Kreative Webworks, Inc.

SEO Guarantee's Don't Ensure Results

I don’t often defer to my colleagues to read my mind and post their articles instead of mine, but in this case I’ll make an exception. My friend and colleague Kimberly Nichols wrote one of the best, most concise articles on “SEO Guarantee Scams and How to Avoid Them” that I’ve read in a while.

Unfortunately not all Digital Marketers have your best interest in mind. They typically come in several flavors: Those with current knowledge, those with outdated knowledge, and those who abuse their knowledge. I can’t tell you how many clients came to us perplexed as to why their reports looked so good, yet their phone wasn’t ringing.

Case in point is an article I recently wrote: “Don’t let the “S” in SEO stand for Sucker” detailing an actual client that was intentionally misled by a classic “bait-and-switch” with his keywords. The company in question served themselves a “softball” simply by making long tail keyword phrases even longer in his monthly reports so they can meet their guarantee.

Legitimate Digital Marketing Experts will educate you as to what their strategy is, and not pull any punches as to what you can and can’t reasonably expect. Naturally you should expect a keyword placement report on a regular basis, but understand that is only part of the equation. It shows progress that the SEO Company should be using for themselves to show trends and progress, not absolutes. More to the point would be the actual analytics reports showing actual traffic and what keywords drove the traffic.

Keyword selection should address 4 components:

1. Relevance: Are the phrases that are targeted actually relevant to your business…or just easy to obtain?
2. Popularity: Are the keyword phrases that are being targeted actually searched on in sufficient volume to drive sales.
3. Acceptable levels of competition: Is there a reasonable expectation that first page rankings are obtainable? This is where a legitimate “long tail keyword” strategy comes into play.
4. Monetization: Can you actually make money and grow your business by driving consumers to your website by targeting those phrases?

Do yourself a favor and read Kimberly’s article. And as she says at the end of that article: “If it looks too good to be true…”

7 Interesting (if sometimes obvious) things you can do with QR Codes

QR Codes…my new favorite toy (and a Digital Marketing dream) are becoming incredibly popular because of their ease of use and unlimited applications.

A QR Code (short for "Quick Response" Code) is a 2-dimensional digital icon that your customers and prospects can scan with their mobile phone to get access to well...virtually anything that you want them to have access to. Not only that, they come standard (and free) on most mobile phones, even the most basic software to design them is free as well!

The applications are limited only by your imagination. Here are a few of them literally off the top of my head. Some of these are cleverer than others, but I guarantee these are just scratching the surface:

1: Business Cards & Flyers: This may be one of the most obvious places to use a QR Code, but the applications are endless. You could set it to download your contact information to your prospects smart phone (where it belongs) so they don’t have to look for your business card the next time they think of you. Or you could do the obvious and simply link it to the home page of your website. Just make sure that you link it to a mobile optimized page or you won’t fully be taking advantage of the technology.

Or you could be clever and link it to a “special” promotional page that is reserved for those who put forth the effort to scan it. For example, you could link the code to a special “VIP Room” with a special discount or offer that can only be obtained by entering through the scan.

2: Your Website: Yes, another obvious one, so think it through… If they are already on your website you could give them remote access to a hidden special offer page (mobile optimized of course) or you could simply download your contact information or product offerings.

3: Shirts: Just think about doing an expo or a convention and everyone on your staff has a large QR code emblazoned on their shirt. Having people aiming their smart phones at the large gaudy design your entire staff is wearing just might be the attention getter you’re looking for. What would it link to? How about an “event only” special?

4: Social Media Icons: You could use it as a profile picture or as your personal picture on Skype or as the secondary logo on your LinkedIn Business profile.

5: Graffiti: Come on…who could resist scanning some hi-tech tagging on the side of building or fence? Or a little more conventionally, on the door to your OWN office or store.

6: Menus: Why should a restaurant rely on pieces of paper to make their takeout menus available to patrons? Why not let them scan it and store it on their smart phones. If the scan links to the mobile menu page on their website, it can constantly be updated by the time the patron takes her next look.

7: Tattoos & Tombstones: What’s the difference between eggs and bacon? The egg was involved…the bacon was committed. If you’re really committed to this concept of QR Codes, why not tattoo one on your body? After all, a tattoo is permanent proof of temporary insanity. Speaking of “permanent”, nothing says forever like chiseling your final epitaph on your final resting spot. Now that’s commitment!

Here is a little step-by-step guide on setting up a QR Code. Of course in many cases you might need help in setting up a mobile enabled website or specific mobile web page. Your Kreative Webworks team can help you with that.

 

Over the next few years mobile enabled websites will be as popular as, well… websites.

Currently about 1 in every 7 searches on the Internet are from a mobile device such as a Smartphone or iPad. By 2013 there will be more searches from mobile devices than from desktop devices. In fact 25% of Internet users around the world are “mobile only” right now, yet few websites are mobile enabled.

This is temporarily a huge advantage for mobile savvy businesses.

It’s temporary because over the next couple of years all serious businesses will be mobile enabled. What is now an advantage will become mandatory. So for now, why is there an advantage?

Search engines try to give the best user experience to their customers. Their customers are people like you and me who are searching for, well…whatever we are searching for. Search engines can detect the specific device the search is being conducted from, and are giving preference to mobile enabled websites over their non-mobile counterparts in the search results when searched from a mobile device.

The consumer of course is not going to dedicate much time to viewing miniature versions of full websites. They have no patience to make the text bigger and move it around the screen so they can read everything. They are not going to spend much time squinting at little buttons that are smaller than their fingertips as they try to zero in on them to navigate to the next page of tiny text and miniature graphics. 

Mobile consumers are looking for different information and a different experience than their desktop counterparts.

Just when you thought you got this website conversion thing just right, technology makes another adjustment to human behavior. Traditionally you want to lead your visitors down a “path” or a “sales funnel”. You want to control their experience, but make sure that any information that they may possible want is available on the site. This is true for mobile visitors as well, the difference is the information mobile searchers want is typically a lot less, and very specific.

Understand the mobile user may be on-the-go looking for directions, or knee deep in water looking for a plumber. Understand your customer, and give them EXACTLY what they are looking for... no more…no less.

The most sought after information mobile users look for? Company information, Destination information and Social Media.

OK, now that you understand why mobile website development is so important, and what consumers are looking for, you might want to look into creating a mobile friendly version of your company website. Depending on the complexity of the design and how basic the functions are (and they should be basic) you can generally have a custom mobile site retrofitted to your existing site for $500-$1000.

My recorded Online Reputation Management Workshop now available

A few weeks ago I conducted a special “Insiders Guide to Leveraging your Online Reputation” workshop for U.S. and European audiences.  

What’s that all about? Well the fact is that people may be saying nasty things about you without you… whether they are true or not. You can’t stop it, but you can manage it.

This is actually more than a lecture; it’s an actual workshop, complete with the same techniques and actual forms that we use to track our client’s online reputation.

The actual workshop is available at: http://wsiinstitute.com/media/ec/cb/Insiders_Guide_to_Leveraging_your_Online_Reputation_-_Flash_(Large)_-_20110812_04.40.24PM.html

I’ve also put together a special edition kit that includes all the forms that we actually use for our clients along with examples of how they should look when completed. If you think they would be useful, just contact us: http://www.kreativewebworks.com/contact.html

The Insider's Guide to Leveraging your Online Reputation:

People are talking about you without you!

Before the Internet, businesses controlled their public image and message through television, Yellow Pages, radio and print advertisements. But now people are openly discussing your business image, products and services on social networks, review sites, online directories and blogs. Not only that, what they say impacts the buying decisions of your potential customers. During this workshop webinar, you will be presented with a step-by-step systematic approach to evaluating, improving and managing your online reputation. Make no mistake, it DOES MATTER. You can’t stop it, but you can manage it! Not only will you learn how to manage your online brand or personal reputation, but we will provide you with the actual worksheets that we use with our own clients.

There are two sessions to choose from:

Register: Wed, Aug 3, 2011, 8:00am PST *

Register: Wed, Aug 3, 2011, 11:00am PST

*The 8:00am PST session is to accommodate our European audience, so don’t let the 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM BST time on the registration form fool you… both of these sessions are open to everyone.

Note: You will need to use my name, Chuck Bankoff, to complete the registration.

Both of these sessions are free and include our Special Edition Resources Kit which is comprised of the same tools that we use for our own clients.

Chuck Bankoff is Director of Web Services for WSIeWorks, a full service Digital marketing firm in Orange County California.