Archive for small business

06 Oct 2011
business tips • internet marketing • seo • small business

You’re One Of A Kind – You Just Don’t Know It Yet


Years ago a friend (a great Internet marketer himself) told me that I should write an ebook about Internet marketing.  He told me that I knew more about the subject than most people he meets in that industry.  I was flattered, of course, but my immediate response to him was…”I can’t write an ebook, who am I?”  I went on to explain that I didn’t have any new angle or information on the subject, I was just me doing the work that I love.

Well, that was about 3 years ago.  I think I’ve grown a little since then (well, at least I hope so).

What Was Wrong With My Thinking Back Then?

Well, not so much that my thinking “was wrong”, more like I didn’t feel unique.  I didn’t feel strong enough in my knowledge base to be so bold as to write a book about it.  I mean a few posts here and there, consulting with clients telling them what I read and what I know – that just didn’t seem to be enough.  (In my mind).  But what I did fail to recognize is that I AM UNIQUE.  I mean, WE ARE ALL UNIQUE in our own ways.

You can fill a city block full of restaurants and each restaurant is going to be different.  Even if each restaurant was an Italian restaurant, they would each be different.  The staff would be different, the taste of the food, the atmosphere, the menus, etc.  Each one of these details would be different and as a result, all those little details create a different experience for the client.

What I failed to recognize back then was that I have UNIQUE qualities that I bring to this industry.  I mean, first, I’m a woman (which is rare in this industry), second I’m older (I’m 53 – can’t believe it!) which is REALLY rare in this industry, I’m also self taught which means that my “lingo” is not so techie.  I can convert the technical jargon that I read into plain speak for my clients.  And I will admit, that is the one consistent compliment I receive from my clients – they like how I talk.  Plain, simple, easy to understand.  And that factor alone is very comforting for so many small business owners who struggle to try to figure out what this Internet marketing “thing” is all about.

How Are You Unique?

So, how are you unique or different?   What obvious factors have you not thought about?  Well, take some time and think about them.  As your friends, colleagues, clients.  They’ll give you ideas.  Believe me, it’s always better to see yourself through someone else’s eyes than your own.  It’s more honest that way.

Here’s A Tip – It’s All In The Details

What I recognize now is that it’s really all in the details.  I mean, what I do as far as Internet marketing is not much different (if at all) from what other Internet marketers do.  I mean, there’s only so much that can be done when dealing with machines anyway.  But, it’s the little details that make me unique that I failed to recognize.  Just like the scenario of restaurants that I talked about earlier, there are unique factors in each one of them.

Take a look at Mike Stimpson’s website, he’s just another photographer – there are millions of them.  But he love Lego and he loves to play with lighting.  So, look at what he did.  It’s just a simple little detail.  This makes him unique.  This makes him different and subsequently makes him stand out from the pack.

So go ahead, find out your unique qualities and put them on your website.  Let the world know how you’re different from the others in your industry.  You’ll create your own niche and a band of followers.


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03 Oct 2011
internet marketing • seo • small business

What Is The Expected ROI From Your Internet Marketing?


I just finished reading an entry at a social media site from an Internet Marketer who had recently left his employer because the ROI wasn’t what the employer had expected.  The Internet marketer was using SEO (search engine optimization), social media marketing (via Twitter and Facebook) and blogging.  These three factors put the site in the top positions for multiple keyword phrases in Google.  They were averaging 2 sales per day from his efforts.

So, you may be thinking to yourself…”Well, what did the employer expect?”…

Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?  I mean, did the Internet marketer give him any ideas of what may be expected?  I have to wonder if the Internet marketer was reporting the number of visitors to the site and THEN talking about the sales.  It may be that the number of visitors wasn’t changing much and the employer may have been focusing on that number.  It can happen!

Why shouldn’t you focus on the number of website visitors?

For businesses that are local and specialized, like lawyers, dentists, specialty doctors, etc.  The numbers of visitors to these types of sites will not alter much unless the geography they are in alters.  Think about it, if your a family dentist living in Denver, Colorado – there are approximately 600,000 people living in Denver.  That’s your pool.  You’re not going to attract people from Colorado Springs or from Breckenridge or Steamboat Springs – you’re ONLY relevant to the folks in the Denver area.  And even with that said, it’s really only on the side of town that your office is in.  So, the number of visitors to your site will cap at some point (unless a new community or area is opened up in your geography and more people move in).

So, what’s the point of marketing if there’s a cap in the visitors?

It’s the sales – sales – sales!!!!  If you are marketing your website to 600,000 people and you’re getting 1% of those visiting your website and 5% of the visitors convert into customers your goal (and the goal of your Internet marketer) is to increase that 5% to more and more.  You’re still getting the same number of visitors but now you want to convert those visitors into customers.  It doesn’t help to have more people come to the website if you can’t convert them.

So focus on the number of conversions – if your Internet marketer isn’t giving you reports on your conversions – ask them to start.  It’s the true measure of the success or failure of your Internet marketing campaign .


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26 Sep 2011
internet marketing • seo • small business

Really, Really, Really Comprehensive SEO


As I was having my breakfast this morning I was catching up on the latest SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Internet Marketing news. I came across this little gem…

“Ten years ago, the SEO process included a monthly analysis, recommendation and implementation plan; a purely human-based process. This is no longer enough. Businesses need daily insight into their digital footprint: rank, competitors, backlinking. This is only possible when humans and technology come together. SEO software systems are now available and make this insight possible.”
From The Globe and Mail

I have to admit, I still do the monthly plan.  Hmm – but this gives me food for thought.  I mean, I look at client websites everyday – so maybe I SHOULD give daily reports?  I’m conflicted cause, as it is, the monthly information seems overwhelming to some business owners.  I can’t imagine how they would react if they start getting daily data from me.  But then, maybe I’m underestimating my clients.

And what about the time?  How can I squeeze more tasks into my day and keep my prices low?  The article talks about “seo software systems” – which are great for analysis but that means more cost.  Ugh – decisions!

Well, as I think about that concept here’s my idea of what I think would be important daily factors for my clients to know.

1) Social media mentions – this would be important to monitor daily.  What is being said about you (and/or) the company or brand?  Maybe nothing is being said, well, that’s not so good either.  These days, the “word of mouth” concept has grown to include referrals and recommendations from programs like Yelp, Facebook, Google Maps, Foursquare, etc.  These are all social media type of programs that can promote your business.

2) Competition Analysis – you may not think that the landscape of search results changes much, but believe me, it does.  There are websites out there that get updated every few hours.  That means new data is added or removed from the site, it’s a constant factor.  Why?  Well, for a few reasons.  For the search engines, it means that the website is getting updated, it’s being used and it is popular.  For the Internet viewer it means that the business is alive and is working hard to keep their clients (and potential clients) well informed and up to date.  Think about it, when you do any kind of research on the Internet, which will you read first?  An article written in 2008 or an article written in 2011?  An article written last January or one written yesterday?  (as long as their both on the same subject!).  The Internet is today’s newspaper, who wants to read yesterdays news when today’s newspaper is sitting in the driveway?

3) Backlinks – who’s linking to you?  Years ago it used to be the number of incoming links was important.  Today, it’s not the number but where the incoming link is coming from and what that incoming link is saying.  If your a plumber and your website gets an incoming link from Angie’s List and the text on that incoming link is a positive review, that’s GREAT!  But what if you get an incoming link from Service Magic and they reviewed your business and gave you a 1 star rating.  That’s not great!  But wouldn’t it be cool to know that right away so you can respond to it?  Possibly correct it?

4) Search Engine Ranking – don’t get fooled by any marketer who tells you that it’s important to monitor your search engine rankings.  The reality is, that the majority of Internet users are on Google and Google implements “personalization” into it’s search results which means that your search results will be different that the search results for the same keyword phrases that your neighbor types in.  It all depends on the history that is on your computer (what sites you’ve visited in the past) and some other factors but it’s safe to say, that your search results could show you in the first position and your neighbor (if he types in the same keyword phrases) may not see your listing on the first page at all.  So, rankings don’t really matter.

5) Traffic – this is another tricky measurement.  I mean every business has their ups and downs so measuring traffic daily is like watching the stock market hourly.  It’s going to go down, the trick is to identify if it’s a pattern.  So, does it need to be done daily?  Not so much in my opinion.  But, it may also depend on the business that the website is promoting.  I suppose this feature would have to be individualized.

So, what do you think?  Would YOU want to receive a daily report from your Internet marketer?  If so, how would you want to receive it?  As an email?  As a PDF?  Or would you prefer to just go somewhere online and see it?  And what information would you like to see in that report?  Let me know!  It just might be something we start offering.

 



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14 Sep 2011
small business

Do It Yourself SEO – Can You Do It?


For the past 2 years or so we’ve been pursuing the notion that clients will take care of their own websites. We only got this notion from the clients themselves. I mean, as the economy continues to sputter away – businesses are looking for all kinds of ways to cut back on expenses. I can certainly understand that. So, as we received more and more requests for “self managed websites” and “do it yourself seo” – we began to provide that service.

So, we started offering custom websites in wordpress formats. This would allow the clients to manage their own sites in the least costly ways possible. In addition, we gave consultations on what to do with the new pages, how to do keyword research, how to write the pages, how to structure the website, etc.

Do you think it worked? Have you tried this with your own clients? Or have you tried this on your own? I’m sad to say that so far, it hasn’t really worked.

Here’s why…

1) Their eyes were bigger than their stomachs. In other words, the projects were much more time consuming than the clients dreamed possible. They simply couldn’t keep up with the work needed on the websites.

2) The procedures were more complicated than they thought. I should have known that once I began to pull out the spreadsheets with the formulas to calculate the keyword phrases that the clients would start fainting. And yes, faint they did. They wanted a program to simply give them the keywords (yeah, I wish) and when they found out that they had to do this work – most simply didn’t do it. It was too much for them.

3) It takes a major amount of discipline to engage in website marketing. Well, any kind of marketing. It’s not just the creation of the marketing campaign, it’s also the tracking of that campaign, and the tweaks that are needed in order to comply with changes on the Internet. Many small businesses don’t even track phone calls or incoming clients, etc. So, how can they possibly begin tracking the traffic through their website? It has to be set up in the business model. And unfortunately, many small businesses don’t do this.

So, although I would love to continue providing these kinds of websites and consultation services, I have to admit that I do it now with the thought in the back of my mind that it’s just not going to work. But, maybe I’m just jaded at this point. What do you think?


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03 Aug 2011
internet marketing • seo • small business

Website Pages and Content


The best part about working with small and home based businesses is that I get to speak directly to the person in charge. It makes the entire marketing process so much easier.

The worst part about working with small and home based businesses is that sometimes I have to “convince” (or at least try to) the business owner that pages need content. Pretty pictures don’t sell on the Internet.

I just read this article from American Express about where to put keywords on a website page. The information is very elemental, I mean it’s Internet Marketing 101, maybe even pre-101 – but it does layout the very basics of how a search engine looks at a website page.

The article is called 8 Places to Use Your Keywords. If you’re a small business owner and want to try to understand this Internet Marketing thing, this is a good place to start.

Basically, if you keep in mind that a search engine is just a machine following sets of rules that are programmed into it. So, the program rule says that when someone types in a phrase like “where to put keywords” the “rule” is that the search engine has to find that phrase “where to put keywords” in those 8 places on a website page.

Keep in mind, this is very basic, there are other rules to follow (Google has about 200 of them) but the very basic rule is the placement of the keyword phrases. Of course, it also helps to know what people are typing in! (But that’s another story).

Anyway, if you’re debating with your Internet Marketer about the fact that they want to remove that large flash or graphic on your home page and replace it with something smaller and add more text to the page – this is why. They’re looking out for you. So listen!


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12 Jul 2011
internet marketing • seo • small business

Are You In Demand?


A little while ago I posted a story about a client who insisted on selling a product that did not have much demand. At least not much demand that I could see on the Internet. Several months after he started with me I received a letter from his attorney letting me know the company was going into bankruptcy.

I wasn’t surprised, I could see that no matter how much SEO or Internet marketing I did on that website, if the product isn’t in demand, it’s just not going to sell.

So, here’s a little tool that you can use, from Google, to help you identify what product(s) and/or service(s) that you provide are in demand and how they’ve changed in the last few years.

We’ll be using Google Insights For Search. Here are the steps.

1) Go to Google Insights For Search.

2) On the top left you’ll see a column called “Compare by” – choose the Time Ranges.

3) In the column of “Time Ranges” select separate time ranges or create a custom one like Jan 2009 til Jun 2011. Either way, choose the time ranges that you would like to see reports for.

4) On the top right you’ll see another column called “Filter”. In that column choose…
“Web Search”
“Your search term – what you’re looking for”
“United States” (or Worldwide if you prefer – or any country)
“All Categories”

5) A tip on entering your “Search Term” – use several different search terms. For example: If you’re a dentist, you’ll enter in search terms like…
a) denver dentist (whatever your location is)
b) family dentist
c) veneers

6) You’ll also find in the search results several keyword phrases that are associated with the term you typed in. These keyword phrases are important, they give you an idea of what people are looking for on the Internet. And depending on the geographical locations you choose, you will also be given information on where these searches are in demand.

So, let’s try a dry run here with a certain business. Lets try Family Law. So, lets say you’re a Family Law attorney in Florida. Let’s see how this tool can help with your Internet Marketing.

1) I went to Google Insights and chose the Time Ranges of Jan 2004 – Jun 2011.

2) I chose United States, Florida, All metros

3) I typed in the keyword phrase “family lawyer”

The results tell me that this service has an average interest range of “44″ – You’ll see that number just above the graph chart on the right. The column is called “Totals”.

This number of “44″ tells me it’s fairly steady and the chart verifies that. So, that’s good, people still need family lawyers.

4) I typed in the keyword phrase “prenuptial agreements” and the report shows me that 2007, 2009 and the first part of 2010 were very good years for this service but otherwise, it’s not a high selling service.

So, I think you get the idea. Play around with this tool, you may find a niche in your industry that you hadn’t thought about before! Have fun!


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10 Jul 2011
internet marketing • seo • small business • Uncategorized

Did You Know…


My mother in law has a plaque in her kitchen that reads “Babe Ruth Struck Out 1330 Times”. You probably know what I’m getting at. The idea is that even though he failed 1330 times, he kept on playing and became famous for it.

So, even though you may fail, doesn’t mean you’re a failure.

Did You Know…

That Yelp.com started out as an “automated system for emailing recommendations”. That idea flopped but what they did notice is that their visitors posted reviews online. They stuck it out with that idea and here they are.

That YouTube.com started out as a dating site? It failed in that venue but the founders decided to keep everything in place and just make it a “video sharing” site. We all know how that ended up!

That PayPal.com opened it’s company with the intention of exchanging money between Palm Pilots. They saw the potential for more and have never looked back.

That Woot.com was created to get rid of unsold inventory. But oh, it grew to become so much more!

Flickr actually began as an online role-playing game. Yep – it started out as a game. But the owners saw that their program simplified photo sharing so they dumped the first idea and went with what ended up being a highly successful program.

Groupon was a subset of a larger “idea” called The Point. The idea of The Point was to mobilize “…groups of people towards action for various causes.” The concept struck a nerve and became so popular that Groupon felt confident enough to turn down Google when they offered to buy out Groupon for 6 Billion!

So, I think you get the idea here. These companies began their journey down one road but were smart enough to realize that they needed to listen to the audience and respond. Which they did and the rest, as they say, is history.

There’s even more of this story at Mashable.


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17 Jun 2011
small business

Google Going After Groupon Market


It was inevitable that a great idea like Groupon would not be considered by the giant Google. Well, they’ve begun their beta testing. In Portland, Oregon. (Yet another great reason to live in Portland!)

Google’s Small Business Blog gives the details.

Let’s see how it progresses and how Groupon responds!


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16 Jun 2011
internet marketing • seo • small business

Keyword Themes – A Top SEO Technique


A Top SEO Technique is the use of Keyword Themes

I know that if you’ve been reading about Internet marketing you have a grasp on the concept that it’s all about the keywords. The words that you have on your website pages will make or break the success of the marketing campaign. I mean if you set up a website page to market a phrase that not many people are using, then the reality is that you’re going to get very little (if any) traffic. How can the search engines match the words on your website page with the words people are typing in if you don’t have the words people are typing in on your website page?

What I want to tell you about today is an SEO technique that has been around for many, many, many years. It’s been called many different things, silo, hierarchy, pyramid, etc. Just know that it’s basically the idea of getting ONE main keyword phrase, creating a page for it on the website and then creating OTHER pages for the semantic phrases to support this ONE main keyword phrase. It’s sort of like creating a chapter on your website JUST for this keyword phrase. I’ll give you an example of how it evolves.

Getting the Main Keyword Phrase

Just yesterday I was consulting with an Internet copywriter who was writing an article for a podiatrist. The podiatrist wanted to market the phrase “intoeing in children”. I didn’t know what that was so I typed it into the Google Adwords keyword tool and the more common term came up, which is “pigeon toed”. Of course, there were other variations but I bet as soon as you saw “pigeon toed” you knew what I was talking about – at least more than when I wrote “intoeing…”

This is a VERY common mistake. Professionals (like the doctor here) knows what the correct terms are and he’s been using those terms for so long, he’s forgotten that the typical guy on the Internet does NOT know that term. So, for the Internet copywriter, the important factor is to market the phrase that is most popular, which in this case was “pigeon toes in toddlers”.

Getting the Semantic Keyword Phrases

So now that you have the MAIN keyword phrase, you can create a website page JUST to market that keyword phrase. But, to help that one page get up in the search engines you will need other pages supporting it. These other pages are pages marketing semantic phrases.

What are semantic phrases? These are keyword phrases that the search engines believe are similar or involved with the main keyword phrase. It’s their way of helping to identify exactly what websites to bring up for your search. The important thing to remember is that the search engines want to bring up the best possible search results for the Internet user, the webmaster’s job is to create the website in such a way so that the search engines can identify this.

Well, enough of that. Here’s how you find semantic keyword phrases:

  • Go to Google (just the regular Google search page)
  • Type in your main phrase (the entire phrase)
  • On the left hand side you’ll see a line of text that says “Show search tools” (click on that). If you don’t see that line you might see a list of “Any time” and “All results”. You want to click on the line of text that reads “Related searches”.
  • You’ll then be taken to a page that has some columns of keyword phrases on top. It can be one column, two or three columns, it just depends on how many semantic phrases there are.
  • These columns of keyword phrases ARE the semantic phrases.
  • Jot them down somewhere.
  • Now do the same exact thing except this time with the main portion of the keyword phrase – for example: Our phrase was “pigeon toes in toddlers” – so first I typed in the entire phrase and made a note of the semantic phrases. Then I typed in “pigeon toes” and again, made a note of these semantic phrases.
  • From this list of semantic phrases – you want to use as many as you possibly can to create ONE additional page on your website to support your main page which is about “pigeon toes in toddlers”.
  • Of course, don’t forget to hyperlink the pages together.

So, you can see now how a website can grow and grow and grow! Now, if the search engines scan your website, what they will see is a page about “pigeon toes in toddlers” but they will also see that you have pages about “intoeing” and “pigeon toes in infants” and “pigeon toe symptoms” and “metatarsus adductus”. There will be no doubt in the “eyes” of the search engine that this website has the information that is relevant for that Internet user.

So get to it, make your website as relevant as possible!


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12 Jun 2011
internet marketing • small business

Expert Internet Marketing – What Does That Mean?


We’re trying hard, here at Eckweb, to give all our clients what they want and more important, what they need.  But, as is always the case when dealing with humans, we fail with some.  It’s impossible to please everyone.

But, I don’t want to stray – SO – in our efforts to improve our services we’ve been sending out a survey lately to all our clients.  Mind you, we have over 100.  That means we’re managing domain registrations, website hosting, website maintenance, ppc marketing, social media marketing and internet marketing services.  Now, some clients only use us for domain registration, others just for website hosting, some have combinations of services, it’s a huge variance.  Just in case you were thinking that we’re marketing over 100 clients!  We’re not.

So, with all that being said – the survey – since these are all anonymous I have no way of knowing who has given me the answers but one response that I got gave me the inspiration to write this post.  I could “hear” in the client’s answers that he/she was angry and unhappy – no business owner likes an unhappy client – so I thought maybe I could post my thoughts and see if that would help.

You Are The Expert

The basic “gist” of my client’s responses was that “…I’m the expert…” on Internet marketing and he/she is relying on me to get clients for them through the website.

Of course, that’s true for any Internet marketing company or really any advertising or marketing company.  The client is relying on the marketer to bring in the traffic.  So, whether it’s a billboard or a website, it doesn’t matter, the desired end result for the client is more traffic.

I couldn’t possibly agree more but what does that REALLY mean?  At least on the Internet?  Let’s see if I can explain it how I see it – of course you can let me know what your thoughts are.

1) At it’s most basic core, Internet marketing is about exposing your knowledge, your products, your services, etc.  What I mean by “exposing” is having written pages on the website.

2) When a billboard is created – the traffic that it brings is due to at least 2 main factors:

  • The design and subject matter on the billboard itself.
  • The location of the billboard.

3) When a website is created – the traffic that it brings is due to at least 2 main factors:

  • It must have the information that the Internet audience is looking for.
  • It must be easy to maneuver through.

4) Of course, there are multiple factors for both scenarios but, in my humble opinion, these are the main issues that influence the success and/or failure of the marketing project.

5) As an “Internet marketing expert” – what I know is the Internet.  I know what people are typing in, I know the amount of competition for certain phrases, I know where to put the words on the website so that the pages of the website answer the queries being typed in.

6) Included in the monthly reports we provide our clients are recommendations on how to improve the website as well as new keyword phrases to bring in more traffic.  We don’t give that information lightly.  It’s meant to help our clients to compete online.

7) I know the whole “Internet Marketing” thing is daunting and exhausting.  It seems as if it simply never ends.  I mean, you go to an advertising agency, they create a billboard, they display it, you get traffic.  That’s that.  But with Internet marketing – the process simply never stops.  The reason is that the traffic online changes much quicker than the traffic on the highway.    There are at least 5 million new websites coming online every day – that changes the landscape.  If there were 5 million new billboards popping up on the same highway that your billboard is on – do you think you would get good results?

Believe me, I know, more than most how frustrating the field of Internet marketing can be.  But I also know that it works.  I know that because I have clients who are successful.  Not just because of me, of course.  They’re successful because of several factors,

  • They participate in the Internet marketing by continuously changing and updating their sites and the information they provide online.
  • They follow through with their online clients by using their websites to accomodate their clients by using surveys, making their sites as interactive as possible, etc.
  • They follow the trends.  If there was ever any marketing medium that responded so well to trends, fads and fetishes – it’s Internet marketing!  So, use it!

I hope these insights helped.


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