This weekend is full of goodies for you to read. I have read some already; while others I have yet to have a chance to chew on.

What are you reading on the internet this weekend? Share your great reading finds by commenting on this post.

Here is the Social Savvy Weekend Wrap Up for this week:

The Social Impact of Friendships and Lies -I found myself laughing as I read this post. Jason hit on such a relevant point of how watered down friendships have become as a result of social media.  Does that mean that social media is the cause. No, I don’t think. Read it to find out Jason’s take.

How Sticky Is Your Site? – Lexi uses her own client as an example of how to make your site sticky. Great read!

The Most Powerful Marketing Tool – Pat shares how the art of story telling can serve s strong component to your marketing strategy.

Reality Check: A Blog Is Not a Business – This had to be one of my favorite reads of the week. It is a good read for anyone looking to become a profitable blogger. The advice is practical and makes a great deal of sense. David Risely talks about getting real and understand how you really make money blogging. You have to read this!

I hope you enjoy reading these posts. Do me a favor. Come back here to this post and let me know what you read and your thoughts.

There are many people who think that there is some big secret to marketing online. Really there is not. Many of those same people trying to figure out marketing are already doing it, but may not aware of it. They just need to tweak their efforts a little bit.

Just about any business owner who utilizes the Internet for any purpose, will likely find that whether or not they intentionally organized an Internet marketing campaign; they may already be marketing their products and services on the Internet.

Do you have a website for your business?

Business owners who answer yes to this question are already marketing their products or services online.  Having a live website means there is the potential for curious Internet users to access your website. You may not be actively promoting your website, but you may still find that your website generates interest in your products despite the lack of promotional endeavors.

However, it takes more than simply having a website to increase your online presence and gain a loyal market that will buy from you again and again.

Do you participate in message boards and include a link to your website in your signature?

If you answered yes to this question then you are taking an extra step towards marketing your website online. Savvy business owners realize the importance of participation in industry related message boards. They know that these boards (forums) can be used  to create an interest in their products and services, establish themselves as an expert in their industry, and offer a link to their own website even if it is in the signature line of their posts.

If you are participating in message board and people know about your products, services, and website then you are inadvertently enjoying the benefits of Internet marketing. You may just be a part of the community because you enjoy it; but you are, in essence, marketing your business.

Now in order to reach your bottom line goals you need to make sure that when they click on the URL that leads to your site, that the landing page is marketing ready. You can do this by making sure that you site has everything it needs so that people know all about what you offer. Create some calls to action, have an optin box, and make sure that your content compels your market to pay attention. Present value for your visitors so that they want to come back to your website again and again.

Do you solicit feedback from your customers online?

Most business owners realize the importance of soliciting feedback from customers for business purposes. Whether it be via online polls, email, or client testimonials it is understood that client feedback is an integral part of business. Although the business owners may be doing this simply for a business purpose it is a part of online marketing.

There are several other ways that you may be marketing and did not know it. What you have to do is look at your overall plan, see exactly where you are marketing and how you can enhance the experience for full marketing opportunities. Discover those ways that you can leverage what you are already doing and add it to the market portion of your overall business plan. If you are not quite sure how to further benefit from what you are doing, it is a good idea to enlist the help of an online marketing consultant who can show you the way.

What are some of the ways you have been marketing and did not know it?

If you are reading this and you know how to market online, share your insights as well.

This week we are talking with Rod Kirby from the Success Center. Rod knows his way around the social media marketing arena well and you can tell from the posts he cranks out over at his blogazine. I thought it was a good idea to start this series of interview with one of the most Savvy Entrepreneurs I have met in a long time.

Tell us a little about your business.

My company is called, SBLS Enterprises. It’s basically a holding company for my intellectual and media properties such as The Success Center (Christian entrepreneur blog-a-zine), Inside the Success (online radio and web show), and an audio book titled, “Business Leadership Wisdom from Proverbs.” Officially, I’m an editor, author, speaker, and business coach. It’s a tough job but somebody’s gotta be successful . . .

What is it about social media that makes it so unique for marketing?

There are a couple of things that make it unique, #1 – With no overhead, no print marketing materials to develop, and zero fees the return on investment can be huge if utilized correctly. #2 – It opens up conversation and dialogue between the seller and buyer that wasn’t there before. Instead of going directly for the sale, the seller has the opportunity to ask questions and get to know potential buyers first.

What do you think most people miss when it comes to marketing online?

I think people get excited about the tools to help them market online but fail to understand the best way to use them. They just jump in without testing the water or reading the instructions on how to use the boat. . .

What are your top three marketing tools?

Firstly, I don’t consider them marketing tools, I consider them marketing platforms. A tool is typically used once and discarded (in other words, something useful but not valuable). A platform is something solid used to stand on. Something sturdy you can build something on top of. My top 3 platforms are Twitter, Facebook, and my blog. Twitter for starting conversations, sharing information, and broadcasting my offerings. Facebook for deepening relationships. And the blog for offering valuable advice, tips, and information.

What advice do you have for the business owner seeking a viable online presence?

Therein lies the problem, you can’t have just an online presence. . . you have to present value to visitors, followers, fans, and friends. A website is only as good as it is useful to someone visiting it. A blog is only a great as the conversations started there. Create something valuable and you’ll find the success you’re looking for.

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About Rod

Rod Kirby is a success coach, speaker, and editor-in-chief of The Success Center; the #1 Christian entrepreneur’s blog for small business, marketing, social media, and personal branding help.

He is also the producer of Inside the Success, the show that aims to equip entrepreneurs for success by going “inside” the lives of others making it happen in their industries.

Rod has been on the forefront of entrepreneurship since 2002 when he started his first business, a video game tournament event company. In March 2009 Rod launched his personal blog, The Success Center, where he shared inspirational success stories and offered small business advice. The blog quickly developed a following and in June 2009 Rod re-launched it with a “blog-a-zine” focus. One factor in the blog’s success is Rod’s multimedia content, focus on community, and consistency in delivering quality content 5 days a week.
Rod’s mission is to inspire, empower, and equip entrepreneurs of all walks of life for success.

You can read more about Rod on his very informative “About page” over at the Success Center.  You will enjoy what you read.

I like to read a lot over the weekend. I visit blogs that may have missed during the week. It happens when you own your business. The cool thing is that with tools like Delicious and Feedly you can bookmark great reads and come back to them later.

This weekend I will be reading the following. Read along with me or share your own Great Reads for the Weekend!

Here is the Social savvy Weekend Wrap-Up for the week of January 29, 2010! Have fun reading and learning!

How to Build a Beautiful Blog

Site Review: Where is Your Call To Action – I love learning from Lynn Terry!

Create a Blog or Website - Another goodie from Lynn. If you are looking into Internet Marketing or Affiliate Marketing to earn some residual income, Lynn is a great keep it real person to learn from.

How to be a Twitter Rockstar Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 - Regina Baker is my mentor and has been online as an Internet Marketer since 1996. I read her stuff with great care because I always glean something applicable from it.

How Well do You Know Your Audience – I just discovered this blog through a friend’s tweet and I have been eating up since discovering it.

If you want to know what is good to read here on the Social Savvy Online Solutions Blog, let me suggest the following:

Virtual Tour Tips – 12 Days of great information to help you organize you very own Virtual Blog Tour

Review and Book Giveaway – I am reviewing Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel and giving away 5 copies.

Marketing Tips from the Shark Tank – Do you watch The Shark Tank? I do. You always learn some of the more valuable lessons for business.

Social Savvy Online Solutions is all about helping you find ways to make your marketing and promoting efforts a little simpler. I am starting something new here on the blog that I hope will benefit the readers. Every Wednesday look for my selection of resources of the week. These posts will usually include some WordPress plugins ( I am a WP snob….sorry folks), promoting resources like good applications for connecting to your market, and some old fashioned back to basis online marketing tools that every business owner needs to always keep up with.

My target market is the new online business owner so some of you reading this may already be aware of many of the tools I mention. Then again, you just may not be familiar so stop by every week to see what new stuff I add to the list.

On with this week’s resources…

• Zemanta. This is a cool tool that integrates with your blog, pulling out key words and providing images, articles you can research and link to, as well as key words you can tag in your posts. I love it because it makes the search for images so easy and I can just click relevant words and it adds it as a tag word. Zemanta also gives others an option to reblog your postYou can  also customize your recommendations by sharing your personal resources and contacts with Zemanta so that it pulls posts and articles from blogs and resources you read for you to recommend and compliment your post. Zemanta has many cool features like the “reblog” option where you can quote me by simply copy and pasting. Zemanta will automatically create the quote for your blog post. I can write a book on this resource but be sure to check it out because it is a very valuable tool.

• Hootsuite. This Twitter application is perfect for the person with multiple accounts or users of an account. It is very similar to Tweetdeck but has some features that Tweetdeck does not. Like the statistics tool which allows you to see what links you share your followers are clicking. This is a very valuable tool for the online entrepreneur because it provides real time stats and a way for you to see exactly what your market seeks. Hootsuite also has an iPhone application for all of you mobile folks. You can find a list of all Hootsuite apps and plugins here.

• iContact. I know most folks use Aweber or Constant contact for their email marketing but I have to say that I have been with iContact for almost two years and I love it! not only are they reasonably priced but they offer various tools to help you with your email marketing. The interface is pretty easy to get and they do not release your email until they have done a spam check. It is great for the person who likes their email marketing to be done as simple yet effective as possible.  If you are looking for a low cost option for email marketing iContact is a great option.

Stay tuned for more great marketing, promoting and project management tools and resources. Share your tools and resources by commenting below! Can’t wait to see what goodies you use

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Disclosure: iContact is one of my affiliate partners. This means that I may make a profit if you choose to purchase their service. Please view my Policy statement for more information.