Does Spreading The Retail Gloom Help Us or Hurt Us?

I have very mixed feelings about an email I received from a friend early this evening.

On one hand, I appreciate the warning. I appreciate the sentiment about celebrating the holidays with family and friends, not bling and things.

But the business person in me can’t help but think that these email blasts only spread the gloom-and-doom that’s already keeping us out of the stores. Yes, we absolutely should slip the Visa cards into a drawer and head toward the mall bearing cash — a new study says 22.8% of us plan to, up from last year — or use our debit cards, like 41.5% plan to do. A return (even if possible) to the bloated excess of the boom-boom years doesn’t work either. But some of us believe firmly that innovation and new opportunities can emerge even in these highly unsettling times. These gloom and doom emails are a viral megaphone that threaten to to drown out our never-say-die American spirit.

Interestingly, the mood on the newer Social Media is much perkier. Tweeters tend to get het-up and pesky but try to share positives; bloggers get mad but share link love; Facebookers are tribal, joining groups, events, causes and status-donations. MySpacers are busy pitching their music while Ning’ers are simply passionate about their own thing. New Social Media is very different than the traditional old media world of email. Socialyzers are in-the-know junkies, wanting to be au courante 24/7. We feel our power (check my post on MotrinGate) and wield it deftly and swiftly. We’re passionately participating in this participatory media — not merely passing iffy information along as in the days of legendary email from Bill Gates, NPR, Disney, etc. If nothing else, Socialyzers want to believe we are in control; that crowdsourcing matters. After all, didn’t we just elect a new President? Traditional emailers are simply passing along the gloom-and-doom with scant hope of effecting change.

Hope and heart live on Social Media sites. Even in 140 characters life is bubbling up.

Here’s the email:

Wow, interesting times. I love gift cards but…maybe not this year.
Personally, it’s a good year to celebrate our family and friends.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
XXOO ~ Stores that informed the Security Exchange of closing plans between October 2008 and January 2009. PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

Circuit City stores… most recent (? how many)

Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide are to be shuttered

Lane Bryant,, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine’s to close 150 store
nationwide

Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January

Cache will close all stores

Talbots closing down all stores

J. Jill closing all stores

GAP closing 85 stores

Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January

Wickes Furniture closing down

Levitz closing down remaining stores

Bombay closing remaining stores

Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January.

Whitehall closing all stores

Piercing Pagoda closing all stores

Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.

Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
Guru’s Correction: I am thrilled to correct this — as Home Depot is one of my hang-outs. I’ve heard from them and this is very old news dating back to May.

Macys to close 9 stores after January

Linens and Things closing all stores

Movie Galley Closing all stores

Pacific Sunware closing stores

Pep Boys Closing 33 stores

Sprint/ Nextel closing 133 stores

JC Penney closing a number of stores after January

Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.

Wilson Leather closing down all stores

Sharper Image closing down all stores

K B Toys closing 356 stores

Loews to close down some stores

Dillard’s to close some stores.

Guru’s Note: I have not verified this information. It’s too depressing. I’d rather hang out at the Apple Store with the Nano Chromatix and drool over the juicy colors.

Here’s the update on store closings from Snopes.com.

Are You Ready to Build Your Business Blog? Take This Quiz.

According to a recent survey from popular blog network BlogHer, 36.2 million women actively participate in the blogosphere every week. Another survey lists 885,000 small-business blogs worldwide. 

On the other hand, some studies claim 60-80% of all blogs are abandoned within the first month after creation. 

The quiz below will help you decide whether you’re ready to build your business blog.  How many are these statements are true for you?

• I am passionate about my business or industry and believe I have something to say.
• I’m all about authenticity. I want to cut through the marketing hype and be real.
• I’m reasonably tech-savvy, am online at least once a day and in general, am comfortable using the Internet.
• I’m frustrated with spam and email filters; I can’t get info through to my peeps.
• I want to be seen as an authority or expert in my field.
• I am willing to commit to writing a new content-rich blog at least once a week.
• I want to be able to easily and frequently test new ideas for my business.
• Feedback is a good tool to improve my business. Bring it on!
• I know what blogs are and have a few favorite I read regularly, not just perezhilton.com.
• I don’t want to have to ask my graphic or web designer every time I want to change or add something to my site.
• Although I am no Danielle Steele, I like to write and love Spellcheck.
• I want to expand my business’ presence — go national and maybe even global.
• I want to build more traffic to my website. I built it; they didn’t come. Help!
• I want to build a media empire! I want to create ebooks and info products.
• I am patient and understand that a successful blog takes time to build.

Your score?

Blogging Basics: Six Surefire Steps To Starting Your Business Blog.

Now that you’ve finally zapped the nagging voice in your head that shrieks: You’ll Never Be Good at Blogging! it’s time to sit down and find out just how easy it is to get your new business blog up and running.

But before we get going, I want you to promise me something:

Ignore the Jargon. For now.
The alphabet soup of buzzwords about blogging and social media makes many of us feel like our heads are going to explode. Don’t let jargon like SEO, RSS, Ping, CSS, Technorati and ‘Digg it’ stop you from getting started. You can bone up on these buzzwords later.

Thank you. Let’s move on.

You have many (easy) blog software options.
Once you start researching choices for your blog publishing platform, these names will bubble up: Blogger, Livejournal, Typepad, WordPress. You can’t go wrong with any of them, although obviously I’m a WordPress fan. The sites make it easy to sign up with big buttons and headers: Express Yourself. Start Now. Sign Up. Take the plunge, even if parts of the Sign-Up process sound like Swahili. You can tweak almost anything later. Here’s what WordPress says:

You can get a blog started in less time than it takes you to read this sentence. All you need is an email address. You’ll get your own WordPress.com address (like you.wordpress.com), a selection of great free and customizable designs for your blog (we call them themes), 3 gigabytes of file storage (that’s about 2,500 pictures!) and all the other great features listed here. You can blog as much as you want for free, your blog can be public to the world or private for just your friends, and our premium features are completely optional.

Business Blogs should be about . . . (duh) your business.
Start with the basics about your business and let your blog evolve from there. Some bloggers begin with a basic ‘Welcome to My Blog’ and simply state the blog’s purpose. You might try some of these basic themes to get you going:

• Best practices for your business or industry
• Business/industry trends
• Executive promotions, employee updates
• Your business activities, successes, changes, events
• Blog about an expert in your field

Experimenting with different approaches will help you find your own voice and style. Try some short ‘announcement‘ or ‘news bulletin’ type posts, which tend to be 200 words or less. Try some analytical, How To, or Ten Tips posts, which typically are 300-600 words. Blogging is all about tapping into your passion and sharing it with current and future customers. There was a reason you started your own business. Go back and find that original bliss and a successful blog will follow.

Post something. Post anything.
Once you’re signed up, pick a template/theme from the many excellent choices and post NOW. Most of the blog software starts you out with a ‘Hello, World’ first post, which can be deleted later. Here’s the good news: even if you’ve chosen to have a public blog from the get-go, it’s highly unlikely anybody will find it unless you’re giving them the link. That means NO ONE IS READING YOUR FIRST RAMBLINGS. If you’re really paranoid that either your best customer or your 7th grade English teacher is going to discover your dreadfully dangling participles, you can choose to keep your blog private. This is easily changed later.

The Look of Your Blog
Most of the blogging services make choosing a basic look a very simple process. You pick a theme, choose your colors, number of columns and the overall look and feel of your blog. On WordPress, you can change the look of your blog with over 60 themes with just a click of a button. Each theme allows you to customize with various options such as uploading photos and logos. At some point, you may want to call on a creative professional to optimize your blog — especially if your blog is part of your existing website and you want to maintain a consistent brand identity.

You’re Not Ready for Prime Time Yet.
If you build it, they won’t come. Which is actually good news. You need a solid 30-60 days minimum to get your blog ready for prime time. This incubation period is even more important for business blogs, which after all, represent your brand’s voice in the blogosphere. Before you start promoting your blog, make sure you do these basics:

• Have written a minimum of 20 posts
• Posted consistently over the past 30-60 days — no yawning gaps in refreshing
• Have posts in each of your Categories
• Have optimized the blog’s look and feel, with the appropriate features and plug-ins including a Contact form
• Have written an ‘About’ page, which tells the reader who you are
• Understand the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Set up RSS feed
• Consider setting up a Blogroll which lists blogs you like
• Depending on your kind of business, post a Comments Policy
• Spellcheck!

Please. No More One-Month Wonders.
According to a number of social media research studies, an astounding percentage of blogs are abandoned soon after that pivotal first (and only) post — and 60-80%  are abandoned within a month.  Obviously, if a personal blog is abandoned, the consequences are limited.  But if a business blog is abandoned, it can send a variety of dire messages — including that your business has gone poof. 

Guru’s Note:  The Guru is a believer in the Web 2.0 mantra — Share, not sell — but a savvy business consultant I met after I spoke on Social Media at a terrific NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) event pointed out that I am woefully lacking in sales techniques.  She was right on.  I’ve been so blessed with so many incredible projects that roll in via referrals and readers I forget about selling my services. So thank you, Carol, and here’s my call to action: Hire me!  Check out the new Hire Me section here on my blog for the scuttlebutt on all the Guru of New & Crew.

The 5 Bogus Reasons You Haven’t Built Your Blog.

Thanks to an inspiring NAWBO meeting last evening, I’m republishing this:

You know you need to get your business up and blogging. You know the buzzy b-word is one of the most important tools in your brand building toolkit, the one that can quickly turbocharge your online presence. You probably even know that 175,000 new blogs are being built everyday. So somebody’s getting around to it. Why not you?

Here are just a smattering of the excuses I’m used to hearing from clients:

But I’m not a writer.

Not only is it not necessary to be a star writer, I sometimes think it’s actually a disadvantage. Too often we professionals wordsmith a phrase or header to death, substitute pretty prose for pithy bulletins and slave over posts so long they’re no longer timely. That doesn’t mean you should publish sloppy posts, skip spell-check or let your syntax be eligible for the next edition of the Grammar Nazi. But increasingly, we live in a world of pings, posts and texts; paragraph after paragraph of literary genius does not a blog make. Short but sweet rules. Lists rock.

But I’m not a geek.

Today, thanks to the wonders of Web 2.0 technology, everybody qualifies to celebrate National Pi Day and to build and maintain a thriving blog. Blogging sites like wordpress, typepad, livejournal and blogger offer simple templates that let you create a basic site in mere minutes. You can easily upload your business’ brand identity materials like logos, etc. Most of the blogging sites feature easy plug-ins that let you add everything from Contact Me forms to Tag Clouds with a mere drag-and-drop.

But I don’t have time.

You don’t have time if you consider your blog to be a series of articles or essays. But instead, if you understand that the origin of blogging came from the phrase web-log — and that these early blogs were simply a series of links with personal comments — then you can visualize your blogs as newsy updates or quick posts with a point-of-view. Even better, most blog sites let you update your blog from your mobile phone. Check out author and marketing genius Seth Godin’s blog, which perpetually ranks at the top of most lists. His posts are often just a couple of brief paragraphs, with lots of easy-on-the-eye white space.

But I don’t know a thing about all that Search Engine stuff.

In addition to dramatically boosting sales of Excedrin Migraine tablets, the term “search engine optimization” or SEO, describes the process of increasing both the quality and quantity of traffic to your website or blog. SEO is actually a variety of techniques that make your content easier to find for search engines like Google and distant runners-up Yahoo, MSN Search and Ask.com. And while, yes, SEO is a science of sorts, the truth is that all the fancy keyword bots and optimization programs typically aren’t any more effective than these three simple things:

• Post often, post regularly
• Post quality content about your business, using descriptive titles on your post and SEO keywords early on in your post
• Do the basics, like listing your site in Yahoo!, Google, DMOZ, and claiming it in Technorati.com.

Guru’s Note: I always tell clients that it takes a good 60 days to get your blog ready for the search engines. You’re going to want to make sure that everything from your domain name to your blog’s graphic look and feel to ‘populating’ each category with keyword-rich posts is up and running smoothly. Then and only then, do you tackle additional SEO, beyond what you’ve already built into your blog. (Check back for: The Top 8 Mistakes Newbie Bloggers Make’)

But will it really help my business?

There’s a good reason some people think BLOG really stands for: Better Listings On Google. There’s nothing like fresh, frequently updated, high quality content to improve your business blog’s ranking with the search engines, especially with Google, which now has almost 70% of the U.S. search market share. Blogs are inherently more search-engine friendly than even the most robust websites. Websites seldom get updated, but remain as fixed ‘corporate brochures’ while most bloggers post new content frequently. (Especially if they hire The Guru to do the Blog Refresh!)

But there’s another benefit to blogging, beyond the inevitable desire to generate traffic. Your blog is a primo opportunity to express — and extend — your brand’s personality. Your blog is the place to be authentic, to be human, to hone the many facets of your brand. This where you can magnetize a new audience, maybe that secondary psychographic you’ve wanted to reach. This is where you can experiment. Want to leverage the equity in that popular product of yours? Play market researcher and ask your readers what they think. Blogs — and their close relatives on Facebook, Ning, Linkedin and MySpace, are powerful tools for testing ideas, content, and new marketing campaigns. And cost-effective, too.

Okay, folks. Any excuses left? Get blogging!

The 5 Bogus Reasons You Haven’t Built Your Blog.

You know you need to get your business up and blogging. You know the buzzy b-word is one of the most important tools in your brand building toolkit, the one that can quickly turbocharge your online presence. You probably even know that 175,000 new blogs are being built everyday. So somebody’s getting around to it. Why not you?

Here are just a smattering of the excuses I’m used to hearing from clients:

But I’m not a writer.

Not only is it not necessary to be a star writer, I sometimes think it’s actually a disadvantage. Too often we professionals wordsmith a phrase or header to death, substitute pretty prose for pithy bulletins and slave over posts so long they’re no longer timely. That doesn’t mean you should publish sloppy posts, skip spell-check or let your syntax be eligible for the next edition of the Grammar Nazi. But increasingly, we live in a world of pings, posts and texts; paragraph after paragraph of literary genius does not a blog make. Short but sweet rules. Lists rock.

But I’m not a geek.

Today, thanks to the wonders of Web 2.0 technology, everybody qualifies to celebrate National Pi Day and to build and maintain a thriving blog. Blogging sites like wordpress, typepad, livejournal and blogger offer simple templates that let you create a basic site in mere minutes. You can easily upload your business’ brand identity materials like logos, etc. Most of the blogging sites feature easy plug-ins that let you add everything from Contact Me forms to Tag Clouds with a mere drag-and-drop.

But I don’t have time.

You don’t have time if you consider your blog to be a series of articles or essays. But instead, if you understand that the origin of blogging came from the phrase web-log — and that these early blogs were simply a series of links with personal comments — then you can visualize your blogs as newsy updates or quick posts with a point-of-view. Even better, most blog sites let you update your blog from your mobile phone. Check out author and marketing genius Seth Godin’s blog, which perpetually ranks at the top of most lists. His posts are often just a couple of brief paragraphs, with lots of easy-on-the-eye white space.

But I don’t know a thing about all that Search Engine stuff.

In addition to dramatically boosting sales of Excedrin Migraine tablets, the term “search engine optimization” or SEO, describes the process of increasing both the quality and quantity of traffic to your website or blog. SEO is actually a variety of techniques that make your content easier to find for search engines like Google and distant runners-up Yahoo, MSN Search and Ask.com. And while, yes, SEO is a science of sorts, the truth is that all the fancy keyword bots and optimization programs typically aren’t any more effective than these three simple things:

• Post often, post regularly
• Post quality content about your business, using descriptive titles on your post and SEO keywords early on in your post
• Do the basics, like listing your site in Yahoo!, Google, DMOZ, and claiming it in Technorati.com.

Guru’s Note: I always tell clients that it takes a good 60 days to get your blog ready for the search engines. You’re going to want to make sure that everything from your domain name to your blog’s graphic look and feel to ‘populating’ each category with keyword-rich posts is up and running smoothly. Then and only then, do you tackle additional SEO, beyond what you’ve already built into your blog. (Check back for: The Top 8 Mistakes Newbie Bloggers Make’)

But will it really help my business?

There’s a good reason some people think BLOG really stands for: Better Listings On Google. There’s nothing like fresh, frequently updated, high quality content to improve your business blog’s ranking with the search engines, especially with Google, which now has almost 70% of the U.S. search market share. Blogs are inherently more search-engine friendly than even the most robust websites. Websites seldom get updated, but remain as fixed ‘corporate brochures’ while most bloggers post new content frequently. (Especially if they hire The Guru to do the Blog Refresh!)

But there’s another benefit to blogging, beyond the inevitable desire to generate traffic. Your blog is a primo opportunity to express — and extend — your brand’s personality. Your blog is the place to be authentic, to be human, to hone the many facets of your brand. This where you can magnetize a new audience, maybe that secondary psychographic you’ve wanted to reach. This is where you can experiment. Want to leverage the equity in that popular product of yours? Play market researcher and ask your readers what they think. Blogs — and their close relatives on Facebook, Ning, Linkedin and MySpace, are powerful tools for testing ideas, content, and new marketing campaigns. And cost-effective, too.

Okay, folks. Any excuses left? Get blogging!

Born to Blog? Meet SocialNetworking for Babies: TotSpot, Kidmondo, Lil’Grams and Odadeo.

Social networks have a whole new target audience: babies. Despite the fact that studies show record global growth for current world leader Facebook (153%) and spurts for Hi5 and even Friendster, that growth is bound to slow as grown-ups run out of fellow grown-ups to friend request. The solution? The diaper set.

Today, the modern equivalents of the now-dinosaur ‘Sears Photo Studio baby brag book’ are bubbling up everywhere. Social networks start while the babe is still a bump with blossoming sites like TheCradle.com, a hot new lifestyle destination for new pregnancy and new parenthood. The site, currently in beta, has easy-to-use social networking features for Moms to be, with personalizable web page templates, thriving message boards and a wealth of practical information. Moms can connect with other Moms who are in the same stage of pregnancy to share and support each other.

By the baby is born, he or she is already Google-able and ready to toddle (or twitter) over to the next step: their very own social network.

While bebe is napping (or busy studying Mandarin with his nanny), Mom and Dad can check out these growing choices:

Totspot: The brainchild of a bunch of family-oriented Harvard grads, TotSpot is a place to create a private page about your kids and share it with friends and family. It’s an online scrapbook and community for babies, kids, and their parents.

Kidmondo: Kidmondo was founded by a couple in New York City, who – after the birth of their second child – couldn’t find an compelling way to chronicle and share news about their kids with family and friends around the world. The mission: Kidmondo is a comprehensive online baby journal and organizer that allows parents and caregivers to chronicle their child’s life and share it with friends and family in a safe environment.

Guru’s Note: Kidmondo’s founders very smartly included ‘caregivers’ in their mission statement. This is a fact of today’s life — the caregiver may very likely be the one to witness the first step or horrors! rub whiskey on the gums of that teething babe. Takeaway: Hire a nanny whose skills extend from web 2.0 to wee-wee.

Lil’Grams: This microblogging site — dubbed twittering for toddlers — comes from new father and entrepreneur Greg Narain of Blue Whale Labs. The mission: Lil’Grams is a real-time baby book designed to make it absolutely simple for parents to capture the precious moments of their baby’s life and share it with their family and friends instantly. The most precious moments of your baby’s life are countless – but they only come once. With LittleGrams, you can keep, track, and share anything about your baby.

Odadeo: Created by Stef Lewandowski, the site was soft launched on Father’s Day of last year but appears to still be in beta. The mission: Odadeo is the site that aims to answer the question “how am I going to be a better dad?” Whether you’re veteran of fatherhood or an outright newbie, Odadeo looks built to to help you make your father-son and father-daughter connections that much more Web 2.0-compliant.

Guru’s Note: There are some 85 million Moms in the U.S. and most of them seem to be on the Internet busily blogging (I’m one of them). So it’s about time the Dads start turning up in droves. One of the most frequently asked questions at events where Kat Gordon of Mom-marketing company, Maternal Instinct, and I team up to speak is: What about the Dads?