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Why Lead Generation Companies are a Bad Idea

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Money is Tight!The experts say that this ‘tough economy’ is going to go on for several years before finally hitting a tipping point back into some sort of stability.  Times are already straining for many businesses, and news like this isn’t good for those riding the almost-going-out-of-business fence.

Today I stumbled upon a press release about a local real estate company that hired a lead generation company to help them generate more customers (in theory).  The lead generation company’s website gives four easy steps to generating leads:

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Posted in leads, Marketing, small business | 5 Responses »

If I Were A… Limo Rental Service

Monday, August 15th, 2011

There are certain times in everyone’s life when a limo is a great idea.  From birthdays to weddings to special nights out, a limo is a great way to make the night even more memorable.

St Louis isn’t a huge town.  It’s not like New York or LA where limos are seen every day.  If you see one here, chances are it was rented for some sort of event, not because a famous person is cruising by.  And this isn’t Vegas, where they’re waiting by the hundreds at the airport.

I imagine that owning a limo rental company can be a bit stressful.  Those rides aren’t cheap, they have a somewhat high need for maintenance (especially cleaning) and need to be on the road more often than not.  So keeping the limos booked is a huge priority.  The following is a few things I’d do if I owned such a company.
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Posted in If I Were A, Marketing, small business, St Louis | 3 Responses »
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St Louis Small Business Meetup Group Presentation

Saturday, July 16th, 2011

Your Website Needs Traffic

Back in May, I spoke to the St. Louis Small Business Meetup Group about getting traffic, climbing the search engine rankings and beyond.  It was a great meetup in a small restaurant in Kirkwood – a terrific atmosphere and I think you’ll enjoy this video.  In it you’ll learn:

  • Why Shotgun Marketing is a think of the past
  • Why You need a CMS
  • What Google Thinks About Your Site
  • How to Spy on Your Competitors
  • Plenty More Tips

Posted in SEO, small business, St Louis, traffic | No Responses »
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Should I Put Money Into PPC or Link Building?

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

Will, I’m doing alright on clients right now, but by this summer I know it’s going to dry up a bit, so I’m thinking about doing PPC or a link building campaign.  Which do you recommend?

- Jon

I’m not a huge fan of PPC.  While I know it works, and works quite well for some businesses, it’s overall a very short-sighted strategy.  If you have the budget, pay per click is an easy way to the front page for many terms.  Problem is, most small business owners don’t have the budget they need in order to get or stay near the top.  Plus, once that budget runs out, the ads immediately disappear and you are literally back to where you were when you wrote this email. Click to continue »

Posted in link building, PPC, small business | 2 Responses »
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Lost and Found – 7 Steps Showing Why Found is Better

Monday, February 7th, 2011

The following is a post by Tim Biden. Tim runs an SEO firm based in Los Angeles, California.  His contact info is at the end of today’s post – make sure you check out his website and follow him on the Twitter!

So you have a website but you’re not seeing the business roll in like you keep hearing that it should. There could be a number of reasons for that but today we’re simply going to focus on being found by your prospective clients. This part of the equation is simple enough… If they go to Google, Bing, or Yahoo and your website doesn’t come up in the first page of the results, you’re not going to get their business.

Your website is not a farm in the middle of nowhere and the Internet is not the “Field of Dreams”. You need build it, and apply the principles of SEO, before they will come.

With that being said, please allow me to ask you a few questions. Write down the answers on a piece of paper. We’ll be wrapping everything up at the end.
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Posted in local marketing, SEO, small business | No Responses »

Knee Jerk Advertising Won’t Grow Your Business

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Are you feeling the crunch of the economy? Seeing less and less customers come through your door?  Tons of great businesses have closed up shop, and others have been forced to put the little emergency marketing budgets they have into use.

Yesterday I heard a commercial for a small steel company in town and found myself wondering why they’d spend a few thousands on a radio campaign.  I think it’s simply that they don’t know.  They’re feeling the crunch just like the rest of us, and probably listen to that particular station.  So they put together an ad about how great they are, and paid the radio sales piper.

Reactive instead of proactive. Click to continue »

Posted in Marketing, offline advertising, SEO, small business | 2 Responses »

Outsourcing the Small Stuff

Monday, January 17th, 2011

When you first start out as a business owner, doing everything is fun. Cracking open Quickbooks and trying to learn it is a little exciting (and daunting). Getting a proposal together is fun. Doing small things makes you feel like you’re really growing.

But as you get more and more clients, the small things start to really take up more of your time than you’d like.  Working on these details continue to suck up your time, except now they’re exponentially growing because your client list is growing. They have become a burden.
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Posted in small business | 2 Responses »
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Case Study: Business Blogging for Revenue

Monday, December 20th, 2010

If you’ve ever taken one of my classes or heard me speak, you’ve probably hear me say this:

Blogging is one of the best things you can do for your business.

While most people think blogging is just about what you ate yesterday or how cute your baby is, there’s a lot more to it for business.  A lot more.

Beyond the Brochure

By now I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase Content is King more than once.  It’s definitely true – creating new content on a consistent basis is one of the best ways to gain the search engines’ attention.  And attention turns into ranking.  And ranking turns into customers.

But let’s be frank – your website probably sucks.  It’s a boring brochure, laden with the must-have’s such as an About Us page, a contact form, and of course a list of products or services.
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Posted in business blogging, small business | 2 Responses »

Is There a Marketing Baboon Loose in Your Neighborhood?

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

The big news in Saint Louis today is that there appears to be a baboon on the loose.

But what’s worse than a monkey running around your back yard? A business owner that is letting monkeys market his business.
Get that monkey out of your neighborhood!
Don’t let some monkey run your marketing campaign, telling you that you need to be on the radio, on billboards or even on the side of the Metro.  Where you need to be is on page one of Google for your main search term.

And there’s only one guy in Saint Louis that can do that – me.

I’m the number one SEO in Saint Louis (Search Engine Optimization) guy for a reason – because I get your business to the top of Google, Yahoo!, Bing and many other search engines.

Don’t waste any more money on untargeted shotgun marketing schemes.  Get that monkey out of your neighborhood and hire someone that can get you targeted traffic that’s ready to buy.

Posted in funny, local marketing, site ranking, small business, St Louis, trending | No Responses »

Free Internet Marketing Classes

Monday, August 9th, 2010

This Fall I’ll again be teaching a set of Internet Marketing classes at the Jefferson County Library, Arnold MO branch.  There are two topics this fall – Marketing Your Business Website (SEO) and Leveraging Twitter & Facebook for Business.

Registration is required for the free classes, and priority will be given to Jefferson County residents.  These classes always fill up so make sure you get yourself on the list early.

To sign up, call 636-296-5171

Note: Attendees to the September classes will receive a promo code for discounted tickets to Market Saint Louis in October!

Class Dates and Times

Title: Marketing Your Business Website
Summary: Learn how to revive a “dead” website. Topics covered include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), online advertising tips and avenues, along with ways to increase your website traffic and offline marketing ideas.
Dates/Times: Sept 23 at 6PM and Oct 15 at 9:30AM

Title: Leverage Twitter & Facebook for Business
Summary: In this class you’ll learn how to set up a Twitter account and Facebook fan page. You’ll learn about some great tools that will help you grow your fanbase, engage your customers, and how to utilize some ‘behind the scenes’ tricks to get the most out of your new accounts.
Dates/Times: Sept 9 at 9:30AM and Oct 20 at 6PM

Download and Print the Flyer

Posted in free stuff, Marketing, Saint Louis, small business | 2 Responses »

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