How can I build a inexpensive internet marketing presence
by admin on May.19, 2010, under Internet Marketing Consulting
Here are my recommendations.
Don’t put the same person that is building the site in charge of the number of hours or the cost per hour to update… only used fixed cost website services. In other words find a company that will quote you a monthly fee regardless of how many changes your make. Changing simple things on your website should time more than 5 minutes.
Be certain of your target audience before you start to build your website – how many prospects can you reach online? With today’s technology, you can find out how many people search for your products and services. Then set a goal to reach X% of that audience, and then measure how well you did each month using free analytic software.
If your site is already built then you can use the existing traffic report to set up a baseline report. This report will enable you to see how many unique visitors your current website is generating and how many take the action your desire. (If you are not getting this information currently from your website company you are missing out on valuable information.
Search engine optimization is the art of building your site so that it is properly indexed by the search engines. Much like the Dewey Decimal System the code in your website requires specificity; What is the title of the page, is the title relative to the content etc. Search engines want to delivers web pages to their clients that match what they search for
Relevancy is the single most important component of each page of your website. If the page is about costing cost then the content should provide the reader with valuable information about controlling cost.
Generating Qualified Internet Leads – That’s what I do?
by admin on Jul.23, 2010, under Internet Business Consultant Charleston, Internet Marketing Consulting, Small Business Interent Consulting, google analytics
This lead is a significant milestone in our internet market plan. In fact, as a former business consultant I used to term this “the golden lead”
The car business is about “deals”, and deals come from quality leads, that’s what I promise my strategic partners. It’s obvious we can get people to fill in a White Ford Web Form - that is my yardstick; that is how I am judged by my clients – “how many quality leads did you get me today?
It’s important because it is the basis of what Bob and Miles hired me to do – “get qualified leads”
This is what I call a highly qualified lead.
Now we need to know the value of these leads; so for example if this person does in fact buy a car – we need to keep our internet marketing cost in mind (when we add pay per click the quality of the leads will multiply by tens of leads per week
Website Monthly Cost = $600 – hosting, technical support, and maintenance.
Internet Marketing Director = $600 – RETURN ON INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
Pay Per Click Cost = TBD (once we eliminate the AutoTracker, we have $3200 a month to either put on the bottom-line or take 1/3 of it put it into pay per click, and assign each vehicle a specific dollar amount.
Remember when I asked you for the inventory of used cars; and I sent you the key words and the cost; that kia sportage had over 8 key word phrases, and literally thousands of people looking for it!
My primary role is to do that for every car in our inventory. That is what I’ve been striving for all these months
Because now Miles and Robert will be able to divide these three numbers by the net profit from each qualified internet lead that was deliver.
To a real internet marketing director, it’s all about the quality of the lead, now bogus tire kicker leads, I’m talking about people that want to buy something!
To people like Bob and Miles, the quality of the lead is directly related to whether the “lead” turns into a deal. And when it does they now have a hard number (the profit from the deal) to determine the value of each lead.
TV can’t do that
Radio can’t do that
Newspapers can’t do that
AutoTrader can’t do that
Patrick Bruce can’t do that
People often confuse my work with technical information, it’s not; my business is about NET Profit, if I can show you how to increase your net profits I have a client forever, I make money for my clients so they can keep paying me!
As a business analyst I have one simple rule – what does it cost you to get a qualified lead, and whatever it is I can reduce that cost by 80% using the internet (and I want some of it).
And I do not worry if this deal doesn’t pan out; we still have valuable information. For example we at least know that one lead cost us about $10,000 in internet marketing cost, if we get lucky and make that on our first deal we breakeven immediately.
If not and the lead fizzles out, we know that the quality of the lead needs to be improved because we can’t spend $10 grand to get one lead, I’ve had that cost down to as low as $1.99 for my law firm client. He based every marketing decision from that point forward on cost per quality lead acquisition, and the most qualified leads are the ones that buy!
And, this is actually the second lead so under the scenario above, our cost per “quality lead” is $5,000 per lead! To put that in prospective, the RV dealer gets 2-3 of these a day! (his cost per quality lead is $20.00). In the internet world, the quality of the lead is directly related to the knowledge of the guy that is publishing the information on the website.
The CyberCom’s job is to make sure I have the tools to teach you how to do that. That software you use to program the website is just as valuable as the financial software they used to run the business, with one small difference, it’s a world wide reach, powered by a person that has sold cars!
How can it not be successful?
My point is this, this is what I am all about from this point forward; if we don’t get this deal but make this person a Friend on Facebook that is a database of #1 person as our Friend, and you can see those Friends and who they are
I’ve got a meeting at 11:00 and but call me later today to discuss using facebook
Search Engine Friendly Websites
by admin on Jun.21, 2010, under Uncategorized
Over the past two weeks I’ve had at least one person a day ask me why they are not getting listed on the Search Engines.
Literally one person a day, has specifically called, sent me an email or stopped by my house and said “what is wrong with my website”
Of the last 14 people that I have talked to, 9 had built their website themselves, and 6 had a “friend” build it for them.
But my favorite was from a writer from a client that had left to start his own business. This guy was one of the best writers I’ve ever known in my life, ( and I’ve been around some talented writers in my day).
When I was consulting with his boss I was always saying that “you need to optimize your copy. . .” and (being from the old school), he was constantly telling me that “good copy stands on its own“, and we had this friendly debate all the time.
As I told him, (and many others_; when you search Google (or any search engine for that matter) you are not searching the live internet, in reality you are searching the search engines database, and if your information is not listed in the search engine index there are one of two reasons; your site is not visible to the search engines or your site is not indexed properly.
When someone does a “search” the search engines rely on their database “index” to find relevant content. They find relevant content using software programs called “spiders”. The “spiders” start by collecting a few web pages, and then they follow the links on those pages and collect the pages they point to and follow links on those pages and so on.
As you can imagine the software collects data that creates a database with millions of websites, with billions of pages stored on millions of computers.
So let’s say you are looking for Pat Bruce, you go to Google and type in pat bruce and hit enter, and now you have told Google to find every page with those two words “pat and bruce” on them and finds hundreds of thousands of pages with “pat” and “bruce” on them.
How does Google decide which pages you really want? They do it by asking questions (over 200) such as:
• How many times does this page contain your key words?
• Do the words appear in the title?
• Do they appear in the URL?
• Does the page include synonyms?
• Is the page from a quality website, or a low quality website?
Nobody really knows all the “questions” Google asks but there are a few things that are obvious; such as make your site easy to read without confusing them.
Putting all kind of different photos, and confusing motion on the site tends to force people away from your site; make it simple and easy to use.
How the most important part of a website is to understand the old adage from many years ago “garbage in, garbage out”.
The search engines are sophisticated databases; nothing more, nothing less. These databases require that the data stored in their systems come to them in a very specific way.
When you build a Word Press Blog, or a GoDaddy Free website, they are set up so it’s easy for you to make the site graphically pleasing; unfortunately the on page stuff is only part of the process.
If your source code is not “tight” it takes the search engine longer to find your site (if ever) so instead of worrying about the “look and feel” of your website, you need to focus on the source code, and you can do that “for free”.
Source code is a software and if you want your site to be found by the “spiders” then you need to bite the bullet and pay someone to build a search engine friendly source code.
I have done the research and the ONLY Company I use is www.thecybercom.com they have a modest set up fee, and their monthly hosting is fixed. The turn your site around in a few days and make changes in 24 hours. . . and the search engines can read it!
How do I determine if my website is profitable
by admin on May.19, 2010, under Internet Business Consultant Charleston, Small Business Interent Consulting
Pre-Determined Net Profits
One thing that I have always known is that for a business to be successful they must show a healthy net bottom line profits. I’ll invest $42 dollars all day long if I know it’s going to generate $1500, wouldn’t you?
Rule number one in building a profit is to control spending. Notice I mentioned about my website cost me $150 a month. The reality is that is my “out of pocket cost”, I probably invest 3-4 hours a week on my website.
I look at my analytics, I look at my inbound leads, I read and re-read my content. I used to equate building a website with raising bonsai trees (my hobby ) and people hated it. How did I know that I saw that people never stayed on that page very long, and the majority of people that got to that page left. . . I change it to this page.
If you want to make money and use your website to help, you must be willing to take control of your online actions and invest time!
Internet marketing success comes from taking the initiative put down on paper what it is you do and know. Then put that information on a website that the searching engines can find, and being persistent in making sure that when people find your site they find what they are searching for.
It’s not what we I can do for you or a website company can do for you it’s more about what you want to do consistently. If you want to put up a website, leave it out there, and “hope” that people can find it. Then you will not be successful online, if you want to convey to people that you can help them answer the questions they searched for – the sky is the limit!
You must decide.
A new / reengineered website is an action you can take today to make your business better, it does not cost a lot of money, but it does take a time commitment and what is most important is what you know that other people NEED to know you know!
What do I need to do to have a good website
by admin on May.19, 2010, under Internet Business Consultant Charleston, Internet Marketing Consulting, Small Business Interent Consulting
People always ask me “what do I have to do” and I tell them all the same thing “what do you know that will be valuable to other people?”
In my case it’s “I know how to dumb down the internet”
It is pretty simple; when people search on line they are looking for someone that knows more about the subject they are searching for then they do.
Therefore, it stands to reason that building a website is not about knowing what to do; it is in knowing what you know! I know marketing research, business analysis and profit engineering. I also know a lot about building profitable websites, not about building websites but rather building profitable websites.
But the most important thing I know is that my clients have not been involved in the internet since it’s inception. How do I know that? Because I have done research that says that 49% of all small businesses DO NOT HAVE A WEBSITE!
The only reason people would not have a website is because they do not understand the value or how to measure return on investment. I show them how!
In fact, I know nothing about the technical aspects of building a website, I just know that website design companies have been taken advantage of people that do not understand the technology for the past 20 years. My goal is to educate them about the value and to simplify the process.
Website Return On Investment Analysis
by admin on May.19, 2010, under Small Business Interent Consulting
Return on Investment
Your website will bring you a higher return on investment than any other management or marketing tool that you have at your disposal. My website cost me $150 per month (not including my time) so each of those 35 customers over the past year have cost me about $42 dollars and I target between $1500 – $2000 per customer!
Gone are the days when you had to pay thousands of dollars to have an effective web presence, in fact you can have a website today for about the same money it cost you for a cell phone!
True Value
The real true value to your website is directly related to how committed you are to take action to make your business better. I have told clients for years the real success of any business (online or not) is measured by the amount of time you take to actually make something happen.
If you make one new thing “happen” everyday in your business you will be successful and I strongly recommend that same for a website.
The mere fact that you are on my website means that you have taken action towards learning about building a new website (or fixing the one you have). But unless you actually ACT there is no decision
Maximum Profitability and Your Website
by admin on May.19, 2010, under Internet Marketing Consulting
Maximum profitability
If you have not embraced search engine technology in today’s economic business environment, you have no one to blame but yourself. If you want your site to help you make money you must invest your time!
The technology exists today that makes building a website inexpensive and they can grow at your pace.
“What does it cost?”
My favorite response to that question is “how much time do you have?”
As mentioned earlier websites today are relatively inexpensive and easy to manage. The real cost of a website is in the value of your time and what it is you are selling. If you are a doctor and your services sell for $5000 then you want to budget a fair amount of time to telling people what it is you bring to the table (no pun intended).
If you are a landscape company and you simply want to show people your work then that takes less time. Either way the cost is relative to what you want to accomplish.
Frankly, I spend at least two hours a week on my website and since March of this year I have reached over 700 people, and have a client base of 35. Simple math shows that 4.75% of my visitors have turned into customers! Now 35 customers may not seem like a lot but I control that and with an average customer spending $1753 dollars a year with me my return on investment is very good!
Search Engines Are Giant Databases
by admin on May.19, 2010, under google analytics
The search engines are nothing more than a giant database, and like any database, “garbage in garbage out”!
Think of the search engine as if they were a giant library and your website is a book. If you walked into a library and ignored the librarian and put your book on the shelf, do you think she could help other people find it?
Of course not, that is why the library systems many years ago adopted the Dewey Decimal System. The search engines have a similar, albeit secret system that they use to index your website in their database.
That is my primary function, to explain to you in laymen’s terms how to get your site listed in the Search engines databases correctly.
Why Getting Listing Properly is Important
If you are not found by, the search engines for something other than your name (or website address) your website is nothing more than an electronic brochure, a book with just a cover as far as the search engines are concerned.
And just like a reader that is looking for informaiton and finds a book with a nice cover and nothing but pretty pictures inside, they move to the next book. When you build your website you want it to be read and that means you need to have information in their that people want to learn about!
What is the purpose of your website?
by admin on May.19, 2010, under Internet Business Consultant Charleston
What is the purpose of YOUR website? Write it down and put it in a place where you can see it everyday. If your website is an after thought your website will never make money – EVER!
Frankly to my mind, a good website is the”central nervous system” of your business. (Bill Gates of Microsoft coined that phrase not me)
For any good business to be successful people must know about it. And with today’s technology, that is very easily accomplished with a little effort and good planning.
If your business is small and you do not have a massive marketing budget, that is not a bad thing. You can start small and grow, that is the beauty of internet marketing, it levels the playing field for all businesses.
If you are small landscaping or pressure washing business, you simply need to write down what you know about your business that you think people want to know and put it on your website. It’s that simple.
However, it doesn’t do you much good to have great information on your website if people can not find it. The most important element of your website is that it is built so that the search engines can find it, and if the search engines can find it – then people will find it!
Pittsburgh Girls
by admin on May.13, 2010, under Uncategorized
PITTSBURGH GIRLS
A Pittsburgh girl knows just as much
about football as her guy friend
in some cases, even more.
She drinks beer because it tastes good
but knows when to be classy and drink
something more sophisticated.
She owns a Steeler jersey not just
because it’s cute but because she
supports her team and understands the game.
She loves Kennywood and isn’t afraid to
order cheese fries from the Potato Patch
because, let’s face it………
Pittsburgh girls wear winter coats and
scarves a lot more than bikinis and flip flops.
A Pittsburgh girl loves St. Patrick’s Day,
even if she’s not Irish because green
beer is good for the soul.
Pittsburgh girls don’t have a funny
accent. They just speak a different language.
The word yinz is dear to her heart, even if
she would never say it herself.
A Pittsburgh girl bleeds black and gold and
knows how to have a great time.
She’s stylish and sweet. She has a great
education and loves her friends and family.
A Pittsburgh girl goes to church on Sunday
hung over, only to be let out by the priest early
because the Steelers kick off at one.
A Pittsburgh girl might not live by
the beach, but the Three Rivers are just as good!
She has seen all four seasons and has
a reason to love and hate each of them.
She’s the type of girl you can call late at
night and spill your heart out to.
She’s the type you can take home to Mom and
Dad without worrying they won’t like her.
Because everyone loves a Pittsburgh girl.
If you need a girl to take to the game, she’ll be there.
If you need a friend to help you out, she’s there.
If you need a drinking buddy, she’ll be there with her
IC Light in hand.
So let your Pittsburgh girl know you love her!
You can take the girl out of Pittsburgh ,
but you can never take the Pittsburgh out of the girl!!!!!
