As I was putting my entire book online this summer, I knew some of the content needed a heavy-duty refresh. A lot changed in the two years since I wrote the book.

The biggest gaping hole was Web site Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Arguably the hottest topic among B2B companies like yours and mine. I needed an expert to help me tune it up to 2007/2008 standards.

Wanted: Search Engine Guru
So I asked my friend Perry Marshall (the Google AdWords and White Paper expert) to recommend who I should work with. That led me to Steph Mahaney, CEO of Planet Ocean Communications, which publishes SearchEngineNews.com and ‘The UnFair Advantage Book on Winning The Search Engine Wars.’

Long story short, Steph was not only up for the task, he upped the ante. He said he’d help me write the NEW Marketing Play IF he and Esoos Bobnar (Planet Ocean’s well-known head of SEO research) could apply these techniques to my Marketing-Playbook.com website and turn it into a real-time case study. The two of them are confident they can coach me through the site modifications so I’ll see measurable web traffic improvement. And you’ll get to watch and learn right along with me.

But rather than write this up AFTER the fact—like most case studies—you’ll get to see it all happen in real-time.

Get out your notebook and your #2 pencils
Starting today you can watch [embarrassing] online-videos of Esoos dissecting my website, explaining all the common (and not-so-common) mistakes I’ve made—the very things preventing me (and you?) from getting the Google traffic I deserve. You’ll see all the behind the scenes HTML web code, my site analytics, everything. That’s the deal.

I will follow all the instructions they give me and will provide the traffic reports to prove the results.

But wait, there’s more…
Steph, Essos and I also collaborated on a new ($9.95) booklet, entitled: Google Optimized, which I just published. (Got to love that title and URL).

It’s a 20 page, 4-step SEO checklist you don’t want to be without. Use the coupon code: xyzzy in the next week and get free shipping in the U.S. (half-off shipping to Canada).

100% satisfaction guaranteed. 

Click here to read about the Google Optmized booklet or to order it. You can even order them in bulk and give them away as nice premiums to your customers.  

In Monday’s Wall Street Journal it was Carly Fiorina vs. Robert Nardelli—Two powerful executives people love to hate:

That’s the power of a strong, active network. Nardelli didn’t start working on his network when he needed it —rather— he was building it when he didn’t need it.

Carly’s Mistake
Carly’s story is what happens when you don’t have a network.

Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, [hasn’t] gotten a second chance in the corner office — partly because [she doesn’t have] a powerful network of former colleagues.

Beyond job search - Sales Leads & Referrals from your network
In my 5-day LumpyMarketing Course (www.lumpymarketing.com) I tell you about one of the most important formulas in B2B Sales and Marketing:

$ = I x R

Translation: Sales Success is broadly based on two things:

1. Your sphere of Influence and
2. Your number of Relationships
   

The tool I use for growing my network is LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is one of the most important networking tools available for B2B Marketing and Sales people. In Marketing Play K-06 I show you how to harness the power of LinkedIn for your own company.

In case you haven’t tried LinkedIn, here’s what you’re missing:

1. Unlike a traditional card file, which is contains business cards of people you know, LinkedIn reports how many people have YOU in THEIR Rolodex
2. Your network always has your current contact information (assuming you’re being a ‘good boy/good girl’ and keeping it up-to-date!)
   
3. LinkedIn makes it easy to get (and give) recommendations
4. There’s no charge for a basic LinkedIn membership
5. No worries about formatting your LinkedIn profile, LinkedIn does it for you
   

But the very best benefit of LinkedIn is how much it lessens the burden on people in your network to refer business to you. It’s as stupid-proof as it can be.

If you haven’t done so, you owe it to your top-line to give LinkedIn a try. It requires little technical skill and a smidgen of time in the beginning to set it up.

The B2B food-chain starts with Who Knows You.

Join the “club” now and start getting recommendations posted on your profile like I have (www.linkedin.com/in/johnfox).

*Hymowitz, Carol. “Recent News Events.” The Wall Street Journal 27 Aug. 2007. 27 Aug. 2007 <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118816604822709168.html>

James Muskal, Partner
Leydig Voit & Mayer Limited
2 Prudential Plaza Ste 4900
180 N. Stetson Avenue
Chicago , IL 60601-6780
(312)616-5600
www.leydig.com

Is it the automobile? Should the radio or light bulb get top billing? America’s greatest invention can be hotly debated without conclusion—but there is no debating the inventors, thanks to US patents held by Ford (#1,005,186), Marconi (#586,193) and the very prolific Edison (#223,898).

“The ideas out there today are incredible, but they quickly become worthless unless they are patented,” said Jim Muskal, attorney with Leydig, Voit & Mayer, Ltd. “That’s a scenario that always has been, always will be. Inventors can’t wait; they need to apply for a patent as early as possible after the idea is made public or put into use.” If they don’t, he cautions, rights to the invention will be lost after a one-year grace period. And any claim to fame—along with potential profits—can vanish into unpatented purgatory.

What is an invention?
An invention is not just a great idea. The legal definition of an invention includes any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter—or any new and useful improvement on any of the aforementioned. Inventors should take note that laws of nature, physical phenomena and abstract ideas are not patentable.

Patent law specifies that an invention must meet three conditions: usefulness, novelty and nonobviousness—it has to be sufficiently different from what has been used or described before. Any idea is patentable if it meets the three criteria, Muskal said. A case in point: Amazon.com patented its invention—one-click shopping—after determining it fit the bill.

What steps do I take?
As with the trademark application process (Play T-07), Muskal suggests entrepreneurs begin with a search of patented ideas. The first step can be accomplished by hiring an attorney or by visiting www.uspto.gov, the website of the US Patent and Trademark Office, which issues US patents.

If there is no infringement, and your idea meets the three criteria listed above, then you can take the next step and file a disclosure document, which requires a drawing and written explanation of your idea. “Some inventors become unnecessarily nervous about the disclosure filing,” Muskal said. “The ideas submitted are preserved in secrecy—and the government can only protect what is known.”

Next, you file a provisional application, which lays the groundwork for foreign filing (a patent is required in every country of trade)—a lengthy process that often takes one year to complete. The final step is filing a full utility application. Although the steps may be few, the patent process is much more technical and rule oriented than in trademark application and is best done by retained counsel.

What’s in it for me?
It typically takes two to three years to obtain a utility patent and costs between $2,500 and $15,000, depending on technical complexity. Design patents range from $1,000 to $2,000. Additional maintenance, issue and prosecution fees and costs may be encountered, Muskal noted. A patented invention is protected for 20 years from the first application, which grants the inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention.

Some companies keep their inventions cloaked in trade secrets, rather than patent protection. The most famous example is Coca-Cola’s syrup formula. “Trade secrets are practiced,” Muskal said, “but there is nothing to prevent a third party from analyzing your product and reconstructing it through reverse engineering.”

Indeed, reverse engineering is one test used in patent law to determine whether an infringement has occurred, as is a claim comparison. “Technology is moving faster than ever, and heavy competition is on the rise as well,” Muskal said. “Today’s market dictates that entrepreneurs obtain patents to stay in the game.”

CompanyNewsletters.com Inc.
18593 Jasper Way
Lakeville Minnesota 55044-9681
(952) 892-6943
www.companynewsletters.com

Here’s a great find for you. Dave Kandler has built his company into a real powerhouse in the niche of newsletter outsourcing. They literally run the whole show for you. Whew! What a relief to know someone’s there to take it off your hands!

AmazingMail, Inc.
8300 E Raintree Drive Suite 201
Scottsdale Arizona 85260
(480) 281-4800
www.amazingmail.com

Steve Wilen, president of AmazingMail, can talk and conduct a meeting almost as fast as his high-speed printers. He runs a wonderful company in God’s country, Scottsdale, Arizona.

Other than business cards, I believe AmazingMail’s print-on-demand postcards should be one of the most often used forms of sales collateral. Here’s just one way I use them:

Recognizing the fact that e-mail has lost most of its luster, especially when contacting people who don’t know me, a personal note as a follow-up to a meeting or seminar can make me really stand out. While I do mail a lot of handwritten notes, time is just not on my side. Plus, my handwriting is terrible. Plus, plus, traveling with envelopes and stamps and notecards is a real pain. So what do I do?

I created a postcard template at AmazingMail using a scan of my book cover as the front image. After each meeting or seminar I type in a personal message, select the recipients and my postcards are good to go for less than $1.00 each (including postage). There’s no charge for file storage at AmazingMail and I get a detailed history of what I sent, who I mailed it to and when it went into the mail. Cool enough?

Uline
2200 South Lakeside Dr.
Waukegan Illinois 60085
(800) 295-5510
Fax: (800) 295-5571
www.uline.com

Placon Corporation
6096 McKee Road
Madison Wisconsin 53719
(800) 541-1535
Fax: (608) 271-3162
package@placon.com
www.placon.com

I am in the process of qualifying a new vendor to add to this list, but in the mean time, here are 5 vendors I’ve used with good results.

www.glance.net
www.livemeeting.com
www.meetingone.com
www.readytalk.com
www.webex.com
 

You can get a copy of Rick’s book on his website.

Zoomerang, a division of MarketTools, Inc.
150 Spear Street Suite 600
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 462-2200
www.Zoomerang.com

While there are a lot of online survey companies out there, only Zoomerang is part of a market research firm. And MarketTools is one of the biggest in that business.

Why is this important?

From my perspective, it’s always the smart choice to team up with subject matter experts (I might add, that’s the basis for all of the vendors in my book).

In Zoomerang’s case, they are researchers first, web application developers second. That means the advice you get is steeped in real-world experience from extracting important information so you can use it to improve things (because, let’s face it, if you’re going to go to the trouble surveying people and then not take action, you’ve just wasted a lot of time).

Hinda Incentives
2440 West 34th Street
Chicago Illinois 60608
773-890-5900
www.hinda.com