Category Archives: Internet marketing

Number One On Google

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I’m sure if you have a business you’ve gotten those calls about making your site number one on Google. Well, here is the bad news. There is no such thing. You rank on Google for a title, a keyword, or a URL, but when somebody promises you will be number one, they imply that people will just do a search and your company will appear at the top. Actually, it’s very easy to have your URL at the top of Google if you have a unique web address. For example, our web address is NewEnergyCom.com . If you google this term we will almost always be on top. But what does that give you or me? It’s not very useful. What I want is to be on top for search terms like, “internet marketing hartford”. And the last time I looked, I was at the top for Google’s organic or non-paying slots.  And once I was able to secure that position, I started working on other keyword phrases that would help businesses find me when they wanted help with their online marketing in Hartford, and all over Connecticut.

So regardless of what the fast-talking guy says about being number one, you need to use those keywords that we discovered in my last post. A short digression: why do they call them keywords? Because those are the words or phrases that visitors will use to find what you are selling. So if you want to be ranked for a particular keyword, it needs to be part of your site. We’ll discuss this in a future blog. But here is something to keep in mind: using keywords is part science and part art. You’ll get better the more you use the system, and there is a huge universe of ways to use them on your site and ways to make sure seekers find them. Until next time be thinking about ways your customers are searching for you. Are they looking outside Google? Do they use Bing, or Yahoo? Are they looking on facebook and or twitter. The possibilities are not endless, but to be cost and time efficient you need to plan. Planning more now will save you dollars and hours.

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Web Strategy Part 3

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Know Your Niche

Now that you have some free gifts in the form of whitepapers, discounts, and or merchandise, it’s a good time to focus on your market niche. There are two reasons for this, first you may find out your freebies are not that attractive to your desired visitors, second the keyword testing I recommend, will be the platform for the rest of your online marketing.

Almost everybody knows the free Google Keyword Tool. It’s good for finding what people are searching for and even more useful because it tells you how much competition there is for that keyword or phrase within your niche. Keywords are tricky however and it’s great if you have some money to spend on Google Adwords that will allow you to do some testing.You can test by running two or three different keywords in your ads and also by trying whole different campaigns that use different sets of keywords. Personally I’ve found Adwords somewhat unreliable. And I have to think it’s because Google has it’s own interests in mind and not mine. There are other keyword suggestion tools that are useful, for example, Seo Book’s keyword suggestion tool. And for an all-in-one tool you should try Submit Express. And if you are willing to buy a keyword software product Wordtracker seems to have a good product, although I have only tried the free version.

What To Do With Keywords

Now that you have a set of popular keywords in your chosen niche you can use them in the content, headlines, titles and links. More importantly, the process of looking for good keywords should have helped you discover if there is enough interest in what you’re selling. If you can’t fine a lot of interest and competition for your service or product, that might not be bad. It means you’ve got something that people need to know about and your job is to teach them and create the desire to have it. Believe it or not, that’s often easier than finding a niche that’s overcrowded. If you are joining a very large party you will need a fancy dress to get noticed.

I’ll cover in detail how to use the keywords and how important they are. For now your job is to see if you can handle the demand –– either too much or too little. What sort of marketing problem are you trying to solve? Do you have too many competitors or are you ahead of the pack with new mousetrap. Fortunately there are good ways to work with both issues. Join me on twitter or facebook for more.

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Web Strategy Part 2

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I’ve been talking in this series about using your website for more than just brand building. It seems like a lot of companies, would rather use social media for getting customers and leads. But social media as many folks soon find out, is not a quick solution. If you are avoiding an interactive site because it’s too much trouble, don’t expect social media to be any easier. So how do you set up you site to be a leads funnel?

I’ve already written about freemiums, incentives, and give-aways. The key here is to have a call to action and a reward for following that action. In most cases the call is to get the visitor’s name and email address in return for a valuable gift. Getting a visitor to respond is valuable in two ways however. Yes it’s important to get her contact information, but it’s just as important to engage with a potential client in a way the builds trust. For example, if I offer you a guide to Twitter and it’s smart, easy to read, and provides you with unique actionable insights, you will gain some respect for me as a source. All of a sudden a relationship is born. And you will be receptive to other information I have to offer. You may even look around the site and buy something if the price is right.

Does this sound too good to be true? In many cases it is, but that’s why it’s so important to structure your site with multiple offers and incentives. And as I stressed in my last post every premium is your chance to win trust, so make sure you are giving away quality stuff. I would go so far as to say, before you build or redesign your website, make sure you have a basket of these freebies.

One final point: The freebies you offer have to be valuable to you desired customer. So in designing your incentives you need to know everything possible about this customer. Two things are critical however, know what he wants, and know how he will be searching for it on the net. Next time we will talk about researching your ideal customer and how to get the most from giving away something valuable. Reply below or share this post with your friends.

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Website Freebies

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Website Strategy Part 1.5

As I finished part one of this series it occurred to me that readers might be having trouble thinking of a freebie, an incentive to offer in return for a visitors email. It’s important to give this some thought, however, not too much thought. Here’s why. The longer you postpone providing an actionable offer, the longer it will take to make your new site sticky. But let’s look at some possible freebies.

If you have a retail or product site it’s pretty easy. Here’s some suggestions:

  1. A sample of the product
  2. A reduced, time-limited price. Or a sale price.
  3. A list of upcoming sales events or product demonstration events
  4. A video that demonstrates the product, or provides unique uses of the product
  5. A white paper that provides detailed instructions, and unique uses and even product accessories.
  6. A password to a forum that consists of power users.
  7. A list of dealers that carry or distribute the product.
  8. A contest to win the product

By now you get the idea. But what if you are strictly a business to business service company; or even worse a doctor or a lawyer? B2B companies can offer:

  1. Limited time price reductions or introductory prices
  2. Online help or phone support
  3. Price reductions based on subscriptions
  4. Video support
  5. Extended service contracts
  6. A white paper on the best way to take advantage of the service
  7. An exclusive club or forum area of the website
  8. Phone time with senior executives

OK what about doctors and lawyers? These are touchy professions and require a little more thought. What would a clinic or a doctor want a visitor to do? I can imagine a few things:

  1. Download white papers on preventative health or best practices for how to prepare for an emergency
  2. Admission to lectures or webinars on appropriate subjects
  3. For both doctors and lawyers downloading a schedule of community service events
  4. Downloading healthy recipes
  5. A white paper on topical legal issues such as Super Pacs

If I haven’t covered something that triggers your particular business or issue, let me know in a reply below. Also, please let me know incentives that worked for your company’s website. I spend a lot of time with clients helping them formulate incentives and calls to action. It’s what keeps visitors coming back.

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Blog Comments

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Even if you have an akismet account, if you achieve any amount of traffic, you are likely to get waves of “comment spam”. There is always a list of comments waiting for approval on my blogs, The difficult part is that most of it is spam, but some of it is great comments. Part of this may be a function of the activity on your blog. In my case I’ve done a number of interviews with prominent web marketers. Spammers can always be found in the web marketers orbit. Moreover, a lot of the spam I’ve received lately seems machine generated. The comments make no sense, but seem to be making an attempt to compliment me on my brilliant insights. I appreciate the praise and the suggestions, but not the spam. Let me know how you are dealing with spam comments, or even if it’s not a problem for you. And make sure to follow me on twitter.

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Get More Traffic

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It’s a cliche to mention that quality content is the most important aspect of your website. But if that was well understood, why do most sites spend more time on the look and feel than readable content? My theory is that web designers are not writers. It’s enough to create an appealing design and some well placed meta-tags. Then it’s the client’s turn. This just does not work. I am not going to go back to a site that is fixated on convincing me that they are great. I am going to keep returning to sites with useful information and fresh ideas or visuals.

The other reason most sites lack quality content is that it takes time to write good stuff. Let me be more specific: Even if you are a creative writer with much to say, you need more. You need to engage the visitor with the best keywords in the headlines and the body of your piece. And this is perhaps the most important part, you need to provide a call to action. Part of good content is to require something from your visitors. If I go to a web site and there is nothing to do but read marketing messages, I am gone. Provide links, opportunities and gifts, so that you and the visitor can enter into a relationship. Every site is a kind of social site because to be successful you need to provide options that will solve problems or enrich your visitor. Try this on your site and let me know how it works. Or if you have questions, let me know. I’ll be glad to provide more examples.

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Three Steps Every Business Owner Must Take

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Make Your Website Pop!


The first of three steps, is to start blogging. Here are 8 reasons why you need to sharpen your pencil.

1. You get to write about what you know, your business specialty, and as a result your website will always be fresh and changing.
2. Your blog can be part of the menu on your website, so when people go to your blog they will get a chance to look over the rest of your website. And that’s the point; its all about keeping people’s interest and getting them to tell their friends about it. Like a giant leads group.
3. Search engines favor blogs. Every time you write a post that’s another page for Google and Bing to index.
4. Because you are writing about your field you will gradually become known as an authority. Everybody wants to go to the top dog in the field. Think how useful this could be to a mortgage guy or an investment adviser. You become the authority in your city.
5. You don’t have to pay anybody every time you want to add content or edit it. You become the master of your web world.
6. Blogs give visitors the opportunity to know you before you hit them with the sales pitch. Give them useful information and they will start looking around your site to see what else you have to offer.
7. The blogger culture encourages reciprocal linking, so as a blogger, you are more likely to get linked to. People get psyched about helpful or entertaining information and want to share it with their community. Make sure you link to the blogs you like as well.
8. If people start linking to your site, Google will push your rank up, maybe even to the first page. It all depends on how cool your content is and how often you post.

Objections?

Let’s deal with objections first:  if you don’t have time to blog, have an employee do it. If that doesn’t work, hire someone to do it for you. But make sure you start. Have New Energy or someone else to create an optimized WordPress blog for you and start ASAP.
Objection number 2: What does a phone system installation guy need a blog for? Answer: What does a phone guy need a networking group for? Ask yourself this: If you could be on Google’s first page and be seen as your city’s number one authority on phone installation, wouldn’t it be good for business?

A little known fact: Google is trying to dominate the information business; all of it. They want to provide you the best possible answer for everything you need. They would love to recommend you, but you have to help them out a little.

Step two: Be nice to your friends Bing and Google

Help Google out by making sure your website is search friendly: Google got to be the best search engine by acting like a very efficient librarian. Their job is to give you the most relevant answer to your search question. Notice I did not say most accurate. Accuracy can get you into trouble because frequently what you ask for in your search is not what you want. Google is the best at understanding what your really want. They frequently even ask you questions like ” did you mean to search for golf clubs?” when you actually typed in “Golf cubs”.

Bottom line: Google does a great job, but if your website is not set up correctly, it can’t find you and neither can your customers. Don’t be like the bad teenager who puts a book on the wrong shelf just to play a joke on the librarian. 90% of the websites out there make it hard for Google. The ones that cooperate are the ones you see on the first page when you do a search.

So here are three rules for making your website friendly:

1. Rule number one: Make sure each page has a unique description. This description is what Google uses when it brings up your site in a search result. It is the reason people click on your website instead of another one. So make it sound interesting. If you have a unique description, it will be a tempting click but more important, visitors will remark about it –– tell their friends about it.

2. Rule number two: Make sure each page of your site has a unique title that refers to the page’s content. Most of the sites I see have only one title for all the pages. The title is the sentence or phrase at the very top of your browser. It is not your web address. Doing this incorrectly is a grave mistake because it is one of the two clues that is most important to search engines. Mess this up and you are invisible. I have an SEO client that is huge in their industry, but they don’t show up in the SERPs (search engine results page) when I search logical keywords for their industry.  They don’t show up because the titles of their pages don’t refer to the actual content of the page. And in some cases they have the same title for several pages. I am changing the title tags on all their pages so they have a chance of getting found.

3. Rule number three: Decide what you want your visitors to do and give them an incentive to do it. On the web there’s a lot of free stuff and your website has to compete with all those free goodies. Figure out how you can afford to reward people and make sure it’s offered on your website. Most small business sites don’t ask visitors to do anything. Small wonder they don’t get results. I ask all my clients to have a measurable call to action, like a form where visitors can provide their email address. This has three benefits; first it gets you a mailing list you can use for email marketing; second it allows you to measure whether people are responding to your site. If people aren’t doing it, you know you need to make some changes. The third benefit is that by completing the form and providing a reward, you and the visitor are now in a business relationship. You are no longer complete strangers; you have completed a transaction even if no money was involved. By delivering on your promised incentive you proved that you are honest and reliable. The next transaction could be for money.

The third crucial step:

The third step is to sign up and participate in some form of social media –– Twitter, Linkedin, or Facebook.

Unless you are a nut like me, it’s better to concentrate most of your efforts on just one, so you can really take advantage of all the ways it can help you leverage your business. My personal choice has be Twitter although I belong to Facebook and Linkedin as well. I have about 1400 followers on my photo page and over 3000 on my web marketing page. I recently started a fan page for New Energy Communications and have been participating for a while in the Linkedin groups.

So what has this gotten me.?
1. I’ve met a lot of interesting people who have taught me a lot about the web and photography and even how to run my business. That’s the great thing about Twitter. People help each other.

2. I’ve been offered the chance to be a partner in starting a new web portal which I turned down.

3. I met a graphic designer who runs an online magazine, and he asked if he could publish an interview with me about my photography business. The interview was posted and got more interest than any other person he has interviewed. It also landed me photo job with a local ad agency where we flew down to Florida to do the shoot. And just last week it led to a job with one of the top five annual report companies in New York.

4. The design magazine interview with me is now the featured article on that site.

Finally, the interview gave me an idea to start interviewing people and posting to this website. I’ve already interviewed one  web marketing great,  Zeke Camusio, which dramatically increased traffic to my site, and it received visitors from 11 different countries. In addition I am in the process of interviewing another luminary who has 65000 followers on twitter.

So the beat goes on: Using the principles I’ve mentioned has helped me get ranked  the number one internet marketing company in Hartford, according to Google.

So jump in, start blogging, fix your website and push the social media. It works if you take the three steps and make it easy for search engines to find you. In the meantime, if you have questions about any or all of this let me know. I would be happy to answer questions.

What steps do you think are absolutely necessary? Are there ones I’ve left out, or ones you like to hear more about? Let me know.

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Interview With Zeke Camusio

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Zeke Camusio is a serial entrepreneur, Internet marketing expert, published author, speaker and founder of The Internet Marketing Blog.

As part of New Energy’s commitment to provide as much value as humanly possible to business owners and DIY internet marketers, we are conducting a series of interviews with the web’s best and brightest. Our interview starts with a man that is an amazing source of energy and wisdom: Zeke Camusio.

The Interview

New Energy

What inspired you to start your first company and become an entrepreneur?

Zeke Camusio

I was always a little different from the rest of the kids in my school. They were playing around and I was trying to sell them stuff! I tried being an employee but I never lasted more than three months. I always wanted to change the way things were being done and if something didn’t make sense to me, I just didn’t do it; I didn’t care what my bosses told me to do. I wasn’t going to get very far up in the corporate ladder.

I love the freedom I get from being an entrepreneur. I work really hard, but I decide when I work and what I do. It’s great!

New Energy

Your blog for The Outsourcing Company called “Lets Do It!” is an incredibly useful resource for business marketing on the web. What motivates you to share your discoveries and how have they been received by the web community?

Zeke Camusio

At first it was a marketing tool. I wanted to show people how much I knew about Internet marketing so they would hire our agency. Now we’re doing great and although we don’t desperately need more clients, I love it so much that I keep doing it. It feels great to know that every day I’m helping over 10,000 business owners become more successful. Also, I receive a lot of praise for my articles and that makes me feel very good.

New Energy

Your experience as a serial entrepreneur is very exciting. Can you share some of the factors you look for when you are thinking about starting a new business?

Zeke Camusio

The way I do business is very different from the way most people do it. I like businesses that you can start with no money and in less than a month. I like going after very defined markets where products with poor marketing are being sold like crazy. If a company that does poor marketing is very successful, that’s a great indicator for me, because I know that if I use my marketing skills right, I can take over the market overnight.

I have a very good article written on the topic here: http://www.theoutsourcingcompany.com/blog/entrepreneurship/how-to-choose-the-ideal-business-to-start/

New Energy

Is this a good economic climate to start a new business, and what advice would you give people who plan to launch in 2010?

Zeke Camusio

It’s always a good time to start a business. When people tell you they’re waiting for “things to get better” so they can start a business, that’s just an excuse. My advice to those people is, “get started! If you have a great solution to a real problem, people will buy it no matter what the economy is like.”

New Energy

The Outsourcing Company has a down-to-earth approach for getting results on the web which promotes trust. You even provide DIY tips so people can do their own web marketing. What made you realize that companies want a complete solution rather than a group of isolated services like PPC and SEO?

Zeke Camusio

There are over 50 different Internet marketing tactics. No business in the world should use them all. But, I do teach them all and tell business owners how they can tell which ones they need for their business.

New Energy

Your Blog seems to lean toward social media and Web 2.0. How do you integrate these services with more traditional advertising techniques that companies are already using?

Zeke Camusio

Business owners need to separate all their marketing campaigns and measure each one of them. This is the only way you can learn what works and what doesn’t. You can link offline advertising to your website and Twitter to a magazine ad, but at the end of the day you need an effective system to track each of your marketing campaigns.

New Energy

New Energy likes to employ web PR as part of the SEO mix. How would you rate PR as a tool for building traffic and search engine rank?

Zeke Camusio

Press releases can be very effective but 99% of people use them wrong. The most important tip I can give you is this, “make sure your press release is newsworthy.” In other words, think about why would a journalist want to write about you. Do something cool and unique and then write a press release about it.

New Energy

Last question: As a serial entrepreneur, has your concept of what makes a good business changed from the time you started your first company up to the present with The Outsourcing Company?

Zeke Camusio

Absolutely. I started The Outsourcing Company eight years ago, when I was 19. I’m 27 now. I used to think that as long as your stuff sells, you’ll be fine. Now I learned that you need to be good at managing your finances, your cashflow and your people. This is a blog post I wrote on how I learned seven very valuable lessons from mistakes I made: http://www.theoutsourcingcompany.com/blog/entrepreneurship/7-business-lessons-i-learned-the-hard-way/

New Energy Communications would like to thank Zeke for taking the time out of his super busy schedule to talk with us for this interview. Make sure to check out Zeke and all his links. You will be happy and more profitable when your do. Also make sure to share this interview with friends. Thanks Zeke!

Zeke Camusio
CEO – The Outsourcing Company
www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com
Blog: www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com/blog
zeke@TheOutsourcingCompany.com

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