Joe! Wow!!! This is a great "conversation starter" here!!!! Nicely Done.

Here's mine,

I help independent service professionals who don't speak "geek" to create powerful online marketing tools which will help them promote their service based business via the web.

The powerful online marketing tool... blogs... I set up self hosted Wordpress blogs for coaches, consultants, CPA's, attorneys, therapists, authors.... anyone who sells "nothing but air" (their knowledge/education) as their primary product.

I love these bloody blogs because I have people who can't set up their own email account who have blog style websites they update and use to add clients to their practices.

Unfortunately, if I beat the bushes with "I sell blogs", I get a backlash of people who either think blogging is a get rich quick system (it's not) or I get people who don't understand that all blogs are not created equally. There are many different blogging platforms (software) and they're not all the same. Some have significant SEO benefits over some others! One has a tricky little button you have to push to allow trackbacks/pingbacks.... an essential element of a successful blog.

So your call for a positioning statement is pure brilliance in my book! I wish I hadn't learned of my need for one the "hard way".

GREAT article, Barry!!!

I have a client who "lucked" into the perfect domain name for her business. Even though her blog is less than 6 months old and even though she has only posted about 20 times to it over 6 months, she's getting NICE traffic. The secret? Her domain name. She happened to register a domain name that contained the phrase her ideal clients are searching for on the internet.

The right domain name can put you MILES ahead of the competition.

When it comes to hosting, I'd place a much higher priority on service and support than I would where the servers were located.

One great way to do that is to either send an email or pick up the phone and call the number for support on the hosting company's website. After all, that's what you'll be doing if your hosting service goes sideways.

GREAT ARTICLE!!!

I've found that most people aren't able to write great content for their web site (and other marketing materials) because they don't KNOW who their target customer IS!

People write about what they know.. and frequently, what they know about is themselves and their business.

I've found that when asked "who is your customer", the businesses with the awful web sites almost ALWAYS answer, "Everyone is my potential customer."

When web site owners and business owners begin thinking about who their customer is and WHY that customer is making the choice of what business to patronize ... then the business owner is in a better position to be able to craft compelling content that speaks to their target audience.

I've tried blogger and was disappointed with the results. (Admittedly, this just after Google purchased them.)

I am a complete and utter fan of self hosted Wordpress blogs. With the right plug ins (bits of code which make Wordpress do more) you can create a very Search Engine Friendly web site.

When I published my book, I launched a self hosted Wordpress blog with the above mentioned plug ins to promote it. Because of the "sandbox" effect.... it took almost 9 months for my blog to appear in Google's index. When the blog finally emerged, I was ranked #9 on the search term "niche marketing guru".

I didn't welcome the "guru" label.... but I LOVED the traffic that came as a result.

Like I said.... I also tried promoting my book with a blogger.com blog and did not see any traffic from there to my HTML web site promoting my book.

Unfortunately, I've also observed a similar pattern with clients' attempts at "free" blogging sites.

There's a reason Micheal Arrington (of Techcrunch fame) blogs using a self hosted Wordpress blog and why approximately 1 out of 4 blogs in the Technorati top 100 are self hosted Wordpress blogs.

If I was going to use a free blog though, it would be Blogger.com. Google does show a distinct "preference" for their sites. (If I remember correctly, there were 5 blogger.com sites listed in the Technorati top 100.)

OUTSTANDING ARTICLE!!! Though I'd qualify the "in a few months".... to "after 100 posts or so" because when I launched my blog to promote my book, it took about 100 posts for the blog to "find" it's voice.

Blogging is a great promotional tool, but the results are directly proportional to the effort exerted.

#1 is a GREAT start... and I've found it's the most difficult one to implement with clients.

When the answer to "who's your audience" is "everyone", it's impossible to create a home page that clearly identifies what the web site was created to communicate.

When the answer is specific... such as "We work with CPA firms with fewer than 5 employees".... then you can create an opening message that "connects" with the visitor.

So many clients will protest... "But I can help ANY size of CPA firm!" More often than not it's, "I can help CPA firms and attorneys and Realtors and authors and chiropractors and...."

Tightly targeting your market can allow you to achieve the "less traffic but more sales" referred to at the end of the article!