Smart Marketing

Website marketing tip; Flash is not a gas, gas, gas

Too many websites these days are developed with little thought towards search engine marketing. Instead, the site is developed featuring flash animation as the star attraction, when the real star should be search engine optimization techniques.

Before I get a bunch of hate mail from web designers, let me clarify. Flash has its place in website design. But it should not be the focal point. Too many websites feature too much flash, which restricts search engine results.

In the past month we have been called in to work with clients to consult on their site’s search engine optimization. After a quick review, it's clear that the site's architecture (employing full-on flash) is a big reason for low search results.

It's my opinion that high search results should be established as an objective for the website BEFORE design ever begins. That way, the designer will be less apt to turn to flash as a focal point for the site. Am I wrong here?

A common internet marketing mistake

9 out of 10 companies make this internet marketing mistake, and it's easy to correct.

When I call up a website, 9 times out of 10 all I see for a title tag is the company name. If you're wondering what a title tag is, it's the copy that appears in the top portion of your web browser when you land on a new web page.

Having a title tag that includes your keywords is VERY important because search engines that visit your site will end up ranking your site higher for specific keywords, if those keywords appear in your title tag.

Recently I was hired by a real estate development firm to provide strategic recommendations on their website. One of the most glaring missed opportunities for them was their title tag. Instead of including some relevant terms like "Minneapolis Lofts" or "Downtown Minneapolis" in their title tag, it just included the property name.

Needless to say, we'll be fixing that shortcoming immediately.

Anyone else out there have a story they'd like to share about title tags...?

A marketing plan example

Recently, my 10-year old son announced that he wanted to own a Game Cube video game system. I made a deal with him. If he completed a 7-step "marketing campaign" with me as the target audience, I would buy him the system.

His first marketing effort, which he arrived at without any coaching, was to get all his classmates to sign a petition stating that Carson "needed" a Game Cube. As you can imagine, I took a dim view of this.

I explained to him that he needed to relate to MY interests as the purchaser, rather than his.  He thought it over and came up with a second, much more effective approach. He called up a father of a friend of his who already owns a GameCube. He then asked the father to explain why the Game Cube made HIS life easier. Then, my son put these thoughts into a homemade "brochure".

Needless to say, when he presented this brochure to me I was impressed. He had looked at the challenge from MY perspective, not his own.

Too many companies out there approach things using the I/Me/Mine approach: Here's why WE are so good at what we do. One of my greatest challenges is to get them to see that marketing efforts, derived from the buyer's perspective, are far more effective.

Small business identity

Logos, brochures and websites are all part of your company's small business identity. But what about a handshake? Yes, that too could be part of your small business identity.

Recently, I started listing all the elements of a small business identity. 3 pages and a hand cramp later, I put my pen down and surrendered. How can you possibly account for every aspect of your small business identity? I mean, even a handshake between you and a potential buyer contributes to your company's identity, right?

So I thought I'd throw a question out to you: Which are the most important elements of a small business identity?

Get more marketing testimonials

Testimonials from your clients & customers help market your business. But how do you get a commitment from your clients to give you these testimonials?

One way is to write it into your client contracts BEFORE you ever start working together. I include a clause in every one of my contracts that says,  in effect: "After we complete the project, Emerge Marketing would hope to get your approval to feature our work together in testimonials, case studies, articles and other marketing materials."

I've found this sets the expectation, right upfront, that a testimonial is one required aspect to our working relationship, and that I will feature it in future marketing efforts.

What do you think? Is this an effective approach?

A great internet marketing tool

Many of you, no doubt, already know of Corey Rudl's Insider's Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet course. But if you don't, I can't recommend this enough.

It helped me go 0-60mph in internet marketing in little over a weekend. Check it out:

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In 10 easy-to-follow steps, with 61 comprehensive lessons, you'll learn the SAME tested and proven fast-growth strategies Corey personally used to build his one-man business into a $7.6 million enterprise -- on a shoestring budget.

This is the SAME system that literally 1,000s of his protégés have used to earn $30,000 to $2.5 million per year using the Internet.

To preview Corey's brand-new course, and learn his most profitable secrets, click here now.

Marketing brochure tip: Do away with the zingers

Marketing brochures I see often contain too many exclamation points ("zingers"). Remember, your marketing brochure is designed to craft credibility...and professionalism. Exclamation points--or worse--multiple exclamation points come off looking amatuerish to me.

Compare these two bits of copy:

• The new website for all that’s French, fun and fanciful!!!!
• The new website for all that’s French, fun and fanciful.

Although the second one is less dramatic, it looks more professional to me. The first one just looks like it's trying too hard.

What do you think? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?

Sales discounts: A conveniently awful marketing tactic

I'll be speaking at The Loft (here in Minneapolis) this Saturday on "How to Market your Self Published Book". After trading emails with the very generous hosts, I received one back that said "We'll be offering 25% discounts on our books", and then asked if I was thinking of doing the same.

Hopefully my answer didn't offend. But it was (paraphrased) "My policy on discounting my book, The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses, is DON'T. I much prefer providing something more of value (e.g. a special report, a checklist, etc) in order to close the sale...at full price."

My reasons are:
1) Discounting lowers the book's perceived value in the minds of buyers ("Is there something wrong with it?").

2) Discounting may, subconsciously, communicate weakness or desperation.

3) My book is worth every penny of it's $20 price (and then some). The book can help a business owner save THOUSANDS of dollars. Every seller has to be convinced of the value of their offering, so strongly, that they can argue its merits (and win) in the face of buyers seeking concessions.

So, fellow bloggers...do you think I did the right thing?

Search engine lesson

New research just released by 3 companies underscores how critically important high search engine results are. In the study, fielded by 3 companies...Did-it, Enquiro, and Eyetools, the eye activity of surfers was measured on Google search results pages. The result? Surfers were inevitably drawn to a limited section of real estate on the the search engine results page.

The key finding from the study:

"The key location on Google for visibility as determined by the eye activity in the study is a triangle that extends from the top of the results over to the top of the first result, then down to a point on the left side at the bottom of the “above the fold” visible results. This key area was looked at by 100 percent of the participants."

This location was dubbed the "golden triangle". Another key finding?

"Visibility dropped quickly with organic rankings, starting at a high of 100% for the top listing, dropping to 85% at the bottom of the “above the fold” listings, and then dropping dramatically below the fold from 50% at the top to 20% at the bottom."

Check out the whole press release from the study. Fascinating stuff.

Top Ten Mistakes in Website Design

One of the most interesting mistakes Jakob Nielsen notes in his article Top Ten Mistakes in Website Design is using PDF files for online reading. He contends that PDF's break up the flow of a user's experience with your website. He also says they screw up smooth scrolling. Do you agree?

Other key mistakes are not changing the color of visited links, using  page titles with low search engine visibility and violating design conventions. Check out the entire article.

I'm curious: Do you agree with all he says? Are there others he's missed...?

Blogs as a marketing tool

Blogs are increasingly acting as a marketing tool to improve a company's  search engine rankings. A strategically written blog attracts the search engine more often, but it also helps companies generate higher placements for their keywords and phrases.

Check out Paul Chaney's post at the Radiant Marketing Group blog  for some valuable how-tos on using your blog to increase your search engine rankings.

Great stuff...

Another brochure tip

Your brochure should always speak to your audience's needs, NOT yours. What do I mean by that?

I just received a flyer in the mail today with the headline "Roofing Projects Needed". So I asked myself, "Who needs a roofing project?" And my answer was "Maybe YOUR company needs a roofing project, but I sure don't."

When you write any copy at all, it must come from your readers' perspective, not yours. The fact that this company needs roofing projects doesn't interest me. But if the headline had said  "Did you know that most water damage to a house comes from an old roof?", now that would have grabbed my attention.