Have you watched the show “Ludo Bites America” on the Sundance Channel? This reality show focuses on famous French Chef, Ludo Lefebvre, and his wife, Krissy, as they travel the US to set up pop-up restaurants by combining Ludo’s 5-star talents with local favorites. This helps inspire restaurant owners to shake things up and live outside of their comfort zone, while giving their customers a new taste on some of their local favorite dishes.

On a recent episode, Ludo and Krissy travel to North Omaha in search of local Americana cuisine. They stop in at Big Mama’s Kitchen. As a former owner of an award-winning fine dining establishment, I have a particular interest in the creativity of the culinary arts. As a business owner and marketer, I am always on the lookout for evolving ideas that are transforming the way people connect with their target audience.

In this episode, we get to know Big Mama, somewhat a local celebrity for her food and her charitable contributions. Intro the Lefebvres, a couple of no particular importance to Big Mama other than being paying customers. Ludo and Krissy propose their pop-up restaurant idea to Big Mama. She says she has to think about allowing them to invade her kitchen. As a former restaurateur, I can tell you, owners … especially owner / chefs … are very protective of their space and their customers. Couple this with the fact that Ludo proposes serving French infused soul food at Big Mama’s Kitchen when she finds French cuisine boring, and you’ve got the necessary drama for reality show success.

I recommend you check out the episode. It is entertaining. Plus, the culinary creations look incredible. However, as s solopreneur, you can learn so much more than what “a la minute” means in the culinary world.

Here are 5 key small business points to take away from this episode.

1. Put your assumptions aside.

2. Step outside your comfort zone.

3. It takes evolution to stay ahead of the competition and keep your customers interested.

4. Who can you partner with to introduce you to a new audience? And when it’s possible, partner with a recognizable, influential person or business.

5. Don’t assume social media won’t work for you.

All the Best,

Doug Dolan
The Solopreneur’s Guide

This may sound like a strange topic for a solopreneur site, but unless you are investing in your SEO education, you are likely unaware that you are feeding a Panda. And if you provide this Panda with the wrong diet, your site could end up dinged with a lower page ranking on Google.

The Panda of today’s topic isn’t about the endangered black and white Chinese bear, but a machine learning algorithm created by Google engineer, Navneet Panda. Actually a version 2.2 Panda released in March.

It used to be that you could follow some basic SEO rules for page ranking dominance:

• Create keyword-rich original content on a regular basis
• Include keywords in your tags, titles, slugs and descriptions
• Get links back from quality sites
• Design user-pleasing pages clutter-free from spammy ads
• Include social media icons for easy sharing
• Include your content on a variety of social networking sites and directories

However, with the Internet becoming a more crowded and competitive virtual arena of solopreneurs, you now must do more so your site can stand out as a source of quality versus those that try to play tricks to grab attention and credit card numbers.

Google realizes this, so they created this machine learning algorithm, Panda, to assess how content creators disseminate information and offer sales opportunities to users and how users react to determine how they need to alter their page rankings.

One of the big changes with Panda is Google paying more attention to user and usage data metrics … i.e. How long do visitors spend on your site? Are they viewing multiple pages? Are they bouncing back out of the site after a quick review? How are your CTR (click through rates) from SERPs (search engine results pages)? What is the diversity of viewers? Panda can measure this through Chrome, Android, Google Toolbar, and more. When people click through to your site, do they stay and browse multiple pages or do they bounce right back to the search result that brought them there?

Google realizes that their algorithms aren’t perfect, so they try to create balance by employing quality raters (people who review sites per Google’s guidelines) to provide a human review of sites that may be unduly liked or disliked by their algorithm. This isn’t a fault-free system, but it is the system in which your site operates.

Some key guidelines quality raters use for rating sites include:

• How would you assess the design aesthetic of this site?
• Do you consider this site to be authoritative?
• Would you be comfortable giving medicine prescribed by this site to your kids?
• Would you give this site your credit card?

So how do you feed this ruling Panda?

1. Implement the tools that will allow you to watch your site’s metrics,
2. invest in your SEO education and implementation, or
3. invest in a SEO consultant who knows how to strategize, optimize and socialize effectively.

All the Best,

Doug Dolan
The Solopreneur’s Guide

While social media, social networking, spending time on Facebook … however you refer to connecting with prospects and customers on the Internet … can seem very daunting and confusing, there really are just six basic elements that you need to master.

1. Research
While most people, including businesses, are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn, does your target market spend time in each of these networks? If you’re a B2C marketing consultant, chances are you’ll find your customers spending time in the Big 4. However, if you’re a restaurant or other independently-owned small retail shop, you may be spending needless time on some of these sites. When you do your research, find definitive answers to these primary questions: Who are my primary customers? Where do they hang out? What are they interested in? What can I give them that is going to be of value to them?

2. Plan
Social media isn’t (just) a popularity contest. It’s about connecting and conversing with the right people. There are services that you can pay to increase your Twitter or Facebook following by thousands, but if none of these new-found fans are interested in what you have to offer, is it worth the investment? After you perform your research, create a plan defining the following: primary prospects, customers, primary competitors, goals, focus for your social media content, frequency, and sub-locations in each network (these can be groups, fan pages, Q&A forums, etc.).

3. Observe
If I were to ask you, why do you think you need to become active in social media, you’re likely to respond with: “I want to sell more.” A big part of selling is observing the behaviors and actions of your target market. Your research will help you find where your idea customers are spending time, but it isn’t until you join the party that you’ll discover how the prospects in each of these forums interact. Interactions on Facebook are different from the conversations on LinkedIn. You can’t create quality contributions, if you don’t understand how and why people engage in each network.

4. Engage
Engage influencers in the forums. Engage prospects in the networks. Answer questions. Ask questions. Comment on content. Generate your own. Just remember when you engage, it isn’t all about selling. Yes, your goal is to sell more … more customers, more frequently, and profitable products and services. However, if you’re new to the network and you simply jump in by pitching your products, you’re going to push most people away. Take a deep breath. Remain calm. Remember to observe. As you make an effort to get to know people by engaging them, they will want to get to know you (if you’ve done your research and you’re engaging the right people without just trying to pitch them).

5. Respond
While TV and radio ads, billboards, print ads and other passive forms of marketing where the only option for getting your message out to your market, social media changed the rules by including the quality of conversation to the quality of content. Copywriters and ad men used to get paid big bucks just to create attention-getting content. However, with social media, customers want to be heard and understood. And you have the opportunity to do so, so don’t waste it. The best way to accomplish this is to respond to the comments that your market makes. Set your alerts to notify you when someone comments on your content. If you don’t have alerts in place, schedule times to go back and review any customer created content, and make sure you respond. Remember, social media is about being social.

6. Consistency
Connecting with customers and converting them into active evangelists spreading the word about your business takes a consistent effort. People grow weary of fair-weathered friends. Your customers want to be able to connect with you regularly. If you disappear on them, they will go spend time with your competitors that pay attention to them. If you look at social media as something you have to do, instead of something that you want to do, you won’t do it regularly. And you won’t build a following … or sell more.

If you struggle with social media, you can hire on consultants to manage it for you. However, make sure when you interview them, they get to know you, your business and your goals … and create a proposal that includes these six essentials.

All the Best,

Doug Dolan
The Solopreneur’s Guide

Does the title of this post turn you off? When you attend a live networking event, isn’t it all about you and your goals? How can you “succeed” if you aren’t taking care of your needs?

My kids and I had the honor of participating in a recent charity event for Fish for Life, a terrific NPO whose tagline is “spreading the love one boat at a time”. Fish for Life takes special needs children and young adults fishing from the Dana Point harbor in southern California. In addition to learning about fishing, these special anglers participate in a communal experience of watching dolphin, learning about some of the different sea life they catch and feeling honored by Fish for Life’s special red carpet introductions and awards.

When you seek out various live networking events in your area, have you considered giving of your time as a volunteer for a charity event? You can still achieve your goals of connecting with other possible partners and customers while benefiting a worthy cause.

Here are just 2 networking benefits you can gain from participating in a charity event:

1. Meeting new people in a relaxed setting.
Have you attended live networking events where it feels as if all those attending have their guard up because they don’t want to be “sold”, all they want to do is sell to you? In these settings, many attendees (you included) gear up with the goal of knowing the people they need to meet. When you participate in a charitable event, not only do you get the good will, but you have the opportunity to bond with other local movers and shakers who share a similar passion and want to get to know you because you bond over something other than business … in the beginning.

No, I am not suggesting that you give of your time for charity events just to network and see what business opportunities can benefit you. Quite the opposite. If you participate with this mindset, you will flag yourself as selfish, turning off those that are at the event. You need to go with a giving heart and not worry about your business in the beginning. However, when you work these events, the conversation naturally turns to questions of “So what do you do?” … and the doors start opening.

2. Experience how you can make a difference.
While making a living is an important reward, seeing how your skills can positively impact those in need is a priceless payoff. This is especially helpful if you seem to have lost some of the luster for loving your business. Giving of your time for a charitable cause can help you regain focus on what’s most important … getting from giving your best to others. The same holds true for your service of your customers. If you go in with a passion for positively affecting the lives of those that you serve, your rewards will be far greater than if you simple want to get to the green in their pockets.

BTW – My SmallBizMedia.TV partner, Maria, and I are very honored to be a part of helping Fish for Life grow. If you have a passion for helping those with special needs, or simply want to help, check out Fish for Life’s Facebook fan page. Simply by liking the page, you are helping to grow its exposure to help others with special needs.

All the Best,

Doug Dolan
The Solopreneur’s Guide

Did you know that today is the last day of National Small Business Week 2011? Did you miss out on participating in the week’s events? Did you feel celebrated and honored as a solopreneur and small business owner?

According to the Small Business Administration, this week is to honor the roughly 27.2 million small businesses here in the US. They list the following favorable facts about small businesses:

“Small Businesses are major contributors to the strength of the American economy.”
“More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business.”
Small businesses “create 60-80 percent of new jobs in the country.”
“Small businesses drive innovation, create 21st century jobs and increase US competitiveness.”

These statements sound like the perfect qualification for a cure to what currently ills our nation. However, how many solopreneurs and small business owners are feeling the love?

I’m not a pessimist, so please don’t take the following questions for anything other than an opportunity to identify wasted potential so those in decision-making roles can start to make healthier choices. For those in charge of this week’s celebration, I have a few questions ….

Why does National Small Business Week receive less media attention than a presidential beer summit?

How many small business owners were aware of this week’s events?

Have you considered a more inclusive event that allows solopreneurs and small business owners who cannot attend the event in person an opportunity to still interact and participate? Yes, I know you have links to SCORE and SBDC and some online training, but what about the option to attend the event virtually?

What are you doing currently to assist banks in servicing the needs of small businesses better?

The most important question is, “Why are small businesses honored for one week only?”

All the Best,

Doug Dolan
The Solopreneur’s Guide