Some nice publicity and recognition

[cbscreative]

It's always rewarding to have your credentials recognized by others because it means a lot more than tooting your own horn. In this case, a collaborative effort between three parties was required and took a few months to bring to publication. I was honored to be one of those three.

Although the target market is professional contractors, anyone in business can benefit from what I am sharing here. The end result is achieved by combining the perspective of the target end customer (homeowners in this case), my input as a web design and marketing professional (and homeowner), a contractor, and even a vendor who sells fasteners to the contractors. This covers every primary link in the chain.

I was asked for input on the blog post in the link below regarding the importance of a web site. To make the information even more useful, a PDF resource is included showing the easy to understand nuts and bolts components of an effective web site. To create this resource a successful contractor's site was evaluated and the site owner provided information on how the site has helped his business, and how it helped him reach markets that he otherwise could not have captured. I am also featured in the example as the web designer.

IMO, this is also an example of great marketing by FastenMaster which is the company behind it. By helping their contractor customers increase their business volume by pointing out the value of an effective web site, they sell more products to those contractors. In addition to the obvious benefits I get by being featured, I like the fact that this was not just thrown together as more marketing clutter. Everyone wins in this approach and SBF members can benefit regardless of your business model.

Here it is: Why Pro Contractors Need a Pro Website - FastenMaster (http://www.fastenmaster.com/post/items/why-pro-contractors-need-a-pro-website.html)

[vangogh]

Congrats on the publicity Steve. It is good marketing. I think this is exactly how blogs should work too. You provide information that can genuinely help people reading regardless of whether or not they buy from you, but since you happens to sell the thing that can help them, you likely pick up some customers.

[cbscreative]

I totally agree, vangogh, and thanks. I focus on the needs of the reader first and most posts do not offer any direct benefit to me or the client I am writing for. After applying this principle for so many years now, the recent changes with Google have been to our benefit. Those who tried to game the system can sing their dirges while I welcome every algorithm change that rewards customer focused sites.

[vangogh]

I think people often mistake a blog as something meant to do direct selling. Some people want it to be ongoing sales copy and usually can't think of anything to write. You can sell through a blog, but it should be more indirect. Mainly your blog is a way to get people to the site and keep them coming back. You can build a relationship with potential customers by not trying to sell to them every second.

[KristineS]

Nice. Useful information for those who read, nice publicity for you done properly, which means it isn't plastered all over the place, but is discreetly placed where it can be seen and absorbed yet not interfere with the content. As Vangogh said, this is how it should be done. Congratulations.