HubSpot is brilliant but you can’t afford it

Posted by Chris on September 13th, 2012

HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing system is amazing. Started by ex-Venture Capitalist Brian Halligan and web architect and blogger Dharmesh Shah who basically saw that startups and growth companies needed a new way of marketing, HubSpot is a truly revolutionary concept ( Inbound Marketing ) and system.

As a business angel and sales, marketing and business strategy specialist with startups and growth companies I have recommended HubSpot to a number of my clients. Some have installed HubSpot and I have been privileged to be involved in the installation and operation of the system. One has changed from HubSpot to WordPress. This was a change that I resisted as I was sure that HubSpot style Internet Marketing was the future and would, eventually, lead to great results for my client  but as I debated the pros and cons of HubSpot and WordPress with my client I could see that it just was not going to work for them. It was too expensive and required skills that they and I did not have. Neither did they have the skills required in their partners.

In fact it turned out that HubSpot was moving upmarket -away from S.M.B.’s and towards larger companies and enterprises. I don’t think that it is any mistake that HubSpot’s pricing page’s –   http://www.hubspot.com/pricing/ – highlight a professional package that’s going to cost $600 per month plus, potentially, $1000’s in setup and consulting fees. You would probably be looking at $20,000 per annum as a typical spend. I think HubSpot are being very fair in highlighting that on top of the licensing fee there are other costs aswell. If you don’t have certain skills in house e.g. Landing Page and Call to Action design skills and analytical skills then you will need to find a partner for this and pay them aswell.

Despite all this I am STILL going to recommend that you look at HubSpot and understand what it offers and can achieve before making any decision not to use it. You HAVE to understand what the HubSpot system is trying to achieve ( Visitors, prospects and customers ! ) and you have to understand most of the ways that it achieves this. The HubSpot mantra ” Get Found, Convert and Analyse ” should be burned into your brain in the same way that it is burned into mine.

You must understand that a website is virtually useless if it is not FOUND, if it does not CONVERT visitors into prospects and customers and if you cannot ANALYSE how you managed to get FOUND and CONVERT  visitors to customers.

I can tell you that it is very exciting watching the traffic building to your website which results from the creation of great content and the distribution of that content through social networks.

It is also fantastic to watch how many visitors converted to leads and how many of those converted to orders.

Unfortunately when you are spending around £250 a month ( as my client was doing ) you are not getting the Professional package and you do not get much support so if you can’t do a number of things in house then you are never actually going to achieve the results that you need which means that you will never actually pay for the cost of HubSpot.

This is why I have spent months and months developing the WordPress based Internet Marketing Ecosystem which I believe is more suited to the average SMB and even large business. Of course in the last year or so HubSpot has developed the HubSpot plugin for WordPress and also Dharmesh has emphasized the importance of the WordPress world by investing in WPEngine ( the WordPress focussed Hosting company ).

STOP PRESS !!! January 2013 – The Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( mentioned below ) has now been incorporated into Centripetal Network Consultings’ Digital Marketing Ecosystem. Watch this video >>>> HERE <<<< to see how a system that provides all of the functionality of a HubSpot system at a much lower cost has evolved over the last couple of years.

BeachCherry helps pianist Van-Anh crowdfund with WordPress website

Posted by Chris on September 8th, 2012

The simple story is that Costa Rica Headquartered BeachCherry Corporation wrote a WordPress website for Australia based pianist and producer Van-Anh Nguyen. This might have been news some time ago when it was unusual for a company thousands of miles away to produce your website but these days it is accepted that it does not matter where you are based relative to your client – what matters is the service and support that you provide. It happens that BeachCherry also has offices in India and Europe but not, currently, Australia.

Van-Anh needed this website quickly and it had to meet an important deadline. That deadline being the launch of her ” crowdfunding project ” on Australian and U.K. Crowdfunding site Pozible.com. http://www.pozible.com/index.php/archive/index/7624/description/0/0

Crowdfunding ( raising finance online from people who donate or invest )  has become a disruptive force in the world and one that has emerged from the global recession to take the place of banks and to some extent Angel and Venture Capital investment. It is certainly disruptive for the music industry. No longer do artists have to chase managers and record labels ( who previously would have provided the capital to produce and market a new cd ) now they just need to raise money on one of the many crowdfunding platforms that exist around the world. ( Crowdfunding mainly emerged in the U.S.A. but has quickly spread to the U.K. and Australia ).

Here’s Van-Anh’s Budget :

BUDGET

I’d like to raise $4,000 for this project which will be split up into:
$1000: Recording studio time
$1000: Mastering of the 10 tracks
$2000: artwork and pressing of 1500 CDs
Of course if we are able to hit more than the goal, the money will go into the launch events (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast).
In fact she raised over A$5000 and this allowed additional promotion:
NEWS UPDATE| 21st AUGUST 2012:
Thank you to everyone who has pledged and donated so far! I love you and thank you for your incredible support. I’ve set my MINIMUM goal of $4000 as to enable me to hit my target. Of course, pledges are still accepted after that and if I hit $5000-$6000, it which will assist me in:
1. Producing 50 limited edition 1st single CDs of the ‘Libertango’.
2. employing a lighting designer for my launch show to create a reflection of colors, projections and video mapping for an experience you will not have had with a piano concert.
3. Add Adelaide to my official launch tour (and open to suggestions for any other cities)

How did she promote this project ???

Of course she used social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter aswell as her WordPress based website and the Pozible.com site.

No doubt friends and family were amongst the people that helped Van-Anh to get to her goal of A$4000  but there were also many people who did not know of Van-Anh directly. What do they get for their ” donations ” ??? Well everything ranging from posters to cd’s and concert tickets but for A$ 1000 you could have got:

* a 45 minute concert of myself as well as 2 string players and a DJ (just provide me with a great piano and I’ll have the DJ and string players sourced from within the city you are in).

but nobody took her up on this offer !!!!!! ( FOOLS 😉

Many of the people were happy to be known and others donated anonymously.

Best wishes to Van-Anh !!

Note:

BeachCherry Corporation is offering WordPress web and/or blogsites starting from $250 with a variety of themes available. Included within the pricing is guidance on how to get your website found on Google and other search engines for your products and services. Telephone: +1
(202 )
436-9487 2)and ask for Vick or email  info@beachcherry.com to discuss your particular requirements.

http://www.beachcherry.com/contact.html

Silicon Crossroads Technopolis

Posted by Chris on September 8th, 2012

The Silicon Crossroads Technopolis is a private High Tech. facility that supports Silicon Crossroads VCT investee companies globally. It also supports companies advised by M & A Rainmaker and the Silicon Crossroads VCT.

The Technopolis is currently supporting companies in ( for example ) London, San Francisco, Israel, New York, Costa Rica and India. the list is continually changing and evolving so this is just a sample of cities and countries supported.

The Silicon Crossroads VCT does not invest in all the companies it supports, it may simply provide advice and guidance. It is particularly interested in assisting startup and growth companies who want to expand from the U.K. to, for example, the U.S.A. and vice versa and also from other countries around the world into the U.K. and Europe. It is one of very few companies in the U.K. to provide these sort of services.

Lichfield Cathedral at night across Stowe Pool.

Managing Partner, Chris Windley, has established global networks via social media networks like Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook and Chris is regarded as one of the most influential people in the world by Internet Influence measurement companies like Klout, Kred and Peer Index. These companies operate mainly from e.g. London, New York and San Francisco. Since his days at Optical Fibre Network company Fibernet, Chris noted that U.S. companies tended to lead the European market by between 6 and 18 months and therefore it is vital to maintain contacts with High Tech. industry leaders there; especially the West Coast ( Silicon Valley etc. ) which remains the frontrunner when it comes to angel and venture capital support.

It is no surprise that some of the most important High Tech. companies in the world have emerged from the Silicon Valley/San Francisco area.

Chris maintains contact with Angels, Venture Capitalists and Founders via Internet networks like Linkedin, Google + and AngelList.

Internet Marketing Ecosystem – Update, Clarification and Future

Posted by Chris on September 3rd, 2012

The Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( I.M.E. ) has been producing some great results recently even when only partially implemented. You can find previous blogs on the I.M.E by searching on that term here. ( Use search box ). The I.M.E. is a strategy and a process rather than being absolutely rigid about the specific brand of product used. e.g. I recommend the use of WordPress for websites and blogs but websites and blogs based on other technologies and brands may also work using the strategy and process.

It should also be noted that if a website is already in place ( of whatever technology or whoever it is supplied by ) I.M.E. recommended products can be added and the strategy and process employed.

To summarise the recommended components ( products, brands etc ) are:

– A WordPress based website.

– A WordPress based blog.

– A Twylah page.

– Various Social Network pages such as Twitter, Facebook, Google +, Linkedin , Pinterest, digg etc. etc.

The WordPress website and blog and the Twylah page form the ” core ” of the I.M.E. Typically fresh, relevant ” content ” is produced on the blog and the Twylah page ( using the Twylah Power Tweet facility ) and then shared to the Social Network pages ( I use the Twylah share facility which I call Power Sharing ).

If we bear in mind that our overall objective is to get FOUND ( via Google etc. for relevant words and phrases ) to CONVERT visitors into prospects and customers and to ANALYSE how we did it ( basically noting what particular efforts produced the best results with the help of e.g. Google Analytics ).

If we also remember that producing a high ranking ( easily FOUND ) web and blogsite is dependant on ( amongst other things ) – It having relevant, frequently updated content; having on page S.E.O. and also having authoritative backlinks. Whilst conversion relies apon ” channeling ” the visitor through a sales funnel via relevant headlines, landing pages and Calls to Action.

The I.M.E. fulfills all of the above criteria. It would take a long time to explain all of the ways that it does but we can take a few  examples:

A blog posted on the WordPress Blogsite ( or page ) can then be Power Tweeted via the Twylah platform ( initially placing the Power Tweet into your Twitter community ). It can then be ( power ) shared to Facebook, Google +, Linkedin, Pinterest and Digg. This creates backlinks from all of these places to your domain ( the WordPress web/blog and Twylah page are all in your domain ).

It is worth remembering that Google is now looking at the whole picture rather than simply relevant keywords and phrases and backlinks so the fact that a piece of content is being shared ( liked, ReTweeted etc. etc. ) around multiple social networks is a powerful indicator to Google.

Poundbury Systems uses IME for Internet Marketing in Dorset

Posted by Chris on August 25th, 2012

Dorset based computer and telecommunications provider Poundbury Systems is dominating Google searches for ” Managed Backup Dorset ” by using a combination of the Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( IME, see link below ) and it’s own hosting facilities and National IP network ( also see below ).

Recently, Poundbury Systems launched a Managed Data Backup service from it’s Headquarters in Dorset. As part of it’s promotional campaign Poundbury Systems wanted to ensure that it was found for relevant searches using Google and similar search engines ( Many potential customers use search engines to obtain information about particular products or services).

Poundbury Systems has a WordPress based website and blogsite which is hosted in Poundbury’s Hosting Facilities in London. It is important to understand that these are high performance U.K. Hosting Facilities ensuring that a properly structured web/blogsite has the best chance of achieving a high Google search position for relevant search terms. ( Whilst the exact influence of website hosting performance on Google ranking is debated amongst SEO experts, the fact that it is a factor is not usually debated ).

The first thing to understand about the use of an Internet Marketing Ecosystem is that you must understand what search terms you want to rank for ( this means what would someone type into the Google etc search box in order to find your products or services ). In this case the products, services and therefore search terms are ” Managed Data Backup ” and similar and related words and phrases.

The ” Managed Data Backup ” blog post below was created to complement the web page dedicated to that subject here – http://www.poundbury.com/futureline-assure/ . So this meant that there was relevant content available. The links to the web page and blog post were then distributed via Poundbury’s Twitter, Twylah and Facebook pages ( amongst others ).

I also shared the links via my personal Internet Marketing Ecosystem.

The results are pretty stunning with Poundbury Systems occupying the first 4 natural search results ( this may be subject to a particular persons search results but has been tested by a number of people ) when there are nearly 6.5 Million search results ( roughly equates to people searching on this term ). Other search positions are also occupied by either the Poundbury web/blogsite or elements of my IME e.g. there is a Twylah post appearing.

There is no Pay Per Click payment being made and no ” Black Hat ” SEO techniques have been used. This is simply achieved by understanding what the company wishes to be found for and writing and distributing relevant content. i.e. Content Marketing.

It is anticipated that this particular blog post will be found by people searching on the phrase ” Internet Marketing in Dorset ” or similar and will therefore be of interest to those who might want to use Poundbury System’s excellent Hosting facilities and the Internet Marketing Ecosystem.

Relevant Links:

Internet Marketing Ecosystem link : http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2012/03/12/the-internet-marketing-ecosystem-this-is-the-way-it-is/

Managed Data Backup link : http://www.poundbury.com/poundbury-launches-fully-managed-data-backup-solution-from-dorset/

Poundbury National IP Network link : http://www.poundbury.com/internet-connection-dorset/

Shock Horror !! I am actually happy with my new Klout score

Posted by Chris on August 16th, 2012

As you may know Klout just updated the way that it calculates your Klout score. Those of us that care about Internet Influence scores ( and there are a lot of people who a) Don’t know anything about Internet Influence scores and b) Don’t care about them ) were not looking forward to this day as all previous updates have resulted in a ( sometimes ) dramatic fall in Klout score.

Mashable describes the change in the way that Klout is now grading you here:

http://mashable.com/2012/08/14/klout-update/

The essentials are that “Klout now  puts more weight on who your followers are and how you’re engaging with them.  Klout also now takes into account more of your real-world influence.”

So, given the above and the fact that my Klout score rose from 62 to 70 I have to be pleased with this because it appears to be saying that I am connected with influential people and that we are communicating with one another which is actually what I think is happening. The ” real-world influence ” also appears to have been positive.

I also like the fact that Klout is offering  ”  a look back at your most influential tweets and posts over the past 90 days. ” This provides a summary of who engaged with me and why.

Klout is now saying that ” You’re not influential because of a number. You’re influential because of what you say ( and perhaps do ) .” This is a great way of measuring influence. Klout’s objective now is ( apparently )  “ to make you feel important, and make you feel listened to.”

If you are trying to get your Klout score up then Mashable offers a rundown of some of the factors that play into your ultimate score below:

Facebook
Mentions via tag from other people
Likes
Subscriber count
Posts on your wall
Overall friend count

Twitter
Retweets
Mentions
List memberships
Replies from you to your network
Number of followers

Google+
Comments on your content
+1s
Reshares of your content

LinkedIn
Your job title on LinkedIn
Your connections
Recommendations
Comments

Foursquare
Tips completed – the number of suggestions you’ve left at venues that people have actually completed.

+K
+K from your friends now also plays a role in your score. Previously it only influenced what categories you were thought to be influential in, not how influential you were in general.

Wikipedia
Page Importance
Inlinks to Outlinks ratio
Number of Inlinks

Apart from Wikipedia ( should I write something about myself 😉 I have a substantial presence on all of these networks ( and more ) and I always felt that this was not being taken into account. ( My Klout summary seemed to indicate that only my Twitter and Facebook networks were being analysed ).

This may all be a PR exercise but I have to declare myself  ” satisfied ” with the new measurement and also it seems to me to be taking the right factors into account.


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