No Time for Vacation? Find a Local Getaway to Recharge.

West Baden Springs Hotel, Midwest local retreat

 West Baden Springs Hotel

We’re under pressure to design and deliver innovative solutions to customers while besting the competition. It’s exhausting being great. It’s exhausting to just be in the race. We push ourselves with sugar, caffeine and other vices to keep the ideas flowing, keep moving forward. But let’s face it: your body is not a computer. There comes a point when you need a break. You may have a retreat close by, an oasis right around the corner that can help you recharge. I came by mine quite accidentally.

Family surprised me this weekend with a trip to West Baden Springs Hotel in Southern Indiana, a close drive from Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis. Known as the Eighth Wonder of the World, the building’s free-spanning dome was the world’s largest from 1902 until 1913 and the largest in the United States until 1963. The dome is spectacular, but what really sold me was the hotel’s purpose: a health and wellness retreat built on mineral springs. Within minutes of arriving I felt stress lifting from my shoulders, creativity sparking, ideas flowing. I’d like to think it was the spirit of the hotel doing the job it was created to do.

West Baden and French Lick were the Vegas of their time; people traveled from Chicago and all over to gamble, revel in jazz and, of course, booze it up. Even today, French Lick has more of a party feel, West Baden is more sedate, a place to rejuvenate. The spa is fantastic; the pool is 25 meter/built for workouts; the gardens and grounds invite strolling, hiking, horseback riding; the veranda is the place to curl up with a book and the atrium itself is full of elegant couches and dozing guests.

Instead of sitting at your desk battling with that report, presentation, pitch or story,  break away for a day or two and experience how much more easily your ideas flow. Find that unexpected gem of a getaway in your neighborhood–the time spent away from work could actually make you much more productive when you return.

Small Business: Use Content to Boost Presence Post-Penguin, Panda and Semantic Search

Now it really matters what you say and how you say it online. Google’s semantic search is one in a string of factors affecting your site’s ability to be found online; it is likely to  have the biggest impact in how you present your products, services and organization. The shift seems more personal for a small businesses owner. Are you ready to give up brand prominence on Web pages to gain visibility?

Help your site recover from Google Panda 3.5 and Penguin updates

Google’s Panda

Many websites have been seeing traffic surges and dips since Google rolled out  Penguin and Panda algorithm updates, which penalize spammy activity and reward high quality sites. This volatility can be detrimental to a small company whose business is derived from the Internet. There are great tips for SEO management and advice on how to recover from technical hiccups — your marketer can manage that.

Semantic search relates to the content on your website pages; Google connects them to searches based on the user’s intent and the search term’s contextual meaning. So if I search “how to roller skate backwards,” Google provides tutorials, videos and instructional material instead of pricing or retail outlets where I can buy roller skates. Google is getting smarter, so you need to be smarter about the content on your website.

Let’s say your company provides gardening services. A user is more likely to find your website by searching “how to transplant flowers” than a convoluted multi-word phrase. (Unless he’s a pro, he’s probably going to go for “Shasta daisy diseases” over “stem rot and verticillium wilt in Shasta daisies.”) Your landing pages should follow suit, recognizing the problem your visitor is trying to solve and citing solutions. How can you tell if a plant is dying due to disease? Provide a checklist of criteria. Offer a revival guide. What nutrients can help it recover and thrive?

Take on the role of the educator throughout the site’s content and promote how you will help the user with a call to action. This is an inbound marketing technique used to attract leads. It looks different from “at x company, we provide world-class service at the best rates in the industry.” Bet you a pretty penny the website visitor didn’t type in any of those phrases to arrive at your site.

This is a selfless approach, and it may feel like you aren’t promoting your company or services efficiently. You are, you’re just showing how great your company is instead of telling the visitor how great your company is. Illustrate what sets you apart by discussing common problems and presenting helpful information first, ahead of your company’s selling points. This engages visitors, keeping them on your site for longer periods of time. It adds to your site’s quality, something Google loves.

As the company leader, it’s vital that you are on board with how your products and services are presented online — it affects internal sales and other processes, it affects how you interact with customers. Consider how all departments can collaborate and develop customer problem/solution information. And discuss analytics and site performance with your marketer weekly and then monthly to see how Google is responding to your changes.

I’m no expert.

Since hurling myself into the world on Internet marketing, a process started via online education in hopes of career transition, I’ve seen sheer brilliance and a lot of noise.

Marketers are noisy people; they trumpet their place as thought leaders and/or experts in Internet marketing and its sub categories: social media, search, inbound, affiliate, etc.

Now, I graduated from University of San Francisco’s Master Certificate in Internet Marketing program in August 2011 and am currently pursuing Advanced Mobile Marketing and Advanced Web Analytics certificates.

But I’m no Internet marketing expert.

I do have a unique understanding of how Internet marketing bisects communications and sales. I spent more than 12 years working in PR, corporate and marketing communications for technology, consumer and entertainment companies in Los Angeles. I worked in film and TV production, corporate video, retail, even served as a recruiter. It seems random, but the diversity of working in everything from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups has given me wisdom that apply in the most unsuspecting situations. You’ll find out more as this blog evolves.

Your ideas = unique

As you set out in 2012, consider how wide and varied your background is. Jobs account for what you’ve done, but who inspired you along the way? Your ideas and creativity have percolated from work and also from play, hobbies, activities and time spent with family and friends. Your ideas are unique because no one else has had quite the same experience in life.

Your life experience provides the tools that help you add value, whether you are a small business owner, executive in a global corporation, administrative assistant, barista or plumber. Standing out is more about owning and conveying the combination of strengths, talents, knowledge and experience you already have.

Internet Marketing: Your Ideal Candidate

I’m in transition.

Preparing to segue from sales and corporate communications into Internet marketing and mobile strategy, I’m currently enrolled in The University of San Francisco’s Master Certificate in Internet Marketing program.

In the space between my layoff, cross-country move and foray into Internet marketing, I lucked into a retail job. You’d be surprised how many recruiters gloss over this experience. It doesn’t seem relevant to the job they are trying to fill, but I’ve learned more about marketing working retail than I did when I worked in the marketing department of a Fortune 500 company.

Because I now spend hours in direct contact with the customer.

When the store opens or my shift starts, the clock is ticking: I have x number of hours to hit my sales goal. My job: to engage visitors and produce a sale–regardless of where they sit in the sales cycle. This involves quick thinking, intuition and very savvy people skills.

I’m monitoring sales metrics throughout the day, adjusting strategies to strike a balance between volume, units and average dollar sales. Mentoring associates and teaching sales techniques as I help build their sales. Assessing traffic and conversion rates, asking: how can we convert more visitors into customers?

A year ago I started this job with zero retail experience. I’m now a sales lead, ranked the 11th highest volume seller company wide (across 344 boutiques) in December 2010.

I’m interested in you. Executives and hiring managers: what are your business goals, ideas, culture? You’ll hear more about my Internet marketing proficiency as projects gain traction and produce results. I’m looking for a job, open regarding location. But I plan to illustrate that valuable job experience comes from unexpected situations, roles and companies. And that what makes a candidate really interesting is the way they think and apply knowledge amassed throughout their background. Stay tuned.