Cazbah Total Internet Marketing Solution announced today its intention to attend and actively participate in the PTXi and International Powder & Bulk Solids tradeshow and Conference, to be held May 4 – 6, 2010 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, in Rosemont (Chicago), IL, adjacent to O’Hare International Airport.

The PTXi tradeshow and conference is the world’s leading event for engineers and managers who process, handle, package, transport, test and store dry particulates and bulk solids across many industries. Manufacturers and suppliers will be in attendance from industries including material handling, transportation and storage, automation, instrumentation and controls, mixers and blenders, packaging and bagging, weighing systems and scales and many more.

Cazbah has been providing its total Internet Marketing Solution to manufacturing companies for more than nine years. Their customer base, consisting of hundreds of specialty American commercial and industrial small businesses, has realized remarkable results from the Internet in the face of seemingly insurmountable economic odds. Cazbah has helped its small business customers generate tens of millions of dollars in new revenue, directly and indirectly from the web.

Ellen Kominars of Magnetic Products Inc., a PTXi tradeshow exhibitor and Cazbah customer said, “The hassle, heartache and mystery of website development and management are gone. Cazbah has great expertise! What a great team! ”

“We get 5 – 10 quote requests per day with a much higher close rate,” said Len Holtgreven, president of Holtgreven Scale. “Since Cazbah has taken over our Web site development and Internet marketing, our sales leads have been much more qualified,” he said. “Our Customers now have in-depth knowledge of our products due to the site contents and organization.”

“We work extraordinarily hard for our specialty small business customers because we depend on their continued patronage for our own success,” said Michael Seppala, president of Cazbah. “We literally take a stake in their game. If they’re not successful, we’re not successful.”

Cazbah’s goal is to meet their customers where they are. The company assigns a dedicated account manager to every customer that they have. “The investments that we make in the relationships that we forge are the key to our mutual success,” Seppala went on to say.

In keeping with their goal to meet their customers where they are, Cazbah will be participating in the PTXi and International Powder & Bulk Solids tradeshow and Conference. “Most of the smaller manufacturing companies exhibiting at the show have significant untapped potential, just waiting to be realized on the web,” said David Wilson, director of business development for Cazbah. We’re hopeful to meet these companies at the show and begin a discussion that will lead to their success.

“Employees within a business will rise to their own level of incompetence. Beyond that point, they will not be particularly effective inside the organization, and will not contribute as they once did.”

Well, business Web sites need to be considered like an employee – they are an internal resource that needs to be utilized as effectively as possible for the ultimate growth of the company. Like any resource; it needs to be kept current, relevant and in synch with the business goals.

Unfortunately, many businesses neglect their sites so they remain a static listing of products – lethargically posting information to its point of incompetence, running rampant inside many vertical markets; such as healthcare, food production, bio sciences, and others.

I talk with many business owners who do not fully understand the fact that the Internet – regardless of their market and industry – needs to be a dominate factor in their marketing and sales strategy to drive business growth. Business owners I speak to inside industrial markets still believe the Internet is not important to their own customer base. It’s just for kids, or those buying retail. These company leaders are falling way behind with regards to sustaining business relationships, and leveraging the Internet to grow revenues, year in and year out.

Having a static Web site is no longer a viable means to grow your business. Like your sales person, your site is about interacting with real people, ensuring they find you based on what you offer in terms of a solution to their problems. People searching on the Internet are looking for someone to help them and then, deciding if they want to engage with you before they ever pick up the phone to speak with you.

So what does that mean? Your potential customer is coming to you (inbound marketing) and is pre-qualifying you as a potential vendor.

That is how business to business is done on the Internet. For manufacturers, distributors and dealers who understand that the Internet is such a powerful medium which must be embraced and used to its fullest, they are taking actionable steps to use it. Why?

Over 74 percent of the U.S. is now on the Internet at some level. 74%!

That is three out of every four people you talk to – and transact business with every day. Doing business with people on the Internet is not just about having some product listed in your business site and hoping they pick yours over someone else’s. It’s about helping to solve a problem they have. New customers come from those who are seeking a partner to provide a solution, the right solution, for their own business. You need to be found so you can be that solution provider.

Yes, Internet marketing can be daunting. But, it’s a brave new world where business gets done. And what about business owners who dismiss the significance of the Internet: not preparing their organizations to strategically leverage it to their own fullest advantage?

Those not recognizing the Internet as the viable and essential business tool it is may be classified as the “Peter Pan” Principle.

Like Peter Pan, it appears they would rather remain in a more comfortable place.
Not try something new. Set aside plans to use the Internet fully – and maybe, just maybe – they won’t ever have to leave Never -Never Land!

As Peter Pan said… “I’ll teach you to jump on the wind’s back, and away we’ll go!”

However, I think a better lesson from Peter Pan – with regards to strategically growing your business – would be to fully utilize a wide array of Internet technologies (supplied by your friends at Cazbah of course) and generate better business results and more revenue.

I say…. “Let’s jump on the Internet and away we’ll go!”

No matter how frequently one backs up that data, there is a tangible risk of loss. Hard drives die, compact discs warp, and both are easily misplaced. Moreover, software changes becoming incompatible with saved data over time. The rapidly growing trend of so-called “Cloud Computing” promises to ease our burden by making valuable data more independent from our machines, although it is by no means a panacea.

We’ve been computing in the cloud to varying degrees for decades. However, with faster connections, cheaper storage and increasingly portable computers (netbooks), the practice is catching on in ways never thought possible. It started with services such as HotMail and Yahoo Mail. With either of them, email was safe and accessible (notwithstanding spam), so long as you didn’t have more than 25MB.

From a web once dominated by static HTML sites and complex search indexes rose companies like Google with their world-renown search technology. Microsoft and Yahoo cleared the skies for cloud computing, but it was Google that blasted across them. What was once unheard of became commonplace. Consumers could sign up for Google Mail and receive a virtually limitless amount of storage for their daily email. Email made was safe for many, but what about our files and programs? The public slowly grew accustomed to cloud computing, setting the stage for truly grand pursuits.

While cloud computing may also be referred to as the use of web applications or network computing, neither have the same ring. From a business standpoint, if a concept is going to take hold, its name often makes or breaks the deal. The alliteration of cloud computing rolls off the tongue with ease, making it an IT marketing manager’s dream! A cloud implies much more than email or file storage. It envisions an ethereal world of limitless possibilities. So what exactly does it offer us, and how does it keep our data safe and make us technologically independent?

Imagine the grim scenario where your house or apartment is lost in fire. Your computer is reduced to ash, and that shiny backup drive with your entire life’s worth of documents and photos shares the same fate. Even if you own a laptop, chances are that your still in a pretty tight spot at that point.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t take such extreme circumstances to yield similarly disastrous results. Accidentally dropped your laptop? Hard drive clicking? Desktop shorted out after a storm? Either way you’ll be scrambling to pick up the pieces. Assuming you can save the data, you’re still faced with reinstalling and reconfiguring all of the software, which often entails hours of downloading. What if all of your applications and files lived on the Internet and were accessed them on demand? Such is the promise of cloud computing as enjoyed in-part by early adopters of web email.

Google Chrome is on the horizon, and it promises to begin a shift toward complete cloud computing. A laptop with Google Chrome will require an Internet connection, but it accesses all programs and data over that connection. Lose that laptop or back over it with a forklift? That’s okay because when you get another you may instantly resume working right where you left off! Cloud apps: Google Docs, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Pandora (my personal favorite) form the cornerstones of the movement. It’s a notion no longer foreign to old industry juggernauts. Microsoft is now touting Office Live, which offers free online creation, use, and storage of Office documents (mirroring the functionality of Google Docs).

What’s the thunderhead of cloud computing? Hackers have already shown us with stolen Twitter, Facebook, and GMail accounts: risk is transferred from the physical storage to digital protection of your data. The world’s best security is rendered useless with passwords like “God” or “Password1″. Cloud computing or not, a little common sense applies to keep your data safe, sanity in check, and systems available.

The chances of breaking into your house and stealing that new laptop are relatively small, but by the same token the odds of a malicious robot from China cracking into a GMail account, wiping out emails, and stealing your identity are much higher. Some claim the dangers of cloud computing make it altogether too hazardous, therefore impractical. I tend to disagree vehemently. With a little forethought and a nod to basic security practices, one can easily underscore the benefits and avoid the drawbacks of computing in the cloud.

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Cloud apps are money in the bank (a lot of them are free) and fewer things to worry about when your system fails (tip: don’t kid yourself, it will). Moreover, the requirements for computers capable of cloud computing are lower. Therefore once again saving us money; they inevitably cost less. Cloud computing: it saves time, money, and potentially a life’s worth of work. It’s safely accessible from anywhere in the world. If it’s liberation from consumer technology that you seek, then look no further.

And there’s nothing worse than having to tell that client to holster it back up because they aren’t ready to pull the trigger.

That is sometimes the situation we find ourselves in when our small business clients are interested in implementing social media strategies before they have made sure that the location they are driving traffic to – usually their Web site – is prepared to handle the traffic.

When it comes to marketing their own brand, many small- and mid-sized businesses are working with limited resources.  So a decision to increase focus in one area often inadvertently becomes a decision to decrease attention in another.

Embarking on a social media strategy is a major undertaking for any company, an effort that often manages to soak up a lot of internal resources.  This can mean that the more mundane efforts it takes to update the company Web site can often go ignored, leaving the place you are trying to drive more traffic to looking something less than its best. Why is this a problem?  Because social media efforts are just a means to an end, with your final goal being to convert traffic into sales.

It’s important that the first step of your social media strategy be taking a look at your Web site and making sure it is an effective end-destination for every tweet, blog post and shared video.

• Are there clear “calls to action” throughout your Web site?
• Are your products and service pages current, accurate and complete?
• If you are targeting a specific audience with specific services/products needs in your social media efforts, are those services/products easily found?
• Are your contact pages updated and complete?  Is it easy for customers to continue the dialog that you started with a social media vehicle?
• Is your Web site content of interest to your social media audiences?

Pages that need simple corrections should be taken care of right away.  Any section that needs more extensive effort should be avoided as landing pages for social media traffic.  Once you are comfortable that your Web site is ready and able to do handle the new traffic, your company can feel comfortable in taking its first shot at social media success.

The acceptance rate of our community management offering has been unprecedented. As I mentioned in a previous post, this service has to do with our customers’ adoption of social media. Cazbah provides them with the technology, work processes, and dedicated service and support to increase their inbound marketing opportunities. It also establishes them as the center-of-influence within their communities, hence the name.

On a recent visit with one of our clients while presenting a community management proposal, we got into a discussion about the viability of social media within their particular industry. Our client admitted he wasn’t too familiar with social media networks and expressed his concerns about how social media was going to help him sell his products (a very reasonable and accurate concern). While I did take the opportunity to highlight some of the benefits of social media for his business, it became clear to me that we need to  educate all of our clients regarding new media techniques that can improve their businesses.

With a wry smile, the client  asked, “I wonder what Warren Buffet is doing in social media?” He stopped me in my tracks. I thought, “what a great question.” Even though he was half joking, he struck on something profound. Clearly, if you are considering a change, you look to the leaders to gain insight into your decision making process. Who better than Warren Buffet, one of the savviest business men in the world.

Social media plays a vital role in viral marketing and enables further brand awareness. This is accomplished by establishing word-of-mouth communication between community members regarding relevant information which induces purchasing by driving traffic to a company’s Web site. Additionally, social media removes the barriers that may normally exist between a company and its customers, giving them the opportunity to communicate openly and virtually instantaneously.

Warren Buffet’s holding company, Berkshire Hathaway now owns a diverse range of businesses including railroads, candy production, retail, home furnishings, encyclopedias, vacuum cleaners, jewelry sales, newspaper publishing, manufacture and distribution of uniforms, manufacture, import and distribution of footwear; as well as several regional electric and gas utilities.

A partial list of companies that Berkshire Hathaway either has a complete ownership, a controlling ownership or a significant ownership in include; GEICO Insurance, The Pampered Chef, Dairy Queen, Benjamin Moore & Co., BoatU.S., NetJets, CocaCola and H.H. Brown Shoes. For a complete listing of their subsidiary companies click here http://tr.im/RRM5.

Several of the Berkshire Hathaway companies are major consumer brands like Benjamin Moore paint for example. A quick trip to their company Web site provides a link to their blog and an invitation to join the dialogue on all things color – the newest trends, products, and latest stories on everything from fashion to food, from art to architecture – on the blog “Living in Color with Sonu.”

BoatsU.S., the boat owners association of the United States, provides a listing of boating groups, message boards, member services, not to mention 118 Web pages chock full of boating blogs dealing with topics ranging from trans-Atlantic crossings to how to overcome your fears of traveling to places like Columbia.

The Dairy Queen Web site sports a mug of Warren Buffet himself on their homepage alongside an invitation to download their iPhone app, DQ Craze. A trip to their Facebook page shows an active community of over 800,000 fans. Their Twitter page heralds constant notifications about new content being posted to the company’s blog which, is supported by a team of eight dedicated bloggers.

Who hasn’t heard of (or seen) GEICO or is it Gecko? Needless to say, they’re everywhere and the Web is no exception. You can check out their YouTube channel to see all those crazy commercials featuring that zany lizard, cave man or pile of money with the ‘googly’ eyes. They too have an iPhone app called Glovebox™ with all sorts of info to engage their customers. The GEICO blog shows active participation on the part of four dedicated company bloggers and customers from around the world.

I could go on and on but you get the point. Warren Buffet knows all about social media. All of the companies that Berkshire Hathaway owns, controls or is invested in are currently and actively engaged in all aspects of social media. The bottom line about social media is that it’s all about the bottom line, and Warren Buffet clearly understands the dramatic value and business revenue that social media brings.

Facebook’s live feed format enables friends to read a never-ending stream of consciousness.   And Twitter is often seen as an exercise in self-absorption – thinking that others might actually care about the trivia of our daily lives. I tweet, therefore I am.

I do like the fact I can keep in touch with multiple friends on Facebook, and share family updates, vacation photos and share in some of their significant experiences and milestones. I can easily keep tabs and enhance personal relationships. Likewise, by becoming a fan of various groups, I can stay abreast of topics, products and causes that are of interest to me. With LinkedIn, I can do the same with business acquaintances.

But personally, I don’t need to know what someone had for dinner every day (but a restaurant review is always nice). Or that you went to the store or taking a drive. I don’t need to know that your dog pooped in the snow (mine did too but I’m not bragging about it). Why do people feel the need to convey such trivia? And make numerous posts each day without really contributing bona fide items of relevance?

Those studying social media on society essentially focus on the fact that people in general all have a psychological need for the attention of others, and some will do whatever they need to do to get it. And making multiple posts to get your name out in cyberspace, and better yet get some response back, even negative, is acknowledgement. With this acknowledgement, they are now part of the community and feel a sense of appreciation. And if you get retweeted, the acclaim is all the greater.

Psychologists tend to equate this behavior to many theories ranging from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to child behavior-like basic needs. Is social media so addictive because we are starved for more attention within the community? With telecommuting or even cubicles, have we minimized our office communities? Have drive-through fast food stores and banks, and online shopping, further reduced our traditional human interactions to the point we are starved for attention? Maybe those are some of the drivers.

While some psychologists delve deep into analyses about the effects of social media on child development, other social media analysts counter with demographics. While the stats may vary, trends seem consistent – in that Facebook account growth for 13-24 year olds was less than 100 percent this past year. However, the growth rate for people ages 35 – 54 was around 300 percent and for those over 55, it was nearly 1,000 percent. Clearly older adults have taken to social media.

So much so that many corporations are now faced with instituting restrictions not only focused on potential content issues that could negatively impact company brand, but also for lost productivity. People are not only interrupting their daily work flow several times daily to check their friends, fans and followers, they are addicted to playing games. Whether tending their virtual farms or covertly engaged in Mafia Wars, employees are spending progressively more time escaping reality, and work, for the virtual world.

Social media’s greatest danger is that it can easily be used as a surrogate society for those less inclined to personally venture out and make real human relationships. With relationships being viral not personal, it’s easy to make or break a relationship with little consequence because it’s just a virtual world; the proxy keeps us from considering the human being on the other side of the connection.

Real life human interaction makes it much harder to just “ignore” someone we don’t like or don’t agree with. Would we say the same things in our reality-based communities such as work, school, church, neighborhoods, etc. that we do online?

Psychology aside, social media networks and tools have been a tremendous boom to education, communications, marketing, customer relations and commerce; bringing people together with like interests and needs, personally and professionally. People can get solutions for their problems, have their political views heard, seek help for the disadvantaged, support charitable causes, and pursue self improvement.

Given that people do want to be included in communities and share their thoughts, let’s engage them to be positive contributors to these social networks. Let’s capitalize on the decades of earned knowledge from all the older adults, who also represent the fastest growing social media audience. Let’s seek ideas from younger people who can offer fresh viewpoints. Let’s continue to use our social media networks as the great communications tools they can be to enhance all of our human social networks.

Cazbah, an Internet marketing services firm, provides small to mid-sized businesses with everything they need to succeed on the Internet. Our highly effective solution includes a dynamic database driven Web site with simplified content management, search engine optimization, e-mail marketing, e-commerce shopping cart, and dedicated service and ongoing support. Cazbah customers gain a greater level of control and generate measurable results!

Responsibilities
Key responsibilities for the Account Manager position include identifying and defining our clients’ requirements and needs, managing all aspects of a clients’ online sales and marketing strategy, and understanding and applying the Cazbah capabilities to our clients’ situational needs. Responsibilities include:

• Training our clients on the Cazbah tool set
• Monthly contact with clients
• Development and implementation of Internet marketing plans
• Working with the Cazbah production team to implement Internet marketing plans
• Analyze Web site performance and make appropriate adjustments to Internet marketing plan.

Required Skills
Candidate must have Internet marketing experience and have knowledge of how Web sites are built and maintained. A BS/BA degree or equivalent work experience in customer support, marketing or technology industry is also required. Experience working with small businesses/start ups preferred. In support of this, the candidate will have the following:

• Excellent communication skills and feel comfortable dealing with their assigned clients on a daily basis
• Basic Web site editing skills
• Strong knowledge of MS Word and Excel, and basic photo editing knowledge

Preferred Sills
The ideal candidate will have a passion for small businesses along with a strong knowledge of Web development. Preferred candidates will be skilled in the following areas:

• Google AdWords knowledge / certification
• Google Analytics knowledge / certification
• E-mail marketing knowledge
• Social media marketing knowledge
• Sales and distribution knowledge for retail and manufacturing industries

Benefits
The Cazbah Account Manager position is a salaried position with a healthcare plan, and matching simple IRA.

Please send cover letter and resume via e-mail to careers@cazbah.net
No phone calls please. We are an EEO Employer.

With the portability of my new Netbook, I actually write more often. It’s simply so easy to take it places where my thoughts best reach their boiling point – I can capture them and share them. Using a computer isn’t restricted to nerds in their mother’s basements anymore. I think nothing made that more clear than the day when my 70 year old father signed up for Facebook – God bless you dad.

It’s no longer about how fast your computer is, it must be usable, mesh with our lives, and not get in the way. Take mobile phones, there’s little more revolutionary in consumer technology than what’s taking place in that industry. We’ve witnessed apps for everything from turning on our cars to reading the Wall Street Journal. As the iPhone and the Google Android gain ground, it’s destined to get better. Technology has to adapt to humans to truly take hold.

Every inception of technology, however, brings with it means of misuse, of which we would be wise to take heed. Having 2,000 friends on Facebook doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re more social, nor does tweeting every 5 seconds. It might in fact be a sign of a narcissistic obsession. Vague-booking (writing a long, overly-emotional, and cryptic status messages on Facebook) really can make you seem like an unstable, self-loathing sociopath.

We ought not become so obsessed with this astonishing technology that we allow it to dominate our lives. There are some things best done in person. Nothing is more frustrating than arguing with someone via AIM or text message, nor anything more rude than tweeting or texting while on a date (I’d advise dumping that person with haste if you encounter it). Some of the best inventions in history – the gun, fire, or electricity–have all found their way into the hands of their abusers. The important thing to remember is this: used in the right measure, they stand to complement our lives.

One captivating way of using social media is as a form of psychological support. I’ve seen coworkers quit smoking with the inspiration from fellow ex-smokers reading their blogs and tweets. Moreover, from a business perspective, it has the potential to connect owners to their customers; a hand typed blog with comments and feedback about their products can truly help inspire buyer confidence more than a static Web site ever could.

As I bring this rather lengthy post to a close, I’d just like to highlight that if there is to be a bold new technological renaissance, mobility will be the vessel that delivers it. The new Web is compartmental. People want access to information that’s most relevant for what they’re doing, when they’re doing it. Sure, a proper Web site will always be the anchor of a business presence, but there’s so much more that we as consumers want from our techno gadgets.

We’re a society increasingly on the go, thus technology will continue to adapt to us. We just need to be careful not to allow it to replace the fuel of our souls – real human social interactions.

Louis Horton

Cazbah IT Director

It made me sit back however and consider objectively the pros and cons of online meetings. Online meetings are certainly both time and cost effective, and less intrusive but may lack traditional warm, personal contact. The challenge is to improve the ability to build a strong, personal relationship with customers through the technology.

I have been doing online webinars for almost five years and have used several tools during that time –like WebEx, Adobe and Gotomeeting and others. Regardless of the tool, what I found to be critical to a successful event is to maintain personal contact as much as possible. So here are some suggestions based on my experience.

At the start of the meeting, build a sense of community by introducing the participants to each other.  Let them each say hello to each other (assuming the group is small) just as you would if you were standing before them in a conference room. This is a polite courtesy you would do if you met in person, right? If the group is too large for personal hellos, address the group as you would in a larger auditorium with a nice welcoming statement that is as personable as possible. This will help everyone feel both included and valued. Let your personality shine through before getting into your formal product information.

Use of a webcam will let people see both you and your environment and is key to improving a sense of personal relationship. Set the stage! Show yourself as you would for a visit to the client’s facility. Let them know you are a real person and are professional in your appearance. Also, displaying a background that reflects some of your own personality helps.

Follow-up each online meeting with a phone call and a personally tailored e-mail. Each should serve to highlight any questions the individual raised.  Try to include something specific to their own situation.  Be sure that, although they were a part of a bigger discussion, their insights are relevant and you heard them.

Keep in mind that online meetings are not a replacement for face-to-face sessions, but often costs and logistics dictate that need. And if want to hang on to the traditional practice of bringing bagels to a customer’s site for a meeting – have some delivered!

In the words of Randy Jackson on American Idol:  “Just keep it real baby! “

This past year has been a very busy year for us at Cazbah. We actually finished the year ahead of the previous year by about 20% which, in the most severe recession that anyone can remember, is a pretty good thing. We also had our best new customer sales year in our history. It’s clear that more and more specialty small businesses are realizing how important the Internet is to the success of their businesses.

Our customers have continued to reward us with their loyalty as well. The Cazbah business model is predicated on our client’s ultimate success and their willingness to make a voluntary renewal of their business relationship with Cazbah year after year. The exceptional renewal rate and feedback we receive is indicative of our clients’ trust.

The true value of the Cazbah experience is in the personal relationships that our dedicated account managers establish with their clients. As is always the case in a trust-based relationship, our clients confide in us and share their fears, concerns, hopes and dreams for their businesses.

Because we do listen and have their best interests at the heart of what we do, several of our clients have asked us to take on a bigger share, or all, of their marketing efforts. Since these requests are on the rise, we’ve recently introduced two additional lines of business based upon our clients’ needs: Community Management and Strategic Marketing Consulting.

Our Community Management offering takes a hard look at a small business’s position in their industry and establishes them as the center-of-influence in the communities that they serve. Hence the name Community Management. The dynamics of the Web for small business have been steadily changing as social media and networking have established themselves as vital (and viral) communications mediums. Every aspects of a company’s social media activities are taken into consideration, all of which are handled by dedicated Cazbah staff on their behalf, freeing our clients up to run their businesses.

Strategic Marketing Consulting is a very involved five-step process that looks at every part of a small business, leveraging the strong current knowledge that we have with our existing clients. This engagement seeks to create a fit between the company’s resources, capacity and changing market opportunities. Our aim is to shape and focus our client’s offerings so that they produce enhanced financial results.

We have several of these expanded business relationships underway and we are seeing some immediate and exciting result. Please stay tuned in as we’ll be sharing information on a much more frequent basis going forward.