02 May
Building Your Corporate Identity With Color
by Shafik Mansur -
www.business2community.com
hello
Have you ever thought about the psychology of colors? Colors are said to be connected to emotions and actions, two interesting ideas when you think about them
Have you ever thought about the psychology of colors? Colors are said to be connected to emotions and actions, two interesting ideas when you think about them in terms of business.
How do you want a customer to feel when they’re looking at your marketing materials or browsing your website? And have you ever considered how your business’ web design, logo, business cards, and brochure colors could be altering your sales, whether good or bad?
According to a design article on Daddu, colors can influence shopping decisions, making the graphic design of your website and marketing materials a very important decision.
Curious how your website measures up? Check out the list below to see what your web design’s colors could be saying to your customers.
Blue — Safe and secure. Good if you need people to trust you.
Green — Calm and confident. Good for making people spend money.
Red — Energetic and vigorous. Good if you want people to risk.
Yellow — Optimistic and cheerful. Good if you want people have fun.
Pink — Romantic and dreamy. Good for (young) female customers.
Orange — Willing to take action. Good if you want people to act.
Black — Powerful and wealthy. Good if you want people to spend money.
The article goes on to say that certain colors work best for certain businesses. For example, if you’re in the beauty or makeup industry, pink might be a good choice because of its strong association with youth and black due to its association with prosperity. If you’re in the auto industry, you might elect your graphic design to include red because it’s associated with energy and speed and black because of its association with luxury.
I asked one of our graphic designers, Will, his opinion on this topic. He said:
“It is important to choose the right colors for your website because colors don’t just make things look pretty, they create a persona for the website. A lot of websites are blue because blue is a comfort color — police uniforms are blue, it conveys trustworthiness and reliability. Other than color, the general brightness of a website is also important. A darker website could be more entertainment-oriented, while a lighter scheme would give a more corporate feel.”
What do you think? Can colors sway a prospective customer’s decision to contact you or purchase your products or services?
Redberry Designs offers our pro bundled website design, marketing and hosting package it delivers everything that you need to take your online marketing and branding to the next level. Submit a request for quote or call us (770.783.0230) today to get started...
About the Author: Shafik Mansur is CEO and Director of Marketing of Redberry Services Redberry Designs. Redberry is an Agency that Shafik and his business partner, Jannice, created and is a specialized firm, Redberry Support Services, LLC in January of 2009 to provide small and midsize enterprises and entrepreneurs with web design, content marketing and web hosting. He is also an avid photographer and his local photographic work is featured at Noonday Photography. At Noonday Photography - Shafik delivers photo journalistic, artistic and beauty-inspired photos. Photographs natural in their beauty, framed masterfully, are art pieces that capture the magic of your day. Our photographer, with diverse experience in many photographic subjects, always provide a fresh take that takes the documenting of your events and projects to the next level. To learn more and to download FREE business tools and articles, as well as join their mailing list, visit the Redberry Services Redberry Designs website at http://www.redberryservices.com. You may print this article for personal use or republish it online only if it is left unaltered and in its entirety, including bylines, links and author information. Contact the author for all other permissions.
27 Apr
Effective Video Promo Spots for your Small Business by Redberry Website Design
by Shafik Mansur
As part of Redberry Website Design's bundled website, marketing and hosting packages, we create a branded video to promote your business. These may involve onsite video shoots or we may simply use client provided images and audio depending on the package that you choose. Here is an example of a recent video that was produced by Redberry Website Design for Curtain Call Unlimited, Inc. and Juanita Richburg Seon. Curtain Call Unlimited, Inc. is a non-profit organization that serves to educate young people about Essential Media Literacy and Media Education Concepts. Curtain Call Unlimited, Inc.specializes in personal enrichment and media literacy training as well as providing outlets for the creativeness of the young people who receive the training.
Tell your compelling
story, quickly and relevantly! Video is an excellent way to communicate your
message in a dynamic interactive way. Web Video is an excellent way to deliver
your message, make a great impression and is one of the most effective methods
of communicating your business essentials. Online video adds a new dimension to
content marketing enhancing your website by making it effective and
competitive.
Redberry Website Design produced this video promo for Orlando Podiatric Surgeon Gary W. Chessman DPM, FACFAS as part of the website and online marketing project for OrlandoPodiatry.com.
Redberry Website Design produced this video promo for Orlando Podiatric Surgeon Gary W. Chessman DPM, FACFAS as part of the website and online marketing project for OrlandoPodiatry.com.
For Sheila Simms Watson, Licensed Midwife at Spirit of Life Traditional Midwifery, Redberry Website Design created a promotional video that introduces this beloved Miami Midwife using a biographical approach with Sheila Simms Watson telling her personal story of how she became a midwife and what the art and tradition of midwifery means to her. This video has had over 2,300 views to date.
Here are 5 excellent ways to promote your business using video!
Record customer testimonials -
on videos and upload them to YouTube. Then tweet about these videos, or mention them on Facebook, to get people to see them. .
Create videos to answer
your customers‟ most frequently asked questions, including questions they should ask but possibly don't know to ask.
Does your company adhere to some painstaking quality control standards?
Show these extra steps on video. Even if your competitors follow the same processes, you will come to “own” the quality control standards with your videos.
The rule of thumb is
that when people see the steps you take to make a quality product, they place a higher value on it.
Demonstrate how your product is used.
Show it in action, show how easy it is to use or how it solves a problem. Don’t assume your customers already know all this.
Whether its subtly blended into your web pages, stand alone clips or a branded YouTube page, Redberry Designs video production team can help you make an impact. We film, edit and create fast downloading flash web video for websites.
Get your website project started today or call now 1-770-783-023018 Mar
A challenge to all business owners.
by Shafik Mansur
I came across a blog post today that was reflecting on the increased competition for your customer or prospects' attention that was the subject of a recent post by Jay Baer. Jay’s premise is that through channels like e-mail marketing and social media, we now compete with everybody, even globally. He states that "consumer interactions with companies are jumbled together like a real-time gumbo" and to be heard and recognized, we have to be mindful of the quality of each email and status update.
We also have to strive to convey our unique brand differentiation. To know and communicate what sets us apart from our competition.
For your company, can you complete this sentence: "Only we … "?
This is a challenge, and it is obvious that if you cannot, you’re likely destined to a lifetime of competing based on gimmicks, coupons and shouting louder than the other guy.
However, if you can find that wisdom, the social web will allow you to amplify that message and tell your story in a remarkable and exciting way.
So with that in mind, Jannice and I sat down to really define succinctly and effectively what makes Redberry Website Designs different from the competition. After an hour of brain storming, we ended up with three full sentences and six bullet points that we both agreed with. We broke for dinner and then returned to do some real hard editing. We cut and moved, trimmed and sliced all our words and thoughts then melded them together to craft this sentence that we believe answers the question...
"At Redberry Website Designs...Only we offer small businesses a professional web presence featuring a custom website design delivered with search engine optimized content, a uniquely branded corporate identity, social media engagement, local search optimization, search engine ranking and a branded video ad spot all hosted on a platform providing a fully integrated database, email marketing and unlimited eCommerce capacity supported by Redberry's ongoing maintenance at one low price and completed as one project."
We would love to hear your sentence that tells why your company is different from the competition and what is your unique value proposition. Take the challenge and post your comments.
ShafikRedberry Website Design provides online business solutions for small businesses, not just websites. Because we understand that the purpose of the website and even more so, your online branding and social media strategy is to introduce, reinforce and establish the credibility of you, your company and message, we offer a custom all inclusive website design, branding, social media marketing and maintenance package. Call us now at 770.783.0230 or click here to start your project today.
About the Author: Shafik Mansur is CEO and Director of Marketing of Redberry Services Redberry Designs. Redberry is an Agency that offers Branding, Website Development and Hosting Solutions and a full portfolio of business conversational marketing and brand identity solutions for small businesses. To learn more and to download FREE business tools and articles, as well as join their mailing list, visit the Redberry Services Redberry Designs website at http://www.redberryservices.com. You may print this article for personal use or republish it online only if it is left unaltered and in its entirety, including bylines, links and author information. Contact the author for all other permissions.
17 Mar
5 Tips for Writing Web Content
by Jannice Almansur -
I came across this article on one of my favorite blogs, and wanted to share it with my clients and readers. The post addresses a topic that is something that I have had countless conversations about with you all.
In fact it was the topic of a recent speech that I gave at my Toastmasters' club. The introduction went something like this..."I find myself in constant battle with my clients trying to get them to commit, execute and follow-through on writing blog content for their sites. Some of the most common oppositions are that they do not have time, they are not writers, they sell widgets and widgets are not sexy or interesting enough to write about....and so on and so on. Oh yea, and my all time favorite objection "silence"! The phone line goes quiet and I can only imagine their glazed over expressions or the “deer in the headlights” look of utter fear. Needless to say no matter how I try, they are just are not getting it." ; Good evening fellow Toastmasters, friends and guest...
The speech was one of my typical attempts to provide valuable information, so I know that everyone gets my point or I at least hope that you all get that having a content rich blog and articles hosted on your own website domain is one of the most superior search engine optimization (SEO), Website Copywriting, Keyword Rich website content development strategies for small business owners...yada, yada, yada, and so on and so on...ok so enough already...
Here is an article that so eloquently addresses this issue and specifically the issue of "sell widgets and widgets are not sexy or interesting enough to write about". I would love to hear your feedback... Enjoy!
5 Content Strategies for Boring Brands
“If people aren’t talking about you, they’re not talking about you for a reason. And the reason isn’t that they dislike you. They’re not talking about you because you’re boring.” ~ Seth Godin
The formidable challenge for marketers of boring brands is that you have to present content that is remarkable and interesting even when your product—on the face of it—is not.
So, how should you get people to take interest in a boring brand?
The key is in distinctive presentation. Every brand has a unique story about its origin, its people and its experience. The solution is to find an authentic theme, apply creative imagination and tell your story in a way that will attract and retain people’s attention. What was widely perceived to be boring could become inspiring or at least interesting to a group of people.
Let’s face it. Boring products solve legitimate problems. QuickBooks, toilet paper and dentures fulfill a need just as much as, if not more than, smart phones, cool music and fashionable clothes. If your brand is one that solves a problem but doesn’t easily spark the imagination, here are five strategies you can use to attract attention.
Come to the rescue
Just like good brands, good content solves problems. Boring brands have the same opportunity as everyone to share information that improves customers’ lives or helps them to do their jobs better.
Roberts and Durkee knows this. In 2008, this run-of-the-mill law firm used content marketing to become the de facto consumer advocate for victims of the Chinese drywall problem that hit the US market toward the middle of the decade.
They created a website/blog called chinesedrywallproblem.com to help thousands of Florida homeowners whose homes were built with toxic drywall. The website provided pertinent information such as how to identify contaminated drywall, the toxins’ health implications, and the victims’ legal rights. This content strategy established Roberts and Durkee as the expert in Chinese drywall problems and resulted in tremendous business opportunities for the firm.
To create content that solves problems, ask yourself:
- What kinds of emergencies are happening in my community?
- Are there particular groups in need of someone to speak up for them?
- How can I create content that helps them resolve these problems?
Reach out to your community
If your product does not generate excitement, create content that showcases your readers’ lifestyles, interests and passions instead. Focus your content on the consumer rather than the product and encourage conversations that resonate with your community.
Procter & Gamble – the makers of Gillette razors, Head & Shoulders shampoo and other everyday brands – createdManOfTheHouse.com as “the real man’s magazine,” packed with compelling advice on guy-to-guy topics such as money, careers, gadgets, parenting and, of course, sex.
The site specifically targets young dads and connects with them via Facebook and Twitter as well. By December 2010, manofthehouse.com attracted over half a million unique visitors per month.
To reach your community with your content, ask yourself:
- Who do I want to attract?
- What is their lifestyle?
- What are their interests and preferences?
- How can I provide a forum for them to discuss these issues in a conversational, entertaining fashion?
Do something completely unexpected
No matter what kind of product or service you offer, there’s no reason for a boring presentation. Any product can be showcased in a way that is interesting, appealing, even surprising!
Agilent Technologies produces measurement instruments that help scientists, researchers and engineers measure variables in chemical analysis, life sciences and electronics. Ho hum, right? On the contrary.
Going completely against type, Agilent resisted the typical dry technicalities in favor of the truly unexpected: a puppet show. The highly engaging Agilent Puppet Chemistry is so far removed from the company’s brand image, it immediately captures interest.
Want to go against the grain?
Brainstorm a list of adjectives that describe your company and then research their opposites. For example if your organization has a serious, demanding and dull environment, you could research ideas that are entertaining, relaxing and fresh. Then create a mix of content that matches those ideas and presents your company in a totally unexpected way.
Play to your strengths
A lot of people equate content with writing. But writing (blogs, e-books, white papers, books, etc.) is just one way to create content – and it’s not for everyone.
No one knows this better than Gary Vaynerchuk, founder of Wine Library TV. Gary, by his own admission, couldn’t write to save his life. So he doesn’t. He video blogs…and he does it extremely well.
His very informal yet highly energetic style, frequently described as an unpretentious, gonzo approach to wine appreciation, offers a stark contrast to everyone else’s dry, conservative approach to wine culture. Most wine bloggers simply publish a written article and then wait for visitors to subscribe. Gary, on the other hand, loves the camera, is passionate about wine and comes across like a familiar dinner guest, relaxing in your living room.
To play to your own strengths, ask yourself:
- How do you prefer to express yourself? If you enjoy being in front of the camera, try video blogging and inject your own personality into the content. If you prefer to look people in the eye and feed off of their energy, speaking engagements or training opportunities might be your vehicle.
- Do people easily recognize your gifts or talents? Perhaps you’ve been told that you have a ‘golden voice’ or a ‘way with words.’ Maybe they’re onto something. Explore your talents and find a complementary outlet to express them.
Encourage people to talk…about anything
Josh Bernoff, Forrester Research Analyst and co-author of Groundswell, recommends that boring brands encourage people to talk–even if it isn’t about the brand itself. By borrowing a relevant topic and encouraging conversations about it, boring brands become part of the conversation.
Social media presents the perfect opportunity to apply this “borrowed relevance,” as Bernoff calls it, because conversations are already taking place there that are not product-centric, pushy or self-promotional.
A good example is Liberty Tax, a tax service franchise (yawn)…with a Facebook audience of over 6,000 people! A quick look at their Wall reveals how they use a variety of tactics to engage their customers and create a lively atmosphere. They discuss Groupon deals, hold photo contests, show appreciation to different members of the community (teachers, policemen and firefighters, etc.), and so on. They also make taxes fun (no, really!) by giving away free tax apps, and offering advice and tips on little-known tax credits, refunds, etc.
Without a doubt, distinctive presentation is the key to a boring brand’s problems. But it is not without its stresses. Breaking away from the comfort zone is risky and may open you up to criticism. I think Barry Gibbons, former CEO of Burger King, hit the nail on the head when he said: “Ho-hum. We swim in an ocean of ho-hum, and I’m going to fight it. I’m going to die fighting it.” If Burger King recognizes the importance of distinction, I think lesser-known brands ought to be taking notes.
Over to you: Are you fighting against being boring? What strategies have you employed?
Redberry Designs partners with you to make sure that the findability of your online business is pushed up to the top search engine ranking position. Contact our team to get your project started today! Click Here to Get a Quote Now!
About the Author: Jannice Boyd Almansur (http://www.jannice.info/) is Managing Director of Redberry Atlanta Website Designs. Redberry is an Agency that offers Branding, Website Development and Hosting Solutions and a full portfolio of business content marketing and brand identity solutions for small businesses. To learn more and to download FREE business tools and articles, as well as join their mailing list, visit the our BerryPatch Blog at http://www.redberrydesigns.com/BlogRetrieve.aspx?BlogID=419 and Redberry Atlanta Website Design website at http://www.redberryatlantawebsitedesign.com. You may print this article for personal use or republish it online only if it is left unaltered and in its entirety, including bylines, links and author information. Contact the author for all other permissions.
14 Jan
CONVERSATIONAL MARKETING IS...
CONVERSATIONAL MARKETING IS...
by Jannice Almansur -
Uniquely well suited to small businesses budget friendly - does not take a large investment in fact many techniques are DYI. Removes barrios between you and your community. It is with friends, family, relatives, colleagues (your community). Being an expert resource within a niche (you do one thing and you do it well).
Conversational marketing is...
Marketing via online social media sites
- No cost for entry (they are free...sign-up and get started today)
- Topical relevant (extreme growth in user subscriptions: multi generational, ethnic, gender)
- Most relevant and popular (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and Blogs i.e. Blogger and Word Press)
- Easy to use no special skills required
- Real-time - interactions (two-way communication) A two-way interaction
- No location barriers
- Helps you drive qualified traffic back to your website.
Conversational marketing is...
Affordable and powerful with real measurable outcomes
As smaller organizations that do not have huge budgets that they can just throw money at every approach out there and see what sticks, it needs to be an effective budget friendly approach. Even choosing to work with a professional company to set-up sites, develop and manage strategy and maintain communities are affordable to most small budgets. If you can't currently make investments, DIY options are plentiful, there is information everywhere on the web to help with most aspects of getting your business on the right track.
Conversational marketing is...
Helpful, educational, entertaining, relevant (timely)
The concept of marketing by real time two-way interactions allows you to capitalize on your expertise and passion about your subject. Instead of spending your time trying to attract clients by shouting at them with ads, you can engage them by providing what they need most...Help to get something done and education on how to do something, or even just by entertaining them or engaging them in relevant topical events.
Conversational marketing is...
Smart and requires planning and strategy
Conversational marketing is research, discovery, planning, strategy and implementation. This means that it is not a quick fix. You need to be in it for the long haul. With the exception of those of you that consider "Writer", "Video Producer", or "Spoken Word Artist" your profession, it will not be easy, but it will be worth it in the long run. Through this approach you will build a portfolio of "Brand Assets" that would be the envy of any Fortune 500 company, but they will be uniquely yours...uniquely your story.
Conversational marketing is...
Very specific and targeted to your ideal clients
Once you get clear on who is your ideal client, what they want or need, and how you can fill that need, then fulfill that gap with the information, resources, tips, tricks and how to's...In a word "content", then you will have under your control the most powerful marketing approach of the 21st century.
Conversational Marketing Is Not... Learn more
Redberry Designs partners with you to make sure that the findability of your online business is pushed up to the top search engine ranking position. Contact our team to get your project started today! Click Here to Get a Quote Now!
About the Author: Jannice Boyd Almansur (http://www.jannice.info/) is Managing Director of Redberry Atlanta Website Designs. Redberry is an Agency that offers Branding, Website Development and Hosting Solutions and a full portfolio of business content marketing and brand identity solutions for small businesses. To learn more and to download FREE business tools and articles, as well as join their mailing list, visit the our BerryPatch Blog at http://www.redberrydesigns.com/BlogRetrieve.aspx?BlogID=419 and Redberry Atlanta Website Design website at http://www.redberryatlantawebsitedesign.com. You may print this article for personal use or republish it online only if it is left unaltered and in its entirety, including bylines, links and author information. Contact the author for all other permissions.
14 Jan
CONVERSATIONAL MARKETING IS NOT...
CONVERSATIONAL MARKETING IS NOT...
by Jannice Almansur -
Not a substitute for high quality products and services. Companies with less-than-stellar reputations can converse with consumers and the mere act of conversing will fool some of them some of the time, but such engagement realistically has little tangible impact if consumers are not satisfied with what you are selling them.
Consumer perception is based primarily on the quality of the products and services you provide and improving those things is often not easy for companies. If you are not providing your current clients with a quality interaction with your products, services or support then this approach may not be the best option for you unless you are trying to get honest feedback to fix your issues. Expect not to be able to ensure the conversation is one-way or the other, you cannot control the feedback, that’s a risk you take when you open your company up to negative feedback & truly understand the importance of the word ‘social’ in social media. Best practices around customer interactions are the only route for success with conversational marketing.
Conversational marketing is not...
Not marketing through interrupting (i.e. Viral Marketing, Spam, Banner Ads, Pay-Per-Click Marketing)
We are all aware of the annoying series of advertisements that we must endure when we do not have TIVO, or the 20 seconds of ads that precede that latest viral video that you are trying to watch, or the flashing banner ad for insurance or mortgages on the site you are visiting. Marketing through interruption is the advertising concept that says put the brand and message everywhere, on buses, on television and radio commercials, on blimps over football stadiums, in glossy full page magazine ads and on t-shirts and other swag. It is the marketing equivalent of "Shock and Awe". It does not seek to build relationships, it does not look to understand the customer's true needs outside of focus groups and psychometric data-mining nor does it care about how much you may dislike it or wish it to stop. It is increasingly brash, loud and obnoxious, like a stalkerish masher in a singles bar as the night nears last call. Consumers seek any method available to shut it TIVO, by averting their eyes and attention away or by simply tuning it out.
Conversational marketing is not...
Not about driving streams of unqualified traffic to your website
Rather than trying to generate huge streams of traffic to your site, whether unqualified or not, in the hopes that some visitors will stay long enough to perhaps click a link and purchase a product, subscribe to your newsletter or engage your services, Conversational Marketing seeks to attract the correct target for your specific products, services or expertise and instead focuses on fulfilling their needs. The concept of marketing by real-time two way interactions allows you to capitalize on your expertise and passion about your subject. Instead of spending your time trying to attract clients by shouting at them with ads, you can engage them by providing what they need most...Help to get something done and education on how to do something, or even just by entertaining then or engaging them in relevant topical events.
Conversational marketing is not...
Not accumulation marketing
Conversational marketing is research, discovery, planning, strategy and implementation. This means that it is not a quick fix. You need to be in it for the long haul. With the exception of those of you that consider "Writer", "Video Producer", or "Spoken Word Artist" your profession, it will not be easy, but it will be worth it in the long-run. Through this approach you will build a portfolio of "Brand Assets" that would be the envy of any Fortune 500 company, but they will be uniquely yours...uniquely your story.
Conversational marketing is not...
It is not an excuse to continue to engage via unsuitable marketing techniques.
Poor product and customer support will cause some social media contact points to be used as the best place for consumers to share bad customer experiences.
Conversational marketing is not...
Not overly generalized
The process and results delivered are your unique prospective on topics and information of interest to your audience. So you should not be talking about puppies when you are an expert on roofing, foundations and house framing. First while everyone loves puppies, you need to respect your audience's time by giving them exactly what they are looking for without unrelated fluff. Next the key to success this marketing approach is providing valuable content that educates, answers questions or entertains. So, keep specific and keep in on topic.
Conversational marketing is not...
Not ego-driven (Me, Me, Me marketing) - Gimmicks - "get anything quick" schemes
Don't be so inwardly focused that you forget that it is also about content that starts with you giving them resources! Just keep in mind that it is not marketing through interruption, it is about providing value and don't be afraid to promote others who have valuable information that your audience will appreciate knowing about. Content sharing is a great opportunity to showcase other great vendors, because you are only as good as your resources, if you have great contacts with other businesses that offer services that compliment and partner well with yours and your audiences needs, it is a great win for you and them!
Redberry Designs partners with you to make sure that the findability of your online business is pushed up to the top search engine ranking position. Contact our team to get your project started today! Click Here to Get a Quote Now!
About the Author: Jannice Boyd Almansur (http://www.jannice.info/) is Managing Director of Redberry Atlanta Website Designs. Redberry is an Agency that offers Branding, Website Development and Hosting Solutions and a full portfolio of business content marketing and brand identity solutions for small businesses. To learn more and to download FREE business tools and articles, as well as join their mailing list, visit the our BerryPatch Blog at http://www.redberrydesigns.com/BlogRetrieve.aspx?BlogID=419 and Redberry Atlanta Website Design website at http://www.redberryatlantawebsitedesign.com. You may print this article for personal use or republish it online only if it is left unaltered and in its entirety, including bylines, links and author information. Contact the author for all other permissions.
14 Jan
Portfolio - RedberryDesigns.com
by Jannice Almansur -
Whew...Shafik and I have been working on our portfolio and updating some social media pages for our business. We are amazed at how much work we did in 2010 and how many new Redberry Designs creations exist because of that work. Please take a moment to visit our new portfolio... if you know anyone that needs a fresh look for 2011 please share it with them as well... http://www.redberrydesigns.com/
Findability! It's all about building a resource rich community...
Redberry Designs is an agency specializing in Online Marketing Solutions, Brand Identity Consulting and Website Design and Hosting for Small Businesses. Website design, development and content marketing is all about developing compelling brand messages that resonate with the target market and ideal clients and is most effective when used strategically and incorporated into the fabric of your business. Creating effective conversational based content and encouraging client engagement through the use of social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Buzz etc.), online public relations, online community platforms and emerging web technologies is part of Redberry Designs' commitment to the sustainable success of small businesses.Use this link to check out my Google profile portfolio... A Google profile is very effective way to organically promote your businesses...contact a Redberry Designs team member to learn more about other ways we can help you optimize your findability! Contact Us Now!
30 Jul
Featured Article: Do You Need To Clean Up Your Act?
by Shafik Mansur -
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“Unless you are a trust fund baby, or maybe a honey badger, you probably care very much what people think about you and the impression that you make when people meet you.„
You may be a well respected professional in your community, a college student nearing graduation or perhaps a small business owner trying to grow your business and network, your future success is very likely going to be influenced to a large degree by those immediate impressions that prospective customers or employers have when they interview you or inquire about your services or product. Finely crafted resumés and well polished LinkedIn pages are very important, but what do you look like on Facebook? or in a Google search? Have you been tagged in photos on your friends’ pages at a party where things may have gotten a bit wild? Are there posts directly attributable to you that reveal your intense dislike for another person or company? Or perhaps you have been active in web forums posting on controversial topics? Are there photos or even videos of you that show you in a less than professional manner?
In the increasing flurry of participation in social media, and the often unrestrained sharing of personal information, photos, videos, thoughts, reactions and general commentary, some people are forgetting one critical thing…what happens on the Internet, stays on the Internet.
Just about everything that you blog about, comment on, or post online lingers in digital vaults ready to reemerge at the command of the correct search term! A recent survey by CareerBuilder.com shows that 53% of employers use social networking sites to screen candidates as part of the hiring process. You can rest assured that your customers and clients are doing the same before engaging you and your services and products.
Now, before panic sets in, there are steps that you can take to remove the unsavory items that people may be finding and there are methods to reduce the chances of again being victim of a bad online reputation. In short, you need to clean up your act using the three step process of Repair, Restrict and Replace.
First things first, do a simple Google search for your name with quotation marks at the beginning and end to restrict the search parameters to just your name. Then try searches using any easily identifiable user names that would be a quick match for your real name. Do the same using Bing and Yahoo searches as well. If there are any questionable or negative results about you coming up in searches, then you start the first step which is repair.
Repair...
If the items are coming from your own social media pages then it is simply a matter of deleting them at the source. Be aware that this will not make the items disappear from the search engines’ caches immediately. It can actually take weeks and sometimes months before search results are updated after the offending image or questionable posts have been deleted.
Now if you are finding images, posts and references on other people’s pages, then you will need to make contact with the person that has posted the items or has administrative control over the content and request that it be removed. If you have difficulties with this, there are legal actions that can be taken to force the removal of unauthorized photos or content from other person’s sites.
You should also do searches within the social networking sites that you are active on to scan for any posts, images or references there. You may also need to take a hard look at the “friends” that you may have on your pages and whether their own public images or content might be detrimental to your goals. While you can control what you are putting out so far as your personal image, you cannot control what others are doing. Sometimes difficult decisions have to be made about removing people from your social media pages unless you have effectively segregated your networks into private and public groups.
My niece who is now a few years into her corporate career was shocked when a Google search revealed her full name on several posts on some of her relatives and friends' Myspace pages and her pictures had been tagged there with her name. While there was no harmful information directly about my niece on these pages, her friends' Myspace pages were quite an affront to decency in terms of lewd graphic content and degrading depictions of women. Her full name and her own pictures were coming up in searches and linking directly back to the other parties' pages. The sad part was that due to her lack of understanding of the power of personal branding at that time, there was no other information being found in searches that reflected her true identity, professional credentials or professional image.
Fortunately, she was able to have her name removed from the offending pages. She then deleted all the content and personal information off her own forgotten Myspace page, then she deleted that account. In short, it is a good idea to use an alias for your private social networking pages where only those people whom you know well can be part of the conversations and where your privacy settings are on high to prevent these occurrences. In addition, be aware of how others may judge you based on your friends and acquaintances even if they are just online friends.
Restrict
So now that you have completed the repair process, you take steps to prevent unwanted personal content from reaching the search engines again. This is the restrict phase. The goal here is to prevent having to do another big clean up in the future. All social media sites provide varying levels of privacy controls to restrict what information is being made public or available for searching.
Your goal is not to make yourself invisible, but rather to restrict what can be seen publicly by other parties and who can post on your pages. Once your clean up has been completed, you should lock down your privacy settings on Facebook, MySpace or other social media sites that you use to prevent image tagging by others and having your wall posts unrestricted. You may wish to restrict some photos to only friends, while leaving others open for the public. The desired outcome is to allow searchers to see that you are a normal, interesting, well rounded person with friends and activities, not some Unibomber crackpot or a exhibitionist barfly.
Replace
The final step is replace, here you are going to take a very strategic effort to replace all the images and online content that you have now removed with fresh new digital content that reflects your personal brand, that image of you that you want the world to see and the one that will make you the successful person that you want to be. This is a really important stage and one that should be done whether you had to repair or not, and it’s also the part that I enjoy the most when working with our clients at Redberry Designs, because you are going to be getting pictures taken, you will be making videos, writing about yourself and creating that dynamic online persona that reflects the image that you want the world to see.
- You have to take the reins and show the search engines who you are. You will first go and get your own web domain in your own name, then proceed to register your own Facebook name, your own Twitter name, YouTube channel name, LinkedIn name…etc.
- Then create a Google profile that highlights you, your skills, talents, professional achievements and then link all of your new social media networking sites and your "repaired" pages to your new Google profile.
- Point your new web domain name to your Google profile or to the publically accessible Social Media page that best provides a complete reference, such as your LinkedIn account.
- Post your new professional images on new Flickr, Picassa and Photobucket accounts taking care to tag each picture with your name.
- Upload your new videos to YouTube also making sure that they are tagged with your name, and post your new articles on your new personal blog.
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