Category Archives: marketing

Marketing on the Internet, word-of-mouth marketing, relationship marketing, reputation defense, public relations and other aspects of marketing products and services. Particularly online marketing, marketing for real estate agents and small business marketing for entrepreneurs.

Why EVERYONE Should Know SEO Basics

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Know-Basic-SEOI had an interesting comment awaiting my approval here on WickedBlog this morning. Someone from the Danville School System (in, what I can only assume is an attempt to counter the bad publicity from a photo and short blog I posted wayyyyy back in 2006 on the Toliver Elementary School) added a comment on that very blog post.

The original post used a photo of the school’s marquee with two misspelled words on it. I posted it because having that displayed at my old elementary school distressed me. I often blog about things that distress me — especially when it has to do with the education system.

Good Comment Content… However…

The new comment gave great PR for a recent academic achievement for the school, and I approved the comment. I know what the school representative was hoping to accomplish, unfortunately, that’s not the way SEO works. Continue reading →

A Bad Case of the Marketing “Can’t-Help-Its”

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Marketing Gears are Always TurningI have a problem. I think it may be a disease. It might even be terminal. I look at everything around me with my “Marketing Glasses” on. No matter where I am or what I’m doing… I see ways things could be done better, made easier and more profitable.

I look at poor customer service in a restaurant and have the urge to talk to the manager about it. (I don’t do it, but the urge is there). I will express my dismay if asked, but I refrain from giving “how-to” advice to fix it… and it’s a real effort on my part.

I know that unrequested advice is not appreciated. It’s obnoxious… but still it dances around on the tip of my tongue.

I have been working weekends with some video companies (my boyfriend is an artist with the camera — of the still and motion types ), so I’ve had this opportunity to learn some new skills while hanging out with him on the weekends and taking some weekend trips). Most of the time I really enjoy the trips. I enjoy doing something so very different from what I do all day long in my own office… but sometimes I make myself nuts.

While on these trips, what do I do? I look at the fact that each member of the crew isn’t wearing shirts emblazoned with the company name. I stress over the missed opportunities to promote the company in question. I re-organize the sales booths in my head. I listen to the way the sales staff answers inquiries and addresses problems. I make a check list of the missed opportunities that could be realized with just a few dollars in marketing materials or a few minutes coaching the sales staff.

I literally wring my hands and complain to my dear, patient boyfriend about how this and that could be improved with little effort. I bemoan the loss of potential income due to a lack of attention to tiny details.

He laughs and hugs me and tells me to let go, that it’s not MY business and they aren’t MY clients. I apologize and tell him that I can’t help it and he smiles and tells me that he knows, and he wouldn’t want me to be any other way. He says it convincingly enough that I believe him.

I think it’s hopeless. Sure, I’m a writer. I do content. Marketing was never intended to be anything but a secondary endeavor for me and my business…

But after working with small business owners and entrepreneurs for so many years, guiding their efforts to ensure that the money and the effort they put into the business pay off… I seem to be stuck looking at everything that way. I even do this when I go into stores. I do it when I look at ads. I do it everywhere I go. I talk business at social events, brainstorm with relatives at family reunions, offer advice when the conversation turns toward someone’s latest business idea when I’m out with friends.

Is this a common thing for people in the business? Are there any other consultants out there that can’t “turn it off” during down time? If there’s an “off” switch, I sure would love to find it!

Groupon: A Deal of the Day That’s No Deal

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When is a deal not a savings?My mother sent me a Groupon email this morning. The attached note said “Angela, I thought you would be interested in seeing this.” That’s all it said. The attached Groupon was for a six-page designer website with content and a month of hosting (a $395 value) for $99. It was offered by a company that will remain unnamed.

Visiting that website however was interesting (I know, I know, but working in websites as many years as I have, I couldn’t resist — besides, I had to send my mother SOME type of response, right?)

The Deal

So the “designers” here create your website and host it with a “complementary” month of uninterrupted service… according to the ad. I go to look at the “website features” and their “portfolio” to discover that there are 25 templates to choose from. Basically they are selling a template site with a month of hosting and calling that a value of 400 bucks. Hmmmmm. Then it gets better…

As a web content writer, and someone who tries to stay abreast of the nuances of organic SEO and content marketing — not to mention the recent changes in Google — I found it amusing that this company (which claims to offer SEO Optimization services) would say the following about this so-called product: “While pre-filled content is generically written to work for most businesses, owners can modify the context to their liking.” Can you say “template site with content identical to every OTHER template site they manage to pawn off on people?” I can.

Oh, and after the first month, they will charge you a standard service fee of $19.95 per month for hosting. Oh, and you have to bring your own domain name for them to activate the site.

Crunching the Numbers

So, let me get this “deal” straight… they want $99 up front, plus you to bring your own domain name (let’s call that $10 more… unless you go with one of those wretched domain resellers that charges upwards of $30 per year for a simple .com) and you will need to come up with your own content (because we all know how Google blocks sites with duplicate content – and that “pre-filled content…generically written to work for most businesses” is a total lie.) Then they want to charge you twenty MORE bucks a month for hosting. So the total bill for a year of website with their “deal” costs you $330.

Comparing the Options

Cheaper Themes: Better CMS (Content Management System): Compare that to buying a premium theme for WordPress (great ones can be had for $0-$100). Sure, some cost more — but if we take the median on that and call it $50 you can find pretty much anything you want or need).

It’s also worth noting that the default theme for WordPress is so flexible and customizable that it’s phenomenal. I’ve used some really nice FREE themes (although you have to be careful with those). Oh, and the premium themes (some of them) are already optimized and have fantastically clean code for better SEO.

Bottom line: WordPress can cost whatever will fit into your budget… from nothing to pricy and you get to choose.

No Limitations: With an open-source WordPress based theme, you aren’t limited to six pages… you aren’t limited to anything. I’ve got over ten years worth of blogs and information here on WickedBlog and not ONCE has anything tried to limit me. I also use WordPress on livingsmall.com and for my business site, WickedWriter.com.

WordPress… it’s what’s for business.

Add, change, morph, go a new direction… whatever you want… WordPress and the array of available (and FREE) plugins will let you do it.

Better SEO By Design: Did I mention that Google just LOVES WordPress? (I have no idea what kind of code the “deal” from Groupon offers, since I can’t see the backend, I’m assuming the worst because (in my experience) offers like this have code that looks like it went through a blender… and Google hates messy code.)

Tried, Tested and True Hosting: And if you use my host (and the one I recommend to all my clients) your monthly hosting fee with a GREAT record for uptime and staying abreast of security issues and redundancy backups (backups are free and automatic with them too, btw), it’s going to cost you $6.95 per month – and that INCLUDES your domain name — for a total of $83.40 a year.

If you want to save even more, they offer discounts for referrals so you can link to them, (like I just did above) to get a discount when anyone you refer signs up. I’ve been with them for years and would recommend them (and do) to anyone who asks me. Sometimes I get a referral, most of the time I just get a happy client. Yes, they are that good.

Buyer Beware (and Informed): Any company that promises uninterrupted hosting is as trustworthy as an SEO “expert” that promises to get you on page one of Google. How trustworthy is that? Zero. Not. None. Nada.

You see, no one can promise that. My host is good and 99.8% on average uptime is amazing, but I know enough to understand that even with backups, RAID systems, nearly instantaneous re-routing, and superb techs on staff… there is no such thing as a 100% guarantee.

I also know that anyone promising page one of Google is either: 1.) a liar or 2.) using practices that may get you on page one briefly, before getting your domain blocked permanently. Either way, you and your business are the losers and they walk away smiling, whistling, and pocketing your money, while they look for their next victim….er… I mean “client.”

In conclusion

If you want to get a website up and going, get one that will benefit your business, not hurt it. If you want a personal website, create one that will grow with you — not limit you to a few pages. If you need a website, you have something to say… you should SAY it, not allow “generic” content to enter the picture at all.

If you want a great site, start with WordPress. It’s the ONLY way to go, IMHO. If you want or need it customized, hire a great custom programmer to make the tweaks you need.

If you want great content, but don’t have time to write it yourself, hire me (or another reputable web content writer who knows how to craft content that will woo Google and create qualified organic traffic to your site.)

And even if you don’t use my host, find one that will not hold your site hostage and charge WAY too much to do so.

I hate to see people get “taken in” like this, so I had a little rant. Sometimes that urge just overwhelms me. The rant ends now and you may return to your happy day. ;)

Panda SEO Damage: How Can You Insure Quality Website Content?

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Recent updates to Google’s algorithm (Panda and Penguin), have left website owners doing more than the typical “google dance” — they have been in a veritable SEO mosh-pit. If it’s not a content issue, it’s links. It’s not just how to move forward, but how the old content (for some of us over ten years of content!!!) will be viewed by the search giant. We are advised to be careful not to “over-optimize” our sites. There can’t be too much similarity in pages (it’s not merely exact duplicate content anymore) and on and on and on.

There are tons of SEO experts out there trying to tell you how to determine WHICH of the updates hit you and what to do about it, and how to handle if you were hit by BOTH updates in rapid succession (there was an update then a second update, then the first update was updated again). Honestly, it’s pretty scary. Thankfully there is old wisdom that still serves…

The best approach to creating a website Google loves is to create a well-designed, easy-to-navigate website with high-quality content. Period.

(I keep saying that to anyone who will listen… and have for years.)

Just work on serving the people you want to attract. Give them the information they want to read. Write clearly and observe the rules of proper English (assuming of course that your site is written in English). There is some indication that the Panda update actually gives a site bad marks for grammar and spelling. (If only our public schools would be so bold!)

If you have been doing your own content, or hiring a great writer to help you out, you don’t need to worry, right? Well…no. There are a couple other things you need to consider:

  • Be sure your hired-gun copywriter is ethical and is not reselling your content to someone else to use on their site… and therefore damaging your SEO.
  • Make sure content scrapers aren’t coming in and lifting your content and using it on their crappy scraper sites to sell ads… and therefore damaging your SEO.
  • Make sure less-than-honorable competitive website owners aren’t swiping your content and branding it as their own… and therefore damaging your SEO.

How can you tell if this is going on? I’ve got a few tools for your consideration. You may find one or more of them useful:

If you are concerned that an article you wrote on a topic three years ago on your blog may be too similar to an updated version on the same (or a similar) topic, you can:

  1. Rewrite the article, referencing the old article yourself to make sure you aren’t covering the same topics in the same way.
  2. Update the old article, adding in the latest information and republish it as a new, updated article (deleting the old one, but ensuring that the old URL forwards to the new version).
  3. You can use a tool to check to see how similar the articles REALLY are (like similar page checker) and then make your decision to change one, merge them, or delete one.

Regardless of how you decide to handle the old content on your site or the upcoming content… the most important point that Panda makes is that content is king… and will always be king. It’s hard to go wrong if you write for your audience with well-developed topics they want to read. As a writer and as someone who has been preaching this at clients and peers and… well… anyone who would listen, I can’t say I’m hating the change. It kind of feels like job security to me ;)

Why Web Entrepreneurs Need Social Networking

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Being “sociable” on the web can have huge payoffs. Provider-customer communications have never been more important. In the old face-to-face days, small business owners maintained a manageable number of extremely loyal clients, all of whom were accustomed to seeing the small business owner in person.

If customers had a concern, a question, a request or a problem — the business owner was there, in person, to work it out.

Social networking and web 2.0 (yeah, I know, I’m tired of those phrases too) are high tech tools offering new delivery platforms to achieve this classic caliber of old-time service.

  • Loyal customers develop as a result of good relationships. (Give someone a bad experience when they are buying products or services, without remedy, and they will probably not come back.)
  • If you have a relationship and there is a problem and you FIX the problem personally, they will not only come back, they will love you for going “above and beyond.” This scenario will build loyalty more than a flawless experience.
  • They will talk about you. If you give excellent service or exceedingly poor service, your customers will tell others. That word-of-mouth advertising will make or break your business — especially online.

Social networking helps you to build strong, personal relationships with potential and existing clients, even though you may never meet them “face-to-face.” The new social tools permit personal interaction even before the first sale. It also offers an amazing built-in referral network.

If you aren’t currently participating, consider broadening your horizons. Select one or two platforms from the major players, fill out your profile page and join in the conversation.

Quit being a wall-flower at the Internet dance!

(NOTE: photo courtesy of Clarita at MorgueFile.com)