Google, in their never ending quest to make the internet search experience more relevant, not to mention faster, is rolling out Google Instant Previews.

Back Button Joins the Unemployment Ranks

Google Instant Previews provides a magnifying glass to the right of the top line of the search results…

Clicking on the magnifying glass turns the Instant Preview feature on and displays a snapshot of the page along with the search terms outlined on the snapshot page as well as displayed in a call out box. Clicking any ‘preview’ icon turns the feature on for all the listings on the page.

Search Term Used: Best Toaster Ovens

How Does Instant Preview Affect Small Business Search Results?

What do small business (or any size organization) need to understand about the impact of Google Instant Preview?

• Consider how your website appears in the scaled down window that Google Instant Preview provides. Searchers only give you 8 seconds to convince them they’re at the right place when clicking through to your site; how many seconds will they give you when scanning through Instant Previews?One impact I noticed immediately is that Google previews don’t appear to like Flash as shown here:

• Be prepared, I believe, to see your bounce rate drop and a corresponding decline in site traffic – your bounce rate is determined by the number of people who click away immediately after landing on your page. They’ve determined from their initial scan that your site won’t fit their search needs. An example would be a search for a “motivational speaker” that lands you on a “car stereo” site.This is not necessarily a bad thing but if the wrong terms are bringing the wrong traffic to your site, it can be a bit of a downer if you measure site success by overall traffic (never a good idea).
• Better clarity about how your site displays keyword terms and phrases versus your site and, with a little analysis, an opportunity for improvement.

What’s Wrong with this (Internet Explorer) Picture

Interestingly enough, the Google Instant Previews icon was available in my Chrome and Firefox browser but not Internet Explorer. I’m sure it will but an interesting omission for the time being…

I’ve been out of touch recently with good friend and business coach, Elli St. George Godfrey. Elli dispenses business advice to established and would be entrepreneurs at www.abilitysuccessgrowth.com and moderates an interesting and informative Friday Twitter chat for small business owners that can be followed using #kaizenblog.

What’s the (Marketing) Plan

In the course of exchanging emails to arrange some catch-up time, I noticed Elli had added a tag line promoting her forthcoming book titled, “When Life Happens: How Women Business Owners Handle Personal Crisis“. Great premise and I’m sure it’s going to be a great book.

The problem, I noticed, was that while Elli piqued my interest with her tag line there was nothing I could do about it. In other words, there was no link leading me to more information.

Seeing a missed marketing opportunity always fires up my fingers so I sent her the following email:

Noticed your tag line about upcoming book. Do you have a publisher or will you self publish (not sure if you’d told me this before). What’s written so far? Do you have any excerpts that you can drive people to that will build excitement and interest faster than just a “it’s coming” tag line? I looked at your site and found no reference to the book. Are you planning a new website to promote? Have you registered a domain name for the book? Are you reaching out online to mommy bloggers, mompreneur sites and other woman-run sites to build relationships that you can tap when the book is out? I’m very interested in your launch plan.

More (Book) Marketing Advice

If I were advising Elli, I’d suggest that she have at least a page up on her site describing the book and providing links to excerpts if not whole chapters with a mechanism (email, RSS) to subscribe to future updates and social media links to enable visitors to spread the word.

Don’t Wait to Setup Your Social Media Presence

And don’t wait to start developing your social media channels themselves. I’d suggest that she create a Facebook page to support the book and use the Discussions tab to start a dialogue with her potential audience. If she can manage it I’d also have her start a companion group on Linkedin and promote it to working women business owners and other interested parties.

Both these social initiatives could be set up with the mission to provide a resource and create a community for women who are facing or who have surmounted personal crisis while growing or managing a business. Wow! How needed is that?

The fact is that close to 9,000 Business titles were published in 2009 so getting attention, and readers, for yours is a process that has to begin well before the ink is dried on your initial production run.

Building relevant traffic for our blog is often the biggest challenge we face. One great way to generate links and traffic is to register your blog with popular blog directories.

WebsiteMagazine.com recently published a list of 30 popular blog directories. I’ve taken this list and turned it into a blog submission tracking spreadsheet that you can download and use to track your efforts in submitting your blog to the relevant blog directories on the list.

30 Popular Blog Directories

Use this list to generate additional traffic for your blog by

• Visiting each of these directories and
• Registering and claiming your blog.

Then use this document to track your efforts and any login information and other notes related to your submission. Keep in mind that not all directories are appropriate for all blogs. Some serve special niches which may not be appropriate for the focus of your blog. Also, check within your own industry to see if there are industry specific directories where you’ll want to pursue a listing for your blog.  

Many blog platforms provide the capability to “ping” or notify popular blog catalogues when you create new posts but a more hands-on effort on your part will ensure that you create a more targeted, focused listing that will pay off in more targeted, focused traffic to your blog.

You’re invited to attend Social Media Essentials for Business - a free teleseminar on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. 

Executive Coach and best selling author, Marsha Egan, will interview me on why, as a business owner or manager, it’s essential that you add social media to your marketing mix. We’ll discuss the major social media platforms and give examples of how you can use these to build your brand, establish your authority, create relationships and turn those relationships into partnerships, prospects, customers and profits.

View the following video for a message from me as to what you’ll learn when you tune in on May 20th! (By the way, even if you can’t attend, go ahead and register for Social Media Essentials for Business and you’ll receive the free MP3 recording of the session to listen to at your convenience…

I had the pleasure recently to interview Jan Vermeiren, Europe’s foremost expert on business networking and the author of How to REALLY use LinkedIn, one of the best books on any continent for getting the most from your LinkedIn account.

In speaking with Jan you soon realize that he gives such great advice for using LinkedIn not because he’s a LinkedIn expert but because he’s a networking expert. Jan’s the founder of Networking Coach and came to the attention of the global community with the publication of his best selling book on harnessing the power of networks, Let’s Connect!: A Practical Guide for Highly Effective Professional Networking.

How to Turn 20 Minutes into 45

When I approached Jan for this interview I told him that it would be about 15-20 minutes in length. I was fully prepared to honor this time committment but Jan, as incredibly generous as he is, wouldn’t stop giving great tips, techniques and strategies on turbocharging your LinkedIn presence. So grab a pen and plenty of paper to write down all the great LinkedIn and networking ideas Jan reveals:

• Where the real power of your LinkedIn network lies
• How to quickly grow an effective network
• What are the 3 most important principles for getting the most out of online networking
• The biggest problems with online networking
• … and much, much more

Free Light Version of How to Really Use LinkedIn

Jan has graciously made a light version of his LinkedIn book available at How-to-REALLY-Use-LinkedIn.com. His primary site, Networking-Coach.com, provides links to Jan’s products and services as well as a number of great free resources on building your prowess in business and professional networking.

Free Teleseminar: Social Media Essentials for Business

Jan Vermeiren provides great information and if you want to learn even more about using Social Media and Social Networking to accelerate your business marketing, reserve your seat for a free, 55 minute tele-session that will reveal the power of not only LinkedIn but blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other power social media platforms to give your business the edge it needs in these tough economic times! This value-packed, free social media marketing workshop will be broadcast via telephone Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Reserve your seat now!

And now, on to the interview, enjoy!