This is a blog I began in 2007 as a place to give women in business a place to demonstrate their thought leadership and share their expertise related to all business topics. I was thrilled to accept the award on behalf of the volunteer contributors who help make the site the authoritative online community that it is. The full press release is here.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business recognize and honor women around the world in executive and entrepreneurial roles as well as the companies they lead. The Stevie Awards have been called the world’s premier business awards and referred to as the “Oscar Awards for business” by the New York Post. The 24 karat gold and crystal statues awarded to winners are crafted by the same company that makes the iconic Academy Award statues.

The 2011 Stevie Awards ceremony was attended by 300 finalists chosen from over 1,300 applications and benfitted Camfed (camfed.org), which fights poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls and empowering women to become leaders of change.

The complete 2011 award recipients list is available on the Stevie Awards website.

“There is a widely held belief that it’s important to get as many people to follow you on Twitter as possible in order to build your business. While it’s true that a large audience of followers raises the chances that more people will see your content and share it with their audiences, giving you potential exposure to an audience you couldn’t reach alone, using Twitter to build your business is truly about quality of followers, not quantity.

“Many people join Twitter and seek out as many people to follow as possible under the mistaken assumption that those people will reciprocate and follow in return. However, blindly following people who aren’t interested in your business won’t help you any more than untargeted advertising would.

“It’s better to have 1,000 highly interested followers than 10,000 followers who don’t care about you or your tweets. Remember, the goal of social media marketing, including using Twitter as a marketing tool, is to build relationships, particularly with people who are invested in your business and are likely to become your advocates. In other words, tweeting to 10,000 people who ignore you is a waste of time, but tweeting to 1,000 people who find value in your tweets can lead to direct and indirect sales.

“Don’t be tempted to follow anyone and everyone on Twitter, and don’t be swayed into thinking that Twitter profiles with large lists of followers are truly the most popular and powerful. Always think of quality over quantity when it comes to using Twitter as a marketing tool. Slow growth in quality Twitter followers trumps fast growth in quantity of Twitter followers when it comes to business growth that will last.”

– Excerpt from ’30-Minute Social Media Marketing’ (McGraw-Hill, 2010)

Remember, social media offers businesses the opportunity to move away from marketing on a one-to-many basis to marketing on a one-to-few or one-to-one basis. Leverage that opportunity by pursuing quality relationships with followers who value the content you publish and are capable of delivering long-term, sustainable, and organic growth to your business.

Susan Gunelius, KeySplash Creative, Inc. President and CEO, was named a Finalist for a Lifetime Achievement Award in the in the 8th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Susan’s popular blog, WomenOnBusiness.com, was also named a 2011 Stevie Awards Finalist in the Best Blog category. This is the third year in a row that WomenOnBusiness.com has been nominated for a Stevie Award and the third time the blog has been named an award finalist.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor women executives, entrepreneurs, and the companies they run – worldwide. The Stevie Awards have been called the world’s premier business awards, and being named a finalist among over 1,300 entries is a significant accomplishment.

2011 Stevie Award winners will be announced at a special event to be held on November 11th at New York’s Marriott Marquis Hotel. The awards ceremony will be broadcast live on radio in the United States by the Business TalkRadio Network.

“Being named a finalist in the 2011 Stevie Awards for Women in Business is a great honor,” said Gunelius, “and it’s a testament to the importance of the work women in the business world do every day,” I’m very proud to be included in the group of inspiring women who make up the 2011 Stevie Awards Finalists.”

Details about the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the list of finalists in all categories are available at www.stevieawards.com/women.

Click to read the full press release

Fortunately, there are some simple steps that can help you learn how to write content that not only gets noticed but also gets read in its entirety. Keep in mind, when it comes to online content, people skim and scan. Therefore, “read in its entirety” refers to motivating a person to actually skim through your entire piece of content to get the complete message. While it would be wonderful if every person who stumbled on your content on the web read every word, that’s not the reality. Go for scannability!

Following are several tips to get you started in the right direction:

1. Spend Time Creating a Great Headline

Create a killer headline that intrigues and offers the promise of useful or entertaining information. Often the headline is all people see on sites like Twitter and Facebook, so it needs to motivate people to click through and read your complete content.

2. Start Strong

Begin with your most important message. There is no time for pretty introductions. Get to the point and then offer supporting information.

3. Keep It Short

The online audience typically prefers quick-hitting content (remember, they like to move fast) over lengthy content.

4. Use Headings

Make your content even more scannable by using headings and sub-headings gratuitously.

5. Use Bullets and Numbered Lists

Break up text heavy pages and make your content more scannable by using lists.

6. Use Images

Sometimes people just look at the pictures in order to decide if they even want to scan a piece of online content. Tell part of your story through the images you publish with your content to intrigue your audience.

Image: len-k-a

In simplest terms, text messages can still be effective, but if the only way you’re marketing your business to the mobile audience right now is through text message ads, then you’re severely limiting your potential.There is just so much more you can be doing to grow your business through mobile marketing!

Today, businesses can connect with the growing mobile audience through mobile websites, geo-targeted apps, mobile content, and quick response codes (QR codes).

Don’t develop your mobile marketing plan until you read my 5 mobile marketing tips and learn about some of the other effective ways to market your business, brand, products, and services to the mobile audience.

Image: jetmedia