you can drive targeted online traffic through SEO, Twitter, email newsletters, Facebook and LinkedIn.

    A blog becomes the “gateway” to your agency and the“face” of your agency. As important as it was to have an agency website, it is now equally important to have an agency blog.

    But … having a blog isn’t something you check off your list of social media “to do list.” Nor is it a place to lead with agency capabilities and credentials. It must be of benefit to your audience.

    Here is a collection of agency blogging resources:

    Leave a Comment » | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    New Tool: Using Bit.ly Bundles for Ad Agency New Business

    November 16, 2010

    Bit.ly’s Bundles, a new multi-Link Sharing tool that uses one URL, helps with your content marketing, a key to using social media for ad agency new business.

    All of your blog content does not have to be original. I usually write 1 original post/article to every 4 to 5 “resourced” articles.

    Your agency’s blog should become a repository of information gathered from across the Web. Your blog should become the one-stop-shop of information for your target audience’s advertising and marketing needs. You’ll get a generous amount of credit from your audience by assembling it on their behalf.

    Bit.ly’s new Bundles feature is another way for you to become the go-to-person for helpful information for your followers on Twitter and Facebook.

    You can add multiple links to the Bit.ly entry field; just separate them with a space, then click “shorten” and “bundle” to quickly and simply create an all-in-one package of multiple links.

    Every link you add will include a rich media preview and Bit.ly’s valuable metrics; your bundle can also be customized with a title and description.

    Some additional of Bit.ly’s Bundle features:

    • Your bundle is stored in your link history so you can go back and add or remove links when you want
    • Arrange the order of your links in the bundle
    • Give your links titles and notes
    • Share your bundles with your friends on Facebook and Twitter
    • Discuss your bundle using the comments feature
    • Track your bundles performance with Bitly’s info + functionality’

    Here’s an example of a Bundle that I created for this post: My Top 10 List of Useful Articles and Features for Ad Agency New Business, you may also find these articles to be of help for your social media marketing for ad agency new business:

    1. Bit.ly Introduces Bundles: Multi-Link Sharing with One
    2. Facebook launches integrated message platform – Direct Marketing News
    3. Why the Best Online Marketing May Be Headed Offline
    4. 5 Ways to Promote Your Social Media Efforts OFFline
    5. How To Write Three Blog Posts A Day
    6. 5 Big Brands That Are Rocking the Social Media Space [Mashable Awards]
    7. 6 Emerging Social Games Taking the Web by Storm
    8. Prepare for a Custom Blog Redesign in 5 Simple Steps
    9. Why Social Media Is a Better Investment than SEO
    10. The Phone Call Is Dead

    1 Comment | Agency Blogs, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    26 Examples of Ad Agency Blogs. Which is your favorite?

    November 11, 2010

    The following 26 agency blogs have been submitted for Fuel Lines’ Ad Agency Blog of the Month for October.

    Review and vote for your favorite. The winner will be featured in Fuel Lines article and included in the voting for agency blog of the year.

    Cast your VOTE by Clicking Here

    The agency blogs submitted for the month of October:

    1. 5 to 9 Branding, Cameron Christopher Thomas Advertising, Denver, CO
    2. B2B Ideas @ Work, MLT Creative, Metro Atlanta, GA
    3. Bill’s B2 Blog, Mintz & Hoke Communications Group, Avon, CT
    4. Creative Triage, ABZ Design Group, Charlotte, NC
    5. Daily Axioms, Axiom Marketing, Bloomington, MN
    6. Digitally Approved, Fanscape Inc., Los Angeles, CA
    7. Emotivator, Emotive Brand, San Francisco, CA
    8. Energy Efficiency Marketing, Kelliher Samets Volk, Burlington, VT
    9. Engauge, Atlanta, GA
    10. Fluid’s Big Idea Blog, Fluid Studio, Salt Lake City, UT
    11. L&S Unscripted, Lawrence & Schiller, Sioux Falls, SD
    12. Marketing OC Blog, MarketingOC, Orange, CA
    13. MediaCom Beyond Advertising, MediaCom, London, UK
    14. Nology, Nology Media, Seattle, WA
    15. Oh no, not another agency blog, Brokaw Inc., Cleveland, OH
    16. Outside Voice, Origin Design + Communications, Whistler, B.C., Canada
    17. Overdrive eMarketing Blog, Overdrive Interactive, Boston, MA
    18. Priority Integrated Marketing Blog, Priority Integrated Marketing, Minneapolis, MN
    19. Smart Marketing with Larry Weintraub, Fanscape, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
    20. Spring Blog, Spring Advertising, Vancouver, BC, Canada
    21. The Green Detectives, Enviromedia, Austin, TX
    22. The Lead, Padilla Speer Beardsley, Minneapolis | New York
    23. Third Degree Creative, Third Degree Advertising & Communications, Oklahoma City, OK
    24. Trendspottings, NOISE, Milwaukee, WI
    25. We Think. We Can. Blog, Murdoch Marketing, Holland, MI
    26. Welt’s Weekly Smack Down!,Welt Branding, Cincinnati, OH

    Fuel Lines Agency Blog of the Month for September:  We make it all better, Copeland Communications, Victoria, BC.

    If you would like to submitted your agency’s blog for next month’s vote, send me an email and include:

    • In your email’s subject line – Blog of the Month
    • Blog title:
    • URL:
    • Agency Name:
    • City/State:

    Some additional agency blogging resources:

    Leave a Comment » | Agency Blogs | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    5 Ways Social Media Can Make Ad Agency New Business Easier Not Harder

    November 9, 2010

    You need to look at social media as a savior not a nemesis, an asset rather than a liability and time saver rather than time killer for ad agency new business.

    Agencies were reluctant to participate as social media was becoming mainstream because they saw it as a major commitment of their time without much value to show in return. A lot of negative perceptions of social media has been changed. But I don’t believe the majority of agencies have yet to appreciate the huge benefit that social media can actually make new business easier.

    Here are my 5 ways social media makes agency new business easier:

    1. Social media allows agencies to define and adopt a more differentiating new business strategy than they were ever comfortable doing before.

    “Just thought I would let you know. We are participating in a pitch tomorrow for another national account. This opportunity is 100% related to our agency’s new positioning through our blog, She-conomy: A guy’s guide to marketing to women” – Stephanie Holland, president, Holland + Holland Advertising

    Holland + Holland advertising, through their blog She-conomy, has now been invited to 3 national pitches as a result of their differentiating positioning. Nothing like this has ever happened before in their 25 year history. They even had trouble with local press coverage of their anniversary but through social media they have been recognized by Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and NPR radio.

    Stephanie had never been comfortable stepping out with this positioning prior to social media. She was like other agency principals who felt that she would be missing opportunities.

    2. Social media provides a systematic way to create intellectual capital and share your area of expertise. It is the best customized continuing education program for your professional enrichment, keeping you ahead of the learning curve and positioning as a thought leader. Plus, it pays for you to go back to school. It pays in new business while you focus on being better.

    “We just landed a significant project with Coca-Cola purely through our sustainable marketing niche. The best compliment we could receive was when they said our price was waaaay more than the next bid, but given our background in green marketing and sustainability, that it was worth the extra investment. Finally, a value over price purchase. Love it” – Park Howell, president of Park & CO

    Specialists are respected and they tend to make a lot more money.

    3. Social media eliminates the need for cold calling. I’m a cold caller from way back. I’ve had excellent success. But times are changing rapidly. Cold calling isn’t what it use to be and not a very efficient or effective method for your agency’s new business. You make dozens of calls to find the right prospect and the right time but you still have to go through the dating process.

    Social media allows for you to build prospective client relationships faster than cold calling. People have a natural tendency to want to work with other people that they know, trust and like.

    In my 4 years as a consultant I’ve yet to make the first cold call for any business. My clients all made contact with me when they were ready for business and our initial conversation was much advanced than an initial cold call. They talk to me as if they know me because they do. The “dating process” that is associated with cold calling is totally eliminated.

    Social media provides a greater return on your time investment.

    4. Your agency’s market can greatly increase through social media. Small to midsize ad agencies can affordably build a national awareness.

    Prior to using social media for new business, The Russo Group, Lafayette, LA, 94% of their new business came from within their market. Since implementing social media, 94% of their new business has been generated outside their market and extended new business opportunities from coast to coast.

    Why would a prospective client, outside of your market, want to work with your agency? Give them a reason.

    “Kudos to all! Our social program is generating leads and business from around the world. Earlier this year got a client out of Australia and currently talking to a company in Japan that follows me on twitter” – John Sonnhalter, CEO, SONNHALTER

    5. Utilizing social media can help you to be more consistent for new business. You can keep your prospective pipeline full even when your agency is busy with client work or you are away.

    At the beginning of the summer, while my wife and I were vacationing in Key West, I wrote a post and published it along with a photo while on the beach. I wrote, “Vacationing with Social Media and Still Generating Ad Agency New Business,” to illustrate how social media can keep your new business pipeline full even when are away.

    Social media is like networking on steroids and just takes a little effort to keep it working on your behalf.

    • My blog provides content that is optimized for search to a very specific target audience. I easily dominate certain search words. Over 600 older post continue to generate traffic long after they have been written.
    • I utilize blog posts for my email newsletter that takes literally 15 minutes to produce and send. I also repurpose content using some third-party Twitter tools that automate the process.
    • Through Facebook, family, friends and followers stay connected no matter where I am. It takes only minutes to update my status, connect with others, share location, photos, etc..

    With very little effort I can create, maintain and grow touch points through social media networks and all I’ve had to do is read and write.

    3 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Fuel for Thought, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    Using the Inverted Pyramid Style of Writing for Ad Agency New Business

    October 26, 2010

    The inverted pyramid style of writing works well to produce the kind of content that generates significant targeted traffic to your agency’s blog for new business leads.

    I recommend using the inverted pyramid style of writing used by journalists where you place the most important information first with a text. It is a common method for writing news stories but works extremely well when writing for online versus writing for print.

    Journalism on the Web is definitely different from print journalism. How most people read online? They don’t, they scan.

    Nielsen Norman Group’s research found that 79 percent of their test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word. A newer study found that users read email newsletters even more abruptly than they read websites.) People prefer sites that get to the point and let them get things done quickly.

    Nielsen also predicted the use of the inverted pyramid style of writing for the Web back in 1996.

    Most readers are impatient and want stories to get to the point immediately. The inverted pyramid style of writing helps compel the writer to get to the point quicker. For this style of writing, you put  the most newsworthy information at the top, and then the remaining information follows in order of importance, with the least important at the bottom.

    The pyramid style of writing is valued to your readers because they can leave the story at any point and still understand it, even if they don’t have all of the smaller details.

    I would suggest actually leading your article/post with what I call the “takeaway or benefit” statement. Simply answer the question, “What is my take away, what is my benefit if I commit to read this article?” You actually lead the story by starting with the conclusion.

    “The inverted pyramid organizes stories not around ideas or chronologies but around facts. It weighs and shuffles the various pieces of information, focusing with remarkable single-mindedness on their relative news value.” - journalism historian Mitchell Stephens

    6 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Creating Content | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    How to launch a blog for ad agency for new business — fast!

    October 15, 2010

    Agencies can’t afford to wait 6 months for social media to help generate new business, they need the business now.

    An agency blog serves as the central component for your agency’s social media strategy.  I’ve compiled my suggested best practices to help you to get your agency’s blog up, focused and running quickly as well as rapidly building your agency’s credibility within this space.

    An agency blog is like fishing. You want to fish for a particular fish, with a particular bait and you want to get the bait away from the boat so you don’t scare off the fish.

    To get an agency blog up and running quickly  you’ll need to do the following:

    1. Have a clear objective: Create content to generate inbound leads for my agency’s new business.
    2. Identify your target audience.
    3. Compose a descriptor statement, subtitle that states emphatically what your blog is about (i.e. A Guys Guide to Marketing to Women, Fueling Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media, Data-Driven Marketing That Pays for Itself)
    4. Create a unique title for the blog. It’s helpful if you can also tie in the title with a URL for the blog that you own.
    5. URL, just be sure that you own it instead of having a wordpress.com, typepad.com or blogspot.com. That way you can change blogging platforms without losing your online traffic.
    6. Know the  key words that you want to dominate in Google Search. Be consistent to include your key words into your post titles.
    7. Come up with 10 to 12 categories that you will write to. These will help guide your writing and will facilitate navigation of your blog’s content for your readers.
    8. Start with a simple blogging platform that you can easily switch from in the future. My suggestion would be WordPress.com.
    9. Keep your IT  and Creative department out of the picture in the beginning stages. Keep the process as simple as possible and focus on the blog’s content.
    10. Set a goal for writing 50 post within 30 days. This will help you to develop your research, resourcing, writing and publishing processes. You will quickly know what obstacles will inhibit you and allow you to figure out workarounds to keep the process moving.
    11. Navigation is critical. Make your blog easy to navigate with Top Posts, Categories, etc. Install a search widget that is included in your blog’s sidebar and located above the fold.
    12. Create a “welcome to your blog” and include your photo to make it more personable. The “welcome” copy should be an expansion of your blog’s descriptor statement.
    13. Add these pages: About, Services, Speaking, Contact.
    14. Add social media buttons for your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.
    15. Be sure to add an RSS subscription button and create a Feedburner account through Google to get your link.
    16. Add a subscription button for an email newsletter that is directly linked to your email provider account such as Vertical Response, Emma, Constant Contact, etc.
    17. Jump start traffic by sending out an email newsletter at least monthly, preferably every other week. Content from the blog is used in the email newsletter. Don’t assume that just because you’ve written it, everyone has read it.
    18. Generate initial traffic as well through Twitter using tools like Social Oomph and TweetAdder.

    Create a format that you can use for every post:

    • Incorporate your key words into every blog post title.
    • A benefit/takeaway statement that begins each post that answers the question, “what is my benefit if I commit to read this post?” This is the inverted pyramid style of writing, like a newspaper report would use, lead with the conclusion.
    • Easy to read copy, breaking up long paragraphs and editing to make the post concise, a Readers Digest version, on average 350 to 450 words.
    • For the best return on your time investment, write post that are “evergreen.” Try not to “date” your content.
    • Consistently create valued content that is “reader-centric.”
    • Hyperlink to resources and attribution to primary sources.
    • Select one or more categories that are reflective of the blog’s content.
    • Add tags for people, places, entities that are referenced in your post.
    • Include “additional articles that may be of interest” at the bottom of the post with titles and links to 4 to 5 other post that you’ve written.
    • Include a photo or graphic in every post to make it visually pleasing.

    Here is a collection of additional blogging resources:

    12 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Creating Content, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    Copeland Communications: Best Ad Agency Blog of the Month

    October 14, 2010

    Congratulations to Doug Brown, Steve Dagg and their team at Copeland Communications, Victoria, BC. Their blog, “We Make It All Better“, was selected by Fuel Lines’ readers as the Ad Agency Blog of the Month for September with 66% of the votes cast.

    “We labor over our blog to offer you our knowledge and share our passion. Perhaps it’s this that led us to be nominated for Agency Blog of the month, or perhaps it’s our love of Zombies?”

    Copeland has been Victoria’s go-to full service agency since its inception in 1980.

    Fuel Line’s Blog of the Month not only provides examples of agency blogs but it is an opportunity for agencies to showcase their blog and participation in social media, generating traffic and interest in their site.

    Copeland’s blog will automatically be included in Fuel Line’s Ad Agency Blog of the Year.

    How is your agency using a blog for your new business? Submit it for October’s blog of the month.

    Ad agencies all need an integrated social media strategy if they are ever going to see the payoff from their participation in social media. An agency blog should be the central component. The place you can drive targeted online traffic through SEO, Twitter, email newsletters, Facebook and LinkedIn.

    A blog becomes the “gateway” to your agency and the“face” of your agency. As important as it was to have an agency website, it is now equally important to have an agency blog.

    But … having a blog isn’t something you check off your list of social media “to do list.” Nor is it a place to lead with agency capabilities and credentials. It must be of benefit to your audience.

    Here is a collection of agency blogging resources:

    2 Comments | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design That Hurt Ad Agency New Business

    October 11, 2010

    Usability is a critical success factor for websites. If yours isn’t easy to use it is a very poor reflection of your agency and prospects will simply leave it.

    I’ve written this often, a good creative rational for your agency’s website is that it should become your agency’s online brochure. It is he place where your work resides along with your agency’s capabilities and credentials. It must be user-friendly.

    Web design expert, Jakob Nielsen states that, ”Web design is not a matter of taste or aesthetics — it’s a matter of science … what we actually know from our studies is that the average user experience on the Web is that of failure.”

    Nielsen practices what he preaches. His own Website registered some 5 million hits last year, and he estimates that some 200,000 visitors read his bi-monthly column on how to make Web sites more “usable” — that is, easy to navigate and clearly organized so that visitors can find the information they’re looking for.

    Here are his top 10 mistakes in Web design:

    1. Bad Search. Search is the user’s lifeline when navigation fails. Overly literal search engines reduce usability in that they’re unable to handle typos, plurals, hyphens, and other variants of the query terms.
    2. PDF Files for Online Reading. Users hate coming across a PDF file while browsing. PDF is an undifferentiated blob of content that’s hard to navigate. Reserve it for printing, distributing big documents.
    3. Not Changing the Color of Visited Links. Knowing which pages they’ve already visited frees users from unintentionally revisiting the same pages over and over again.
    4. Non-Scannable Text. A wall of text is deadly for an interactive experience. Intimidating. Boring. Painful to read. Write for online, not print.
    5. Fixed Font Size. Respect the user’s preferences and let them resize text as needed. Read more about letting users control font size.
    6. Page Titles With Low Search Engine Visibility. Search is the most important way users discover websites. The humble page title is your main tool to attract new visitors from search listings and to help your existing users to locate the specific pages that they need.
    7. Anything That Looks Like an Advertisement. It is best to avoid any designs that look like advertisements. Selective attention is very powerful, and Web users have learned to stop paying attention to any ads that get in the way of their goal-driven navigation.
    8. Violating Design Conventions. If you deviate on your site what is commonly done on other sites, your site will be harder to use and users will leave. Jakob’s Law of the Web User Experience states that “users spend most of their time on other websites.” Consistency is one of the most powerful usability principles: when things always behave the same, users don’t have to worry about what will happen.
    9. Opening New Browser Windows. Designers open new browser windows on the theory that it keeps users on their site. But even disregarding the user-hostile message implied in taking over the user’s machine, the strategy is self-defeating since it disables the Back button which is the normal way users return to previous sites.
    10. Not Answering Users’ Questions. Users are highly goal-driven on the Web. The ultimate failure of a website is to fail to provide the information users are looking for.

    Why do Web site designers neglect to ensure usability? 2 Primary reasons:

    • “First is that they just neglect the entire issue because they think their own Web site is easy to use because they designed it so they don’t understand the need for usability testing,” says Nielsen.
    • “The second reason is that even if they recognize the need for usability, they think ‘we’ve got to bring in a team of five Ph. Ds, build a special laboratory with one way mirrors and test fifty users’ — no you don’t.”

    Nielsen also points out that there are 2 things that a site can do to improve usability:

    1. “You can run a very simple user test in three days… just get some real users in.”
    2. The second method is professional analysis, which requires an expert with many years of experience to assess a Web site’s design and structure.

    Read the full version of Jacob Nielsen’s article, Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design. See also: Usability 101: Introduction to Usability

    5 Comments | Agency Blogs, Best Practices, Digital | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    25 Ad Agency Blogs, Choose the Best that Understands Social Media

    October 7, 2010

    Review and decide which of these 24 agency blogs best understands and utilizes the popularity of social media.

    The following agency blogs have been submitted to Fuel Lines. Review and vote for the best agency blog-of-the-month. The winner will be featured in Fuel Lines article and included in the voting for agency blog of the year.

    Cast your VOTE by Clicking Here

    The agency blogs submitted for the month of September:

    1. 5 to 9 Branding, Cameron Christopher Thomas Advertising, Denver, CO
    2. B2B Ideas @ Work, MLT Creative, Metro Atlanta, GA
    3. Bill’s B2 Blog, Mintz & Hoke Communications Group, Avon, CT
    4. Digitally Approved, Fanscape Inc., Los Angeles, CA
    5. Energy Efficiency Marketing, Kelliher Samets Volk, Burlington, VT
    6. Engauge, Atlanta, GA
    7. Fluid’s Big Idea Blog, Fluid Studio, Salt Lake City, UT
    8. L&S Unscripted, Lawrence & Schiller, Sioux Falls, SD
    9. Marketing OC Blog, MarketingOC, Orange, CA
    10. MediaCom Beyond Advertising, MediaCom, London, UK
    11. Nology, Nology Media, Seattle, WA
    12. Oh no, not another agency blog, Brokaw Inc., Cleveland, OH
    13. Outside Voice, Origin Design + Communications, Whistler, B.C., Canada
    14. Overdrive eMarketing Blog, Overdrive Interactive, Boston, MA
    15. Priority Integrated Marketing Blog, Priority Integrated Marketing, Minneapolis, MN
    16. Smart Marketing with Larry Weintraub, Fanscape, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
    17. Spring Blog, Spring Advertising, Vancouver, BC, Canada
    18. The Green Detectives, Enviromedia, Austin, TX
    19. The Lead, Padilla Speer Beardsley, Minneapolis | New York
    20. Third Degree Creative, Third Degree Advertising & Communications, Oklahoma City, OK
    21. Trendspottings, NOISE, Milwaukee, WI
    22. We make it all better., Copeland, Victoria,BC, Canada
    23. We Think. We Can. Blog, Murdoch Marketing, Holland, MI
    24. Welt’s Weekly Smack Down!,Welt Branding, Cincinnati, OH

    Fuel Lines Agency Blog of the Month for August: Enviromedia Social Marketing, Austin, TX

    If you would like to submitted your agency’s blog for next month’s vote, send me an email and include:

    • In your email’s subject line – Blog of the Month
    • Blog title:
    • URL:
    • Agency Name:
    • City/State:

    Some additional agency blogging resources:

    1 Comment | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    10 Ways to Create An Ad Agency Blog That is Reader-Centric

    October 6, 2010

    A key to your agency’s blog success for new business is to put the user’s experience ahead of your own.

    People don’t have time to work hard for their information. You must be prepared to do some work on their behalf if you want to grow your blog’s traffic and generate inbound leads.

    Success on the Internet depends on multiplying the number of people who will visit a home page times the proportion who actually enlist your services –the percentage who become clients.

    Writing for Web: it is the survival of the easiest. Giving attention to usability can greatly increase the amount of your blog’s visitors who turn into new clients.

    Here are 10 ways to create an agency blog that is reader-centric and puts the user’s experience first and foremost:

    1. Write to be easily found. Create an SEO strategy so that your blog’s content is found by your intended target audience. Consistency using certain key words in your post titles that aid in the search-ability of your posts. This same tactic also helps with Twitter and identifies content specific to  your audience’s needs.
    2. Make your blog site easy to navigate. Blogs are not often read chronologically. That makes navigation from a Category section located in your blog’s sidebar a very important feature. Creating blog categories will also provide a guide for your writing keeping you focused.
    3. Provide the reader’s digest version for the information that you share. I would suggest limiting your posts to 350 to 450 words on average. Usually half the word count than you would use for print. It actually takes a bit more work to make post copy concise but your readers will love you for it.
    4. Create numbered and bullet-pointed lists when possible. Readers love it when you created this type of executive summary of information.
    5. If you want more readers focus on short, scannable content. 79 percent of Web users scan rather than read word-for-word. Highlight key words, indent quotes, etc.
    6. Write for fast comprehension. Eliminate unnecessary copy. It takes more work to be brief. Try to stay within 350 to 450 words per post. Web content must be brief and get to the point quickly, because users are likely to be on a specific mission.
    7. Write content that is evergreen to provide information that has a long and valued shelf-life.
    8. Use your analytics to sharpen your blog’s appeal. Your readership will be your guide to relevant content.
    9. Don’t think that just because you’re written it that everyone has read it. Repurpose content. Someone that found a post through SEO, might find another through your email newsletter, or through Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.
    10. Take the time and select images for your post that convey useful, memorable information, not just decoration.

    Why is it so important to create a blog that is “reader-centric”?  To provide a great user experience with your online content, you must overcome these obstacles:

    • You are competing with hundreds of millions of other online sources.  Advertisers are  trying to break through the clutter by yelling more loudly and being more aggressive by deceptive means that hurts everyone’s credibility and raises users suspicions. Readers come to your site with their defenses engaged.
    • Online readers have a very short attention span. The average page visit lasts about 30 seconds. 10 minutes would be a long visit to a website. People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience.
    • Your competition is a click away. There is a low tolerance for poor site navigation, material that is hard to locate and sites that are slow to load.
    • Users want to construct their own experience by piecing together content from multiple sources. Many users want simply to reach a site quickly, complete a task and leave.
    • Web users are getting more selfish when they go online. People arrive at a website with a goal in mind, and they are ruthless in pursuing their own interest and in rejecting whatever the site is trying to push.
    • Online behavior is very search-dominated which makes your content search dependent.

    What are some of  the benefits for creating a “reader-centric” blog?:

    • It will improve the success rate for communicating key messages.
    • Increase your credibility.
    • Convert readers into loyal followers and advocates.
    • Generate more traffic which leads to higher conversion rates of readers to new clients.

    Some additional articles that may be of interest:

    Learn more with a full day, Social Media | Ad Agency New Business Workshop

    18 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Creating Content, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    Enviromedia Social Marketing: Voted Best Agency Blog of the Month

    September 15, 2010

    Another Texas advertising agency’s blog, Enviromedia Social Marketing in Austin, has been voted Fuel Lines’ Blog of the Month for August, by 29% of the votes cast. EnviroMedia formed in 1997 as the nation’s first full-service marketing firm focused solely on environmental and public health issues.

    We’re considered champions of authentic green marketing and are leaders in behavior-changing social marketing campaigns that improve the environment and public health – Enviromedia Social Marketing

    Called “The Green Detectives” in The Washington Times, agency principals Kevin Tuerff and Valerie Davis are thought leaders in authentic environmental marketing and sustainability issues. Both are columnists for EnvironmentalLeader.com. and regularly speak to groups across the country about public health and environmental issues.

    Fuel Line’s Blog of the Month not only provides examples of agency blogs but it is an opportunity for agencies to showcase their blog and participation in social media, generating traffic and interest in their site.

    Enviromedia Social Marketing will automatically be included in Fuel Line’s Ad Agency Blog of the Year.

    How is your agency using a blog for your new business? Submit it for September’s blog of the month.

    Ad agencies all need an integrated social media strategy if they are ever going to see the payoff from their participation in social media. An agency blog should be the central component. The place you can drive targeted online traffic through SEO, Twitter, email newsletters, Facebook and LinkedIn.

    The blog becomes the “gateway” to your agency and the“face” of your agency. As important as it was to have an agency website, it is now equally important to have an agency blog.

    But … having a blog isn’t something you check off your list of social media “to do list.” Nor is it a place to lead with agency capabilities and credentials. It must be of benefit to your audience. Here is a collection of agency blogging resources:

    Share

    1 Comment | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    31 Examples of Agencies Active in Social Media

    September 7, 2010

    Review and decide which of these 31 agency blogs best understands and utilizes the popularity of social media.

    The following agency blogs have been submitted to Fuel Lines. Review and vote for the best agency blog of the month. The winner will be featured on Fuel Lines throughout the month and included in the voting for agency blog of the year.

    Cast your VOTE by Clicking Here

    These are the ad agency blogs submitted for the month of August:

    1. 5 to 9 Branding, Cameron Christopher Thomas Advertising, Denver, CO
    2. 6 AM – Richard Edelman, Chicago, IL
    3. BBH Labs, NYC and London
    4. Bill’s B2 Blog, Mintz & Hoke Communications Group, Avon, CT
    5. Content to Commerce, Big Fuel, Manhattan, NY
    6. Digitally Approved, Fanscape Inc., Los Angeles, CA
    7. Energy Efficiency Marketing, Kelliher Samets Volk, Burlington, VT
    8. Enviromedia Social Marketing, Austin, TX
    9. Fifth Gear Analytics, Sigma Marketing Group, Rochester, NY
    10. From Bogota With Love, Zemoga, New York, NY
    11. Healthy Conversations, Trajectory, Morristown, NJ
    12. Hill Holiday blog, Boston, MA
    13. Ideas & Innovation, Mullen, Boston, MA
    14. L&S Unscripted, Lawrence & Schiller, Sioux Falls, SD
    15. Marketing OC Blog, MarketingOC, Orange, CA
    16. Marketing Premium Food, Stephan & Brady, Madison, WI
    17. MediaCom Beyond Advertising, MediaCom, London, UK
    18. New FoundNation, The Communications Group, Little Rock, AR
    19. Off the Shelf, Barkley, Kansas City, MO
    20. Oh no, not another agency blog, Brokaw Inc., Cleveland, OH
    21. Overdrive eMarketing Blog, Overdrive Interactive, Boston, MA
    22. Priority Integrated Marketing Blog, Priority Integrated Marketing, Minneapolis, MN
    23. Scatter/Gather, Razorfish, Seattle, WA
    24. Smart Marketing with Larry Weintraub, Fanscape, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
    25. Spring Blog, Spring Advertising, Vancouver, BC, Canada
    26. The Green Detectives, Enviromedia, Austin, TX
    27. Turn Up Your Volume, The Heavyweights, Indianapolis, IN
    28. Under the Iconic Influence, Preston Kelly, Minneapolis, MN
    29. We make it all better., Copeland, Victoria,BC, Canada
    30. We Think. We Can. Blog, Murdoch Marketing, Holland, MI
    31. Welt’s Weekly Smack Down!,Welt Branding, Cincinnati, OH

    Fuel Lines Agency Blog of the Month for July: “Sq1 War Room,“ Square One Agency, Dallas, TX

    If you would like to submitted your agency’s blog for next month’s vote, send me an email and include:

    • In your email’s subject line – Blog of the Month
    • Blog title:
    • URL:
    • Agency Name:
    • City/State:

    Some additional agency blogging resources:

      Share

      1 Comment | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
      Posted by Michael Gass

      5 Steps to Improve Your Ad Agency’s Blog for New Business

      September 7, 2010

      Tim Volk, President of Kelliher Samets Vok

      An agency blog that is a repository of helpful content can effectively attract a large number of prospective clients.

      Here are 5 simple steps and suggestions to improve your agency’s blog as a major tool for fueling new business leads:

      1. Creating

      Each new blog post is a new opportunity for you to be found online by your best prospects. Some quick suggestions:

      • Write to a specific target audience and provide answers to their advertising/marketing challenges.
      • Write consistently: is important to creating regular readership. Write at least 3 to 5 posts per week.
      • Post should average 350 to 450 words and be pleasantly scannable to the eye. Break up long paragraphs, use bullet/numbered list when possible. Highlight key words and thoughts.
      • Write in the inverted pyramid style, lead with your conclusion. People read differently online than they do for print. They tend to scan much more.
      • Identify and consistently use key words in your post title. You want to be able to dominate these words in Google search.
      • Let your reading fuel your writing.
      • Write 1 original post to every 4 to 5 resource posts. You’ll never be considered a thought leader without original content but you wont generate much traffic if all of your content is just your original thought. A balance of both needs to be provided through your blog.
      • Write with an “evergreen” style that will have a long shelf-life and provide a great return on your time investment.
      • Provide the “Readers Digest” version for your writers. Do the work on behalf of your readers and pull out the nuggets in simple language that is concise and easy to read.

      2. Optimizing

      • Carefully think through your blog’s heading. A “heading” is a stand-alone phrase that describes your blogs content that appear below it. I usually advise clients to create a blog descriptor statement for the header that lets a reader and search engines know the purpose and intent of the content. Mine is “Fueling ad agency new business through social media.”
      • Be sure you own your domain. A person that still has “wordpress or blogspot” in their domain wont be able to change blogging platforms without losing traffic.
      • Be sure your site is indexed with Google. If your pages are not indexed, then Google is not crawling them.
      • Build quality inbound links.There are lots of online business directories where you can just submit your URL, agency’s name and a description of your services. There are also many social media sites where you can simply build links to your site. Writing guest articles and posts and optimized our press releases can build links. The best way however, is to produce valued content and create a blog that is a repository of helpful information for your target audience.

      3.  Promoting

      • Make sure your content can be easily shared on Facebook, Twitter, Linked, as well as social bookmarking sites such as Digg, dell.icio.us and StumbleUpon with Share buttons.
      • Jumpstart traffic by repurposing your blog’s content through an email newsletter that is sent every-other-week. This is an easy way thing to do. Since you already have the content and can create an email template that is reused, it will take literally minutes to prepare the newsletter and send.
      • Build a sizable Twitter following that is targeted using TweetAdder and repurpose your blog content to your Twitter account using a program such as Social Oomph.
      • Write guest post, invite others to guest post for your blog.
      • Comment on other blog post and online articles, sites such as Ad Age, ADWEEK, etc. Select that sites that are frequented by your target audience.
      • Write content for search-ability.
      • Publish new blog content to your other social media accounts such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
      • Conduct your own primary research using your blog generate links and traffic through press releases using PRWeb or PRNewswire.
      • Be proactive in facilitating speaking opportunities by creating a Speakers Page for your blog, list the topics and titles that you can speak to. You can also provide links to your past speaking engagements through YouTube, post photos through your Flickr Photostream.
      • Pull blog content together, expand SEO opportunities, creating Slideshare Presentations, Whitepapers, etc.

      4. Converting

      All of this activity isn’t worth the time investment if it doesn’t turn visitors into leads.

      • Place your RSS Subscription Feed button above the fold, near the top of you blog’s homepage. Visitors who subscribe will automatically receive updates every time you publish a new post either through an RSS Reader or through their email Inbox. I would suggest setting up an RSS feed through Feedburner.
      • Also place a subscription for your email newsletter within your blog’s sidebar to create Opt-Ins from site visitors.

      5. Measuring

      If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Fortunately you can measure a lot online and continually hone your program.

      • Review your blog site’s analytics daily to see what posts are generating the most traffic, what search terms are being used, where traffic is coming from, who is linking to you, links readers clicked on, page views, etc.
      • Utilize your email newsletter analytics to improve open and click-through rates. Test the day of the week your email newsletter is sent, time-of-day and subject line copy.
      • Create a first-step call-to-action for your readers to know how to initially engage you. This could be something similar to my New Business | Social Media Workshop. Make it something simple and of value that doesn’t take a lot of consideration but does separate to qualified prospects from those that just want to glean what they can from you for free.
      • Use tools this suite of tools to analyze your marketing efforts:

      Some additional agency blogging resources:

      Share

      5 Comments | Agency Blogs, Best Practices, Creating Content, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
      Posted by Michael Gass

      7 Tips for Using Twitter for Ad Agency New Business

      September 1, 2010

      Used in the right way, Twitter can be one of the best social media tools to be used to generate traffic and leads for your agency’s new business.

      For the past 3 years Twitter has been the leading traffic generator to my Fuel Lines blog. It definitely needs to be part of your agency’s overall social media marketing strategy.

      The following are seven of my personal tips to help make Twitter more effective for your agency’s new business:

      1. Don’t be afraid to use Twitter differently from the way it was originally intended to be used. Twitter is more of a broadcast tool that most would admit and current research validates. Treat it as a broadcast tool through reach and frequency of your content marketing efforts and generating the best return on your time investment by repurposing your content through tools such as Social Oomph.
      2. Build a targeted Twitter following. Research Twitter lists such as Mashable’s Twitter List Directory, third-party programs such as TweetAdder.
      3. In addition your own blog’s content, be sure to supplement your Twitter posts with resources from others that are of help to your target audience.
      4. Pay-it-forward. As others are so kind to publicize your content, also help to promote theirs.
      5. In addition to Twitter being a broadcasting tool, it must be utilized as a networking tool for you to have success. Content helps build awareness but it is up to you to turn awareness into relationships. The efficiency of these kinds of online networks should be all that is need to motivate you to participate. People want to work with other people that they know, like and trust.
      6. Use third-party Twitter tools like  CoTweet and HootSuite to minimize your time and maximize the effectiveness of your Twittering.
      7. What you learn to do for your agency can be used for your clients. There are a multiplicity of benefits from your involvement.

      To provide you with further help in using Twitter for new business here are 20 of the most popular post:

       

      Follow this list of agencies and see first hand how they are using Twitter: Twitter List: 500+ Advertising Agencies on Twitter

      Share

      5 Comments | Agency Blogs, Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips, New Business Tools, New Business Trends, Social Media, Twitter | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
      Posted by Michael Gass

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