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Arnold MO Chamber of Commerce Meeting – What I Maybe Would Have Said

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

Earlier this week I attended the Arnold Chamber of Commerce meeting for February.  Arnold is a small town of about 20,000 residents, south of Saint Louis in Missouri.

I was surprised to find so many businesses taking part in the Chamber meeting. Several people who had taken my classes were there, so it was nice to see some familiar faces from the get-go.

The meeting included a lunch served by the people at Ponderosa Restaurant and a drink (water for me).  There were a few announcements along with the opportunity to introduce the guests (me and many others).  I met some nice people and had a good time.

Apparently normally the Chamber has a guest speaker at most of their meetings, however this one backed out, so they decided to do a ‘topic’ instead, and this months topic was Marketing Your Business.  Right up my alley, or so I thought.

The first speaker was from DDI Media, a local billboard company.  She promoted her billboards and told of her pricing schedule.  No mention of  ‘marketing’ tips.

Second and third were salesmen from local newspapers.  They talked about their great subscription base and blurted out their inflated circulation numbers, all in an attempt to get more advertisers.  No mention of marketing tips.

Can you see where this is going?

Next up was supposed to be the ‘Welcome Wagon’, a company that puts (imagine this) ads in a little packet that they give out to all the people who apply for residency permits.  No mention of marketing tips.

Last was the good ‘ole Yellow Book.  This lady was even worse than the others.  She simply read from a flyer that she had handed out and told the business owners about all the great things that YB does.  She mentioned (incorrectly) Pay to Click, and Search Ads, although I guarantee I could talk circles around her about her own product.  It was funny to watch her read what she was selling when it was obvious that she didn’t know jack squat about it.

So, since there was no mention of actual marketing tips (the “topic” of the day), I’m going to simply pretend like I was asked to also speak.

“Thank you for this opportunity.  I’d like to share with you seven tips that you can go back to the office and do today that will help increase your business revenue.

  1. Add your business to Google Maps.  Take the time to put in as much information as you can, including your products, services, hours and what kind of payments you take.  Add information on what you do, how well you do it, and verify your address through Google’s verification system.
  2. Start asking customers to write reviews about your business on Yelp!, Mixx, and other local-based websites.  Don’t fake the reviews yourself, or ask your relatives to do it – those are too obvious.
  3. Set up a blog on your website, and publish something each week (at a minimum).  Listen to your customers, and use their questions as fodder for your upcoming posts.  Blogging for business can lead to very nice ROI.
  4. Get a Twitter account, and start posting daily messages about your business.  Don’t be boring, post things that people will find interesting. Link your account to your website, and set up an account through twitterfeed that automatically posts your new blogs.
  5. Start tracking your website visitors.  Add Google’s analytics program to your site and learn where people are finding you.  Do you know how many people call you because of your website? …which brings me to number six…
  6. Consider getting a call tracking service.  Call tracking lets you get separate phone numbers for each of your marketing campaigns.  You can then track that campaign and literally tell how well or poor it did.  Doing a direct-mail campaign? Get a phone number that only shows up on your mailer. When people call, you’ll know just how that campaign did.  And it’s not expensive.
  7. And lastly, consider attending a seminar on Search Engine Marketing (SEM).  You’ll be blown away by the amount of things you can do online that can increase your bottom line beyond what you ever thought possible.  There are competitors of yours out there who haven’t heard about SEM yet, but when they do, you’ll be sorry you didn’t get to it first.

Ok sure, some of this may be self-serving in a roundabout way, but hey at least I’m giving real marketing tips.

I look forward to future Chamber meetings, and the topics they’ll cover in the future.  I could definitely use some education on things like accounting and such, so I’m sure it will benefit me in the long run.

Posted in Marketing, Saint Louis, content, local marketing, networking, site ranking, small business, twitter | 2 Responses »
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Beginner SEO/SEM: You’re Worth More Than That

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

 

I bargained with life for a penny
And life would pay no more
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store

For life is a just employer
He gives you what you ask
But once you have set the wages
Why, you must bear the task

I worked for a menial’s hire
Only to learn dismayed
That any wage I had asked of life
Life would have willing paid.

– Jessie B. Rittenhouse

For those of you just getting started in SEO / SEM consulting, listen up.

Earlier this year I partnered up with a business colleague to do some revenue share for him.  Basically it was this: I do SEO for him and I get a percentage of the revenue that the website creates.  I actually do this for several local businesses, but I’m not sure that it’s the best option.

While small businesses love to ‘partner up’ with other business owners, I’m really having second thoughts about doing this in the future.

Here’s the deal.  You offer a great service, one that can propel a business (literally) into a new revenue stream. You have the know-how and understanding to create wealth.  And wise small business owners will see this and want it.  However, most small businesses lack one thing – money.  While this isn’t always the case, it has been my experience that a lot of small business owners want a lot, particularly things they can’t pay for.  Of course, who wouldn’t.

If I owned a coffee shop, and in came a guy with a laptop, having meetings, talking to business owners, I’d want to know what he offered.  I’d want him to market my business.  But I’m just a little coffee shop owner, I don’t have that kind of money to throw at marketing.

Just a word of advice – RUN!

My wife often tells me that I’ve got this soft spot for people in a pinch.  For some reason I feel bad when I see a business owner struggling, and I want to help.  I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes – perhaps they’re really bad at accounting.  Perhaps they are funding useless causes.  Perhaps they have no idea what’s going on at all in their business.  Whatever it is, all I see is the outward sadface, and I offer to help.

Most often she’s right (dammit!).  She sees me working for these people ‘in hopes of a future return’.  She sees the kids wanting new this and that, and she sees me working away, but the bank account doesn’t increase.  I can’t blame her for getting aggravated.

So if you’re good at SEO, and you know it, don’t fall for these things.  You offer a damn good product, quality advice and the power to increase sales.  Don’t let it go for cheap.

Disclaimer: There are plenty of reasons to help out a small business.  I am in no means telling you to avoid these altogether – rather I’m telling you to be wise.  If you have a friend that needs help, throw him some link juice. Do a small link building campaign. But don’t go overboard just to prove yourself.  If you want to do that, do it on your own website, not someone else’s.

Posted in beginner sem, customer service, money, networking, site ranking, small business | No Responses »

Bloggers Need to (at least) Understand SEO

Friday, September 12th, 2008

Tonight I had the pleasure of speaking with Jaelithe Judy, the writer who will be moderating the upcoming SEO panel that I’ll be sitting on (along with Ellen Gooch) next week.  She has great charisma and I can tell this is going to be a fun session.  Since we are expecting a crowd of mostly personal, professional and corporate bloggers, the session will focus around that audience.  Without giving away all the topics we’ll discuss, here is a “10,000ft view” of what is to come.

  • How understanding SEO basics can increase your readership numbers
  • Why sploggers want to steal your content (and how it can affect your bottom line)
  • Why businesses are hiring full-time bloggers
  • What the long tail is (and how knowing what it is can increase your blogs revenue)
  • Some of the latest changes Google has made and how they can affect your rankings

Oh, we’ve got lots more, including a nice list of resources that will help our audience get more traffic, more effectively promote their blog, or make more money from their website.  And we’ll be taking questions from the audience!

The panel will be just one of many Interactive sessions to attend this week in St. Louis at the Play:StL festival. Some of the other sessions (some of which sound pretty cool to me) include Cyberbullying, Business and Social Media, and even one on the dreaded CSS (yukk!)

Get a wristband for the festival at a host of local places, and half your money will go to LiveFeed.  If you come the SEO panel, please take a moment to introduce yourself, I’d love to meet you!

Posted in SEO, St Louis, blogging, conferences, networking, seminars | No Responses »

Derek Chew now with priceGrabber

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

My friend and partner on some projects, Derek Chew, recently quit Yahoo! and started his new job over at PriceGrabber online shopping. He’s also started a new blog, which hopefully he’ll keep up to date with some great posts.

http://www.derekchew.com/

Posted in networking | No Responses »

There’s Big SEO Money and Content Hiding in Industry Conventions

Thursday, February 21st, 2008

I’ve got a client in the furniture and mattress industry who is very gung-ho about SEO. The money that they’ve put into their website and SEO-related investments are paying off nicely. This weekend is a big furniture expo in Tupelo, MS. The client is heading down on Saturday afternoon and coming back Sunday.

Not much time for checking things out.

But his mention of the conference brought up a few great ideas that I think can catapult his website to an entire different level, if only he had more time. So next year, I told him to invite me along, and let’s plan on spending a full two days or so there. Here’s what we’ll do:

  1. Take along a video camera. We will shoot everything from walking in from the parking lot to our walk around the convention itself. That video will go on YouTube with the appropriate tags. Then we’ll post a link to it on the client’s website.
  2. We’ll set up interviews (just short 5 minute ones) with various vendors. We’ll ask them about their new products, ask them why they think they are the best, etc. These interviews will each be posted separately and will have their own ‘content page’ on said clients site, complete with interviewee’s and manuf/vendors name. We’ll use it to rank for local terms and vendors names that we don’t even sell.
  3. For vendors of products that the client currently sells, we’ll videotape someone ‘testing out’ the mattress or bed, and then we’ll ask them what they thought. The good responses will go on the website as additional fodder for that particular product.
  4. We’ll hand out tons of business cards for my client. You’d be surprised how many people we’ll meet that will check out his website a few days later, and will be highly impressed at the work he’s doing. Some of them will call my client, and he’ll gladly refer them to me. Bonus.
  5. There are bloggers at every convention.  Scope them out and get a quick interview if possible.  Tell them you’ll have a full write-up of the days events on your clients’ site.  Hand them a card. They’ll link to your stuff.  Yummy industry-related links!
  6. Speaking of write-ups, we’ll do one for each major ‘event’ that takes place at the convention.  If there are special seminars on certain items, we’ll attend the ones we can and do a summary of what happened.  Naturally those things will become linkbait, or sorts, for other Internet-savvy people that were at (or wanted to attend but couldn’t) said convention.

The next time you talk to your SEO clients, ask them about industry-related conventions. Go to it with the thought of promoting their business as well as gaining tons of free content that is available. Since 85% (I’m guessing here) or more of the vendors at conventions aren’t focusing on SEO (they’re hoping to sell their widget), they’ll be more than happy to spew on and on about it. Get it on tape and let them spew.

There’s big money in those conventions. Even while you’re there promoting your client, people will ask you who you are. “I’m Will Hanke, an Internet marketer. I’m here with John Doe and am helping him promote his widget store”. You’ll be handing out cards too, I promise.

Posted in Marketing, SEO, conferences, networking | 1 Response »

Stupid Idea: Telling Your “Friends” What You Do

Sunday, February 3rd, 2008

Recently I stumbled upon a nice money making idea, and after a few weeks I mentioned it to another guy that I know online. I said too much, and now he’s doing the same thing, taking a good chunk of the traffic I had.

Stupid me.

Learn from it, and keep quiet when you find a small (or large) gold mine.

Posted in beginner sem, competition, networking | No Responses »

Testing a Class Title

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

I’ve been a volunteer at the local library for several years, teaching classes on HTML, blogging and SEM. The classes are 3 to 4 hours long, and I always have a great time.

Well this year I’ve decided to only teach one class, my marketing (SEM/SEO) class. The class in the past was always called Marketing Your Business Website. I named it that so that I could (hopefully) target business owners to sign up. In the local newspaper, they list it as “Seminar on marketing your business website”.

This year, however, I’d like to do a little test. I’ll be teaching the same class, but each monthly class will have a different name. I want to see how many people and what demographic of people sign up for the different classes.
So far I’ve come up with the following names (thanks to some friends in the WebmasterRadio chat)

  • Improving Your Search Engine Placement
  • Your Website is Useless if No One Can Find It
  • Attracting Customers with Search Marketing
  • Why Your Website Isn’t Listed in Yahoo
  • Improving Your Website’s ROI
  • Your Business on Page One of Google
  • Destroy Your Competition on Google
  • Helping Customers Find Your Website
  • How Romanian Kids Make More on the Internet than You Do as a Grocery Clerk (ok maybe not that one)

Do you have any other suggestions?

Posted in Marketing, beginner sem, networking, seminars | 2 Responses »

Search Conferences I Plan on Attending in 2008

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

Well 2008 will be the year that I finally plan on going to not one – but two conferences!

Those of you that read my site already know that I’m a Local Search nut. The money is too easy and ranking isn’t very hard either. So I’ll be going to SMX Local for sure.

And the other one I would like to go to is the big one in San Jose. Since that is the week that my kids start school, I kinda doubt I’ll be able to make it. So I’ll probably be looking for another conference. Maybe SES Chicago, although I hear it’s not all that great.

Posted in Marketing, conferences, networking, seminars | No Responses »

New Upcoming Seminar for Small Business Owners

Friday, November 16th, 2007

The folks over at Search Engine Guide are going to be hosting a new seminar for small businesses that are wanting to get into search marketing. The event is in mid-April and the early registration is $850. It’s called Small Business Marketing Unleashed.

There will be some good speakers there (not me, but still some good ones) speaking on a nice variety of marketing topics. The seminar looks to be geared towards small businesses who have little/no online marketing but would like to get started in that arena. It also may be a good seminar for those just starting out in SEM/SEO.

Plus, Texas in April? How can you go wrong?

Link: http://unleashed.smallbusinessanswers.com/

Lastly, for those of you already into SEM/SEO – there are some nice sponsorship opportunities as well

Disclaimer: This is not a paid post. I did this on my own free will and am not receiving any compensation for posting this information. Have fun and come back and tell me how it was.

Posted in Marketing, beginner sem, networking, seminars, small business | 1 Response »

Guest Posting

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

Would you like to guest post on WillHanke.com? Got a good tip for Search Engine Marketers or small business owners? Contact me and your post could be featured on this site!

Posted in networking | No Responses »

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