I’m reading a nice little post by Chris Brogan where he talks about the concept of a “pop up store”. The idea being, what “niche” can you create from your product / service?  What can you market to your market?

He is referring to the concept that The Gap (well, at least The Gap in NYC) put together.  Basically, they created a “niche” store within their store.  The “niche” is Weight Loss and their “niche store” has clothes that can be used for exercising.  They went a step further than just creating a new department within their store, they partnered with a fitness company which sends a personal trainer to give demonstrations, they offer discounts to the fitness gym, contests to win free stuff, etc.

The concept isn’t really new, marketers have been doing this for a very long time, but what about doing it on the web?  So, that got me thinking and here are my thoughts.

1) You could create partnership programs and offer them on your website.  For example…

a) A personal injury attorney could partner with a pain management clinic, a chiropractor, acupuncturist, massage therapist, etc.  Offer discounts via the web.  Offer demonstrations, clinics at the office.

b) A cosmetic dentist could partner up with a bridal store, glamour shots store, etc.

c) A divorce attorney could partner up with realtors, moving companies, financial planners, etc.

Well, you get the idea.  What could you market to your market?

Although Internet Marketing has been in existence for over a decade, there’s still a grand mystique about it. Maybe because it’s in constant change, maybe because it’s somewhat complicated, maybe because it’s just part of that whole “internet thing” that so many people seem to be confused about. I really don’t know.

As an SEO Webmaster, it’s difficult for me sometimes to explain all the aspects of Internet marketing. Not because I don’t understand it but because I don’t know what my audience understands. Everyone has a different level of education about the Internet and Internet marketing so there are many, many different ways of explaining the process of SEO, social media marketing and other Internet marketing projects.

But, no matter what your level of understanding, please know that there is NO MAGIC to Internet marketing. It’s simply plain hard work. That’s all. It’s not rocket science, it’s work. If you knew how to take apart a car engine and then put it back together so that it would work, would you consider that to be rocket science? No. Would it be easy for you? Probably, if you’ve done it enough times. Could you sit down and explain each step to someone? Probably not. So many different little details go into putting together a car engine, you’d spend days going through all the intricate steps.

That’s Internet marketing. There’s nothing magical about it. Internet marketing is a series of tasks:

1) It’s knowing what the search engines want, what they see and how they see it.

2) It’s knowing where the audience is and getting the website there.

3) It’s finding what the audience wants and then giving it to them.

4) It’s reading and re-reading and analyzing the statistics on the websites to plan out new strategies or make corrections or improvements.

5) It’s finding and analyzing the competition on the Internet.

6) It’s studying the trends in the marketplace to help take advantage of current events, etc.

7) It’s reading and studying to keep up with all the constant changes that are taking place on the Internet.

All this isn’t rocket science, it’s hard work. It’s time consuming, hard work.

So, if you feel that your SEO firm is taking advantage of you, consider what they’re doing for you. There’s more work than magic behind the scenes.

There is no doubt that it’s not just Google that’s changing, it’s the entire shift of the communication system of the planet. Google is simply responding to the shift.

In our lifetime (well, at least in mine) I’ve gone from black and white television to 3D televisions (coming soon I hear!) I’ve seen the introduction of cell phones evolve to iphones. There has been so much change in my short lifetime, I can’t even imagine what the future holds.

There’s no doubt that social media, mobile phone and international relations will all play a part in our future lifestyles. So, what are you waiting for?

Just spotted this great little video on youtube and wanted to share it.

How creative is that?

Socialnomics.com has a great video that pretty much summarizes WHY you should be IN social media (if you’re not already)

There’s no doubt that the impact of social media is just beginning.  Who knows what this medium will bring to businesses across the globe this year.  But what we DO know is that it’s here and it’s not going away.

So, if you’re not yet involved in social media or you think it’s just a fad, the numbers tell the story.  So listen and get involved!!

If you haven’t yet read or heard about Google’s rollout of changes as of late, let me inform you that one of them is Google Personalization.

What is that?

Well, it USED to be that IF you had a Google account and you were signed in to your Google account  while you were using the Google search engine, the results that you got back were tailored to your history and your geo location.

But NOW you don’t have to have a Google account and you don’t have to be signed in to a Google account at all.  ALL your searches on Google are being recorded and kept in a history just for you.

Let me explain how the personalized search thing works.  Let’s say you previously searched for Pizza joints in the past a few times and you chose a particular pizza joint a few times, the next time you looked for a pizza joint, that particular one that you chose before pops up as the #1 result.  Even if that particular pizza joint is ACTUALLY on page 20 of the search results, it doesn’t matter.  Because YOUR web history shows that you liked this particular pizza joint, Google is giving you what it believes you like.

It’s Google Personalized to you!

Kinda sounds great – for users.  Maybe, we’ll have to see.  But for website owners and Internet marketers (like me) it’s uhhhh, not so great.  SDInteractive says it best when they outlined the following…

“Below is a list of ways that Google personalization is changing search engine optimization today:

• Everybody now sees different Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) based on their searching patterns making measuring a consistent ranking no longer possible.

• Content development simply for increased page count and link building no longer has as much influence on your site’s rank.

• People who visit their own sites are getting the wrong impression that their sites are ranking well in the SERPs and are stopping SEO services.

Other ways that Google personalization are changing optimization are listed below:

• People who visit their competitor’s sites are getting the wrong impression that their sites AREN’T ranking well in the SERPs and are blaming their SEO company.

• Search spam is starting to get filtered out as people, by and large, do not revisit spammy pages.

• Fresh content is becoming essential for rankings, as new pages stand out in someone’s personalized SERPs and are getting searchers to come back to your site. Social media content is now critical and is being done at increased levels.”

What does Google Personalization Mean To Your SEO Campaign?

Well, for starters, it means you can’t avoid social media anymore.  It also means that you absolutely have to pay attention to each individual page of your website, not just the overall website anymore.

If your SEO firm has been trying to get you to open (and use) a Facebook page or Twitter or even Blog and you’ve been resisting, well, 2010 is the year you will have to give in and cry uncle.  There’s no doubt that the fresh content provided through social media will only enhance your Internet marketing campaign.

Let me explain how.

In the past, SEO marketing success was based on the ranking the website reached.  If it was #1 for a specific keyword phrase then the expectation was that the ranking brought in traffic and the campaign was a success.  In the last few years, that has shifted from “being #1 for a keyword phrase” to “being #1 for a productive keyword phrase” – in other words, the keyword phrase had to bring in relevant traffic.  The kind of traffic that converted into sales.  That made sense.

But now, with Google personalization in full swing, the focus shifts.  Since search results will be different for everyone, we can’t rely on that anymore.  Instead, we have to now focus on other methods of getting traffic to the website and today, that means social media.

You will still get traffic from your rankings, after all, if there is no search history for “divorce attorney in florida“, then the natural search engine rankings will remain intact.  But it will be less traffic than in the past.  So, the game is now changed.

1) Increase traffic to your site via article marketing, social media and blogging.
2) Increase website usability to encouraging your site to be shared or bookmarked.
3) Stop fighting with your SEO firm – after all, if you don’t win, they don’t win.