So, this year I’m working with a great business coach.  He’s helping me to shape Eckweb for the future.  One of the topics we’ve been discussing lately is communicating with clients.  His advice is to “talk” to clients on a regular basis.  You know, pick up the phone and talk.  My response is “I wish I had the time.”

So, we’re working on that.

But, I have to say, this issue has always been a dilemna for me.  I mean, my job as an seo webmaster is to get my clients used to working with their websites and the Internet.  I’m often dragging them there, away from their phones and fax machines!!  I know all this technology is still new for some folks but frankly, they have to learn it.

If a business has a website and they don’t use it, what’s the point?  They’re missing out in a very big way and the truth is, in just a few years, they may very well be out of business because they’ve gotten so far behind in technology.

I stress to my clients that the best way to contact me is via email.  The reason for this are several…

1) Having clients across the country means clients are in several different time zones.  Instead of holding off until “tomorrow” to make the call to get an answer to the question, sending out an email can often mean that the answer will be there waiting for the client when they come in the next day.

2) Running a small business (and I’m sure many of you can relate) means that I wear many hats throughout the day.  Needless to say, I’m extremely busy.  And the type of analytical work that I do as an SEO webmaster means that I’m often buried in some complicated program or coding.  Stopping to answer the phone is not just a time issue, it’s a problem getting back into the program I was involved in. Imagine taking apart an engine, all the pieces are in front of you but now you have to put it back together.  There are steps you have to take and if you’re interrupted at step 3 and step 5 and then again on step 9, you’ll have to take some time to regroup your thoughts to get back into that project for that particular step.  SEO is just like that.

3) The time!!  Most clients keep me on the phone for at least 20-30 minutes.  I’m sure it’s because they don’t often  get me on the phone but there are days that I could literally go from phone call to phone call and that just is not the most productive way to manage my time.  What I often find is that the client just wants to “talk” to me.  They want to know that I’m there (I guess).

4) Cryptic emails.  What I find most often from the clients who call me the most is that their emails are cryptic.  You know, they type in one question with no details and I’m supposed to guess what they’re talking about.

Have you ever played the game Taboo?  You’re supposed to try to get your team members to say the word that is on your card but there are certain words you can’t use (which are listed on the card).  So,  if you’re trying to get your team to say the word “airplane” you can’t use the words “flying” or “pilot” or “travel” or “stewardess”.  So, instead you often end up describing it.  So, your speech to your team would be something like…”this is something that you take when you go far away and need to get there fast”.

Some people have a very hard time with this game.  Instead of describing the word they just use another word.  “sky”  “clouds”  “hawaii”

That’s how cryptic emails are.  Just a few words but no details, no substance.  So, I email them back asking some questions and I usually get something like, “just call me – it’s easier”.

Yes, it’s easier, but the truth is, this person owns a website.  And the communication through that website is email.  Is that website owner going to call every single person who emails him a question?  Or emails a comment with their order?  We would all love to be able to do that but businesses can’t survive that way.  We need to learn how to communicate effectively via email and chat and social media.  Otherwise, we’ll be left behind.

So, I completely understand what my business coach is trying to tell me.  I know it’s important for customer service to “talk” to clients.  I would love to have the time to chat with them.  But the truth is, I don’t get paid when I chat.  I have to do the work which I am getting paid for, that’s where my time needs to go.

And my clients need to work with me to embrace this new technology they are so desperately fighting.  The Internet is not going away, social media is not going away, in fact, it’s getting stronger as the mobile market gets stronger.  So, embrace it.

I suppose, in the end, we’ll come to a compromise.  But,I just wanted to share my thoughts with you about this subject.  If you have any comments, just let me know.

Tags: communication, customer service, internet, small business, websites

Your website is up (finally, probably took much longer to create it than you thought!)  The details involved were much more than you ever imagined!  But, it’s finally done and you can begin getting some business from it!

1 week goes by, 1 month, 2 months, 6 months, you’ve received a few emails, 1 sale and lots of spam!  What’s going on?  You have a website, it’s on the Internet, the designer said he would submit it to the search engines.  So, what’s wrong?

As an SEO webmaster and owner of an SEO firm, I can give you some insights.

Problem: Poor website structure
Just because a website is on the Internet, does not mean it’s search engine friendly.  Which means that the way it’s constructed, the coding, the words, where the graphics are, etc. are not easy for the search engines to scan.  If your competition has websites that are more search engine friendly than yours then they will rank higher.

Solution: Be open to the concept that your design may have to be altered.  Consult an seo specialist and they will be able to tell you what needs to be done to the website.  It’s all about HOW the search engines SEES your website.  Of course, it’s important how your visitors see the website too but that’s the fine line seo webmasters walk on.  Creating (often re-creating) websites so that they meet both the needs of the search engines and the desires of the intended target audience.

Problem: Content, content, content
Your website designer may have recommended a copywriter but they are just TOO expensive – so you decide to write the copy for the website pages yourself.  You write about how great your company is and the wonderful services/products you provide, etc.    Are you really capturing the attention of the audience?  Are you capturing what they’re looking for?  Maybe not if the conversion rates from your website pages are low.

Solution: Use the keyword research to outline your website
Many websites are created with the basic, home page, about us page, services page, contact us page, etc.  But the reality is, if you’re marketing your website on the Internet you need to market with the keyword phrases your audience is typing in.

I mean, it’s nice and appropriate to tell your audience about the company, of course (but frankly, you can do that better on facebook, linkedin, etc.).  Anyway, what you should REALLY create pages about are the keyword phrases the audience are typing in.  Think about it, search engines are machines.  All they can do is match up what people type in to the words that are on the website pages.  Of course, there are MANY more variables but this is the basic one.  If your website doesn’t meet this basic rule for the search engines, you may end up spending much more money to market your website.

Problem: The website isn’t working but you don’t know why

Solution: Tracking!  I don’t mean just tracking the number of visitors to the site, I mean tracking each individual website page.  This is done by assigning an “action” to each page.  In other words, what do you want your visitors to do on this particular page?  Go to the contact form?  Go to the “more information” page?

Once you’ve outlined what they should be doing you then begin tracking it.  If the audience is NOT doing what your intention is, why aren’t they?  This is where you begin making changes to the page.  Maybe you need a larger “Do This” graphic, maybe you need more content to direct them to the action, maybe you need to build more trust on the page.  Something has to be done otherwise, the page isn’t working.

If your website is 10 pages in length and only 2 of those 10 pages are doing what they’re supposed to be doing, you’re wasting your money.  All your website pages should be working to bring in visitors and sales.

So, what do you think?  Are you prepared for Internet marketing?  Are you willing to make the necessary changes to your website?  Will you work with your seo firm to continue adding, tweaking and altering your website until it produces the end results?

If your answer is YES, then you will enjoy a profitable relationship with your seo firm.

If your answer is NO, don’t sign the seo contract.  You might be better off doing something more passive like Pay Per Click to market your site.

Either way, know what you’re getting into when you begin your internet marketing campaign.

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.

Okey dokey, has everyone swallowed the latest Google news and algorithmic changes?  Are you ready to embrace the new way of thinking about your SEO campaigns?  If not, well, don’t wait too long.  Before you know it, you’ll be left behind and other SEO firms will be way ahead of you in marketing their websites.

According to Search Engine Journal, …”SEOs are going to have to focus on two new concepts in their marketing plan in 2010:

1) Social Media
2) Mobile Search”

Basically, what the article points to, and I believe they’re correct, is that the future of the “relevancy of a website” (at least in the eyes of the search engine) will be how “interacted upon” the website is.  In other words, how many visitors come to the page and how many refer the page, how many talk about the page, how many twitter about it, facebook about it, share it.

And not just “share it” but “engage with it”.  All the hoopla about Personalized Search – Search Engine Journal boils it down to, “The more users engage with a document, the more it will show up in their personalized results.”   In addition, it’s not just the actual page the user will be interacting with, but what comes before and what comes after.  “Google will look to categorize a document according to the sites a user navigates to before and after the document in question.”  I know, it can all be quite frightening.  But, with Bing in the background, as search marketers, we have to remember that we need to optimize for Google, yes, but also for Bing as it grows and we’ll see how it grows!

So, what’s the bottom line?  Change, that’s the bottom line.

Basically, Internet Marketing firms have to make some changes…

1) Drop the old ranking game.  You can’t track rankings anymore.  You have to track visitors, conversions and usability.

2) Make the websites more informative and interactive.  You can’t just market the website for “denver dentist” anymore.  You need to add to the site so that the users will “interact” with it.  Share it.  Talk about it.  Refer it.

3) Stop ignoring the mobile web.  It’s time to go mobile and begin tracking how users go through (or not) your mobile sites.

Tags: 2010, internet marketing, search engine optimization, seo