Posts Tagged ‘web marketing’

It’s so easy to shake my head in disapproval when someone else does not update their blog consistently. I am shaking my head at myself right now. No posts yet in September? What kind of Internet Marketer am I?

It takes a lot of work to nurture a blog or online community. It takes commitment and discipline to produce useful information consistently. And boy does it get hard after that “honey moon period” is over and your blog isn’t so new anymore.

I must admit that I have had a hard time with this blog. The more that I’ve explored other Internet Marketing blogs on the Web, the more annoyed I’ve become at this industry. My blog is another funnel of noise in a sea of trite posts about Google Chrome and the iPhone.

But the best that I can do is to share information that I think is useful for you, small business owner. I learn a lot along the way. So hopefully I can explore more answers to the question, “How can I build awareness on the Internet for cheap or free?” I’m sure that I still have plenty of answers.

Technorati Tags: blog, Blogging, blogs, internet marketing, marketing, web marketing

The #1 question that I get is, “How can I advertise my business on the Internet for cheap or free?” We all have limited budgets and want to spend as little on advertising as possible, while still getting the word out.

Case study: Discover Chiropractic

I recently received this same question from Dr. Vanessa Anderson, owner of Discover Chiropractic in Moline, Illinois. I figured that I could give her a few “first steps” for her to take. Being the nice guy that I am, I figured that I would share with you as well.

So Discover Chiropractic is a local service, and they have a website. They can only market to people seeking chiropractors within a limited geographical area. This limits what they can do to market on the World Wide Web, but that can also be a great thing.

For now, because awareness is a goal for them, I’ll point out a couple ways that they can work with this goal to get relevant visitors to their site.

Local search: the way to go

If you’re offering a local service, the first thing that I would suggest is to optimize your listings in the “Local” results of all the major search engines. More people are using the Web to find companies in their time of need for your services. And devices like the iPhone are making local searches even more convenient. In other words, appearing in local search is becoming even more critical for your business.

The first thing that I would do is type into the search engines what I think potential customers would be entering. In this case, I tried chiropractors moline, il to see what would happen. Also, I would try several different derivations like moline chiropractors and chiropractors in moline illinois.

Here’s what I saw in Google for the first search:

The local results are the lettered items next to the map. Notice that Discover Chiropractic does not appear in these results. In fact, you need to click the “More results near Moline, IL” link and go to the second page of those results to finally get to Discover’s listing.

So how do we get Discover Chiropractic on the first page of the local results?

Here are a couple steps that we can take for free.

1. Google and Yahoo! both let you update your local listing. This is useful for both optimizing the listing and for changing your phone number or address.

   I would recommend that Discover Chiropractic somehow get the phrase “chiropractors in Morine, Illinois” into their listing. Probably not in the business name though as that may be viewed as “too dirty” by the search engines. It would be worth a try to get words from the searchers’ phrase into the listing to increase your chances of ranking higher for that phrase.

   You can edit your Google listing by searching for your business in the results at Google Maps and clicking the “Edit this Listing” link at the bottom of the page. Locally Type has instructions for the other local search engines as well.

2. Update your website so that you include your business’s address and phone number in the footer of every page on the site. This tells Google that your site should definitely be associated with that address and city.

Measuring success in local search

Before making these changes, I’d suggest setting up Google Analytics on your site. It’s free and can show you whether you’re really getting traffic from those searches that you’re optimizing for.

And once you start setting more advanced goals—like converting all this traffic that you’re receiving into customers—a web analytics platform like Google Analytics can be an indespensible tool.

Bonus tip: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

Lastly, take a look at the first listing below the local results in the example search above. ChiroDirectory.com has the prime spot in the normal organic search results for this search. On their site, they allow you to list your business in their directory.

I would highly recommend that Discover Chiropractic look into getting a free listing or pay for a featured listing on that page to see if it drives any worthwhile traffic. You don’t know until you try.

Plus getting a link to your business from a site that’s outranking yours is a good way to maybe move up a few spots. I didn’t look into it too deeply, but you may need to have a paid listing in the directory to have a link. It would be worth the investment.

More ideas but no more time

So many more ideas, but I don’t want to write a book on the subject! I hope this helps you get an idea on a couple quick steps that you can take to get some extra relevant traffic to your site.

I’m hoping that Vanessa can get back to us and let us know if these suggestions have helped. If so, I’ll be sure to report it to everyone.

Questions or other ideas? Please let us know in the comments below!

Technorati Tags: discover chiropractic, google, internet marketing, local, local search, local seo, marketing, search, search engine optimization, Search Marketing, seo, web marketing, yahoo

As a person trying to promote your website, the Google Toolbar can be your friend and your enemy at the same time.

Here are some things to be conscious of. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: google, google toolbar, marketing, search engine optimization, Search Marketing, sem, seo, web, web marketing

One of the biggest opportunities any company has on the Web is to own a conversation. There are small tribes of passionate people forming all around the world. They need a place to talk about their very specific interests, problems, and triumphs. This happens in what we call web communities, or “social media” sites.

I’ve worked with a lot of people that believe that if you build, they will come. Putting up a forum or a blog is only the first step. (Or maybe the second step.) Anyone can do that. If you think that’s all that it takes, then you’re not the unique flower that you think you are.

Practicing what I preach

A few months ago, I adopted and revived a community called ColdFusion on Wheels. It’s been a great experience. The community is a group of people that wants to see something special happen. Most importantly, they want to be a part of something special.

How did the community form? Did someone put up a forum about an existing product? No. A few guys have worked hard on building a piece of free software, and that’s what everyone talks about.

It’s also been a very challenging experience for me. There is no visible benefit to volunteering my time, so it’s hard to stay motivated and to contribute myself.

The takeaway

Any successful web community needs to be based on an asset, and the conversation needs to be interesting. Be it about a book, a church, or a music group, some work needs to happen first. And in most cases, your product is not going to be worth talking about on its own.

Remember, if it was easy, then everyone would be running a successful community.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, forums, internet marketing, marketing, Social Media, viral marketing, web marketing

I’ve been focusing a lot on optimization lately.

If you think about it, there are 2 ways that you can increase business results on your website. You can pay more to throw more traffic and more eyeballs at it. Or you can optimize its content so that visitors are more likely to become customers.

One of the key benefits of web content optimization is that it has long-term results. When you pay for an advertising campaign, that only lasts for so long. Optimization efforts produce results long after you’re done.

Here are a few tips in getting started in optimizing your website.

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Design, hci, human factors, internet marketing, optimization, usability, web marketing

Over the course of my career, I’ve been obsessed with best practices. Be they best practices for writing code or for separating responsibilities, I’ve always had dreams of running that well-oiled marketing and technology machine.

If you’re just starting out in working with an internet marketer, you may be a little uncomfortable in knowing what your role is vs. what your internet marketer’s role is. You don’t want to come across as a micro-manager, but you also own the work that you’re paying for, right?

From my side of the table, here’s what I see as the line in the sand for responsibilities. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: design, internet, internet marketing, marketing, Search Marketing, seo, web, web marketing

Here’s a serious question to ask yourself. How much do I rely on Google for my business’s success? If Google banned your site from their search results today, what would happen to your business? You probably have a serious problem if Google rankings determine whether you live or die.

You hear stock analysts preach about “diversifying” your stock portfolio to minimize risk. Following that same sound logic, you should ask yourself, just how diverse are my marketing activities?

Here are some alternatives to Google that you should consider. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: facebook, google, internet marketing, live, marketing, microsoft, microsoft live, msn, myspace, search, Search Marketing, web 2.0, web marketing, web2.0, yahoo

Web registration forms are important. These forms are often an early part of your visitors’ experience on your website. If these forms are too cumbersome, your visitors will remain just visitors, instead of going to the next level in the relationship.

I’ve noticed some cool innovations in registration forms, so I thought I’d be nice and share.

First, I’ll be talking about a pleasant experience that FreshBooks provides during their online registration process. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: freshbooks, hci, human factors, learnability, marketing, registration, usability, web marketing, web usability

There are some good things and some bad things that can come out of paying by the hour. But if you’re a visionary, I think it will rarely help you break through. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: hr, information technology, internet marketing, it, marketing, Technology, web marketing

Allurent is taking online catalogs a step further with Flash. Adobe’s Edge newsletter links to a video demo of the upcoming Allurent Desktop Connection software. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: adobe, allurent, catalog, catalogs, e-commerce, ecommerce, flash, internet, internet marketing, marketing, web, web marketing