1) Content

If you’ve done any Internet marketing in the past you may have heard the term that “Content is King”.  Basically, when it comes to the Internet, “content” (also known as words) rule the roost.  The reason for that is because that’s how communication takes place on the Internet (for the most part).

What I mean is that the Internet is basically a collection of machines.  Machines that follow rules set up by programmers.  Machines that “read words”.  Those words being the words that are typed in to the search engines and the words on website pages.

If you’re searching for “davie fl dentist” you will get websites that have the words “davie fl dentist” as well as phrases that the search engines think are related (like “ft lauderdale dentist”, etc.).

So, the game then is to find the keywords that people are typing in and then putting those phrases on the website pages where they need to be (according to the rules made by those programmers).  When that happens, then the search engines can match the search with the website.

Of course, there are 200 rules and just putting words on a page is not enough but it’s the basics and it’s where every single website owner who is marketing their website must begin.  Otherwise, all the other rules won’t make a difference.

2) Conversion

There are many websites out there that bring in visitors, lots and lots of visitors.  But, what’s the point of all those visitors if there are no sales or if the conversion of visitors to customers is very low?  If your website was a storefront and all you got were lots of visitors but very little or no sales then all you would end up with is a very dirty floor in your store.

So, once the visitors start coming to your website, you want to know…

a) where are they going?

b) what are they doing on each page?

c) what are they searching for?

d) are they doing what you want them to do on each page?

Internet marketing involves analyzing these factors on each website page every month to find out how can those pages be tweaked, how can the conversions be better?

Ignoring this part of Internet marketing means that all the hard work you put into optimizing your website will just stay shelved.  In other words, all that hard work won’t work.  Why?  Because optimizing the website, adding content, researching the keywords, all of that is to please the search engines’ rules.  All of that is to help the search engines to find your website.  But to convert customers, now you have to please them.  So, navigation through the site, helping the customers find what they’re looking for easily, all that is a vital part of converting those visitors into customers and increasing your sales.

3) Collaboration

Oh, if I had a dollar for every client I’ve managed who just wants to hire me to market their website and they don’t want to be bothered – I could get myself a very nice expensive bottle of wine.  (And believe me, I need that wine after arguing with these clients!).

I know, I know – you look at shows like Mad Men and you see how clients just walk in and the “team” of advertisers presents them with ideas and does all the work for them.  Creating billboards, television commercials and newspaper advertisements, etc.   Yeah, that works great with traditional marketing but Internet marketing is way too liquid for that.  Internet marketing changes every single day (at least it should).

Here’s what I mean…

I have a client who is a local dentist.  I have been begging her to send me information about her practice for almost a year now.  She has a website but it only has the most basic information on it.

Recently, I did a little search for her on some local programs like Yelp and Foursquare, Facebook, etc.  Anyway, I found several coupons and other “service specials” on those sites.  Now, why didn’t she send me that information?  When I asked her – she said she didn’t think of it.  Even though I’ve asked many times.  Somehow, the connection is just not getting through.

Whatever is happening in your business, it has to show on the website as well.  Otherwise, it seems as if the website is abandoned (and to the search engines, if the website is abandoned, then the business must be also).

In Conclusion

So, to have a successful Internet marketing campaign and get your moneys worth from the marketing you’re paying someone to do (if that’s what you’re doing) – add content to your site on a regular basis, study the conversion research and collaborate with your webmarketer.  Believe me, it’s worth your while!!

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 .

“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.

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!

An article from Mashable that I just read reports that “More than 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.”  Youtube is only 6 years old.  But the ease of use of its program coupled with the smart phone explosion has created the easiest method for anyone to put themselves “out there” on the Internet.

You may be thinking that with so many videos getting uploaded how can I possibly compete?  Who would want to see MY video?  Well, that’s why we always recommend to target the content of the video to what your audience is searching for.  The more niche, the better.  Get the keyword list of what is being typed in to the Internet from your SEO webmaster (or do it yourself if you know how) and get cracking!  (Well, get filming.)

Think you have to be a Spielberg prodigy to create a film?  Uh – not quite.  If you’re one of the few who don’t visit Youtube daily (youtube reports 3 billion views per day) and you’re not familiar with what’s on there here’s a little sampling for you to test out…

1) search your favourite hobby (anything from stamp collecting to bungy jumping)

2) search your favourite actor/actress/singer/entertainer

3) search anything with the word “funny” attached (i.e. – funny cats, funny cars, funny dances)

4) search for what’s on the news (i.e. – obama, palin, voting, egypt)

5) search for anything you’re wanting to know “how to do” (i.e. – how to paint cabinets, how to change the oil in a car, how to dance the tango)

You may be surprised at what you find.  The GREAT majority of Youtube videos are NOT professionally produced, meaning they are scripted, lighted, choreographed and filmed by an amateur, usually the person(s) you see on the video.  I’m sure once you see what Youtube has to offer, you will NOT be nervous about putting yourself on a video and begin to use the power that this search engine has gained in it’s 6 years of existence!

I look forward to seeing you there!

Activity – Analyze Website Statistics
Time Spent – anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour
Purpose – the reason for looking through the website stats is not just to see how many visitors came to the site, it’s really to see how the website is doing. What I mean is, what pages are bringing in visitors (and which ones are not?), what keyword phrases are working (and which ones aren’t?), what call to action buttons are working (and which ones are not?). Basically, I’m looking for ways to improve the site, page by page, paragraph by paragraph. That’s the real purpose of website stats analysis.

Activity – Optimization Actions
Time Spent – anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours
Purpose – This is where the nitty gritty of SEO really happens. If I discover that a particular page is not indexed in the search engines, I need to find out why. I need to correct any broken links throughout the site, or remove a duplicate description tag or increase the content on the website page or re-write the content somehow. I also need to make sure that all the tags are correctly written on the page. This is usually done during the initial SEO but if phrases change, links to and from the page change, and of course, search engine “rules” change – then all that means that the tags have to be changed as well. Optimization is a constant, never ending process of tweaking and re-tweaking website pages to get the most out of them.

Activity – New Keyword Research
Time Spent – anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes
Purpose – Finding new keyword phrases is not really that hard. Finding really good keyword phrases, well, that can be a bit difficult. The reason is that there are certain numbers you have to look up for each keyword phrase. I mean, is the phrase too competitive? Is the phrase typed in often enough to bring in traffic? Is the phrase relevant in your geography? Is the phrase the kind of phrase that “window shoppers” are typing in or is it one that “buyers” are typing in? If a page were added about this phrase, where would be the best spot to add it on the website? All these issues have to be answered before the phrases are chosen and sent out to the clients. The truth is, this one little service that we give our clients, each and every month, is the BEST way that they can get more and more traffic. But unfortunately, because it involves some work on their part (they write the content or at least pay someone to) – this is the least acted on!

Activity – Competition Research
Time Spent – anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours
Purpose – I don’t think there’s anyone in business who doesn’t have a constant eye out for their competition. Internet marketing is no different. Knowing what the competitor down the street or the competitor on the first page of Google is doing can give you an edge in not just keeping up with them but surpassing the competition. The beauty of the Internet is that you can get quite a bit of information on your competition, without ever having to leave your desk!

Activity – Submissions
Time Spent – anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours
Purpose – Although these days, it’s not necessary to submit websites to search engines, it still is helpful to submit press releases, articles and to find local directories and of course, niche directories to submit your information to. Especially now a days with social media sites such as Foursquare, Yelp, UrbanSpoon and so many others, it’s important to claim your space and be seen. Years ago you would have never imagined opening a business without getting listed in the Yellow Pages. Today, the same can be said but instead of just the Yellow Pages, there are literally hundreds of online sites to get listed on.

Activity – Keeping Up With The News
Time Spent – anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours per day (every day)
Purpose – The Internet is amazing, it’s wonderful and at the same time, it’s frustrating and difficult. There are so many new events, new technology, new techniques, new algorithims, new engines, new online sources, etc. that keeping up with all of this information and sorting out what is working and what isn’t working can be daunting and is, absolutely, never ending. I scan through at least 50 articles per day and that’s certainly not keeping up! I have several thousand backlogged that I still haven’t gotten to. So, if you think that keeping up with what’s new online is not part of your Internet Marketing time frame, you’re in for a failed marketing campaign.

So, how many hours SHOULD you spend on SEO or Internet Marketing?

The minimum time I spend on a client’s marketing is 3.5 hours per month (not including reading up on new information). Of course, the size of the website, the willingness of the client to make changes on their site, all play a part in how much I can do on the website. And it goes without saying, that the more “action” that takes place on a website, the more it changes, the more new information is added, the more traffic the site will get.

Can all this be expensive if you outsource it? Sure – there’s no doubt, time is money and you’re not just purchasing time here, you’re also purchasing knowledge. But the truth is, if you are disciplined enough and if you are willing enough to put the time and energy into marketing your own website, it can be done. Would you be just as successful? Maybe. After all, who knows your business better than you do? But, then again, the Internet marketer knows the Internet – so, it’s a bit of a balancing act!

Know what you’re getting into, what’s needed to do the job of Internet marketing and you’ll be better off, not only with the campaign but with your expectations for that campaign as well!

Do what you’ve always done and you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.  (or something like that).

Point is – review the Internet marketing that you’ve done for 2010 – what worked, what didn’t?  Look to see what’s new, what haven’t you tried that was recommended?  Make a list, make a plan and go for it.

It sounds all great, but when you sit down at your desk to “make the list” or “make the plan” – all of a sudden, you find yourself just sitting there staring at a blank piece of paper!  So, here’s an article that can help you get started.  My business coach, John Miller sent it to me – and I’m sharing it with you.

http://litemind.com/tackle-any-issue-with-a-list-of-100/

Check out the links for mindmaps as well – those are some great ways to begin the process of “thinking” and “planning” for success in your business.

Oh, and just another tip.  If your Internet marketing webmaster is recommending some strategies, don’t put them under the rug.  He or she is not doing it “just cause” or “to make money”.  The bottom line for any Internet marketing webmaster is the success of their clients.  If the client doesn’t succeed, then neither does the webmaster.  Recommendations are made based on what the competition is doing, what the Internet is offering and what the trends are showing.

Like I always say, “Find out what your audience wants, and then give it to them.”  It’s really as simple as that.  You just have to remember to listen!

But, (you knew there was a “but” didn’t you?) – we can only accomplish this goal with the cooperation of the small business owner.  I mean, if we can do anything we wanted to the website – that would be one thing – but the truth is, the website is not ours to do anything with.

We need the owner’s permission.  We need the small business owner to give us the information needed to put on the website.

And hence, that is our stumbling block.  I’m positive we’re not the only Internet marketing firm with this problem, but larger companies have the luxury of delegating these duties to employees.  More often than not, small businesses do not have that luxury.  Hence, it’s more work for the owner and one that doesn’t always, absolutely positively produce effects.  (Like any marketing venture)

But, as a successful Internet marketing company, at least one who has given many small businesses income they would have never had, we can tell you that getting involved in your Internet marketing strategy is the very best investment you will make for your small business.  No doubt.

So, having said that (my 2 cents worth) – what exactly does it mean “get involved”?.  If you read my posts you know I’m fond of lists (precisionist I guess) so, here’s my list!)

1) Every business owner (no matter the size of the business) wants to know how to make more money, more profits.

2) The way to do that on the Internet is to find out what the audience wants and then give it to them.  Think of it as finding out what the “hot new toy” for the holiday season will be.  Once you know what that is, you may want to stock up on them in order to get that traffic and the profits.

3) Keywords are the “items” that tell you what your audience wants.  Your Internet marketing company can identify what your audience is looking for, give you those keyword phrases and your job is to give your Internet marketing company information about those phrases.

4) Yes, it means spending a little bit more to add the content of a new website page to the website, it means maybe putting in some time or paying someone to add that content to your facebook or twitter or blog, or whatever other social media you’re using.  But what’s the expense?  Let’s break it down (using the prices from Eckweb)

a) If you’re signed up with the $210.00 per month marketing package then you get one free new page per month – so there’s no additional cost.   Just additional cost of time on your part and if you wanted a specific graphic or photo, then the cost of that (these range from $1.00 – $15.00)

b) If you’re signed up with the $150.00 per month marketing package then you pay just $60.00 to add a website page to your site.  (Again, graphics/photos are additional).  You write it, we put it up.

c) Can’t write, don’t have time to write?  Only $85.00 for an Internet copywriter to write a page / article for you.  Very cost effective.

You can calculate what the costs would be for an entire year of doing this, if you added a new page every month.  But what are the benefits?  What do you get for this?

MORE EXPOSURE

MORE TRAFFIC FROM YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

The benefit for you is that more traffic comes through the site (resulting in more sales).  The benefit for your Internet marketer is that they have more data to work with.  In other words, they can analyze how your traffic is moving through your site, what pages are working, what isn’t working, etc.  The more data, the more opportunities to tweak the site even further for more conversions.

After all, at the end of the day, isn’t that what marketing (on the Internet or not) is all about?

I have no way of knowing if this is actually true or not but I do know that the websites, for the most part are in no way optimized or prepared for the search engines.  Some aren’t even ready for the public, but that’s another story!

After speaking and consulting with multiple designers over the years I do believe that there’s a sense of  “it’s not important” – from the designers’ perspective.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m writing this post to once again emphasize how important every SEO factor truly is.

It’s Not Just Me Saying This

Here’s an excerpt by Adam Audette at SearchEngineLand.

This article speaks more about Canonicalization issues but the take home message is the same.  The details of SEO are extremely important when it comes to marketing websites.  If there are 200 different ranking factors that Google takes into consideration, and your competitor has fulfilled 130 of them but your website has only fulfilled 70 of them.  Well, guess who’s going to rank higher?

I don’t get it.

But yesterday, I saw a little flashlight at the end of this long tunnel.

I was speaking with a client who has been “dragging their feet” on getting the Internet marketing process begun on their website.  She admitted she had taken too long, but she was now ready and wanted it right away!!

What turned her around?

She placed ads in local papers, yellow book and local radio for her new day spa in Fort Lauderdale and got ZILCH results.  She sent out 300 emails and got a 10% result.  Cost for the print ads?  (She wouldn’t tell me).  Cost for the emails?  (Just her time).  She told me, “Print is dead…” – I think she finally gets it!!

So, the next time your Internet Marketing manager tells you to make a change to your website or to add something, etc.  Listen to them!!!!  They’re not just blowing smoke up you know what…they’re telling you what they know, that Online direct marketing and social media marketing (in other words, Internet) are where your customers are and where your sales are!