Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.  Or, perhaps to be a bit more politically correct, busier than a new mother with triplets (although with the Octomom and all…).

I started Life Is Local, my web design and local marketing business in earnest about five months ago.  And when I started, I decided to use this blog as the focal point of all my sales and marketing efforts, with no advertising whatsoever and the only “marketing” is some search engine optimization (SEO) for the website (which is easy with WordPress).

Despite the lack of advertising and marketing, I’m working on six different web design projects right now, with a possibility of working on a very large project by partnering with another web firm. So where did all this business come from? 

NETWORKING!

To me, networking has always had kind of a negative image.  I’ve never really been someone who joins social groups just to drum up new business.  I don’t like going around and handing out business cards, and I’m not all that interested in local politics.  Networking has always seemed to me to be more of a pain than it was worth.

But I’ve changed my mind about networking because I’ve changed my approach.  My new attitude started when I decided to build a website for a buddy of mine, who is a local builder, for free.  That’s right… I did the work for free because I truly believed I could help out a friend, and I wanted to get some experience building websites with WordPress in the way I had always envisioned.

And you know what?  My buddy loved the site.  He loved it so much, he asked if I could do a website for his band.  And because I liked the band, I was more than happy to do that website for free as well.

And then, a relative of the builder told me she was self-publishing a children’s book, and because she had seen what I had done with the builder’s band website, wanted to get some advice on building her own website.  I told her I’d be happy to set up a WordPress blog for her, and built her website.  For free.  And if you’re keeping score, that’s three websites that I built free, which is not a great way to start out a new business.  But what I got was a lot of experience building websites without the pressure of getting paid.

And then, something strange happened.  I started to get jobs based on the relationships I had built doing all of this work for free:

• The author’s father had a business website that was old and ugly, and he wanted me to update and modernize his website.  I got paid for my first web design project!  Not a lot, but it was nice to get paid for all the hard work I’d been doing for free.
• The Realtor who sells the builder’s custom homes hired me to revamp their website and improve their search engine rankings.
• A friend of the author hired me to upgrade his real estate blog for the latest version of WordPress and change the theme to make use of widgets.
• Two of the real estate agents from the Realtor’s office hired me to do personal pages.
• A friend of mine from a past company hired me to do websites for his two restaurants, and is talking to me about creating Facebook Pages for the restaurants.
• A friend of the real estate blogger wanted me to finish up his own real estate agent blog because he was having difficulty with WordPress.
• A local insurance agent, and a friend of both the builder and Realtor, hired me to revamp his website and improve the search engine rankings.  And, because this insurance agent knows just about everyone in town, I’m giving him a special discount to help me meet some of the local movers and shakers.
• Finally, the builder’s band played a charity event for a local organization, and one of the organizers has a company that builds websites for libraries.  Because she knew I developed in WordPress, and one of her current proposals is for a library that wants a website with a content management system (CMS), she asked for my advice in creating the proposal based on using WordPress as the CMS.  And if she wins the bid, I’ll be doing some work with her company (which could lead to even more work).

All of this business came about because I did a couple of websites for free.  It certainly helped my case that the builder quickly claimed the top search spots in Google for most of the keywords related to his business, but with WordPress and just a little bit of work, local search engine rankings are not particularly hard to secure.

Through networking, and a few free jobs, I turned these personal relationships into quite a lot of business.  And all of my new friends continue to push Life Is Local to a whole new set of people that I might never have met without them.

If you’re just starting out your own web design or marketing business, spend some time getting to know, and helping out, a few key people.  It might sound counter productive to do some work for free, but this can often lead to a lot of business down the road, especially if you’re doing business for the right people.

Chris Brogan is one of my “go-to” guys for social media information, and he always delivers.  Here’s an interview he created as part of his
Kitchen Table Talks series:

In this video, Chris interviews Joe Sorge (spelling?), the owner of AJ Bombers, a restaurant in Milwaukee, WI.  Basically, Joe credits Twitter with building his business at AJ Bombers and two of his other restaurants.  He uses Twitter to promote and he encourages people to follow the AJ Bombers Twitter feed by making it noticeable on the menus and more.  There’s even Twitter graffiti scribbled on the walls of the restaurant!

Watch the video and look for ideas on how you can bring Twitter to your business.

I just came across this video from Google about real-time search (and you’ll see what I mean after watching it):

With this new search feature, local businesses have even more incentive to get engaged with social media in the right way.  As soon as this goes live on Google on a large scale, people will be seeing what other consumers are talking about.  And you want to make sure when they talk about your business, it’s in a positive way.

Here are some tips that could help you get to the front of this new Google real-time search feature:

• Make it easy for your customers to interact with you in the social space.  Make sure they know about your Twitter and Facebook accounts (or get accounts if you don’t have them) and make an effort to keep content fresh and relevant.
• Offer exclusive benefits for interacting with your social media spaces.  You can provide special offers or discounts for following your Facebook fan page or re-tweeting a promotion on Twitter.  Make it relevant and fun, and don’t waste their time with heavy-handed promotions.
• Deliver outstanding, noteworthy customer service.  Every interaction you have with a customer offers the potential for social media interaction.  If you deliver customer service that makes them stand up and notice, they just may post on their Facebook account or Twitter it to their friends.
• Respond to customer complaints quickly.  In the social media ecosphere (I’m running out of names!), bad news travels very quickly.  Make sure you monitor your brand and try to make things right with disgruntled patrons.  Your interaction will be tracked and your response is critical.
• Have fun! This is the most critical part of a social media “strategy.”  Social media is different than other forms of marketing, and you need to have a more personal face when interacting.  Pretend you’re talking to someone in front of you, and a lot of the anxiety goes away.  Don’t be afraid to make fun of yourself and your business, and keep it lively.

The new Google real-time search bears watching.  For those companies who have embraced social media and use it as a way to truly interact with their customers (or better yet, communities), real-time social media search could help boost traffic and deliver increased revenues.  And, it could be a lot of fun.

Are you passionate about your business?  Do you truly enjoy what you’re doing, and how you’re helping people?  Check out this video I found via Seth Godin’s blog:

John Nese of Galco’s Soda Pop Stop in Los Angeles, CA loves soda pop, and his passion shows through in this video.  And John focuses on those customers who are looking for a new or different soda pop instead of the masses looking for a Coke or Pepsi.  When you bring a passion to your business, it makes it easier to find customers who will resonate with your mission and truly appreciate what you bring to the transaction.

Otherwise, you could be taking jobs that aren’t right for you and could impact your business negatively.

Watch the video… I guarantee it will make you smile (and crave a cucumber soda pop!).

Weezer is one of my favorite bands of all time.  From the first time I saw the quirky Buddy Holly video, I was hooked.  Weezer makes excellent pop songs that stay with you forever and appeal to not only me and my friends, but my kids as well.  And that’s no mean feat.

I recently came across a video and short article at the SPIN magazine website about Weezer frontman, Rivers Cuomo, and his efforts to promote the release of his second collection of demos, B-sides and obscure tunes called Alone II.  As part of the celebration, Rivers spent two-and-a-half hours playing songs with about 100 Weezer fans at a Long Beach, CA record store.  The really interesting part was that he didn’t just sit and sing himself…

“Prior to the show, Cuomo posted an online request asking Weezer lovers to learn his songs and bring an instrument of their choice to the store to take part in the “Hootenanny” — one of many such jam sessions he has thrown across the nation. Attendees arrived with everything from banjos and saxophones to keytars, flutes, and what seemed to be at least 50 relatively in-tune guitars.”

Called a “Hootenanny,” you can get a real feel for the event, and the joy it brought to those Weezer fans, by checking out the video on the site (sorry… they don’t allow embedding).  And, if you’re a fan of Weezer, don’t forget to go to their website – www.weezer.com – and check out all the videos they have available.

This got me to thinking about how any local business can use some of Weezer’s marketing ideas in their local business:

1. Have fun with it. Weezer obviously enjoys what they’re doing.  And they have a sense of humor.  If you’ve got a funny bone, don’t be afraid to let your customers know that you enjoy a good laugh.  Dress up on holidays or have theme days (i.e. if you’re a Star Trek fan and a new movie is coming out).  Send a joke of the day to your email list (as long as its tasteful).  Laugh early and often and your customers will get a good vibe from your business.
2. Get your customers involved.  The Hootenanny is such a great idea because it gets real fans involved, and because of this, it’s newsworthy.  There are lots of ways you can take this type of community participation and apply it to your local business.  For example, if you run a restaurant, you can set up a charity event where people bid on being a waiter or waitress, or even cook, for a day (or perhaps a few hours).  Or, you could invite one of the local luminaries (mayor, respected teacher, etc.) to work in your business for charity.
3. Provide lots of great content on your website.  On the Weezer website, I counted 86 videos on the Media page.  This content includes a lot of professionally-produced music videos for their songs, but even more interesting, are their own videos where they take fans behind the scenes and things like guitar tabs and lyrics on their Info page.  Can you take a video of the operations of your business?  Interview long-time or brand new employees.  If you manufacture something, take a short video of the production floor.  People love to look behind the curtains.
4. Lots of opportunity to share.  On all of their posts and content, Weezer offers an “Add This” button, which lets you send a link to that content via email, or share the content on Facebook, Twitter, or other social networking sites.  Using plugins or software like Add This or Share This (which is what I use on Life Is Local) allows people to quickly pass the information along to their friends and family.  Make it easy for your customers to share great info from your site and your content could go viral and new business is the result.  And, you can also join the Weezers site and email list (and once again, do you have an email list?).
5. Don’t be afraid to sell.  When you first go to the Weezer website (and you’re not logged in as a fan), you are presented with an offer for their new album, Raditude, and the Weezer Snuggie (yes, it’s the blanket with arms).  Even though this is a fun way to sell their album, they’re not afraid to pitch their product (the new album) and you shouldn’t be afraid either.  After all, you’re in business.  If you have a special deal or a sale going on, then let people know, and do it front and center.  And use your email list to drive people to the information on your website.  Don’t be bashful when it comes to making sales.

I’m always pleasantly surprised when I stumble across great marketing, and I’m especially pleased when its for a product or service I love (like Weezer!).  I ended up purchasing the $3.99 version of Raditude from Amazon.com, and I’m listening to it now.  So, take some time to check out the Weezer site and the SPIN article, and get your Weezer Snuggie while supplies last!

As an added bonus, here is a video from Weezer with Hootenanny instructions:

And, here’s my new favorite song, (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To: