SoKy Local Business or "SoKybiz"

On the same topic of market penetration for small business on the internet, Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends posted a topic titled "Search Engine Marketing Presents An Opportunity in the Small Business Market." It gives a glimpse of how the internet can be leveraged to make it work for local business.

Anita Writes:

My own experience and observations suggest that small business owners have woken up in the past year or two to the power of the Web. One reason is cost. While marketing online is not cost free, it is less expensive than other forms of offline marketing such as TV advertising and direct mail. Another reason is effectiveness. With more people going online to search for vendors and to shop, online marketing can simply be more effective than offline marketing in several respects.

Small business owners are keenly aware of the need for online marketing — especially search engine marketing — to form a lynch pin in their overall marketing efforts. At the same time there is a shortage of search engine marketing firms that are willing to work cost effectively with smaller businesses.

Link to Small Business Trends

The term "Search Engine Optimization" (SEO) and "Keywords" may be foreign to brick and mortar shops, but they are important when considering marketing online. A little study would be a good idea. Or, you could hire your local "WebNinja" to assist.

(yes, that's me)

This was posted by SoKy : 5:36 PM  0 comments links to this post

Internet Penetration and Impact

Pew Internet & American Life Project published a report that 73% of American adults are online. The report outlines that people are shopping, learning, improving and gaining trust and confidence in the internet. Of course this excites me because I build, host and manage websites for businesses. It should in fact excite all small business owners!!!
 

If the local business owner would read this report our community in mind, this equates to up 147,845 potential LOCAL customers out there. YUP! If you consider that our market area enjoys from 53,000 to 200,000 employed adults and 73% of them are online, that's a huge market. Even using Warren County numbers alone, 53,000+ employed adults would mean a potential reach of 38,000+.

That's something to get excited about!!

The source for my information was the Feb 2006 data from the State of Kentucky website: http://www.thinkkentucky.com/edis/cmnty/cw067/Workforce.htm which is based on U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Journey-To-Work & Migration Statistics Branch.

This was posted by SoKy : 9:10 AM  0 comments links to this post

Kentucky Business Finder

I've been meaning to comment on the Kentucky state website for some time. I've been using quite extensively especially to register SoKy.Net. It's a great website, well laid out, fast and in a word, brilliant! There is so much there for small business people it will take me months to present a glimpse.

Today however, I found a resource that I used and feel compelled to share. It's the Kentucky Business finder. It's a listing of Kentucky businesses with their industrial codes, descriptions and links.

Kentucky Business Finder is a free resource designed to promote sales for and between Kentucky businesses. This is accomplished by enabling buyers to identify Kentucky-based suppliers of products and services.

The system provides an easy means of searching for information on the products/services, capabilities, equipment, and certifications of Kentucky businesses. Whether you are a business seeking to locate a supplier to meet immediate needs, a company seeking to develop long-term supplier relationships, or a business looking for collaborative partners, the Kentucky Business Finder can be a valuable resource for you.

If your business provides products or services from one or more facilities located in Kentucky, you are eligible to register in the Kentucky Business Finder. By doing so, you leverage the power of the system to market your business throughout the Commonwealth and beyond. Businesses which elect to place their information in the system are responsible for regular updating of that information, to ensure the accuracy of their data as well as the reliability of this search tool.

I found there is one catch though; new "facilities" need to create an account. I took the time to create my account and you should too. Oh a little advice; break out that good old business plan before you visit. You're going to need it to fill out the forms. Especially the descriptions of products and services. If you don't have a business plan... well that's a whole 'nother subject.

http://www.thinkkentucky.com/KYBusinessFinder/

This was posted by SoKy : 12:39 PM  0 comments links to this post

With the retooling of the SokyBiz website I've been giving some thought to the Tag Line. "A website for and about small business in south central Kentucky."

So far, I've been relatively random in my offering on this "Blog" and with the apparent interest in the content, I'm going to refine the postings. I'll continue to offer my observations, opinions and experience, but it will be done with the small business person in mind. More specifically, the small business person who lives and works in south central KY.

When I changed the website, I also put a little script that tells me when people come to the site. An interesting feature of this script is it tells me where they came from and even what keywords they used if they come from a search engine. Just yesterday, I received more than 100 visitors and some of the search terms were interesting. A few examples may help show the diversity.

     1)  From Google: how Dollar general corporation became so successful

     2) From MSN: scottsville ky. phone book

     3) Form Ask.com: business ownership information

and my favorite

     4) From need2find.com: toothless hillbilly women

As for number 4; sorry, can't help you but with the others, I have written already my opinions on Dollar General and business ownership and will continue. And, as a matter of fact, I have a little secret project that will address the phonebook query.

I also received a very flattering letter from an online ad agency who suggested they may be interested in including me in their next ad purchase. ($$) They asked for some statistics on this website and I was force to face the fact that I have not paid much attention. I explained to them that this was more a hobby than anything else and I've done very little tracking of hits, visits, and page views. I was however, able to parse my log files for April and came up with some pretty interesting numbers...

Summary Stats

My point is, people are searching and finding Soky.biz and I intend to reward this traffic with more complete content, easier navigation and more features in the coming weeks and months. So stay tuned fellow business owners, I've only just begun.

This was posted by SoKy : 7:04 AM  0 comments links to this post

You may have noticed the new look to the blog. I decided last night that I really needed to spruce things up. It would appear that I keep running into people that are reading my blog. I figure, if I'm going to be selling my webmaster services to the local community, the least I can do is make my blog look like it.

So there you have it. I'll be tweaking things here and there so bear with me. Oh, and look for my article next week about how SoKy.Net is now a member of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce. More importantly... why.

This was posted by SoKy : 12:46 PM  1 comments links to this post

I've had mixed feelings about online ads over the years. I could not decide for myself how effective they were or could be and based my decisions on nothing more than my own browsing habits.

I learned that online ads can work if carefully planed, creatively written, strategically placed and well tracked. This opinion is based on my personal experience with Google ad-words. I've seen sales for an online shoe store go from nothing to thousands of dollars a day based on the above mentioned.

From a providers standpoint, I have always wanted to find ways to make online ads work because hey... that's my job. And from SOKY.NET's point of view, the following article gets this small businessman excited.

NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. online advertising revenues grew for a third consecutive year as keyword ads targeted to specific search queries continued to dominate, an industry group said Thursday.

Online advertising set a new record of $12.5 billion last year, a 30 percent increase from the previous high of $9.63 billion in 2004, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said.

Search remained the largest generator of revenues, accounting for $5.1 billion, or 41 percent, of the 2005 figures. That's slightly higher than the 39 percent share in 2004.

Internet ads also set a record for the fourth quarter, with revenues totaling $3.6 billion, a 34 percent jump from the same period in 2004 and 15 percent more than the previous record of $3.1 billion, set in the third quarter of 2005.

"Interactive advertising continues to experience tremendous growth as marketers experience its overall effectiveness in building brands and delivering online and offline sales," Greg Stuart, chief executive of the IAB, said in a statement.

Full Article at MYWay.com

Many in the advertising and marketing area have said, "Look at what the Fortune 100 companies are doing and notice where they spend their advertising dollars." Well I've noticed. This rule is not the end all of rules by any stretch, but ignoring what successful companies do is just plain stupid. Take what they are doing and mold it to make it work for your small business. That's my theory.

The point is, successful marketing now includes a web presence as well as online advertising. These are two things that SOKY.NET will focus on to help the small business community grow and prosper. Keep reading, keep watching and keep growing your small business.

This was posted by SoKy : 2:41 PM  1 comments links to this post

Dow closes nearly 2 percent higher

Tuesday April 18, 6:13 PM EDT
By Caroline Valetkevitch

http://finance.myway.com/ht/nw/bus/20060418/hlm_bus-n13178506.html

This was posted by SoKy : 5:34 PM  0 comments links to this post

I've written on the importance of getting out in the community and getting involved in local events. It's even a line item on my marketing budget, "other opportunities." South central Kentucky businesses would benefit greatly by getting involved in different outreach types of events. For example, the International Festival we enjoy once a year. But there are many because this community loves to get together that's for sure.

I was making my daily rounds to the online news sources I read and I found a story about business and the Thunder Over Louisville event. (http://www.thunderoverlouisville.org/ Scheduled for April 22nd 2006)  It gives some great examples of how businesses leverage this event for fun, exposure and profit.

The story comes from "Business First" or "BizJournals" Louisville edition at louisville.bizjournals.com. This is a great website, well authored both technically and editorialy. It truly is a great example of what can be done with an online news service.

They wrote:

Bang for their bucks: Companies build relationships with customers, employees at Thunder Over Louisville

Business First of Louisville - April 7, 2006
by Ed Green
Business First Staff Writer

With planes whizzing overhead and the sky set afire with dazzling fireworks, it would be easy for Louisvillians to lose sight of the fact that not everybody at Thunder Over Louisville is there just to celebrate.

Some, such as Harry Dennery, use the event as an opportunity to market their businesses, reward employees and support the community -- all while enjoying the view of one of the nation's largest air shows and fireworks displays.

Dennery is president of Louisville food-service broker Dennery Enterprises Inc., which gets two tents for Thunder atop the Witherspoon Garage near the riverfront as part of a sponsorship package with the Kentucky Derby Festival Inc.

The full article from Business First >>

I would encourage you to follow the link above and just think of all the opportunities we enjoy here in Southern Kentucky and Bowling Green to get more "Bang for our Bucks" through "involvement marketing." Yeah... that's the new budget item... "Involvement Marketing." I think I like the sound to that.

Note: The Bowling Green International Festival September 30, 2006 in Fountain Square Park, Bowling Green KY

According to the organizer, "The BG International Festival grew out of the Ethnic Folk Festival and Japan Fest in the early 80s. It takes place the last Saturday each September in Fountain Square Park in Bowling Green Kentucky.

Today the festival has grown to feature three stages, in the park performances and over 70 booths which feature cultural displays, authentic foreign foods and international merchandise."

http://www.bginternationalfest.com/

This was posted by SoKy : 12:58 PM  0 comments links to this post

Boeing (BA) stock raises to record levels is something I only heard in my head 4 years ago. I can't remember when it was but after 9/11, Boeing stock dropped to all time lows and then again a couple years later. (3/12/03 at 24.73 ... okay I looked it up.) I thought to myself, I should buy as much of that as I can. I didn't. DOH!

It was just one of those "gut feelings" and then this morning I find myself wondering why I had gas over that company. I doth pondereth.

Another thing that happened right after 9/11 is the US Federal Government approved a subsidy for airline who were loosing money in a big way. If I remember correctly, this subsidy was in the billions of dollars. I wrote to my favorite congressman Ron Lewis who also happens to be my representative here in the bluegrass state. I presented a concept that I thought was good and the reply I received acknowledged the idea and made no promise... I felt heard... that's good enough.

In my letter to the Congressman Lewis, I suggested that instead of sending all that cash money to the airlines, perhaps it would be more wise to send it to Boeing. (I have a soft spot in my heart for Boeing because of my time as an aircraft Crewchief on the greatest airframe they ever produced, the B-52.) My justification for this was multifaceted but in a nut shell, the airlines would have benefited, the manufacturer would have benefited and the American people would have benefited. 

The idea: Use the subsidy to purchase brand new airframes. Sounds weird I know but bear with me.

The United States airline fleet is aging to the point of hazard. New materials, manufacturing methods, electronics and processes make modern aircraft safer and more economical to operate. From structure to avionics, our domestic fleet of aircraft could use an overhaul. By underwriting the production of new aircraft, the Fed could ensure that new safety standards are implemented (and now in hindsight, even hazard detection and avoidance). The money could have been used to purchase the aircraft and perhaps put them on long term low (no) interest payment thus costing the American tax payer much less.

By sending the money to manufacturing, more US citizens are affected by the investment over sending it to the general funds of the airlines. To be clear, I wasn't suggesting that the airlines didn't need the money nor was I suggesting they didn't need immediate assistance, I was simply suggesting an alternate idea that may not have been considered. But I digress...

From the work spaces of the sub contractor to the family traveling to see grandma, so many people would have benefited from a tangible investment in new and modern jumbo jet airliners. Look at the 787 Dreamliner for example, it safer, faster and uses 20% less fuel than comparable aircraft. Look at the flight deck and the safety. Think of all the people involved in producing, maintaining and flying on these new aircraft. Yes, that would have been a great investment I think. But... it wasn't to be.

Back to my point.

Having thought about our aging fleet of aircraft and having a pretty good idea of the life expectancy of a large airframe, I had a gut feeling that Boeing stock would increase in value. I was right. This past week, Boeing stock has flown through the roof dragging the entire Dow Jones average with it. This on an order from China? I don't think that's the only reason. From my outsider perspective, they have been doing a good job addressing internal issues in supply, production and cost reduction as well. I say outsider because I'm no financial guru nor am I actively researching Boeing. It's just what I read in the news.

Had I gone with my gut, I could have quadrupled my equity in 3 years... darninit all. When am I ever going to learn?

For the record, I don't own ANY Boeing stock nor am I any kind of financial advisor. I'm a small businessman who likes to type out his thoughts at 6:00 in the morning.

This was posted by SoKy : 6:36 AM  0 comments links to this post

What gets measured, gets improved.

I read a blog post yesterday that I couldn't forget... now that's weird.

I read a lot of blogs and websites. Like most people, I skim through as fast as I can so I can make the best of my surf time. Like most people, I miss a good amount of the content on a page because I am skimming as well. What's worse, I quickly forget what I have recently skimmed because I've moved on and it all becomes a blur.

Yesterday however, I read a blog that kept coming back to mind. I don't know if it was the use of a weightlifting analogy, or the simple writing style, or the perfect choice of topics, but for some reason it haunted me to the point that I tabbed through my internet history just to find it.

The post was about measuring different aspects of your business and made the point so clearly that I've been thinking of ways to measure my own business. Ways to improve become more clear if there is a method in place to measure performance.

I've read countless articles about business measurement, use of metrics and standards, database, software and CRM. In the end, the idea of creating processes and programs to measure different aspects of my business becomes intimidating, complicated and feels like it's just not worth it. It's just seems hard.

Then along comes this guy on the internet and made is so simple that it hit me in the head. Michael Cage writes:

How many clients do you have today?
How many do you want to have 30 days from now?
Now track what you do ... every day ... to get it.

Why didn't I think of that? That really is as simple as it gets.

Admittedly, I've written and not even published some critical reviews of articles that over simplify the business plan model, or marketing strategies, or even process management, but this really is the simple, down and dirty end goal I think. So, using this simple "How many do you want to have 30 days from now?" challenge, I'll go about my daily routine with the goal in mind and the result in focus.

We humans have an amazing ability to tell ourselves stories about why we aren’t progressing the way we’d like. It’s the boss/parent/spouse/kid/landlord/employee and on. Fact is, when we *want* to believe the responsibility for less than stellar results rests somewhere else, our minds will latch onto damn near any explanation no matter how silly. Tracking what’s happening ... on paper ... brings a bright light into that shady corner of the mind.

http://www.entrepreneurslife.com/

What gets measured, gets improved. What should I be measuring? How should I measure? Are there tools I can use to measure more effectively? What do I do with the data? So many questions but the answer seems to be, just start measuring. Just like the E-Myth model, analyze, innovate and implement. I'm on it.

I think I will... more to come.

This was posted by SoKy : 11:36 AM  0 comments links to this post

According to my logs (and bandwidth costs), this blog is more popular than I had imagined. I have been giving this some thought and I have some ideas to make it better. One thing is to provide useful links for South Central Kentucky business owners. I will begin by adding 4 of the most recommended and most popular sites I know of. You can find them in the future in the navigation of this blog.

• Small Business Administration
  Your U.S. Government Small Business Resource
• SCORE
  Counselors to America's Small Business
• Internal Revenue Service
  Tax Resource Center for Small Business
• Business.gov
  The Official Business Link to the U.S. Government

There are a few local small business development websites that I will be adding but the first few I checked were woefully outdated. I'll post again when I have something useful to add.

This was posted by SoKy : 12:24 PM  0 comments links to this post

Anyone who has read my blog knows that I have posted numerous opinions about how the internet is affecting print newspapers. I still hold the opinion that a well established newspaper can leverage both markets to her advantage and serve both audiences as well as her advertisers. Personally, I feel the editorial departments of newspapers would do well to put content creators on staff to work with reporters on research as well as contextual links. Yes, it costs money but increasing the "buzz" is what it is all about.

It would seem my prediction has come to pass... at least according to the Chicago Associate Press.

Readers Flocks to Newspapers' Online Sites

Apr 3, 6:41 AM (ET)

By SETH SUTEL
CHICAGO (AP) - Newspapers' online audiences are growing rapidly, according to a new industry study, highlighting a key growth area that newspapers are seeking to exploit as print circulation continues to be challenged.

A study being released Monday by the Newspaper Association of America, a trade group, found that one in three Internet users - 55 million - visit a newspaper Web site every month.

Also, unique visitors to newspaper Web sites jumped 21 percent from January 2005 to December 2005, while the number of page views soared by 43 percent over the same period.

The study coincides with the NAA's annual convention in Chicago. Top of mind for the publishers attending was the looming sale of 12 Knight Ridder Inc. newspapers by The McClatchy Co., which is acquiring the storied publishing company in a $4.5 billion deal that will reshape the landscape of American newspapers.

MORE>> http://apnews.myway.com//article/20060403/D8GOFNPG0.html

This was posted by SoKy : 9:31 AM  0 comments links to this post