Overview: MCS puts out this show twice a month to cover specific topics relating to marketing and public relations. Each episode averages around 3 minutes.

We Like: The episodes a brief and to the point. They cover very specific topics and techniques that would benefit any business owner or marketing professional. An easy listen.

Would Like to See: They would benefit from show notes and additional supplemental links relating to the topic at hand.

1. First Impressions - At a live networking event, first impressions are of course critical. Even if I meet someone that happens to need our services, I have such a brief amount of time to convey that I am competent, trustworthy and can actually solve his or her problem. The whole “vibe” around networking events can often feel like a rushed feeding frenzy.

A listener, on the other hand, has already developed a first impression, only at a time and pace that is convenient for him or her. There’s been no rush, no awkward silences. She has already become comfortable with my voice and generally has a frame of reference as to who I am and what I know.

2. Relationship - I have no relationship with someone I just met at a networking event. We’re starting at square one for sure. But I do indeed have a relationship with my listeners - even the ones who don’t write or call in. The listener gets to know me over a course of several episodes. If I’ve done a good job, the listener even comes to depend on me for my content.

That kind of give and take, even though we may not have personally met yet, constitutes a sort of relationship. When that listener takes the first step toward becoming a customer, we aren’t starting at square one. We have already been transacting in information, which makes future transactions less of a “stretch.”

3. Indoctrination - I’ve spent a lot of time over the past year trying to convince folks of the importance of blogging. What’s interesting is that I have a very poor batting average when talking face-to-face with folks. I often find myself in situations where I am asked a very complex question and expected to give a simple answer.

That question is often “How can I bring more traffic to my website?” As I begin to explain the very basics of search engine optimization, link baiting, backlinks and the like, I usually see my prospect’s eyes glaze over by about the fourth sentence. People in “conversation mode” often aren’t prepared to really learn something in-depth.

If that same prospect had stumbled upon our episode on blogs and blogging, he would have learned a great deal at a time and place that was convenient for him. It’s a totally different experience and often results in a potential customer that is better informed about, in this case, blogging, and why it would really help his business.

In conclusion: I want to point out that these observations are based on my real-life experiences with listeners that have contacted me to inquire about contracting the services of Promethius Consulting, LLC, of which I am a founding partner.

I hope those of you in business will take another look at the benefits of podcasting and consider giving it a go this year. As with any marketing endeavor, don’t expect it to pay off in windfall proportions overnight. Instead, I see it as a solid investment that pays increasingly well over time.

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We’ll do our best to get your questions answered on our show. Remember, the only bad question is the unasked question!

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I’m surprised at how many podcasters seem to lack a feel for their own pace. A common mistake is what I like to call the “pre-content banter.” This is the portion where the host and his sidekick giggle back and forth with each other, usually about inside jokes, and often make reference to personal minutia having nothing to do with the topic of the show.

One thing to keep in mind is that a podcast listener has an unbelievable range of choice at his fingertips. In five seconds he can back out of your podcast and start up another one. In fact I do this all the time.

There is so much choice out there that you simply have to respect the listener at all times if you want to retain that listener. Keep this in mind the next time you want to chatter on-air about what you had for lunch before getting to your REAL message.

In business, we all compete for the very best people. We visit with two experts today to gain insight into real-world techniques for recruiting the very best staff.

My first guest is George Lessmeister. George has fourteen years of documented success within the specialty recruiting industry. A former Sr. Regional Vice President with an international financial staffing firm, he was instrumental in the growth and development of a nine-branch region in the Central United States. Today George is President and co-founder of LGC Associates, a staffing firm specializing in the recruitment and placement of business administration professionals and food service and hospitality professionals.

George really knows his stuff! One important lesson I learned from this interview is that using the services of a good recruiting firm is of no cost to you until and unless you hire a candidate supplied by them. What a great way to reduce risk.

My second guest, Lorraine Ball, is the Founder of Roundpeg, a national, full service marketing firm helping small business owners find a starting point for growth and change. Lorraine’s articles on marketing, planning and business development have been featured in Contracting Business, The New York Forum, The Indianapolis Business Journal and The ACH&R News.

In addition to much great social networking advice, Lorraine suggested an online contact management tool you can find here: Jibber Jobber

If you are an avid reader of the hugely-popular Duct Tape Marketing blog, you’ll want to rush right out and buy John Jantsch’s latest book entitled Duct Tape Marketing - The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide.

I had a chance to chat with John about his book, his theories on marketing and some of the common marketing “pitfalls” business owners fall into. What I really like about John’s approach is that he demystifies marketing. He has this way of making it all sound fairly simple and, most importantly, attainable.

If you’re interested in purchasing his new book, I would suggest checking out his bonus offers page. If you haven’t read the Duct Tape Marketing blog, here are two of my favorite recent posts of John’s:

Does your firm suffer from feature creep? (How true it is!!)

Basecamp for Lead Generation (Very clever!)

Let’s look at the current mix of internet “properties” that make up the Promethius Consulting web presence. Keep in mind that these change all the time as we constantly tinker to keep current with internet marketing best-practices.

Promethius Consulting, LLC Website - This is of course our foundation. The site has existed in one form or another since 2000.

Promethius eMail Newsletter Archive - Although this is a sub-set of our main website, I list it here because it brings us so much traffic. Our archive spans all the way back to August of 2001. All that targeted content just sits there and works for the search engines year after year.

Small Business Radio Blog - This blog has been a key addition to our internet marketing efforts. High-profile blogs linking back to us in recent past include Duct Tape Marketing, Buzzoodle,Web Ink Now,The Engaging Brand and Marketing Profs: Daily Fix.

Small Business Radio Podcast - Our show has helped us make some great business contacts. Recent guests include Lorraine Ball and Executive Business Coach Jim Gleason.

ClickCaster Podcast Presence - This is a second version of our podcast. It’s just another way for folks to find us and start a relationship.  I’m always surprised by how many listeners we get through ClickCaster.
Promethius MySpace Page - Although there is much NOT to like about MySpace, it certainly does boast scads of users. Our presence is mostly used to deliver our podcast and to garner sign-ups for our email newsletters.

Our Multiply Presence - This is a little mini-blog designed to drive traffic back to our main blog page. It’s a quick way of creating backlinks in an organized and easy manor.

I could go on with descriptions of our various other little web properties and experiments. The above list will hopefully give you a little glimpse of the types of techniques that build increased traffic and awareness.

I’d love to see your comments about what is working for you!!

Before those major web update plans regress to the back-back-back-burner another year, ask yourself this very serious question: “What opportunities will I miss out on if I don’t get this done?”

Do you have a new product offering that isn’t even mentioned on your website? Is your staff page horribly out-of-date? Have you changed major focus three times since your last website redesign?

I highly suggest completing the following three exercises within the next thirty days. Your results will certainly motivate you if you need a little kick in the pants.

1. Examine your website as if you have just received a completed project from your web design firm. Take good notes. Are certain pages out of date? Is certain information lacking? Would you accept this as a completed web project today, or would you demand that certain changes be made?
2. Study the websites of your two closest competitors. Again, take good notes. Based on what you see, are there glaring holes in your own web presence?
3. Ask five trusted customers to critique your website. What do they like? What would they change? Offer them a nice little gift for participating. Their feedback will pay untold dividends.

After completing these exercises, take a step back and think about what you’ve learned. Don’t worry, if you’re like most people, you haven’t read your own website in years. You’re not alone!

The service is called “Badged.” The process is simple: Enter your page title and URL, check off which badges you want, and click “Create Badges.” Copy the code into where you want the badges to appear.

I haven’t tried it yet, but I plan to within the next week or so. Hopefully this helps all you time-challenged bloggers out there!

Thanks for including me Ron!

Most of you may not know:

1. I am a pretty accomplished musician/singer/songwriter. I play piano and keyboards pretty much by ear.
2. I speak Spanish.
3. I once talked my way on to Willie Nelson’s tour bus and hung out with his band for the day.
4. I love to cook.
5. I’m a sucker for a low-grade horror flick.

And now to tag five other bloggers, thus spreading this “virus.” Hopefully they will do as I’ve done, thus helping us all discover new and exciting blogs.

Lorraine Ball, Jose Castillo, Ann Handley, Andy Wibbels, David Meerman Scott

In this episode, Tony and Alan discuss many aspects of Permission-Based Marketing, including tips and tricks for your company’s email campaigns.

As an added bonus, this show features a special interview with John DiGregory and Tom Corey of Cantaloupe Shows. Cantaloupe is an Indianapolis company specializing in permission-based marketing, leveraging video to tell their client’s stories. Also featured: a portion of Alan’s tBGR interview with JibJab’s Greg Spiridellis.

View the Cantaloupe Six reality series.

“Any time you read a magazine, newspaper, journal, etc., always ask yourself ‘Who do I know that could benefit from this information?’ Cut out the article and send it along to that person with a little personal note.”

What great advice. Just asking the question “Who could benefit?” puts you in a nurturing mindset. Trust me - your contacts will not soon forget that you thought of them and took the time to send a personal note.

I try to clip an article and send along to a friend at least once per week. It’s really pretty easy to do, and again, it sets you apart. Give it a try for six months and see the results for yourself.

Other great blog posts having to do with nurturing techniques:

John Jantsch Duct Tape Marketing - Add a 2 x 12 to your foundation

Keith Ferrazzi - Finding your Currency

Geof Morris - Thoughts on Never Eat Alone

The well was dry.   The game was over.  I was about to be exposed for being absolutely irrelevant.  What to do?!?!

And then I checked a favorite blog and found this post.  Thanks Ron!

I can think of several times that I have been quite excited to meet a certain applicant, only to find out later in a face-to-face interview that his personality in no way matches his resumé. It’s a real time-burner to weed out candidates this way. Listening to a brief “podcast greeting” attached to each resumé would help greatly.

I continue to see podcasting as kind of a “third dimension” internet technology. It delivers a much more complete feel for a person than does the printed page.

There are lots of great networking opportunities with other podcasters, podcasting seminars and workshops, and of course exhibitors galore.

Here is the complete podcast expo schedule for this weekend. Their list of speakers is pretty impressive, including Andy Wibbels of BlogWild!, Peter Davis of ClickCaster, and Dave Jackson from the School of Podcasting.

See you all in Cyberspace this weekend!

It’s been a while since we’ve posted a podcast here at Promethius. It’s not from boredom or lethargy. Things are hopping here!!! Tony Valle tunes in to give you all a quick update on some recent goings on at Promethius.

We’ll see you next week with a behind the scenes look at the forthcoming Promethius staff blogs. Thanks for listening!

jotspot is a web 2.0 application that the Promethius staff has been trying out. It is wiki- based and is generally quite intuitive. What makes jotspot really stand apart are its ready-make wiki applications which include a project manager, blog app, spreadsheet app and bug tracker.

Google Blog Search aims all the force of the mighty Google search at blogs only. Of course, Technorati is just as good in my opinion.

This xml sitemap generator will help greatly in creating a Google-friendly sitemap.

What links can you share?

So take it from a “knowledge junkie.” Podcasts are amazing sources of nearly free learning. If you don’t supplement your ongoing education with targeted podcast consumption, then maybe you aren’t serious about getting that next promotion.

These are the 10 business-oriented podcasts that I have found to be exceptional :

1. CIO Podcast(website| feed)
   overview: Great in-depth podcast for the manager that needs serious technology content. Might be a little overbearing for some. If technology is not your main focus, then you can get away with just casual listenership.
2. The Engaging Brand Podcast (website| feed)
   overview: A look at how to create a great place to work by motivation and inspiring your people to high performance.
3. Manager Tools (website| feed)
   overview - Manager Tools is a weekly podcast focused on helping you become a more effective manager and leader.
4. Inside PR (website | feed)
   overview: weekly podcast on the PR industry with a Canadian perspective.
5. 43 Folders (website | feed)
   overview: All sorts of great productivity tips and “lifehacks” from 43 Folders creator Merlin Mann. These episodes are a bit shorter than others listed here, so might be a good choice for those with short commutes and the like.
6. Brain Brew Radio (website | feed)
   overview: Doug Hall consults for corporate giants by day, but with this entertaining podcast he helps the “little guy” by answering callers’ questions about business marketing and product development. This show is just plain fun to listen to.
7. Entrepreneur’s Journey by Yaro Starak (website | feed)
   overview: Yaro is a young internet entrepreneur from Australia. You won’t want to miss this fascinating fellow.
8. Diary of a Shameless Self-Promoter (website | feed)
   overview: Well-produced show with lots of great content. Business owners need to learn the art of self-promotion, and this podcast will get you well on your way to self-promotion greatness.
9. Search Engine Watch Blog (website | feed)
   overview: Everything you ever wanted to know about what Google, Yahoo and the rest are up to next with their ppc plans, measurement tools, algorithms, etc.
10. Small Business Radio by Promethius Consulting (website | feed)
    overview: O.K. - this is the “shameless plug” portion of this post. We do work very hard to ensure that our podcast is of great value to business leaders. We cover all sorts of topics, but tend to revisit the technical side of things perhaps more than most.

Man, she is SO GOOD!!

You other bloggers surely know where I’m coming from. When we find someone that somehow manages to stand out in this endless idea-tickertape we call the blogosphere, we really take notice. More importantly, we want to understand how she does it!

Well, I’m happy to report that after about 90 minutes of sifting through roughly ten Ann Handley blog posts this morning (with the help of three cups of coffee and a bowl of Count Chocula somewhere along the way), I have cracked her code.

So here it is. The 5 Things That Make Ann Handley Float to the Top of the Primordial Blogosphere Ooze

1. Attitude - You really get the feeling through reading Ann’s blog that she is a “glass is half full” kinda person. This makes me more inclined to see what she is up to before some other bloggers. It’s often said that being controversial is a very effective blogging technique. Ann certainly proves that just the opposite can be true.
2. Writing Skill - Like I said, I’m no authority, but I really think Ann must be considered to be a great writer. Reading her blog is somehow effortless. It’s like riding a bike slightly downhill. There’s not much work to it and you even get a cool breeze across your face.
3. The Personal Touch - Ann makes it personal. She finds ways to share little snippets of her “real” life with her readers. Lessons are often triggered by something her kids said or did. We just naturally feel like she’s a friend over time because we know bits of her personal story.
4. The Wonderful Pictures - No, I’m not talking about jpegs here. I’m talking about Ann’s ability to paint pictures with words. Who else, to convey the uniqueness of each of her children, would refer to “the Chex Mix of their unique genetic makeup?” Classic!
5. ROI - In the midst of all of the above, she finds a way to deliver very useful information. I just can’t see a weak spot here.

Maybe the rest of us can use these keys to guide our own blog-writing. I suppose I have already tried to do so with this very post. I never would have divulged that I had Count Chocula this morning if I weren’t a believer in Ann’s rule # 3!

We Americans rank about dead-last among industrialized societies when it comes to speaking a second language. There are many reasons for this — some valid and some a bit short-sighted. I happen to be almost fluent in Spanish but I rarely get to use it conversationally. I certainly don’t benefit professionally from my Spanish knowledge. For me it’s just a fun thing to do.

It’s difficult to get other professionals enthused about learning a second language, and I can’t blame them. We all are so pressed for time. We are spread thin. We can’t even catch up on our email. How can one commit the hours upon hours, weeks upon weeks, that it takes to truly learn a new language if she will rarely have a chance to use, let alone profit from it?

So why do I even bring this up? I had an epiphany the other day. I realized that I speak yet another language, and I use it and profit from it every day. That language is HTML.

“But you own a web design firm,” you proclaim. “Of course you use HTML every day!”

Indeed I do own a web design firm. But just know that I haven’t done any of the actual coding of new web designs for about four years, nor have I done any day-to-day website updates within that time. Those tasks fall to staff that are much more talented and proficient than I could ever hope to be.

So how and why do I use my HTML knowledge nearly every day? I use it in nearly every aspect of my role as Internet Evangelist for Promethius Consulting, LLC.

1. Business Blogging - This very blog is a perfect example. Some of the standard “off-the-shelf” packages such as Blogger and Wordpress can get you by if you don’t know anything about web coding, but knowing even just a little HTML can make your life so much easier! I would say that I dig into the code behind 90% of my blog posts. It’s always something, be it a broken link, a maladjusted table or whatever. Basically no problem throws me because I can look at the code and understand what’s going on. As a matter of fact, here’s a peek into an adjustment I did to the code to trigger the “quote” effect you see above. I added a simple html tag:
2. MySpace Development - Yes, to the utter dismay of our web development staff, I have created and maintain a MySpace presence for Promethius. I certainly didn’t do it out of my love of popup ads and MLM scams, but you can’t really call yourself an Internet Marketing company without mastering MySpace. It turns out that knowing even a little HTML is a major advantage in the MySpace world, and almost none of their users know any. The MySpace comment boxes, probably in an effort to be all things to all people, accept straight HTML code MIXED IN WITH NORMAL TEXT! This is really strange, but it’s a major advantage. Here’s an example of how I can easily stand out on MySpace with a little HTML knowledge:

Here is an example of a “normal” MySpace post from an average user:

And here is what a little HTML knowledge can do for you on MySpace. First let’s look at what I put in the MySpace editor:

And here is what I end up with in this particular MySpace forum thread post:

So hopefully the above images display what an advantage a little html knowledge is when going about your daily internet evangelism tasks. I do a whole lot more than just this blog and our MySpace page, but the lessons described above apply to just about all my other internet marketing activities.

Here is a link to all you will ever need to know in terms of understanding HTML to drastically improve your success in cyberspace.

Good luck!!

P.S. - Do you like this term “Internet Evangelist” that I use to describe my role for Promethius? Check out these posts for more ideas on how you can use the web to evangelize your product or service:

33 Places to Hang Out in the Social Networking Era

Fortune 500 Business Blog Wiki

Three Simple Tips from Pro Blogger

I had a history teacher that used to call these “watershed events.” You know… things like the Polio vaccine, Women’s suffrage, seedless watermelon. We were never the same after these things.

And now we have this: single sign-on from Zoho.

Avid readers of this blog have long since figured out that I am quite a fan of the web application developers Zoho. One minor irritation for users has been that each service or application required a separate login account.

Lately I’ve been using Zoho CRM and Zoho Sheet quite a bit. It did cross my mind more than once that it would be nice to log in just one time and have access to all Zoho applications that I use.

And now we have it. Oh joy!

Here is their full write-up.

“When you are writing a blog post, you frequently do it out of habit, and you do not think about the readers. You should, because they are reading what you write and deciding on the level of relationship they will have with you.”

Our own Episode 11 podcast is a perfect example of why blogging works. I stumbled upon Ron’s blog a month or so prior to that episode and found his ideas on Buzz Marketing to be really interesting.

I immediately wrote him a note asking if he would be interested in appearing on our show and he graciously accepted. The rest is “ep11 History.”

This process was so quick and so easy because Ron’s blog made the introduction for him. I knew he would be a great guest before I ever met him.

Do YOU blog? I’d love to hear your stories of benefiting from blogs.