This week, the lovely and talented Jennifer Zuri of Town & Country Living is in the Bloglight!

Jennifer’s charming Victorian cottage captured my heart from the moment I saw her first pictures. She finds beauty in every flaw, and has a keen ability to capture the essence of her creations in her photographs. I’ve had the privilege of getting to know Jennifer since she joined Hometalk; she is kind hearted, thoughtful, and oh so wise! I am honored to feature her in the Bloglight!

Read more about Jennifer’s blogging journey here.
Follow Town & Country Living on Hometalk here.

You’re invited to join our Twitter chat!
Hosted by @SouthernRhoda and @meetuatthefence

On the agenda
*Learn about planning for your spring garden *Share your gardening plans *Get new ideas and inspiration from others *Tweet to win prizes!

How to participate
Use hashtag #itching4spring.
Use Tweetchat for easy chatting.

Anyone can participate, but you must be following @Hometalk and @HGTVGardens and RSVP before the chat!

Follow us here
Follow @Hometalk
Follow @HGTVGardens

RSVP here
Put your twitter handle in the “Link Title” field (example: @Hometalk)
Put your email in the “email” field
Put your Twitter URL in the “URL” field (example: https://twitter.com/Hometalk)

P.S. Winners will be selected at random from RSVP’s. (If a winner is chosen who RSVP’d but did not attend a 2nd winner will be chosen.)

Leave us a comment if you have any questions.

This week the talented Christina Katos from No. 29 design is in the Bloglight! I first ‘met’ Christina when she posted her unbelievable basement renovation on Hometalk which generated quite a buzz (if you’ve never seen it, you’ll see why!) Christina, thank you so much for sharing your  blog story! 

This week Beth Bryan from Unskinny Boppy is In The Bloglight! Beth is a mommy blogger turned DIY blogger, whose passion, education, and experience in interior design really come through on her sensational blog. To learn more about how Unskinny Boppy got its unique name, and to read tons of Beth’s tips and tricks for other bloggers, click here.

Today’s Protalk tip is brought to you by Jo-Anne Peck of Historic Shed.

I’ve spent most of my career as a Historic Preservation Consultant serving a niche market for government agencies and engineering firms meeting state and federal regulations. Marketing was minimal though, with most contracts obtained through established contacts or in response to formal Requests for Proposals. However, things changed dramatically in the marketing department for us a few years ago when my husband and I decided to branch out and start a custom shed manufacturing business.

The idea to build custom sheds came from one of our consulting jobs. We had been hired to work on a highway improvement project that ran through the middle of a National Historic Landmark District. The project required that 64 historic homes be moved out of the way of the highway and rehabilitated. Built mostly in the 1910s, few of the houses had sheds or garages on the property. People loved the rehabilitated homes with their high ceilings, beadboard walls and built-in cabinets, but the one complaint that we heard was that they had no place to store their lawn equipment. Knowing that the local historic preservation board would not allow any of the standard pre-manufactured sheds within the historic district, we realized that there was an untapped niche market in our area. We also knew that we were perfectly skilled to fill that market for historic homeowners with my preservation design experience and my husband’s contracting background.

So far, it has been an interesting experiment, and one that has been more fulfilling than expected. However, there has been a big learning curve. Many of our early plans and assumptions have had to adjust as we’ve learned more about our customers’ needs and the realities of building and transporting shop-built structures. The biggest hurdle though has been to let everyone know that a previously unavailable product now exists. Luckily, with our previous consulting business, we know which historic neighborhoods to market to, and have many people who already respect our knowledge. The trick has been to learn how to market in a way that speaks to them.

Here are a few basic things we have learned about marketing a custom product to a niche market:

• Be clear about what added features or functions you are offering. Figure out how to explain this value to your customer in a straightforward way. It may be obvious to you how what you are offering is better than the norm, but to the customer who is not intimately aware of your business, it needs to be clearly stated.
• Speak the language of your niche customer. Know the terms that appeal to them and show that you are not an outsider.
• Do not try to be all things to all people. Focus your product/ service message and target your advertising. That is the point of finding a niche.
• Be open to tangential markets that may also be interested in your product or services, but be careful not to get sidetracked (for us, it has been artists looking for attractive backyard studios, regardless of the age and style of home they own). Also, notice potential submarkets within your niche and consider tailoring your services or products to meet their needs (for example, there is a growing group of urban chicken farmers within the historic districts in our area, making custom chicken coops a potential product for us to offer).
• Avoid the ‘lowest price” marketing mentality. As the adage goes, you can compete on price, quality or service, but never more than two at a time. When you serve a niche market, quality and service are the basis of your business.
• Avoid sales and discounts. Sales devalue the product and make existing customers feel taken advantage of. Price things fair for both you and the customer. If you feel the need to have an incentive, try offering a bonus product, an upgrade, or a follow-up service.
• Find a way to display yourself differently from the other guys. Make your product packaging, ads and website stand out and reflect your higher standards.
• Ask for referrals. Once you find an ideal customer that fits your niche, there is a good chance that they know someone else with similar interests or needs.
• Find complementary companies that also serve your market and see if you can team up. It may be as simple as allowing your brochures to be placed on their sales counter or adding links on each other’s websites. Or consider offering a combination package where both your services/ products are purchased together for cross marketing. For example, we could team up with a pond designer to offer a potting shed and custom pond package.
• Find non-profits that serve your niche markets. Buy ads and sponsorships in their newsletters and event fliers when the opportunity arises. It reaches your market directly while reflecting positively on your company. Sometimes there is bonus PR. And often it is very reasonably priced.
• Offer to write articles and blog posts for niche related websites and publications. It establishes you as an expert in customer’s minds.
• Reevaluate periodically to make sure you are being clear with your message. We learned this lesson through our Facebook page. We thought we were doing great with our Facebook marketing, entertaining our growing pool of fans with photos of our sheds, along with historic images of other outbuildings, getting lots of Likes and Comments. Then we had a comment from someone who wrote, “I wish someone still built like this” under a photo of one of our sheds, thinking that it was a well-kept old shed. We now note “built by Historic Shed” under all photos of our work.

If you liked this post, stop by Historic Shed’s page and give it a like on Facebook.

Today’s ProTalk tip is brought to you by Ish Laos, founder of Webstuffguy.

If you were to go see a doctor, how strange would it be if the doctor just handed you a bunch of prescriptions before he/she even gave you an examination?  Yet that is what often happens when we try to make our website search engine optimization (SEO) friendly. The key to success is to first diagnose where your website is falling short, or lacking. Fortunately for us, there are some wonderful free tools out there to help us do just that.  Wait… Did I mention they were FREE?

What I want to do is share with you some of my favorite tools that I use whenever I want to evaluate a client’s website.  While researching your own website, it is important to know who your toughest competitor is as well.  That is, which competitor of yours is ranked higher in Google searches.  Go ahead, do a test.  Go to Google and enter in the keywords that your prospects are most likely to enter in order to find your website.

**Please note:  If you have an active Google account, it is important that you sign out of Google before running any search results.  Google is biased, and if you are logged in, it will pull up your website way ahead of where it would normally be to the unsuspecting client.  So make sure you are signed out.

So how bad is it? Or how good is it?  If you are at the very top, then congratulations!  You can now stop reading this.  For everyone else, let’s carry on!

Now that you know who your competition is, let’s move onto my top 5 free SEO tools to help you diagnose your website.

Tool #1 - Open Site Explorer by SEOMOZ

What it is:  To put it short, it’s a backlink investigation tool.  Your site’s backlinks play a vital role in your site’s ability to rank well in search engines.  Backlinking is like a popularity contest.  Picture the days back in high school.  If the star quarterback went around telling everyone that you are the coolest kid in school, how would that raise your popularity amongst your peers?  Now what if the most unpopular kid in high school said you were the coolest?  How much would that do for you then?

It’s the same thing with websites. Think of a monster website that receives thousands of hits per day.  If they were to backlink to you, that is, if they were to leave a link to your website on their own website, Google would consider you very relevant.  This in return will catapult you into search engine relevancy.   The idea is to have as many reputable websites backlink to yours.  Got it?

How it helps: See who is linking to your website, and how it’s helping you.  More importantly, put in your top competitor’s website instead and see who links to them.

How to use it:  Find out who links to your competitors website.  After all, there is a reason why they rank so high.  It may be because of the link juice they are getting from other big time sites.  Find out who those sites are, and why they are linking to your competitor.  Get in on that link juice.  Figure out how they could link to you as well.  Be creative, give them something in return, or figure out a reason for them to backlink to you.  Keep it fun. 

Tool #2 - Google Adwords Keyword Tool 

What it is:  When attracting potential prospects, it’s important to speak their language.  What keywords are your prospects entering into Google in order to find your company?  If your website is not optimized  with the correct keyword phrases, you could be missing out on potential customers.

How it helps: This keyword tool will help you understand what keywords your prospects are typing in, in order to find a business like yours.  Use this tool to get the right keywords and put them directly into the content of your website, preferably on your homepage.  This way Google has a better understanding of what you sell/offer and in return will hopefully pull up your website the next time those keywords are entered by a prospect.

How to use it:   Once you select a querying method, the tool allows you to break down the results using a variety of filters, match types and keyword term inclusion/exclusion lists.  Familiarize yourself with this panel.  I promise it will come in handy.  For more information on the Keyword Tool, click http://goo.gl/1TEMd

Tool #3 - Rank Checker

What it is:  One of my favorite tools!  Find out where your site ranks for certain keyword searches.  You decide which keywords to use, then see how your site does alongside your competitors.  Rank checker will not only give you Google results, but Yahoo and Bing as well!

How it helps:   When armed with this knowledge, you know where you stand, and where you need to improve.  You also see where your competitors stand.

How to use it:   Put in the keywords that would be used in Google to find you, then put in your actual website address.

Tool #4 - Meta Tag Analyzer

What it is:  This tool will give you a meta tag analysis of your website.  It grades your website on things such as overall visibility, title tags, meta description tags, meta keywords, etc…

Titles and Meta Tags are special HTML tags that are inserted into your web page and are often not directly visible to your visitors.  Since this is the same material that is displayed in your search results, it is very important that your title and meta tags are search engine friendly.

How it helps:   When Titles and Meta Tags are used properly, you will have much more control over what is displayed in search results.  Not only that, but these are tags that Google spiders search for when indexing your site.

How to use it:   Get this information and show it to your website designer.  Your designer should be able to show you your current Meta tags, and should be able to easily place the suggested ones.

Tool #5 - Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide

What it is:  Have you ever wondered what Google themselves have to say about Search Engine Optimization?  Not many people know that they have actually released a handy publication to guide you in the right direction.  They don’t exactly make it easy for you to find it either.  Perhaps it’s because they make most of their money from Google Adwords, and would much rather you pay to get ranked instead of growing your site organically.  But that’s just a theory.  Anyhow, I’ve located it here for you!

How it helps: While this is NOT a diagnosis tool for your website, I feel that every website owner should have their hands on this manual.  You will definitely come away with learning something new.  This pdf. file has lots of friendly images to make learning easier.  Discover what Google considers to be ethical SEO practices so you can stay away from the non-ethical approaches.  Unethical SEO practices could have bad consequences, such as being banned from Google Search results indefinitely.

How to use it:   Download this pdf file, print it, READ IT! LEARN FROM IT!  It’s a must have for any website owner who’s conscience of their search rankings.

If you liked this post, stop by Webstuffguy’s page and give it a like on Facebook.

This week, the gorgeous Courtney of French Country Cottage is In The Bloglight!
There’s something magical about Courtney’s projects that is very memorable. I’m sure you all recognize the room below :) Thank you so much for sharing your story, Courtney! Read it here.

This week Evelin Alvarez-Flores from Evey’s Creations is In The Bloglight! Evey is one of those people who brings sunshine wherever she goes – if you know her, you know what I mean. :) Thank you for sharing your inspiring story, Evey! Click here to read.

To participate, simply include the #HometalkTuesday hashtag in your Google+ posts today. (Please note: this is for ALL home related posts, not just Hometalk posts, i.e., your blog, a home related comment, etc.)

Trending on Google+ is like trending on Twitter — it means that the hashtag is being used by a large audience at the same time.

Here’s how to find the trending hashtags:

Today’s ProTalk tip is brought to you by Tina Harvey of True Identity Concepts.

Admittedly, the thought of another social networking or blogger platform that offers a means to share information or photos seems all too familiar.  Adding pictures and content to yet another site and adjusting to the learning curve can be a daunting task. Nevertheless, as a fellow business owner/entrepreneur and Hometalk Professional, our ability to network and stay connected through a variety of forums wins out.

In the interior design profession, the capacity to combine the emotional aspects of business into beautiful spaces for our clients must be accomplished through effective communication and strong visual presentation skills. One such forums that is quite useful to those in the creative field looking to broadcast their expertise and visually communicate their services is Tumblr.com – a twist on tumbler minus the “e”.

Let me take a minute to grab your attention. Yes, it is another blog site; but, it is one that hosts nearly 79.8M blogs, 35.1B posts, and ranks top 15 in the United States. If you are not tumbling (pun intended), then you are missing a valuable resource for posting a wide assortment of content for your business.

Speaking of visuals – set-up and customization of your theme can be as easy as selecting a free or purchased theme with the option of changing the colors, adding html code, or developing your own.  In addition, like many of our smart phones and iphone apps, icons make posting easy to select on the main dashboard (figure 1) with seven optional styles to chose from including text, photos, quotes, links, chat, audio, and video; and if you are on the road – there app for Tumblr gives your business the capabilities of posting from anywhere on the road (figure 2).  So if you have a Smartphone and find a great picture to post from a jobsite, there is easy access to your blog features.

Quick Tips for Rolling on Tumblr:

• Take a look at the top themes and then customize your theme to fit your business.
• Yes, you can connect your postings with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and easily reference your RSS feed through editing and customization tabs
• Download the Bookmarklet for ease of sharing on Tumblr with content found during web searches or linking back to your website and/or Hometalk blog
• Check out the email and phone-in posting features that provide additional avenues for posting newsletters and audio content
• Drafts and Queue features do exist should you post directly through Tumblr.  But know that Tumblr is available as an application that shares on other Social Media Management sites (e.g. Hootsuite).

While you are rolling around on Tumblr at your home, office, or on the road, be sure to give us a follow at True Identity Concepts, add us to your RSS feed (figure 3), and/or Facebook and Twitter.