15 Sites for Promoting Your Business Locally Take advantage of these marketing websites and watch your business grow. By Kristin Edelhauser

There's no question that consumers are using the internet to navigate their way to local brick-and-mortar retailers. A recent study by ROI Research Inc. and Performics shows that online searches influence 20 to 30 percent of purchases made at retail locations--and that number is only increasing. More and more sites, like Local.com, are making their presence known by competing against major search engines like Google and Yahoo!. So study up, plan your budget and get in on the onlineadvertising game.

1. Website: Google AdWords
   How It Will Help You: AdWords helps you target local online customers by setting your pay-per-click ads to appear only when people search a particular city, state or region. There's no minimum spending requirement--your daily budget is up to you.
2. Website: Yahoo! Local Listings
   How It Will Help You: Local Listings will promote yourbusiness to customers looking for information in Yahoo! Local. Choose from three different plans (one is free) to meet your company's needs.
3. Website: CitySearch
   How It Will Help You: CitySearch offers online advertising tools to easily open your account, manage your daily results and receive ad placement on MSN, Yahoo!, Google and Ask.com. Similar to the idea of pay-per-click advertising, CitySearch offers two paid plans, "Web Connect" and "Call Connect."
4. Website: Ask.com's AskCity
   How It Will Help You: Ask.com recently launched AskCity, a new local search application that's a one-stop destination for making plans. In one screen, consumers can map a route, make dinner reservations, purchase movie tickets and e-mail plans to others. Pricing for advertising on Ask.com varies.
5. Website: Aol.'s CityGuide
   How It Will Help You: Aol.'s CityGuide specializes in providing local entertainment information to Aol. service members. Advertising with Aol. allows marketers to target consumers specifically by lifestyle and market.
6. Website: Craigslist
   How It Will Help You: Craigslist gets an estimated 10 million unique visitors per day. With an online classified ad format organized by region or city, Craigslist connects buyers and sellers in more than 300 communities; for the most part, posting on the site is free.
7. Website: MerchantCircle.com
   How It Will Help You: This free site offers a localbusiness listing service that allows you to better manage your online reputation and become more visible in search engine results.
8. Website: Dotster
   How It Will Help You: Dotster is a web domain registration and hosting company offering a local web advertising package called "Local Site Promotion." You set your monthly budget and Dotster will make your ad visible on all the major search engines.
9. Website: Local.com
   How It Will Help You: Advertising on Local.com will give you access to their 10 million-plus monthly customers. Choose from a free basic listing or pay-per-click options.
10. Website: Froogle Local
    How It Will Help You: Google's shopping search engine allows users to search for specific products by location. It's a great way for users to find retail stores regardless of whether you use e-commerce.
11. Website: ReachLocal
    How It Will Help You: This site provides a central location for businesses to set-up, maintain and track local search advertising campaigns. Pricing varies.
12. Website: RegisterLocal
    How It Will Help You: RegisterLocal is a service, costing $199.95 per year, that allows you to create a master profile they submit to search engines and directories on your behalf.
13. Website: TrueLocal
    How It Will Help You: This local search engine features full-text searching and offers advertising opportunities for businesses. Currently indexing more than 13 million local businesses, TrueLocal starts at just $1 per month.
14. Website: YellowPages.com
    How It Will Help You: YellowPages.com is a large online local directory site featuring city guides and advertising solutions. Basic listings are free.
15. Website: MyEzClicks program from Web.com
    How It Will Help You: MyEzClicks lists your business on more than 30 major search engines, including Google, Yahoo! and MSN for a monthly fee

Bobby Jones, el mejor golfista de la historia y la humildad en los negocios

Bobby Jones, el mejor golfista de la historia y la humildad en los negocios

Bobby Jones, el mejor golfista de la historia, alguna vez dijo: "Yo nunca aprendí nada de un partido en el que haya ganado". Una reflexión sobre la humildad en el mundo de las organizaciones...

Por Jorge Fantin

Esta es la semana esperada por todos los golfistas y aficionados del mundo entero. La semana en que se juega el Masters de Augusta, el torneo donde Roberto De Vicenzo diera una muestra de caballerosidad y respeto por las reglas que aún hoy se recuerda, cuando tras finalizar la cuarta ronda 1968 omitiera revisar la tarjeta que había llenado su oponente, Tommy Aaron.

Esa tarjeta contenía un error, un golpe de más. Y ese error, que De Vicenzo se negó a corregir porque ya había firmado su tarjeta (y eso es lo que establecían las reglas), le impidió empatar el primer puesto, perdiendo con ello la posibilidad de un juego de desempate al día siguiente.

Pero el golf no sólo sirve para aprender y ejercitar la ética y el respeto, o para hacer buenos contactos de negocios. A veces, también se pueden escuchar muy buenos consejos fácilmente trasladables al mundo de los negocios, como algunos de los pensamientos del inigualable Bobby Jones.

Bobby, cofundador del Augusta National Golf Club, la sede permanente del Masters, nunca quiso convertirse en profesional, pese a todo el dinero que pudo haber ganado, priorizando a su familia y a su profesión, el derecho. Y estamos hablando del mejor jugador de golf de todos los tiempos.

Jones es el autor de una frase que siempre uso en mis clases de estrategia y en mis conversaciones con clientes: "Yo nunca aprendí nada de un partido en el que haya ganado".

En efecto, nada nos enseña más y mejor que un buen fracaso. Claro está, siempre y cuando tengamos la humildad de reconocer que estamos ante uno y que estemos dispuestos a aprender las lecciones que del mismo se desprendan.

El éxito, en cambio, es mucho más difícil de analizar. Después de todo, si nos va maravillosamente bien, seguro que es porque somos magníficos gerentes, ¿no es así?

La arrogancia heredada del éxito

Cuando las cosas andan bien en una empresa, es casi inevitable pasar por alto ciertos indicios que podrían ayudarnos a identificar potenciales conflictos o peligros.

Cuando los números "cierran" y los presupuestos se van cumpliendo, no estamos dispuestos a considerar siquiera la posibilidad de que algo malo pudiera estar pasando.

Cualquier "pájaro de mal agüero" será lisa y llanamente excluido del plantel y no se aceptarán malas noticias de alguien que pretenda acercar alguna planilla con datos de cierta desaceleración en el ritmo de rotación de los inventarios, o cualquier otra variable que sirva para anticipar potenciales crisis. Esto es lo que el profesor Jim Collins llama la arrogancia nacida del éxito.

Podemos imaginar al capitán del Titanic diciendo: "nunca se me hundió un barco, vamos bien". La ambigüedad causal del éxito, es decir, la dificultad en identificar la o las causas de que las cosas vayan tan bien, es algo que, por lo general, sirve para evitar que otros puedan copiar un modelo de negocios ganador.

Como no se sabe exactamente por qué a la empresa X le va tan bien, es prácticamente imposible intentar seguirla, ya que habría que copiar TODO lo que ella hace y tiene.

Pero el problema se presenta cuando el propio empresario y sus ejecutivos son incapaces de identificar las causas del éxito.

Al ignorar las verdaderas fuentes del suceso, será prácticamente imposible evitar la comisión de errores en sucesivas decisiones de tipo táctico o estratégico.

Estos errores no se manifestarán mientras la empresa mantenga su rumbo y su modelo de negocios, puesto que aún ignorándolo, bastará con seguir en piloto automático (no sabemos por qué estamos volando, pero mientras no toquemos ningún botón, el avión se mantendrá en el aire).

El problema se presentará cuando esa misma empresa quiera expandirse hacia otros mercados, otros productos u otros negocios. Allí es donde cualquier decisión basada en una falsa percepción de lo que son las verdaderas causas del éxito, podría llevar a la organización a un colapso.

Errar es humano, aprender de ello es divino

Sin una gran sensibilidad y humildad para reconocer cuántas cosas ignoramos, aún siendo exitosos, es muy posible que el éxito de hoy esté engendrando el fracaso de mañana.

Cuando uno fracasa, en cambio, es mucho más probable que su orgullo haya disminuido a un nivel suficiente como para permitir la autocrítica, el análisis y el aprendizaje de nuevas formas de hacer las cosas, con la esperanza de volver a empezar y hacerlo bien.

Obviamente que no por ello debemos lanzarnos de lleno al fracaso para ver cómo aprendemos.

En realidad lo que estoy proponiendo es que nos replanteemos la forma de ver las cosas a la luz del éxito de un modelo de negocio. Que nos permitamos la posibilidad de analizar todo lo que suceda con una mirada crítica, con desconfianza.

En lugar de buscar información que corrobore nuestras hipótesis exitistas, busquemos información que pueda echarlas por tierra.

Si no encontramos nada, entonces podremos seguir adelante. En caso contrario, podremos empezar a trabajar para neutralizar los riesgos identificados.

Does Your Business Still Need a Website? Between third-party apps and social media, some business owners are saying no--and it's working. By David Port | March 30, 2010

Rudy Mendoza makes no bones about his strong aversion to computers. "I don't enjoy them," he states flatly.

So what's a cyberphobic jewelry maker from West Covina, Calif., doing on the vanguard of online marketing, intrepidly--and, some would argue, unwisely--testing a strategy to build his company"s web presence that is nothing if not unconventional?

What's unusual about Mendoza's approach is that it involves abandoning the website his company, Jewelry Sales & Design, launched close to a decade ago in favor of a simple third-party-hosted landing page. In doing so, Mendoza is breaking a cardinal rule of mainstream business strategy that says companies, however small, must have a formal, static website to be competitively viable.

Venturing into the online world sans website is not a widely endorsed practice. In fact, it runs contrary to the better judgment of even the most progressive internet marketing experts (see sidebar). What's surprising is that Mendoza's nonconformist approach seems to be working.

"We spent tens of thousands of dollars on our website and got almost nothing out of it," Mendoza says. "We spent $2,500 or $3,000 for this whole [landing page] package, and I'm very sure we got that much out of it in the first couple months. We've had thousands of hits, and we're getting a lot more phone calls from those hits."

Why Forgo a Website?

In the experimental laboratory that is the internet, convention-bucking entrepreneurs are using a distributed strategy to build an online presence exclusively with social media and web apps. It's an approach that has merit in certain situations, if only as a stopgap until a company has the resources to invest in a full-blown website, according to Kirsten Mangers, CEO of WebVisible, an internet marketing firm that develops small-business onlinemarketing strategies built around landing pages. "There's an immediacy to these kinds of vehicles, an ability to change on a dime to meet changing needs, without having to maintain a 20-, 30- or 40-page website."

Voices of Reason It is possible--though hardly advisable--for a business to build a viable online presence without a website, according to web marketing experts. The ideal online strategy blends the static (a formal website) with the dynamic (social networks, landing pages, etc.). "Think of a website as the hub and all the social media activities as the spokes that come off from it--all are necessary to make the wheel turn and drive the vehicle," says Beth Schillaci, president of Villageworks, an emerging media marketing firm. What's more, adds Schillaci, "It simply doesn't make sense to give control over availability and content limits to a third party when your corporate image is at stake. Given how quickly and inexpensively a layperson can build a functional website, there's little justification for not having a static site, considering the benefits it brings, says Dawn Gregg, associate professor of information systems at the University of Colorado-Denver. "It's really the best tool you have to control your message and build credibility." Other justifications for having a website: • Some of your best prospects may not be members of Facebook or any social network. • Not having a site is a red flag, says social media guru Shama Kabani. • You don't have complete control of the message with social media; you must take the bad with the good. • Search engines likely won't find your business as readily without a website. • What happens to a company that has staked its online presence on one or two social media vehicles if those vehicles lose public favor?

When it comes to building and maintaining relationships with clients and prospects, a business may not need a website when there's Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, contends Adam Ostrow, editor-in-chief at Mashable.com, a blog-based site that covers developments with Web 2.0 and social media. "Social media can really be far more impactful than a traditional corporate website to engage people on an ongoing basis. It's great for regular conversation and mindshare."

Even startups such as Digital Americana, a soon-to-launch web-based multimedia literary and culture magazine designed specifically for the Apple iPad, have been emboldened to launch without a formal website.

"So far," says Tony Fasciano, the New York-based magazine's publisher, "by using Tumblr as the main blog site, and creating pages on Twitter and Facebook, we have been able to generate about 100 page views a day--all without yet issuing our first press release."

Going without a website is a way for the startup to keep operations lean until it becomes more established, at which point Fasciano says he may consider adding a website. "For now, we're looking to stay pretty low to the ground and not overcomplicate things."

Cost is a key motivation for taking the website-less approach to online marketing. Participation in most social media outlets comes at no charge, while many web apps are free or almost so. Another is the ability to target local markets via vehicles such as Facebook advertising. Using a tool such as Twitter or a landing page also allows a company to create a "quick and dirty" online presence for specific purposes such as special offers, events and product launches, explains Joseph Manna, community manager at InfusionSoft, a firm specializing in online marketing toolsfor small business. And, according to WebVisible's Manger, it provides a platform for a company to test a marketing message before full-scale rollout.

Those factors make such a strategy best suited to certain kinds of businesses. For example, says Ostrow, restaurants and bars can post a special on Facebook or Twitter to drive foot traffic that day. Sole proprietorships and very small companies, from yoga instructors to contractors, can use landing pages, LinkedIn and Facebook to create a simple yet functional online presence.

Best Practices for Going Without

While there may be no real substitute for a conventional website, the right combination of tools and tactics can deliver an online presence that in many respects rivals what a website can provide. Here are some suggestions from the web marketing experts:

• Identify a social media focus. Businesses pursuing informal relationships with the public, such as restaurants and bars, might look first to Facebook, for example, while those wanting relationships with more of a professional flavor might start with LinkedIn.
  
• Customize a blog, social media page or landing page with logos, images and information about the business.
  
• Lean heavily on web apps to bring dimension, functionality and reach. A wealth of plug-and-play apps are available, many at little or no cost, to add vital elements such as a shopping cart, a lead form, coupons and video. Apps like TweetDeck and Involver, which manage and coordinate content posted through social media, are worthwhile, says Ostrow, as are those that help a business reach local prospects.
  
• Blog. Besides being a great way to feed fresh content to the masses, it positions a person as an authority in their field while also spreading the word about their products and services. With a blog, you control the content, which is not necessarily the case with other forms of social media. Tools such as Wordpress, Blogspot and Tumblr are among many solid options.
  
• Embrace analytics tools. They're vital for measuring the reach and impact of a business's online efforts. Fasciano says Google Analytics has been invaluable for its ability to provide simple, useful metrics on how web users respond to specific social media actions.
  
• Interact. Lend a personal touch by judiciously inserting yourself and your company into the social media dialogue through groups, Tweets, etc.

All these components, says Mangers, should be geared toward conveying and controlling the desired message while capturing vital competitive information--and, of course, new customers. "What you're talking about is reputation management--controlling your content and your data so it is wholly owned by you as an asset."

Montgomery Burns, pura maldad

Montgomery Burns, pura maldad

Este perverso personaje llegó a elucubrar un plan para tapar el sol e impulsar las ventas de su planta de energía nuclear...

El mundo de la ficción también tiene sus biografías de hombres de negocios exitosos. Charles Montgomery Burns, el malévolo magnate de "The Simpsons", es el arquetipo del capitalista despiadado e inescrupuloso.

Nacido en una humilde familia campesina, el fundador de la planta de energía nuclear de Springfield encarna hasta el absurdo los rasgos despreciables que suele atribuirse a muchos hombres de negocios. Vil, avaro, egoísta, perverso, desleal y oportunista, Burns no conoce límites cuando se trata de multiplicar su capital: desde hacer trabajar a un pato hasta, en un frenesí de delirio, elucubrar un macabro plan para tapar el sol e impulsar el consumo de la electricidad producida por su planta monopólica.

La planta del señor Burns funciona con una filosofía corporativa taylorista llevada hasta el extremo. Los empleados no son tratados como personas sino como fichas intercambiables que, en una muestra de asombrosa flexibilidad laboral, son contratados, despedidos y vueltos a contratar sin mayores explicaciones. Burns es el gran ojo que, desde la punta de la pirámide, vigila a los trabajadores a través de un sofisticado sistema de cámaras a las que nada escapa.

Sin embargo, sus viles formas de hacer negocios no siempre funcionan. En un célebre episodio, su planta de energía cae en bancarrota. Pero ese no sería el triste final del perverso personaje. Empezando de cero a los noventa y tantos, se pone a recoger desechos por las calles para fundar un negocio de reciclaje. ¿El malvado Burns se había reformado? ¿Había finalmente adquirido conciencia ecológica?

De ningún modo, su nuevo plan de negocios sólo manifestaba un desprecio exacerbado por el medio ambiente. Con los plásticos de los packs de latas de gaseosa armó redes gigantes para atrapar a cuanto animal vivía en el mar y triturarlos para producir una pasta de alimento de animales.

En definitiva, la historia del perverso señor Burns refleja la manera en que muchos norteamericanos medios perciben a los hombres de negocios exitosos. Sin dudas, se trata de una exageración televisiva. Pero a nadie le vendría mal examinarse para ver si tiene un poco del señor Burns adentro.

TU OPINION/COMENTARIO: marielafernandasgro@gmail.com