Name: Jeff
Email:
Web Site: http://laughingravenstudio.com
Bio: I'm a designer, writer and Reiki Master/Teacher. I've traveled and worked around the world and have learned a lot of great stuff to share. I'm just discovering the power of Social Media and am using myself as Case Study 1 so that I can roll out great strategies to my clients.
Posts by jefhendrickson:
- If this is your first site, you have to put on some new thinking. You might not have full documents that would provide good content for your website because most brick and mortar businesses don’t require it. If you publish a newsletter, those are great content for the web. Put them all in one folder if they aren’t already. Put sales letter in the folder and anything else that’s been written by you to sell or advertise you and your products or services. Essentially, round-up all marketing material you’ve produced for your business and get it all together.
- One of the major tools/techniques that designers use to get your website seen is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short. Along with gathering your documents into one place, also start thinking about how customers think about what you do. Part of the art and science of SEO is to build keyword lists, titles, and descriptions that accurately reflect how people might search for you online. If you’re a shoe retailer, for instance, some keywords might be: shoes, boots, footwear, etc. I think this gives you an idea. This is something your designer will work on with you and he or she will do research on your behalf, but the first bit of information really needs to come from you.
- If you don’t have testimonials from customers or clients, start working on this now. If you’ve just struck out on your own after spending time working for others, you may be able to get in touch with clients who you had good relationships with. Ask them to write something up for you. If you left on good terms, ask your former supervisors or even co-workers if they’d be willing to write something for you. You’ll find that most people will be flattered to be asked and will gladly write something for you. If you’re on LinkedIn, grab whatever was written for you there.
- Studies are conclusively proving that in today’s world, a vast majority of people listen to what peers say about their colleagues and value the opinion of clients over anything you say yourself. This is where you start to tie into the power of community and social media. This is also the reason why ad dollars are plummeting – no one wants to be sold to. They want to discover for themselves, through social networks, who is good to do business with and who isn’t. Leverage this to give yourself an advantage and create buzz for your products or service.
- Creating a website and presence for you is a team effort. Of course, the size of your business and the budget of your project come into play here, but if you’re a small business or entrepreneur, you’ll probably be hiring and working with the designer yourself. When an email or phone call come in from your designer for clarification on a point, or to have you look at work in progress, respond to that as quickly as possible. That keeps the project moving forward and allows you both to be productive.
- I can’t stress this one enough. Start getting an idea of what others in your field are doing on the web. A good way to get this rolling is to open up your favorite search engine and start looking up those keywords you created earlier. Make note of sites you like and be prepared to say why when asked. But don’t just look at the home page, navigate your way around the site and pay particular attention to what kind of effort it takes to do that. Is the site intuitive, or is it hard to find what you’re looking for? If you’re looking at products similar to yours, are the descriptions clear and concise, or are you left wondering just what their selling proposition is?
- Here’s a quick quiz. Where were the links you clicked on? If you’re like 90% of the online population, they were the top two or three in the link list. Very, very few people scroll down to see what’s at the bottom and even fewer go to the next page of links. You however, as part of your research to enable the team of you and your designer to create a great website, are going to scroll down and hit a few towards the bottom of that first page. And you want to do that for comparison. You want to see the difference between a site well prepared to attract attention and one that for whatever reason isn’t quite there yet.
- Make a list of those URLs and give it to your web designer so that he or she can get an idea of the types of design you may be looking to emulate. Discuss these and listen to the input given to you. You may be told that one won’t work very well because of the navigation scheme, or that another will be way beyond your budget because of costly functionality. Don’t fall in love with anything – just like you’re told when buying a house – and reassess based on feedback from your designer.
Vintage Silk
December 16th, 2009I found a box of old 50s era ties my dad gave me years ago. These are the cool skinny ones and I’ve worn them at various times in my life. When I opened the box last week, they kind of called out to me again so I pressed the wrinkles out of a few and have started to sport them again.
He also gave me the sweet antique tie clips to go with them and I love wearing those. Not many men know the joys of a good tie clip any more and I doubt if I could even think of a place to buy them outside of a good antique shop.
So a call to arms gentlemen – rock a vintage silk skinny every once in a while and bring back the mystery and innocence of that golden age of flat-tops and tail fins.
Back with my Mac
December 12th, 2009Hi all,
You never really know what your Mac means to you until it’s gone for a while. Just picked it up at the Apple store last night and getting it warmed up again. Lot’s to do today and tomorrow to get caught up with clients patiently waiting for work. And now, what I’m going to do – like I’ve been told many, many times before – is backup this puppy with Time Machine.
Running out to see a client but I’ll be back with another post soon.
Jeff
Social Media = Business Design
December 9th, 2009That came to me on a train ride into DC a few days ago after listening to another of the great Inbound Marketing classes from Inbound Marketing University. And that might not be a revelation to you, but it kind of put things in a different perspective for me. A business is everything that encompasses “the business”. From your product range or service, to your bank account, your name, the website, the location, etc, etc, etc.
And then on to your marketing plan which today really needs to include social media in some way, shape, or form. And all of it is what I’m going to start calling “Business Design”. I’ve been designing and building websites for entrepreneurs and small businesses for quite a few years and what I’m learning and starting to teach others about social media is putting an entirely new spin on my business.
I’ve partnered with two other men to really build this up to a level where we can help people with a range of services. We’re developing a blue print that will help us guide new clients from bare-bones, I’ve got nothing prepared, to an up and running site with a Wordpress blog, a Twitter account, a Facebook page, and a well thought-out game plan for implementing it all. And that’s not it entirely, but that’s the core, and we’re getting interest in quite a few arenas so it’s gratifying to see that what we’re building is resonating with others.
So, back to our equation again – Social Media = Business Design. Social Media is a tiger with a long tail. The implications and importance of learning how to tame that beast and make it work for you can’t be over-stated. If you’re just beginning to build a business, roll your sleeves up and dig in with both hands. Craft your business around a well conceived Social Media plan and stick with it – don’t give up. Design your business with Social Media.
If you’ve been in business for a while and are ready to take it to the next level, roll your sleeves up and dig in with both hands. Weave it into your existing marketing plans to supplement and strengthen what you’ve already got in place. Design your business with Social Media. And for you especially, keep metrics. Test against your numbers from the traditional media efforts and see how things stack up. It’s my guess that once you settle into a good Social Media flow, you’ll start to see things happening quicker.
Most of all – for either group, newbies and wizened business pros – engage, start dialogues, and build trust. This is the new key to long lasting success.
See you soon,
Jeff
What We Can Do with Social Media
December 3rd, 2009Hi all,
I’ve begun to get a buddy of mine interested in Social Media and to me, it’s the next logical step for him. You see, he was a writer and editor for one of the big US papers for over 20 years. That came to a screeching halt not too long ago when they RIFed him along with many others.
So we started talking on our shared commute into DC and he listened. He was then approached by a college chess team to do some media work for them and the first thing out of his mouth was “Tweet”. Man he’s a quick learner. This morning we laid out an entire Social Media game plan to help this team and he’s more excited than ever.
Think about that – A chess team from a very small college goes to the big state of Texas for a tournament. Because of the SM plan started now, they have followers eager to read tweets posted on every move. Chess freaks will be able to “watch” an entire tournament if they so choose. They can tweet back, “Ooh, you shoulda castled there!”, or whatever it is that chess freaks say at times like that. The event will be larger by quantum leaps by using Social Media, and their entire community will get to feel part of it.
We reconvene tomorrow morning to begin tweaking the plan. Can’t wait to write about how it all turns out.
Jeff
Making Free Content Easier to Get
November 27th, 2009I was just listening to David Meerman Scott talk about free content and I learned that free really should be free. So, instead of asking that people subscribe to my blog to get the documents that go with the videos I’ve been producing, and other content I continue to produce, I’ve taken off that layer and put them in an open page.
If you came here earlier and didn’t want to subscribe just to get those documents, I’m sorry. You can go grab them now. Just click on the Documents Download button and you’re in.
Best and thanks,
Jeff
Top 3 Things To Prepare Before You Hire a Web Designer
November 27th, 2009Valuable Tips and Strategies for Small Business and Entrepreneurs
A great website project is a collaboration between a business and a designer. This “Starter Kit” article is geared towards sole proprietors, small business owners, artists, writers, etc, and you want to be sure to read from top to bottom – don’t skip anything.
These “3 Things” are crucial, remarkably simple, and just plain smart. By following them you’ll enable your designer with your expert knowledge so that he or she can can build you a site that provides your successful switch from offline to online marketing and business.
So, here you go. The Top 3 Things you need to do right now for your web design project.
1. Have your site content ready.
2. Be prepared to give input when asked.
3. Look at a lot of sites in your business niche.
And there you have it – short and sweet, but loaded with productive strategies. If you take the time to do this, you will distinguish yourself as an aware business person who values what a professional web designer can do for you. By providing your designer with this information you allow them to do what they do best, so that you can do what you do best.
To your continued success,
Jeff
Chris Brogan on Inbound Marketing University – Excellent!
November 24th, 2009Just watched/listened to the Chris Brogan presentation from Class 3: Social Media and Building Community, on Inbound Marketing University’s great lecture series. This is one of 15 videos IMU gives away for free, along with slides and a Certification Exam Guide and can be found at Inbound Marketing University.
Chris, founder of New Marketing Labs gives ten rules to live by in the world of Social Media and how listening should be your tool of choice in building a community around your brand. I highly advise you listen to this thoughtful and powerful lesson and begin implementing the ideas and strategies immediately.
Best,
Jeff
Special Thanks
November 24th, 2009Just want to extend a special thanks to all my new Twitter followers. It’s gratifying to see that what I’m doing is striking a cord of resonance with you and that you might find value in what I write or teach. I’ll continue to do my best to keep stepping up my game so that you think of me as a great resource or inspiring voice.
I hope you visit here often and will consider joining in some conversations with me as I work towards building a dynamic community that weaves it’s way in and out of the worlds of design, energy, and marketing. It’s a great time to be alive and the world becomes what we make it – let’s team up and do it right.
All the best,
Jeff
Thoughts @ 6:00 AM
November 24th, 2009Good morning all,
What do you say at 6 in the morning when you’ve been awake for an hour? Guess I’ve got a lot in my head churning around. Have had 3 interviews for a consulting position in the last couple of days and now it’s down to the CEO to decide. The head recruiter really thinks I’ll be great for their team and the grilling I got from the tech lead was just a bit unpredictable. His recommendation is that I belong on the team, even if I’m not an AJAX guru, which I’m not. If chosen, I’ll be re-entering the workforce – the kind where you have to get to an office every day. In a way, I guess I’ve gotten used to setting my own schedule and being able to work around things I need to do with my kids.
But I have been pursuing this kind of position for a while and it would be a great opportunity for me to get back out in the world and I’m looking forward to that. Even though I do have interaction with clients, I have to admit that I miss working on a team and being out. And the project sounds really great – working with a local city school system to build them an information retrieval and response portal. They’ve apparently had their challenges with getting, assessing, and responding to complaints, inquiries, etc and this project’s main objective is to get them out of a hole and back in action asap. My role would be to design and code the UIs. Sounds like there is a great team on the back-end, working mainly in Ruby on Rails – which rocks.
So, should be hearing something this morning. If I get it, I may have to get some new clothes as right now I have jeans and suits and not much in between. Well, I do think I have a pair of khakis tucked away somewhere. Guess I’ll have to pull those out.
See ya,
Jeff
Who Am I?
November 21st, 2009The last week has been a whirlwind for me. I’m beginning to implement ideas I’m learning online about social media and marketing and I’m amazed at the amount of response I’m getting on Twitter.
Before I really started experimenting I’d had an account there for maybe 6 months and had a whopping total of 140 or so followers. In three days of making valuable posts, engaging with others, retweeting cool stuff, and really paying attention, I’ve more than doubled that and right this minute stand at 320 – including Guy Kawasaki – which blows me away.
I got a call from a recruiter who found me on Monster and spent over an hour with him, going through his process. But what happened in that hour brought back memories of things I’ve done and loved. Of places I’ve been and felt completely at home. Of people I’ve had the privilege of working with and learning from.
So who am I? I’m a designer who loves creating things that mean something to people. I’m a writer who loves to give readers something to think about and a new way to look at life, love, and relationships. I’m a teacher who gets such a rush out of showing people a new way to do something that in some way makes things better for them. And I’m a dad who so, so, so loves his two boys and all the crazy, wonderful things they bring to life.
I don’t think I could live without being all those different Jeffs and doing all that, all the time. I’ve traveled and worked in many different countries and become a different person with each new encounter I’ve made around the world. I hope I can bring all that to you, in whatever way you want it because I’d like to be able to make a difference.
And finally, I hope that you’ll come back and see how all this continues to grow. I’ll be putting on my designer hat and creating videos that will teach design students and maybe even junior designers a technique for creating garment detail sheets for factories. I’m toying with the idea – based on a podcast I listened to lately – of creating audios, 1 chapter at a time, from a novel I wrote. And who knows what else I’ll come up with. I plan on having fun being who I am and sharing it with the world.
That’s who I am.
See ya around,
Jeff