Do you enjoy reading mission statements?

How about “welcome to our website” messages? Photos of jigsaw puzzles and handshakes?

No?

That’s weird, because if we’re to learn from the examples set by our small business peers, this stuff is the friggin cat’s pajamas. Why would anybody do this stuff if nobody wanted to see it?

Because they suck, that’s why. And if you don’t want to suck too, here are ten things you probably shouldn’t do on your website.

1. Flash-driven design

Oooh – it moves!

I would have liked to think a few years ago that I wouldn’t be including this as the first item in such a list, but I guess some things improve a little slower than we’d like.

Let’s get this straight: Flash-driven design kills your search engine visibility. That means Google won’t love you. Google won’t even see you. Not even if you do your hair just right and wear your skinny jeans.

Not convinced? Jakob Nielsen, maybe the foremost usability expert in the world, says Flash is 99% bad. Think you’re home building website is in that good 1%? Lovely thought, but no. Not only are you shitting on Google’s head, but also the heads of your users. And that’s foul.

2. The Flash intro movie

This is the retarded cousin of the full-Flash website.

“Hey, what if we had our logo come in from somewhere off in the distance, really slowly…and then, once it’s fully visible, we’ll have the words, ‘integrity’, ‘innovation’ and ‘experience’ fly across…then we’ll-” STOP IT!

How long do you think you’ve got to grab you user’s attention? Hint: it isn’t 2 minutes. More like 10 seconds.

Most people won’t wait for your intro movie to play. They’ll either skip it or leave. So do your users, and yourself, a favor and ditch the idea.

3. “Welcome to our website”

This is another thing that should have gone the way of the pog but still seems to be clinging like crap on a yak.

People don’t like to read much online. They just don’t. So most of your copy? They’re going to scan it (if you’re lucky).

Why do you want to squander an already-tiny attention span on a headline with a central goal of reminding people where they are. You’re begging for a “no shit” response.

Unless your design is completely ass-backwards, people should have some idea of where they are just from glancing at the top of the site – where your logo and, ideally, a tagline or short description of your business should be.

4. We-speak

“We operate a fleet of vehicles…”

“Our team of experts is trained in…”

“We are certified to work on…”

Listen: nobody cares.

Your users are interested in the answer to one core question: what’s in it for me?

If your content doesn’t answer this question in short fashion, you fail. End of story.

5. Saying too little

OK, so we know people don’t particular enjoy reading website content.

But the idea isn’t to shut up entirely and communicate with hieroglyphics or vague statements like, “we create business solutions.”

Get direct about what you do, especially the value you provide, and tell the story of how you help your customers.

This isn’t a resume cover letter where you need to herald your achievements and qualities (nobody reads those either). This is your one chance to get through to a human being on the other end who may need, or want, what you can provide. Speak to them openly about what you’re offering, and give them the information they need (like social proof) to make their decision.

Give them a clear call to action, and then shut up.

6. Content that ignores search traffic

No, SEO is not the goal of content – but it’s a nice by-product if you do things right.

If you don’t do any keyword research before you start creating your content, you’re ignoring an opportunity to tap into the language your market uses to describe their problems (and the solutions they have in mind).

The language you use to describe what you do doesn’t matter when it comes to marketing. You’ve got to use the language your customers use.

When you do this right, the content on your pages matches the keywords your customers use to search. Then you’ve got a fighting chance to show up in the search results in front of people who need your stuff.

7. Overly-technical content

Similar to above, when you’re engrossed in technical work every day your language can start sounding like Klingon to the rest of us.

When you talk about your business the way your industry trade journals do, watch for the blank stare.

“We’re experienced in flux capacitor repair and carry top-of-the-line moisture evaporators…”

Yeah, that’s right, I just combined Back to the Future and Star Wars in one lame joke.

Does it really matter to you what’s technically involved in what your plumber does to make the poop go away like it’s supposed to?

You may love the technical side of your work, but if your language goes over your users’ heads you’ll lose them. They already will read only 20% of the copy on your page – do you want that 20% to be words they don’t understand?

8. No clear call to action

Once you’ve answered the question, “what’s in it for me” (see #4 above), your work moves to answering another question: “what do I do now?”

Nothing loses a user faster than the lack of a clear call to action.

And including your address and phone number somewhere in your footer does not qualify.

Big, beautiful and shiny buttons work best. The point is to make it obvious.

It isn’t that your users can’t figure it out by looking around. They’re smart people. The problem is, every one of us is a lazy bastard when it comes to web browsing. Make us work or think, and we get spiteful and leave. We could figure it out, but we won’t.

9. Zero inbound links or promotion

OK this one strikes a particular chord in me.

I help small businesses get more targeted web traffic (primarily through search engines). And many of the people who come to me have no idea that getting traffic can often be more work than building the website.

There is no such thing as a good “location” online. There’s no foot traffic. Nobody is going to happen upon your website – they have to be pointed to it.

If you take no steps to promote your website, and attract no links to it from other websites, you’ll flounder around in a tepid pool of nobody-loves-us.

Part of marketing online involves actually spreading the word (I know, novel concept). Having a nice looking website is a fine start, but if you want anybody to see the thing need a strategy for building links and attention.

10. Hiding your people

Who works for you?

Do they matter?

If you don’t think so, you’re probably a shitty boss. Hit yourself.

If they matter, why don’t you give them faces on your website?

One of the few advantages of being a small business is the close-knit, quirky personality that lends personality to your marketing (if you let it).

People want to hire other people they like. So let your people shine.

What kind of sad mistakes do you see small businesses making on their websites? Share in the comments.

Like most starters you probably don’t “check out” for the weekend (at least not entirely).

Most of us put some work in on Saturdays and Sundays. Since much of the business world quiets down, the weekends can be a haven to get some real work done without much disruption.

Why not take some time this weekend to make next week a little better?

Here are ten ideas to get you started:

1) Learn about what triggers people to buy (and adjust your sales pages)

Growing your sales is often about getting a better handle on what drives people to buy. People are funny creatures – we buy for irrational reasons, and we often follow paths of thinking we aren’t aware of.

Study the triggers that drive us to buy, and brainstorm a few ways you can use this for your own small business.

Reading materials:

• SocialTriggers.com – Derek Halpern provides killer tips on how to leverage user psychology to improve your online sales – and he backs them up with real world statistics and experiments
• Eight articles packed with tips on leveraging psychology to sell more

2) Rewrite your sales page

Once you’ve learned some more about what triggers people to buy, it’s not a bad idea to take another hack at your sales page.

The nice thing about the web is that you don’t have to achieve perfection in your first swing. Web pages are living documents – they can grow as you grow.

Charlie Gilkey wrote an excellent post on IttyBiz about rewriting your sales page – but as I write this IttyBiz is *gasp* “down for repairs.” I’m sure Naomi’s ninjas will have the site back up and running soon (so maybe check back tomorrow as you’re settling down with a cup of coffee, or booze, or whatever).

3) Create a new product or consulting package

I’m in a glass house on this one, so this will be my weekend homework as well.

When what you sell is your time and services you can’t sell with any scale – in other words, unless it involves you physically sitting down and doing the work, you can’t earn. Total self-imposed ceiling.

It’s also tough to sell your consulting if it doesn’t come in a specific package with clear deliverables.

Dave Navarro, who is a great source of advice on growing your online business, wrote an excellent article on how to create new and better income streams for your online business. (It’s the third article down on that page – but the other two are worth the read as well.)

4) Ask your customers for testimonials

By now we should all be clear on the power of social proof. What other people say about you is more important, and powerful, than what you say about yourself.

Testimonials are a classic way to turn the mic over to your customers. But there are a few problems with getting them:

• It takes forever (your customers are busy and often aren’t sure what to say)
• The ones you get are too sweet (your customers don’t want to say anything bad about you)

Sean D’Souza wrote two great posts for Copyblogger recently that dive into testimonials as a selling tool – and Sean gives up some guidance on how to get better testimonials that tell a story and get more people to buy:

• The Secret Life of Testimonials
• Six Questions to Ask for Powerful Testimonials

5) Write

Then write some more.

6) Contact one of your “competitors” and propose a partnership

An abundance mindset can get you a long way.

You may look at your competition as your enemy – until you recognize that there’s probably a big enough pie for you both to get a slice. If there isn’t, you may question how great a market there is for what you’re offering.

Chances are you can share your customers and not go down in flames – in fact, if you’re willing to both give and take referrals, you can stand to improve your bottom line drastically.

Johnny B. Truant wrote a phenomenal post on this over at Copyblogger.

7) Pick five new blogs to promote

Little bloggers grow up to be big bloggers.

Instead of worrying about hopefully getting the attention of an A-list blogger someday, recognize that we all start somewhere.

Pick a few new blogs that you’ve stumbled upon in your reading this week, and make it a point to link to them in your writing next week. You may not have a huge audience yourself, but for us new guys every little bit helps.

The thing is, the A-listers probably won’t realize that you promoted their stuff. That’s the way it is – there are too many people vying for their attention for them to notice.

The little guys, however, are thrilled to get whatever promotion and encouragement they can. They’ll appreciate it more, and you’ll be much more likely to build an ally.

8) Join the Third Tribe (and dive into the brimming pool of awesome)

OK, this one isn’t free, but take my word for it: it’s worth it.

The Third Tribe is an online community created by Brian Clark, Darren Rowse, Chris Brogan, Sonia Simone…and the list goes on.

For $47 a month you get access to some kick ass interviews between Chris and Brian, Sonia and Johnny B. Truant, Darren and Leo Babauta…again, it goes on.

On top of that, you get access to a forum where you can interact with a wide range of Third Tribers – the big names above and plenty of people like you, bootstrapping it and looking for advice and comradery along the way.

Click here to learn more (and sign up if you’re ready). I’ll get a little money if you sign up through this link, but I wouldn’t recommend this unless I used it myself (and if you’re not happy with the value there’s a 30-day money back guarantee).

9) Grow your skillset

Do you think you’re pretty much set with the skills you’re going to have?

Or do you believe the harder you push, the better you get?

Shake off your fixed mindset. You can start learning a new skill, or continue growing an existing one, in the next two days.

You just need to plant your ass and do the work.

(To become a better writer, see #5 above.)

10) Get naked

I don’t mean it literally (but hey, what you do on the weekends is your own business).

Most of us have a little trouble telling our story in a raw way. The more open we are, the more vulnerable we become.

But being open also makes us remarkable. Nobody’s story is quite like yours. Start telling it.

Sonia has some great tips on getting naked.

Subscribe to Unstuck Digital if you like this post and want to get more tips on leveraging the web to grow your small business.

When Malcolm Gladwell wrote in Outliers that becoming a master takes 10,000 hours of practice, he was probably trying to give us some hope – that success is more about your work ethic and persistence than being born lucky.

But most of us see that number, with all those zeros, and think to ourselves, “shit…that’s a long time.”

And it is a long time. If you practiced your thing three hours per day, seven days a week without fail it’d still take you 9 years before you’d be a master by this standard.

The hope of telling people it just takes “hard work and time” is that we’ll shed our fixed mindset – you know, that voice in our head that tells us we’re just plain bad at writing, we can’t design worth a damn and we couldn’t sell a bucket of water to a man on fire because we’re just not wired that way.

That kind of thinking freezes us.

If this was Malcolm’s goal in citing the 10,000 rule, it’s a noble one: to get people to quit watching the hugely successful people way beyond our skill level and focus on the work instead.

But the truth is, growth doesn’t take 10,000 hours.

Growth happens quicker than we think

Three social psychologists – Carol Dweck, Kali Trzesniewski and Lisa Blackwell – ran an experiment on junior high school students in 2007.

Many of the kids were poor students, and almost all of them showed the traits of a fixed mindset. They described themselves as “stupid” or said, “I suck in math.” In their minds, these traits were etched in marble.

So Dweck, Trzesniewski and Blackwell split the 7th graders up into two groups. One group was taught that we can grow – that our brains are trainable, and with hard work we’ll get better at the skills we want. The other group was taught generic study skills.

You can probably see where this is going.

The kids who were taught the growth mindset did phenomenally better than the other kids. Their grades improved significantly, while the kids who received generic study skills training saw their grades slip.

Within a year there were vast differences between the two groups.

“Mastery” is relative in business

The 10,000 hour rule holds water when we’re talking about mastery at the level of Tiger Woods, Beethoven or Bruce Lee. This level of skill is borderline absurd – these people come along once in a thousand years. And it takes 10,000 hours to get where they did.

But what about business? Do you need to be a master with 10,000 hours of practice under your belt to offer your services and provide real value to customers?

Whatever your niche is there are no doubt those people at the top of the game – the people whose blog posts you never miss. If you’re writing online, Brian Clark is up there. If you’re a search marketer, people like Aaron Wall are at the top. Web software developers no doubt look up to the folks at 37signals.

If you focus on the top, and how far you are from it, it’s easy to fall into the thinking that you’ll never crack the upper crust.

And you know – that might be the truth. The A-list, by definition, doesn’t have room for all of us.

If your goal is to earn a living, though, who says you need to be, as Seth says, “the best in the world?”

Think of the list of martial artists who have made a life-long living of teaching their art to the rest of us. Hundreds of thousands of them.

And none of them would last more than a few seconds against Bruce Lee. He’d sidekick their guts all over the nearest wall.

Dave Navarro put it just right in his excellent (and free) workbook, “7 Steps to Playing a Bigger Game“:

You may not see yourself as a 10…maybe you’re a 5, but let me tell you this: to people who are a 0, 1 or 2, your 5 might as well be a 10. You have value they need.

The trick is to be honest with yourself about the value you can offer first, and then, offer it with confidence.

And ask for something of equal value in return. (Like money.)

Show up and do the work

Forget 10,000 hours. Focus on this one. This next hour. It’s a chance to grow.

When your goal is so distant it’s a speck somewhere over the horizon, there is no motivation. There is only distance. It’s so far, in fact, that it seems impossible to get there. So quitting seems reasonable.

The thing is, you’ve probably already covered some ground. Maybe a great deal of it. You’ve been growing.

And those people way back there, for whom the distance is even greater? They’re the 0s, 1s and 2s to your solid 7.

You can help them.

And helping people, it turns out, is a fine way to earn a living.

Local businesses don’t usually have the budget to hire a marketing firm to launch a promotional campaign.

Usually you’re duct taping things together, rubbing in some elbow grease and hitting the “good enough” button.

But there are plenty of ways to leverage the web to promote your local business – and most of them are more about investing your time than opening your wallet.

Here are 21 things you can start on today that will increase your traffic and market your business online.

1. Start a hyperlocal blog

“Hyperlocal” essentially refers to content focused on a very tight geographic area – like your neighborhood.

With many of the traditional local newspapers going defunct, a hole has opened in local news. Hyperlocal online publications, like blogs, can fill it.

Matt McGee started HyperlocalBlogger.com, where he blogs about, well, hyperlocal blogging. It’s a great place to start your reading.

2. Build a local portal

Information on local events, parks, businesses, eateries, etc, is usually scattered in various places. Websites like Yelp are making things better, but they’re far from perfect.

Building a guide to your area, complete with a directory of places to go and things to do, complete with links to the appropriate websites if they’re available. This can be a great way to bring visitors and local residents to your site, and your fellow local business owners will appreciate the traffic (you may even get some backlinks out of it).

Careful what you read out there, there’s a lot of crappy content about “how to profit from building a local business portal” – most of it is spammer garbage you should ignore. Nobody seems to have tackled this topic well – which suggests this isn’t an over-used tactic, so have at it.

3. Leverage pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

In PPC, the less competitive a keyword is the cheaper it costs per click. Local keywords are usually on the low end of the cost spectrum.

Tell me another form of advertising that gives you the level of controlled targeting and tracking that PPC does, and I’ll mail you a shiny nickel. You can advertise to exactly who’s searching what you have to offer, at the precise moment they’re interested. And you only pay for the visits you actually get. Compare that to your monthly Yellow Pages ad.

It’s a good idea to at least consult with someone who knows PPC before you set up your campaigns and hit “go” – there’s a bit of a learning curve here, and you’ll save yourself money in the long run by paying for some upfront consulting from someone who knows the pitfalls that can waste your budget.

4. Secure your local search listings

This one is a serious no-brainer.

The big three two search engines (Yahoo! search will soon be run by Bing) allow you to register your local business for free. Once you’re in the local system, you show up in the local search results. These are the results listed A-G alongside a map with pins for each business location.

To make this easy on yourself, head over to GetListed.org, a great (and free) tool created and maintained by David Mihm and Pat Sexton. Drop in your business name and zip code, and the tool will tell you what listings you’ve got so far and where you can go get the rest.

Make sure you verify your listings – local listings can be hijacked if they aren’t verified and locked down by their rightful owners.

5. Write a recreational guide for your area

If you’ve ever taken a vacation to a new town you know it’s frustrating to figure out what the hell you’re going to do all day. You dig around in the search results, looking through outdated websites set up 10 years ago by park administrators, or “directories” that are really just thin advertising websites set up by spammers to capitalize on tourism searches.

In short, there’s rarely very useful local-oriented stuff out there. Fill that gap.

A few ideas:

• The Guide to Mushroom Hunting in Long Island Parks
• The Best “Pick Your Own” Spots on Long Island’s North Fork
• The Guide to Long Island Beaches

It might help if the topic is at least somewhat related to your business, but the point is to build something awesome – a well-written, well-designed resource. Then you need to tell people it’s there – let local website owners know, especially if their business or website is related to the guide.

6. Herald other local businesses

Don’t be afraid to talk up other businesses, even people who may technically be your competitors.

For one thing, it just builds good karma – not in the mystical way (unless that’s your thing), but being generous and promoting other people almost always comes back to your benefit in the long run. People often feel a need to reciprocate when someone’s done something generous for them. An immediate return shouldn’t be your goal (it’ll be obvious if it is), but things have a way of coming back to you one way or another (especially in local business where the world is much smaller). Plus, it just feels good to do it.

Not to mention it shows your confidence. If you’re not afraid to talk up what someone else is doing it makes you look a lot less desperate for work. And confidence is attractive.

7. Sponsor a local event or charity

There are obviously more reasons to do this than online marketing. It’s just good marketing in general.

But when the events or charities you sponsor have websites, you can usually be featured there. And along with being featured, you can usually get a link to your site. And links help you rank better.

Similar to #5, you don’t want to go into a sponsorship with an obvious attitude of getting back as much as you’re giving. But it’s the karma thing again -generosity has a funny way of coming back to you whether you ask for it or not.

And if you ask for a link to your website in the mean time, that’s not usually asking too much.

8. Buy banner ads on local online publications

Online advertising tends to be cheaper than print. You aren’t paying for all the overhead that has been dragging down print publications over the last few years.

There’s something to be said for banner blindness online. People increasingly ignore banner ads on websites. But you can still gain some awareness out of a well-placed ad that grabs attention.

Additionally, many online publications will include a link back to your website with the ad. In these cases the ad is giving you dual value: 1) it’s serving the traditional purpose of organically gaining people’s attention, and 2) it’s building one more inbound link to your website (helping your site rank better).

9. Develop a useful mashup

Using open services with APIs (that’s programmer speak) like Google Maps, you can create all kinds of useful tools specific to your local region.

A prime example of this is the live, interactive maps that were created during the 2007 California wildfires.

Hopefully there isn’t such a catastrophe in your neighborhood – and there are other ways to use this functionality.

How about an interactive map of all the great picnic spots in your county, for example?

There’s some cost in setting these up (you’ll probably have to hire a developer) – but if your mashup spreads and builds you a handful of inbound links, that cost is often worth it.

10. Publish case studies with testimonials

Social proof is powerful. People are much more likely to believe one of their peers than they are to believe you, the person doing the selling.

Don’t take it personally, we’re just wired that way.

The great thing about local case studies with client testimonials is that while they hit on all of those important triggers – social proof, demonstrating results, etc – they also tie you to your community.

This is especially powerful if your work improves the overall beauty or integrity of your community. If you do renovations, for example, or landscaping. Not only are you demonstrating how you’ve helped one of your customers (and letting them report on how happy they’ve been with the experience), but you’re showing your contribution to the community.

11. Host a local event (and the feedback)

Chances are, whatever your business model is, there’s some aspect of DIY to it. In other words, there are things people can do for themselves without hiring someone like you. Or at least there are things they should know.

Hosting a local event is a classic marketing tactic – you can teach people about something that will allow them to help themselves (instant value), and while you’re doing that it builds your position of authority.

Why not also build a place on your website where attendees can reflect on the experience? Invite one or two of them to write about their experience, what they learned, or maybe post questions about things they still don’t understand.

Host the conversion. It makes your website the destination.

12. Cross-link with your affiliates and friends

When nobody links to your website, your website won’t rank for any even modestly competitive keywords.

So you need links to rank.

One of the easiest ways to start getting some links: leverage your existing relationships. Approach your affiliates, your friends, any industry associations or local associations you belong to, and ask them to link to your website (and you’ll link to theirs in return).

This “reciprocal linking” will help both websites do a little better in search rankings.

Note: don’t go overboard with this. It’s better to keep it to actual real world relationships. Search engines don’t appreciate it when people engage in large link building schemes – and if they catch wind of you reciprocally linking to hundreds/thousands of sites that aren’t related to yours, they may penalize your site.

13. Start a local-focused newsletter

Many people are still more comfortable with email as their main source of incoming content online.

Publishing a newsletter for a local audience is a great way to keep in touch with your community – and keep you and your business in their minds.

It’s all about value here, and you’ve got to provide it in spades. The worst thing to do in a newsletter is get salesy. It turns people off, and they’ll unsubscribe. And you won’t get what you’re after.

Instead focus on making it the best newsletter possible, with loads of relevant, timely and valuable information. This isn’t about direct sales, it’s about building an audience of people who trust you.

14. Champion a cause, talk about it on your site and invite others to join the conversation

Ever hear the expression, “all politics is local?”

People are much more likely to get passionate about things going on in their own back yard.

What are the local causes you can get behind? Maybe there’s a local park you want to protect/promote, or a historic building that is threatening to collapse or be condemned.

You may not want to ruffle feathers, but playing it safe is the best way to be boring and forgettable.

I’m not saying get controversial and focus on issues that divide the community, but if it doesn’t bother anybody chances are it’s a topic nobody cares about.

Start a section of your site that speaks to the issue/cause you’re passionate about, and invite others to engage in conversation with you there. Host an open dialogue. This is one more way to make your website more than just an interactive brochure. It gives people a reason to show up and engage.

15. Showcase great photos of your neighborhood

Chances are there are some passionate photographers in your area, both amateurs and professionals.

Search Flickr for photos taken in your area. Many times these photos can be used provided you give credit to the photographer – which you should anyway.

Put together a section of your site where you showcase the beauty of your community, and publish the work of local photographers there.

Not only will they be happy you appreciate their work, but it’s likely some of them will point their friends and colleagues to your site (maybe with a link)  to see it.

16. Take some great photos yourself and spread them via Flickr

Flickr is also a great way to spread your own content.

This won’t necessarily work for every business (if you run a debt collection business, for example, it’s doubtful there’s much you could photograph and post to Flickr that people would want to see).

For many businesses, though, this is a great strategy.

Quick tips for this:

• Tag your photos with everything relevant you can think of
• Use keywords in your photo titles (use the same language to name your photos as you think people will to search)
• Allow Creative Commons sharing (this means people can freely republish your photos so long as they link back to you) – this is a great way to allow others to spread your content, and brand, for you
• Make sure people can get back to your main site (via a link in the photo description and your profile)

17. Do some guest writing for local bloggers and publications

The problem of online marketing for most small businesses is that they don’t have much of an audience.

An audience means attention, attention means links, links mean better rankings, etc.

So how do you start building an audience?

One of the best ways is to find an existing audience somewhere else, show up and be cool and informative.

Find blogs and online publications that focus on your area, get to know the people who publish them and, once they know who you are, ask them if you might write a guest post/article for them. Most will be happy to, provided your content isn’t salesy, is well-written and provides value to their readers.

You get in front of a new audience, and usually you get a link back to your website as well (2 wins).

18. Network with the local online community via social media

In-person networking is a classic way to get new business and build your professional network overall.

Over the last few years networking has moved increasingly to the online world.

Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook all present opportunities to connect with people in your area.

For Twitter, Twitter Grader is a good tool to find local Twitter users in your area. Just search for your town/city/county/region and you’ll get a list of the Twitter users that match your search, sorted by their “grade” (a basic measure of how many followers they have and how active they are).

The key here is not to get salesy. Hard selling doesn’t work in these arenas. In fact, it’s counterproductive – you’ll turn people off.

Instead, show up, be cool and be helpful. People want to hire someone they like.

19. Go global – get involved in the bigger conversation

Whatever your industry chances are there’s a broader conversation going on around it.

If you run a construction company, for example, there are frequently new laws and regulations dictating how your projects will have to be managed, how you handle employee safety, etc.

These issues effect everyone in your industry – not just the people in your local area. And you probably have something to say about it.

Seek out the places where these issues are being discussed – blogs, forums, social networks, etc – and join the conversation. The benefits here are multi-fold:

• You gain exposure to a new audience
• You can often build new inbound links through these online communities (which helps your site rank better overall)
• You might make a few new friends in the process

20. Hold a contest with a valuable prize

Contests are frequently used to build an audience and attract attention online and off.

If your business lends itself to the model, a contest is a great way to get attention locally as well. And why not use the online channels to promote it?

Get entrants to do something relatively easy to apply – like write a comment on your blog post explaining their biggest problem with X (and X should be related to what you do).

The prize should have real value (hint: a “free consultation” doesn’t sound so great).

You can gain a few things from this strategy:

• A list of people interested in your product or service
• Market research (all of those explanations of the common problems your market perceives)
• Traffic and links to your website
• Testimonials
• A few new long-term customers

Laura Roeder created a great video explaining how she uses this strategy. It’s definitely worth watching.

There are more possibilities than I’ve named in this list, and if I haven’t included something you’ve done for yourself or a client that helped you leverage the web to grow a local business, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Competitors suck. Especially when they’re doing better than you are.

And when you’re getting your ass kicked and decide to step up your game - get better search rankings, grow your audience, land more sales, etc – the first place you look for ideas is at your competitors.

What are they doing? What’s working for them? How are they getting attention? How, exactly, did they get such a big slice of pie?

So you start spying…

You pour through their inbound links to see if you can get the same ones.

Or you look through their blog archives and see what kind of posts they’ve written that have garnered the most attention and comments – and you brainstorm some similar post ideas for your own blog.

You review the features on their website and the way they’ve written their copy, taking insightful notes.

You monitor their social media profiles to see what they’re saying and sharing and who’s spreading their ideas.

After a fashion you’ve got a battle plan together. You’ve chosen your weapons. It’s going to be a beat down. Worse than Colonel Guile gave Bison in the Street Fighter movie. (You can thank me for that link later.)

And then one of two things happens:

1. You feel guilty and act on none of it
2. You take action and nothing seems to stick

First, stop kissing ass

Ever hear that saying about mimicry being the best form of flattery? We use it to remind ourselves not to get too pissed at copycats – they’re just telling us we’re worth being copied.

Flip that around. If you’re the one mimicking aren’t you just kissing your competitors’ asses?

“Me too” marketing doesn’t say much for your point of difference. If you’re taking queues from your competitors on how you should communicate with your customers, that begs an important question: do you really know your customers?

Take queues from your customers, not your competitors

Remember your customers? Those people you work for? The ones who pay your bills? Yeah, they’re important.

They’re probably even important enough that you should spend most of your time thinking about how to provide them better value or communicate with them more effectively.

Here’s a head smacker: talk to your customers. Instead of silently spying on your competitors, pick up the phone and call someone who’s bought from you already. Ask them about the experience. Listen carefully.

Your marketing strategy roles out of that relationship – not the A.C. Slater vs. Zach Morris rivalry you’ve got going with your competition.

Adopting someone else’s work means adopting their screw-ups

Your competitor might be kicking your ass all over the place, making more money, expanding while you’re struggling and otherwise showing you what’s up.

But they’re not doing everything right.

So how can you tell which tactics are working for them and which aren’t?

You can’t, unless you’re going to hack their analytics or spend an absurd amount of time monitoring and analyzing their every move (time you can spend more constructively).

If you start carbon copying what your competitors are doing prepare to end up with a functional, picture-perfect replica of a turd.

Don’t Frankenstein your brand

“Brand” is one of those words that gets kicked around a lot and jammed in where it doesn’t quite belong, and everyone who uses it seems to have their own definition.

For the sake of discussion, let’s say brand means the following: all of the associations your market (audience/customers) has in mind when they think of your company.

That means the things you do, the things you say and how you look, all the things that can be witnessed and remembered by the people who matter to you, are all factors in framing that identity.

So if you’ve got an even somewhat-established brand in your space, and in the minds of your audience and customers, what happens when you adopt a strategy because you saw a competitor do it first?

You dillute your brand. You muddy your vision (or you show that maybe you don’t really have one).

You can’t bolt-on a message that doesn’t fit your personality. It stinks – and people have better noses than we get credit for.

Monitor, don’t mimic

There’s nothing wrong with monitoring competitors. In fact, knowing your market and who else is playing in it is makes good business sense.

Sometimes you’ll have to reexamine your strategy when a new or existing competitor raises the bar. That’s how the market works. That’s how competitors force us to be better.

But when someone raises the bar you don’t do exactly what they did; you’ve got to do something better. At the very least, you’ve got to understand why they did it – and copying skips understanding.

Beating your competitors means leveraging assets they don’t have in ways they’ve overooked (or are completely blind to). It means taking a new angle on an existing problem and approaching business in a remarkable way.

Aiming to do exactly what your competitors have already done is a forfeit – you can’t beat them at their own game.

But maybe you can reinvent the rules.

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