FlagAndMap Weblog

If you’re an active user of social media in your marketing campaigns – and most small businesses are these days – then you’ll certainly want to check out what HootSuite has to offer.

HootSuite enables you to track and manage an unlimited number of social network accounts from one console. Networks that can be handled include Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Foursquare and WordPress (currently only the .com service). Just being able to view all these accounts from one place is a huge advantage but HootSuite allows you to do much more.

Probably the next feature that will appeal to users is the ability to send updates to more than one account at the same time. Perhaps you have several twitter accounts and would like the same update to go out to more than one of them – easy to do with HootSuite. Simply create the message in HootSuite, select the accounts you’d like to update and send.

Of course you’ll be wanting a url shortening capability as you compose your updates. HootSuite uses ow.ly url shortening, which includes two cool features. First, you can easily append parameters, such as Google Analytics tags or affiliate referral IDs, to the end of your urls before they are shortened. Different parameter sets can even be saved as presets for future use making their attachment far speedier. Second, any url shortened in this way can be tracked and the clickthrough stats viewed from your HootSuite dashboard.

Another powerful HootSuite feature that you might find useful is the ability to schedule your updates. Everything can be set up just as described above but instead of pressing ‘send’ you select a future time and date (months in advance if you like) and press ‘schedule’. At the appointed time your update will be sent just as if you’d done so manually. If for example you have a predefined calendar of events for which you wish to send out reminders you can prepare and schedule these ahead of time and eliminate the need to worry about when the next one is due.

Finally, you’ll most likely want to check out the automated rss based updates. Select the rss feed from which you wish to extract updates, the network accounts you want them to feed and the frequency with which you want this to happen and, hey presto, HootSuite will automatically generate those updates from that point on.

We strongly recommend a visit to the HootSuite website where you will find they offer a free, ad supported, version with a 5 social network limit which should accommodate most individual or small business needs. Simply sign up and get started. We think you’ll quickly be hooked once you start to see what HootSuite can do.

Here’s a gem – Web CEO – outstanding SEO software that won’t cost a fortune. Indeed there’s even a free version that retains good functionality and has no expiration. They suggest that those who have benefited from the free version might like to help promote their software and as we liked it so much we decided to do just that.

We found Web CEO extremely useful and quite easy to use – there’s even a video tutorial, which might be a wise place to start. The SEO functionality of Web CEO is divided into four areas:

• Finding Your Niche (keywords and site optimization)
• Promoting Your Site (site submission, linking and ppc)
• Analyzing Your Site (rankings, link popularity and traffic reports)
• Maintaining Your Site (FTP uploader, site quality control and uptime monitoring)

We think you’ll agree that this is a comprehensive offering. Much of this is available in the free version but many people are also likely to find their pricing structure attractive. We encourage you to check it out via this link.

Follow our new twitter account for flagandmap latest news, product updates, current promotions and more.

We’re pleased to announce a cooperative marketing arrangement with, Flagnostic, a store that also sells products with designs based on world flags. Their t-shirts, mugs, hats, magnets, etc. feature gnarly national flag designs for every nation. We like their name and we like their designs. Here is their shop banner, which gives an idea of the kind of designs you might currently find there.

You can check them out at www.zazzle.com/flagnostic

Recently we created bumper stickers with flag and map designs for every European nation. Each carries the country name in english plus the text ‘adventure destination’. As ever, you have the option to replace that text with your own before you buy.

As an example here is the bumper sticker for Romania

So how did flagandmap.com business concept begin?  Well it really didn’t begin as either a business or a concept.  Instead it slowly evolved from a rather more limited activity.

It began with a rare concurrence - time away from corporate servility and sufficient funds to pursue some personal interests.  It began with a casual attempt to see if artwork could be created and sold online.  And it really began after a drift away from ‘artwork’ and the discovery of something that did sell.  (Yes, you will notice that flagandmap designs aren’t especially ‘artistic’ – yet!).

As soon as the relative popularity of flagandmap designs became clear, all efforts were focused on creating a comprehensive range of designs on a number of products – a goal that has yet to be fully met.  For a long time this was being accomplished solely by means of a gallery/store on the Zazzle site (www.zazzle.com).  Only later, after appreciable progress toward this primary goal, was effort devoted to the development of a decent flagandmap website (www.flagandmap.com) and were funds applied to internet marketing.  Only now are we ready to start the blog that you are now reading.

So the above approach was to start small, to test the waters with a number of ideas and then run with the one that seemed to be the most promising.  Even at that point investment was modest and growth of the business continues to be gradual.  We suggest that this approach is sensible if resources are limited and the opportunity being addressed can be divided up between many smaller operators.  Clearly this approach won’t work if the intention is to set up something like ’ebay.com’ where most of the opportunity is captured by an early and aggressive entrant.  Nevertheless, there are many smaller internet business, such as those operating through ebay,  where the lessons learned here might be applicable.

Perhaps you have a comparable or contrasting experience with a similar kind of internet based venture - it would be great to hear from you.  Please feel free to add a comment.