Are you using YouTube for your business?

Are you using (or considering using) YouTube for your business? Here is an article from American Express OPEN Forum with some great tips for getting the most out of YouTube.

1. Do Create and Customize Your Channel
2. Do Add Subtitles
3. Don’t Overuse Annotations
4. Do Act To Remove Offensive Comments
5. Do Engage With the YouTube Community
6. Do Organize Your Content
7. Don’t Overlook Tags
8. Do Promote Your YouTube Videos Elsewhere
9. Do Use YouTube’s Free Analytics Tools
10. Don’t Neglect Your Channel

Read the full article: Top 10 YouTube Tips for Small Businesses

Want to convert your handwriting into a font?

What a great idea.

For those of us missing the personal touch hand written letters have there may be a digital solution.

Pilot, the pen company, brought a traditional form of communication back to life through digital means.

If you would like to send an email with your handwriting, then why not try
www.PilotHandwriting.com. Although the program can’t be saved to our computers it is still a fairly simple process. It will require a digital camera or a scanner but other than that it is not complicated.

Check out the video:

Hope you enjoy. Give us your feedback. We would love to hear from you.

The Power of Emotional Marketing

Marketers understand the importance of defining their customers and their needs, but many don’t realize the influence emotions have on customer behavior.

Smart marketers know that in most buying decisions, emotions trump logic virtually every time.  The heart wants what the heart wants.

But even before the buying decision is made, building an emotional bridge between you and your customer can help create the brand loyalty and trust needed to secure that sale and establish a sustainable market base.

In simplistic terms, much of it boils down to likeability and alikeness.  The more customers feel you like them, the more they’ll like you – and just as important – the more they’ll trust you.

So, appealing to a target market’s emotions – especially humor – in the biggest and best way possible is a great way to establish a unique, personable brand.  In essence, emotional bonding helps build branding. And when this emotional branding is successfully deployed, it can help an advertiser distinguish itself from its competition, capture a position and subsequently dominate a market or a niche.

Take Coke, for instance.  Its brand loyalty exists due to the emotional memories and values associated to it. Most blind taste tests fail because consumers are relying on taste and removing emotional associations to the brand they trust.

Color Me Emotional
When it comes to the physical aspect of designing logos, products, packages and advertising, it is important to understand that color resonates on an emotional level. A knowledgeable marketing team will use color effectively to trigger the desired emotions.

Promises Made, Promises Kept
Communicating the brand promise is another crucial aspect of brand identity. Typically articulated in the positioning statement, the brand promise should help drive every aspect of the consumer’s experience. And when possible, that promise should have an emotional component to it.

For instance, Scope may clean your mouth, but you’ll sell a heck of a lot more of it if it also makes you more kissable.

Competitive pricing, quality and leadership are no longer enough. Creating personal, emotional bonds with customers can give you the leverage over your competitors, making you more memorable and making it hard for others to imitate your brand without coming off as less genuine.

Bottom line: Convey your promise in an emotional way, and long-term loyalty is sure to follow.

Always make the time for marketing

It is critical to keep working ON your business when you are busy working IN your business.

If you are a small business owner it is dangerous to spend too much time working in your business and forget about the need to generate new business. Your marketing should be an ongoing effort so you have new projects in the pipeline when you finish your current projects.

Scheduling the time to blog once a week or write your monthly newsletter are great ways to keep your marketing on track. If you don’t have the time to keep up with the marketing, consider delegating that task to someone who can help.

You don’t want people to think you have disappeared or assume you’ve gone out of business, do you?

Why should I use Facebook for my business?

I am constantly asked this question by clients who are thinking about using Facebook for their business or who have started to use it, but haven’t yet realized the extent of the exposure they could get.

I thought it would be worth sharing a recent response to a client who asked this question:

Social Networking

The idea is that you not only connect with YOUR friend, but by doing so you are now exposing yourself to all of HIS OR HER friends. So if you have 10 friends who all have 10 friends of their own, now you are exposed to 100 people instead of just the original 10. I am sure you can see how this can really grow your  social network quickly. Each time you interact with your friend publicly, his or her friends will see and can start to discover who you are.

I will give you an example that just happened to me yesterday. I use my Facebook account for both personal and professional connections. I do this because I feel it helps strengthen my relationships by letting people get to know me.

Facebook Profile Image

Over the weekend, I left a comment on my sisters page about how much fun I had with her while visiting my dad for father’s day. One of her clients, who is her friend on Facebook, called her and said “does your sister do web design?”. I got a referral out of an innocent comment about making home-made ravioli! Her client saw my profile picture which includes information about my business and he was interested enough to reach out to me (I highly recommend customizing your profile picture to serve as a banner ad for your business). If you need help customizing your Facebook page, just give a shout.

So you can see, you don’t always have to be talking about your business specifically to have people take an interest in you enough to figure out who you are and what you do. You may get referrals where you least expect it!

I hope that demonstrates the value and inspires you to continue using Facebook as a tool for your business.

How to select a good domain name

You are losing business if people can’t find your website.

A good domain name is one that is memorable for your existing customers and allows you to attract new customers through the search engines.

There are two rules when selecting a domain name for your website:

1. Keep it short and simple. You want something that is easy for people to remember and easy to spell.  It is not a good idea to get creative and use unusual spellings for words. Also, it is generally best to go with a .com because we are creatures of habit and that is what people naturally type.  The main goal here is to have something that people who know your company will remember and be able to easily spell.

2.  Choose something with keywords that describe your business. Your domain name should relate to your business and should include keywords that people who do NOT know your company name will be using to search.  The purpose here is to optimize your domain name for search engines so you can attract new visitors.

Using the abbreviation for your company name is great to help visitors remember your site (not to mention type your email address),  but it isn’t a good way to attract new visitors who do not know about your company. Keep in mind that new visitors will be searching for what you offer (product and services) instead of your company name.

For example, if you sell “blue widgets” and your company name is “Blue Widgets, Inc.”.  The domain name “BWI.com” would be really easy to remember, but doesn’t say anything about what you do. “BlueWidgets.com” or  “BlueWidgetsInc.com” would be a better choice because potential customers will be typing the keywords “blue widgets” into the search engines.

If it proves difficult for you to select a single domain name that meets the criteria, you should consider using two domain names and have them both point to your website.  You can use your simple domain name on all your marketing materials.

Call Q2 today if you need help selecting a domain name that will help visitors find your website!

How To Re-java-nate Your Creativity

So what’s your typical morning like?

• Click on the TV while grooming.
• Drain a cup of coffee while checking your email.
• Text message while eating your Wheaties.
• Participate in a web conference call
• Do research on the Internet
• Connect through social media

And that’s while you’re receiving all sorts of other phone calls, texts and emails.

If that’s your a.m., it’s no wonder you’re feeling creatively sucked dry.

Sure, technology enables us to work 25/8 from virtually anywhere. Does that mean we have to?

Here are a few tips to help regain some sanity and boost your creativity:

Listen to your body.
If it says you are tired, you are.
Get a good night sleep, and give your mind and body a chance to recover.
Exercise at least 20 minutes a day – if possible, get outdoors for a bit of fresh air and sunshine. (Remember sunlight? It’s a good thing!)

Try something new.
Nothing cripples creativity more than routine. So why not try a new activity? A simple change such as participating in a yoga class or just driving a different way to work can heighten your awareness and turn the ignition key on your inspiration.

Break away from all your technology devices
The goal here is to give yourself a mental break. No emails, Facebook or mobile devices. Just allow yourself a designated amount of time to relax . And don’t panic or go through withdrawal; it’ll all be there for you when you get back.  Just make it a point to stop and smell the roses for a few minutes and savor those moments.

Set Realistic Goals
Stress can definitely put a damper on creativity, so why put any unrealistic expectations on yourself? Instead, take a few minutes to establish the possibilities, whether that means delegating or just adjusting timelines.

So there you have it. A creative kickstart in 250 words or less. Just give a few of these tips a try and you’ll be amazed at how quickly creativity, fun and excitement can come back into your life. Good luck!

New Website Launched for A-Z Tech Automotive

When A-Z Tech Automotive came to Q2 the content on their website was outdated and they had no way of making updates in-house. They were paying their web hosting company every time they wanted to make any updates.

Q2 enabled A-Z Tech Automotive to manage the content (text, images, pages, blog posts) by implementing WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS). Q2 provided training for A-Z tech so they could manage every aspect of the new website.

In addition to saving money on monthly website maintenance costs, Q2 was able to reduce their annual web hosting bill by 75%.

Visit the new site at: www.A-ZTechAutomotive.com

New Website Launched for Access Lighting

Offering a growing variety of solution oriented illumination, Access Lighting products are among the most popular lighting designs for business and residential clients. They asked Q2 to design a website that not only coincides with their new catalog and Energy Star product line but also serves as equally valuable in functionality.

Some of the features include:

• Custom built CMS
• Product Search
• Image Zoom
• Pendant Builder
• PDF Product Cut Sheets
• Customizable Fluorescent Products
• Interactive Online Catalogs
• Real-time Distributor Account Access

Since the launch of the new site, Access Lighting has received many notes thanking them for the ease of use and efficiency on searching for the best solutions. Access Lighting is able to save time and money by having the website perform many tasks that normally would be handled by employees in the customer service department. Q2 is happy to have been a part of the solution to automate and expedite sales.

Take a look at some of the new lighting fixtures for yourself.

Visit http://www.AccessLighting.com

Blog Tip #4: How to optimize a blog

Search engines like relevant new content and blogs are a great way to keep adding new keyword-rich content to a website. It is important to make sure your content reads well to a visitor on your site while also making sure the search engines find those relevant keywords.

When creating a blog post, it is critical to keep your keywords in mind.  We recommend creating a list of your keywords and always having the list in front of you when you are brainstorming ideas for your blog.

• Make sure you use your keywords in the title of your post whenever possible.  Blog software (like WordPress or Blogger) will use the title of the post in several prominent places (links, page titles, etc.) .
• Tag your posts with the keywords you used within the post.  The tags will help search engines and visitors find relevant content.
• Categorize your posts into keyword-rich categories.  Again, the category list will help both the search engines and your site visitors find relevant content.