Barry's comments

I would also recommend Feedburner.

There are many metrics to monitor for growth of a blog. Looking at traffic numbers is only one point. Time on site (I.E. visit duration) is critical.

In order to provide a worthwhile metric, you must first identify the goals you have, the audience you want to reach, and your niche targets for penetration. If you have already saturated an audience, growth becomes a matter of increasing frequency and duration.

Here are some tools you can use:

Compete.com is a good place to analyze yourself against several like-minded sites.

Quantcast allows you to see additional information you (or competitors) have for demographics, as well as where visitors are wandering.

Exactfactor.com allows you to track your search engine keywords for free.

Quarkbase.com allows you to see traffic patterns across Alexa, Compete, Blog Reactions, and several social media sites (Digg / Stumble / etc)

Goldie, if you want to stick up a Seattle based profile I could probably do it on one of my sites (it ranks for various Seattle media terms) or any SEO capable person could do it.

Howard is right, Biznik will rank for most Seattle terms very well (same type of directory structure powered by a generous amount of member activity)

I would recommend you spend the $200 elsewhere. You can submit your site to Google local and a variety of other services that will rank for free (if you PM me what keywords you are shooting for I'll point you in the right direction)

I am in Marysville too... but often in Bellevue and Seattle. I tend to make a lot of events informally.

If you would like to have a cup of coffee sometime, let me know! I'm always up to chatting and having some more go-go juice.

Rather than re-invent the marketing wheel, I suggest you really look at some like-minded businesses in your marketplace.

Take a look at the online presence of some out of town shops who do not compete with you here in the Snohomish marketplace: call the owner. Invite them to lunch. Take a short drive to Portland and talk to 3-5 business professionals.

You can use Biznik for this, Tshombe Brown (http://biznik.com/members/tshombe-brown) is the Portland Ambassador. For $150 and an overnight stay, you will get A LOT of bang-for-your-buck wisdom, education, and insight from peers who have already stumbled on the same questions you have.

A peer networking event is the ideal place to learn from. If you can get just a few souls to share a "Top Item", you end up revitalizing your entire stance in marketing with some tried and tested ideas.

Wow... this could be a ten page essay answer (unfortunately don't have the time!)

Who can you network with? - You can start with me. (I am one of those strange niche experts on social media and online brand/reputation.)

Biznik is more about having personal interactions both online and offline. It excels at exposing personal connection points, rather than 100% business connection points.

Biznik is also in a growth phase. Linkedin is at a stabilization phase. That means that in 3-12 months Biznik will do what members want it to do, rather than have members who already decided what Linkedin needs to do.

In my opinion, both Biznik and Linkedin are complimentary services if used correctly. They each offer tools and audiences not found on the other.

@Peter: "I'm curious why were you involved with nine or 10 different Chambers?"

I am a networking junkie and information sponge, part of social media is understanding the "social" and how it correlates both online and off. So I have been in 9-10 chambers, have been a member in 20+ other groups, analyzed over 75 BNI/Letip groups, in addition to Meetup, Zoodango, NWEN, NWIAG, Upcoming, MIT, WTA, Columbia Tower, Rainier Club, etc.

At the end of the day, it is all "social data" regarding how groups interact.

As an example in your industry: I've spent the past months looking at co-working space environments and collaborative thinking sites. Across the nation in 30+ cities we've seen a tipping point in co-location professionals. Some understand the social media space, others are just floundering as they try new tools with an untested audience.

The acceptance of these tools (aka Biznik, online networking, social media) is really just at an infancy. As economic and business changes happen, we'll see more professionals look at more effective ways of networking.

I think the main benefit of Chambers is to currently reach into an existing network. If you compare Biznik, it is another existing network.

You have to compare these Apples to Oranges. They are not the same beast. I have been a member of about ten chambers and in various other networking groups. Each chamber is a very different entity.

For 9 out of 10 chambers I have been involved with, the main "value add" is not happy hours or mixers. It is a political structure of networking into some local existing businesses. Unfortunately you need to ask most chambers to get this benefit... they do not actively know how to promote or access it.

For a Bellevue based business, I would recommend looking at 5-10 different local chambers (Edmonds, Lynnwood, Bellevue, Redmond, Seattle, etc) and reviewing the mixture of elements in each.

As an online SEO/social media guy, I also have to reach out on a limb and say "Most business professionals are not on the net professionally."

Sure people have Myspace or Facebook pages, sure some of them have e-mail, but a good percentage of business professionals rely on a company web site as the "online presence" for their business. As a generally rule of thumb, 4 out of 5 people in an established business have NO involvement with the web (and they probably don't care about it either)

So you should carefully evaluate your options and not put all your eggs in the online basket... make sure you have a healthy professional network strategy across a few different channels.

Looks like I have to drop off, another business meeting just bit into my schedule. I may be one of those folk who drop by later and picks on the Biznik night life. :)

The avatar displaying is controlled entirely by the blog you are on. If they support it (and you have an avatar) it will automatically appear.

As an FYI- if you have an issue creating an avatar: check out this article from Mashable to find a bunch of services for making some pretty nifty ones:

http://mashable.com/2007/09/12/avatars

If you want to "join the masses" online, you should register an OpenID and Gravatar account. Disqus is a very good service for bringing in visitors as well.

As to questions:

1- It may, entirely depends on the site you are on. There are different ways of implementing it.

2- I decided to have two: one is 123socialmedia and the other is barryhurd.

3- I wanted to build a brand around both online. For my purpose I wanted to make sure that both names were established online, so I flip between the two 50/50.

Having an avatar show up is GOOD for you, as it does increase branding and readership of your articles. People basically think "Hey, they spent enough time to have an avatar... so this is a real person." and it adds a little credibility there.

As an FYI: if you are using Wordpress, you can use this plugin to encourage OpenID usage http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/openid/

@Crystal

Syndicating your information means knowing how your data can be distributed. As a few mentioned already- some common distribution points are Biznik, ActiveRain, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.

Some real estate pros also use vFlyer, Craigslist, and the local news community (such as the Seattle PI blogs)

There are different kinds of data that can be used for online syndication: the one most commonly thought of in real estate is using your MLS info and making sure it is in Zillow and Trulia. You can also create new data (I.E. articles), but that takes times and effort.

You also have syndication channels with sites like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and YouTube depending on your niche of real estate.

I would also side with Adam on using your own site as the "foundation" for your efforts. If you blog on another site, you gain some short term benefits, but you lose control of branding and ownership (which are two pretty big assets)

Crystal - for the price of gas and lunch I'll give you a blogging 101 for real estate. ;)

I have actually been on ActiveRain since it started. There is a ton of useful advice on that community, but unfortunately a ton of bad advice too. I just wrote a piece on my blog there covering the painful side of service with Advanced Access.

For real estate pros, it really has mostly to do with consistency, finding a voice to have a niche in, and understanding when/where/how you can syndicate your information.

It also comes from understanding how to "work your network" online, and a blog just plays one part of that puzzle.

I don't track John too much, but Chris definitely has the Twitter thing down as a primary communication medium. For anyone interested in learning some tricks for useful twittering- I would suggest tuning in.

I am soooo overeating... I just loaded my car with all sorts of yummie treats. :)

I am going to be in the kitchen most of tomorrow.

Happy T-day everyone.

~Barry

Welcome!

Carlos, I would take the web + designer statement off and simply say you build better businesses online. If you cover the creation, marketing, and conversion areas of the web world you are far from being a web designer.

I have used Blog Talk Radio for several projects.

I agree with Leif on audio quality. Use Landlines. Coach those involved in getting a truly silent room: avoid laptop and electronic use, avoid wireless phones (including wireless phones attached to landlines), advise those nearby that a session is taking place.

Offer an incentive to participate. Like Leif said, a lot of people just listen and that doesn't create an exceptionally interesting call.

For commercial purposes: have an intro and ending clip. On blogtalkradio I break up previous shows into 60 second trailers to play at the end (it is called post roll advertising) and I have also used that time to have a pre-recorded plug to some partners.

I run into the same type of problem all the time- especially in web projects.

The biggest consistent mistake I find is that someone spends $25k building a site and $500 marketing/promoting it.

In the "big old world" of online development, I would almost flip those numbers around.

In most projects I have worked on that met proper benchmarks, for every $1 we spent developing a product or site- there was $3 spent marketing and refining it.

If you put all your $$$$ into "building it", then most businesses will fall prey to the "build it, and they won't come" ending.

I would recommend to anyone launching a business to try a few variables like you mentioned, perhaps 3 or even 4. Once a good ratio of conversion happens, then go ahead and back it up with the rest of the budget.

Strangely enough, when you connect the "Google" corporate structure there are dozens (if not hundreds) of companies that have been absorbed into the infrastructure. Some of them are active under their own brands, some received the Google brand, while some got flopped into non-existence.

The new keyword is a tool everyone should put in the "bag of tricks", but you also have to note the source of the information and the way it is presented is to promote Google's paid services (I.E. Adwords, etc)

Welcome to the community Ilse.

I encourage everyone to shake themselves awake from working for "da man" and realizing we are all gifted enough to succeed by ourselves (with the help of a few friends like those found on Biznik)

If you haven't attended it up here in Seattle- check out www.seattleerotic.org 2009. It is still months away, but a great opportunity to reach out to hundreds/thousands in your niche.

PJ- Domain registrars are a dime a dozen if you are just doing a few. You will only find a level of customer service if you start registering hundreds of domains through a registrar (at $8 a year, there isn't much margin for customer issues)

To some extent I am joking. I agree there is an empowering effect there for people, but the science of neuromarketing doesn't really matter if you know it is happening.

Trying to consciously ponder every single item you are exposed to on a daily basis would be a titanic undertaking... while wondering if someone just used subtle marketing techniques to reach you, perhaps you forget to stop and smell the roses?

If I were "defensive driving" these days against marketing like this, I would have to walk around with a bag over my head and throw away on my tech toys.

I haven't had a chance to read Martin's book, but I had got a good review of it from a peer. Unfortunately, I am a slave to processing mostly online information. :(

Neuromarketing is an extremely interesting field, so many connective issues in our little brain control how we react to things.

Besides smell, color sequence also plays a heavy role in how visual items are remembered. If you see a certain combination of colors in sequence, it triggers short and long term memory storage differently.

There are actually a series of laws pertaining to different levels of neuromarketing, as some subconscious advertising types were abused for a short while. For instance in college I studied a WWII case where shocking 1/20th second images were placed in propaganda film clips, which encourage "deep, gut reactions" to things we find unthinkable- and then tying that physiological reaction into war funding efforts.

From my perspective, it gets pretty scary these days as the amount of information we have about people (and our body/mind) has dramatically increased since WWII.