Archive for January, 2009

For those looking to kick off the year the right way, I am offering a FREE SEO Website Analysis for a limited time. I will take a look at your website and let you know what I see that could use correction, then you can decide whether or not you’d like for a professional to handle it, or it you want to try and do it on your own.

Learn more about this new offering here.

If your website is costing you money, you’re most likely doing something wrong. A website isn’t just something that you put up to say you have one. It should be a revenue center for your business. It might cost you some money in terms of an initial investment, but over the long haul, it should make you more money than it costs you.

Here are the two main reasons that people fail to profit from their websites:

1. They spend too much money up front. Having a website rank well is far more critical than having it look pretty. Although you will have a higher success rate with a more professional looking site, I have personally made money from many “ugly” websites over the past decade. Keep in mind that people are searching the web, not to be sold, but for solutions to problems. While a professional look and feel will increase the likelihood of someone contact you for the answer to their problems, it isn’t always the “pretty” websites that win.

Don’t hear what I am not saying however. I am not saying to build an ugly site and expect to make money. I am saying don’t spend thousands for your first website when you could spend hundred. I know of a business owner right now who doesn’t have a website and is nearly broke because she cannot afford a website that looks like she wants it too. She is VERY gifted at what she does, but would not take my advice. Currently, she is working two jobs to make ends meet, and not even pursuing her business.

I also once worked as a contractor for a company that spent over $3 Million dollars of investors money building the “best of the best” in ecommerce. I was asked to shut the site down due to a lack of funding within a week of launching the website.

Don’t make either of these fatal errors.

2. They don’t realize that a website without website marketing is an expense, but not the way it is supposed to be. The bottom line here is that if you don’t market your website, no one will ever find it. There is no magic to having people find your website and the absolute worst thing you can do with your advertising dollars is to spend money to print your web address on all of your company literature and expect that to cover it. If someone knows your business name, they can find you. It’s the people that don’t know your name that you want to find you – and that is why Search Engine Marketing is the most effective way to spend your money to promote your business.

The combination of an affordable website with Internet Marketing (a.k.a. Search Engine Marketing), can results in an amazing return on investment. Imagine taking phone calls from people looking for your product or service rather than writing ads and praying that the right person sees it. Truly, you’d be better off in many cases just buying a lottery ticket for the money spend on ads – especially if you are not a skilled copywriter.

Every business owner or marketer has 3 choices when it comes to Search Engine Marketing.

1. Do Nothing. This is what 90% of small business owners do – and that is good news for you. If you do nothing, you will get nothing in return. And you will also foolishly conclude that Internet Marketing doesn’t work while your competitors get all of the customers in your market space.

2. Try Something. This is how nearly every “expert” became an expert. If you read my book, you will see that in 1999 I had a website that sold products and I needed to find a way to get people to notice it without spending a fortune. That site (a very ugly site), went on to earn between $300 and over a$1,000 per month for years without me ever speaking to a single customer until the provider foolishly went out of business. You will also learn the A to Z’s of Search Engine Marketing in that book which can put you at the top of the search engines and make your website profitable.

3. Hire a Professional. If you work with a Search Marketing professional that can look at your business as a whole and not just look at getting you to sign a contract, you should clearly be able to see where the return on investment is for your Search Marketing campaign.

If you would like a free website analysis, give me a call at 800-453-9290 or send an email to FREESEM@oldschoolseo.com

Happy Friday!

When my wife and I watch TV, we usually do it the most efficient way which is to record the show so we can fast forward through the commercials. With my business hat on, I have started to ask “who would spend money on those ads?” and “when will business owners get it that the Internet is the most cost effective way to connect with those currently seeking their products or services?”

Sure, there are those opportune moments like the SuperBowl where people actually watch for the ads, but who has that kind of money ($3 Million for a 30 second spot, not including production costs) to “gamble” on getting new customers?

Perhaps you think this is just my opinion. Well, let me share with you a quote of just two months ago from TiVo CEO Tom rogers as he shared with TV Advertisers, “Most of your ads are not going to be viewed in the future.” He went on to discuss how TiVo was implementing additional ad strategies similar to that of the Internet. But here is the problem – it’s still not reaching a targeted audience like Search Marketing does.

Secondly, is this article which states that 50 to 70% of TV viewers are using DVR/TiVo technology to skip ads.

So, if you are not spending any of your marketing dollars on a solid Internet Marketing plan, now is the time to turn your marketing dollars into profits. If you need help, you can contact me.

Google offers an amazing free service called Google Alerts which monitors new content as it appears online. Since Google does an amazing job at indexing new content, it is very effecttive to use it to track industry news, but I have always recommended that people use Google Alerts to monitor what people are saying about them or their company.

A colleague of mine wrote a post about specifically how to set up Google Alerts to monitor certain aspects of your business. As I read it, I realized that I wasn’t even using Google Alerts to it’s fullest extent because I have not set up alerts for each of the websites that I track. This is a great way to monitor activities such as when people write about you or your website or when your website gets indexed in a search engine or directory. I recommend adding this to your search engine marketing campaign to make monitoring your progress much simpler – and I will be doing the same for the sites that I am promoting.

If you haven’t set up a Google Alert, I recommend just trying it. If you need help, please refer to Nate’s article where he shows you exactly how to do it.

Make it a great day!

There is a trend that I am seeing too much lately, and that is large companies with large budgets leaving Search Engine Marketing out of the Marketing Equation. In a day and age where over 80% of people looking for products and services start on the web, the obvious solution to the marketing dilemma is Search Engine Marketing.

Sadly, many companies foolishly rely on their brand name alone and fail to reach out to new audiences that are searching for what they offer. These same prospects end up giving their money to a more savvy competitor that knows how to use the Internet to their advantage. Or even worse, some of these companies heavily in media channels such as TV and radio and neglect Search Marketing. Don’t get me wrong; TV, Radio, Motorsports Marketing, Direct Mail Marketing, and other means of business promotion, have their places, but it should never be at the expenses of the most optimal marketing channel available – Search Engine Marketing.

Let me ask you which makes more sense; pushing out your products and services to the masses and capturing a fraction of a percent of your audience, or tailoring your message to those already looking for your business and capturing a few percent of that targeted audience? The answer is obvious and if you don’t know how to make the second part happen, you are at the right place. I have been helping businesses effectively do this since 1999.

The better news is that optimizing your marketing budget is just a phone call or email away and doesn’t have to cost you a fortune. You can reach me at 800-453-9290 or akirlew@akaim.com and I would be more than happy to discuss how to maximize your marketing dollars. In the midst of a challenging economy, that alone could make you the “hero” at your company.

Stay tuned for my next blog post on “why you should NOT spend money on your website”. You can subscribe using the subscription form to the right and you will receive future posts via email.

Make it a great day!

~ Anthony