Recently I read an article about a bank robbery in California. It was so amazing to me, that I decided to compare the antics of this foolish “wanna be” robber with some of the business decisions I have seen made.
You decide if there is any similarities:
Recently, 40 year old Sudan Provost, entered the River City Bank in Sacramento and quietly announced to a few in the lobby that he was there to rob the bank. Then Mr. Provost handed the teller his drivers license and a money order that he wanted to cash first. The teller asked if he had an account with that bank to which Mr. Provost replied that he was serious, had a gun and did this for a living (not sure if he meant robbing banks or that he is a professional idiot). When he opened his bag however, there was no gun and then he asked to have a tissue for his runny nose. The teller responded that she didn’t have one, so the robber said he would be right back. He then left the bank, walked across the street to a pharmacy for a Kleenex, only to return and find the police there ready to arrest him. DUH!!!!!
In a recent blog post by Josh Steimle, the CEO of MWI, he titled his entry “Why Websites Matter.” His opinion was right on as it relates to traditional thinking. Old school business tactics, associating value with weight or drivability and making foolish decisions because you have not read the latest rulebook, seem to be a dangerous trend. These businesses continue to short circuit their real potential by not knowing all of the facts.
Utah Web Services is in the Web Design and Search Engine Optimization business. We manage site operations for businesses both large and small in more than 10 states and Canada. (more…)
There was a time, that any business that needed to advertise for more customers had very few options. The traditional choices have been Radio, TV and billboards for big business and then yellow pages, coupons, fliers, window ads, etc for the smaller guys.
The problem with all of the various methods of advertising a business is that there was never a really good way to know if an ad campaign was working or not. If the phone rang then it was good, if it didn’t then it didn’t work so well and you just came up more money, to try again.
Coupons were OK because if you included a coupon in a printed ad then you could track the number of coupons redeemed. Radio, TV and all of the others forget about it. Really in the year 2007 not much has changed with any media effort, you are still not sure how you’re doing or if any of your advertising is working. The time line of ad to sale also is an imperfect science with much guesswork and little fact to back up the conclusion.
Welcome the Internet! the greatest tool to hit business, since the cash register or the ability to take credit cards. Why you say?
Here are the reasons that the Internet now is the vehicle of choice for any serious advertiser:
1. Statistical reporting - With any website the owner should have access to real time reporting on traffic to his/her site. This tells you right now if what you are doing is working or not.
2. Take a 60-second spot and get some real mileage out of it - Anytime a business is running a radio or television spot, they should promote their website on that ad. Once an ad airs there should be a direct correlation within moments on the website with a spike in traffic. A business knows who came, how long they stayed, what they looked at on their site, what they purchased and expressed interest in.
3. Targeted Reach- Go right at potential buyers -Advertisers are able to pinpoint buyers using keyword advertising. You are paying only for people actually looking for your specific product or service and not for the masses to be presented with your message, whether they are interested or not.
4. Flexibility to turn on or off -An effective Internet campaign can be turned on or off at will. If you launch and you are not converting the prospects to buyers well enough. Then stop the campaign, tweak a few things on your website or strengthen your offering and then start the ads again. There is nothing more flexible than a website.
5. Less Expensive - On a price verses exposure equation there is nothing that compares to online advertising. Since you are targeting your specific buyer instead of having to pitch everyone and hope the right guy shows up. The cost per sale goes down significantly.
6. Greater Control - Traditional advertising is usually not very flexible. Yellow pages are printed for the year, billboards are there until you create a new one, and production costs for radio and TV are prohibitive. Internet adverting allows you to change campaigns, pricing, message, featured product and about anything on the fly.
7. Flexible spending programs - All of the major search engines have very flexible programs that can accommodate about any businesses budget or cost constraints.
8. Flexible Terms - Most online advertising is very flexible allowing any business to adjust the length of a campaign as needed. For 1 week or 1 year or anything in between. It is also easy to change directions multiple times during the campaign.
9. Proactive Selling - A website allows you to gather an email address from potential buyers for you to contact or present offerings too in the future. No other medium allows a business the ability to gather this kind of information from potential prospects and then pitch that person later.
10. Deliver Detailed Offerings For Free - Sales presentations, products details, spec sheets, pricing options or complete virtual sales presentations can be made available to any user without cost. There is no postage, packaging, envelopes or time required. The effective use of an auto responder gives your prospects immediate access to your special services.
11. Global reach - The Internet allows any business to operate on a global platform if they choose. No other adverting medium is as widely accepted around the world.
This list of great benefits associated with online adverting goes on and on. Radio sales, Television sales, Yellow page sales, Billboard sales and every possible type of traditional marketing is now being impacted by the World Wide Web and its extraordinary capability. In the future we will all benefit as radio ads and television ad pricing comes down to compete.
The best way to be found online however is still to have a professional Search Engine Marketing team get your site found at the top of your select keywords or target market. It is still the best, least expensive and most productive way to advertise.
See how some of our current clients have done online and hear their stories SEO Case Studies
Good business to all!
An interesting reality occurred in 2006. According to media watchdogs, there were more advertising dollars spent on the Internet, in all of its varied forms than radio, print and TV combined.
10 years ago when I was a Stock broker the equity markets were all a buzz about this new introduction called the Internet. Many considered it a passing fad along with the .com companies that seemed to defy gravity, any logic or grounding in financial reality. Consider the many companies that just made no sense. These stocks would move 5, 6, 7 dollars and more a day and then come back the next day to keep going up. As a broker it was hard not buy into the “Irrational Exuberance” as it was called then by Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan.
Well here we are in 2007. The Internet is here to stay, it has opened distribution channels and doors that are unheard of, it has shifted the wealth in America (Google Billionaire Boys Club) and changed the way that we do business and will continue to do so in the future.
Back in the old days if you were not featured prominently in the yellow pages then forget it, your business just did nothing and the prices you had to pay for your ad was a non-negotiable cost tied to your phone bill since the phone company owned everything. Today is a different situation for these traditional advertising mediums. There are dozens of yellow pages and most are now trying hard to feature there advertisers online as well as in the book just to keep pace and provide additional value.
Radio is no different. Stations across the country are suffering from shrinking top lines and stiff competition. Interesting the number of times each day that the disc jockeys are sending listeners to the stations website to sign-up for something, get a list of songs played that day, get recipes, become a VIP listener with special perks, etc. The only way these stations can survive is to join the millions that each year are spending more and more time on the Internet.
Smart brick and mortar companies are now creating marketing campaigns that tie it all together. Consider Walmart this last Christmas season. They published ads all over the United States that indicated that there were “hidden buys” that could only be identified by going online to Walmart.com to find out what they were. Senior management badly under estimated the number of people that would show up to find out what these specials were. The number of wild holiday shoppers logging on to their site crashed their servers and for the next 9-hours techs were doing damage control. The busiest shopping weekend of the season and the only thing users got was a blank screen. Bummer for Walmart.
Why are smart advertising being spent online instead of radio or print?
Check in on Monday for part 2 of this blog.
Utah Web Services and Utah SEO are pleased to announce a breakthrough offering for the little guy trying to make a difference on the Internet. This offering complete with both on-page optimization services as well as off-page marketing strategies is designed to be a bridge for any website owner needing to get his/her site found on National search engines.
The complete offering can be reviewed at Utah Web Search Engine Optimization and is available now for clients who wish to take advantage of it. As a company we are very pleased to be in a position to offer this inexpensive solution to so many of our clients that have been requesting something less expensive than our customary and very complete SEO services.
There was a very interesting article posted in BusinessWeek online dated January 12, 2007. This article detailed a trend that is beginning to alter the way 1000’s of online advertisers are handling their business marketing for this upcoming new year.
It has been widely known by all of us in the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) business that the problems with any extended or stand alone PPC (Pay Per Click) effort were inevitable. With problems of click fraud and any business good or bad, being able to be #1 by just throwing more and more money at the market. Was a recipe for disaster.
The article detailed the experiences of a few large operations that spent over a million dollars for online ads only to have fewer sales this year than last. They detailed Jewelers, Luggage resellers, and an electronics supplier all experiencing similar stories. The good news for Utah search engine marketing is that this trend compels these companies to actually do some top level SEO and get their acts together. Has to be good for business on many levels.
The days of just bankrolling a PPC effort and standing back to collect checks seem to be going the way of the Atari and pong. The full article entitled “Small Fry Sour On Search Ads” can be read at Yahoo.
Small businesses have historically been excluded from top level online marketing opportunities because of the required capital to initiate a carefully crafted strategy and then fund its execution. With many clients in the Utah market and across the country we have heard your many requests for help and are now prepared to provide a solution for you at a price point that any business can afford.
Next week we will introduce a packaged offering, tailored to fit your unique business offerings and sales needs. Log into Utah Web Services next week and take a look. We are limiting this offer to the first 100 businesses responding. We would have to hire more trained SEO talent if we took on more than that. Our intent is to continue providing your Utah business with professional search engine optimization tools and talent at a price point that will make sense for any budget. Now even the little guy can capture his/her share of the global opportunity found on the Internet.
We look forward to helping you capture your share!!
One of our best clients owns a travel agency. Not just any travel agency, a pet travel agency. Barbara has been with us for almost 3 years now and has been terrific to work with. She is the perfect client. Bright, clever, smart, attentive to detail, a great travel professional and willing to go where none of the other agencies seem to want to go with their business marketing. I am writing this today because she has just entered the wonderful world of blogging. She has some of the greatest stories of real time and real life situations that have occurred in her business transporting animals around the world. She can tell you in a second what the rules are for taking a pet on holiday with you or relocating with that pet somewhere on the other side of the world. Really a fascinating business that is all about people and their love of an animal or in some case many animals.
As a client she has been very successful online. All of the search engine optimization efforts have paid off handsomely and she continues to gain ground on the top players in the Pet Travel industry and enjoy the increased business opportunities because of it. Barbara I appreciate your willingness to trust Utah SEO Services once again as we recommend that you move down this road of blog management, we know that it will some of your valuable time but promise it will be additive to our efforts. With your vast knowledge of the industry and heart warming stories about people and their pets, I am sure you will be received well.
Good luck and happy blogging!
There seems to be a trend amongst some of our esteemed industry colleagues to come clean and fully disclose their operational experience and corporate financial statements. I am very puzzled at this decision since it seems to be completely elective and without any compelling benefit.
I perhaps look at the process of financial disclosure a bit differently than Josh at MWI or Rand at SEOmoz. When I was introduced to the team at Wiworks, Inc. some 9 years ago they were a stock traded company in Provo and I was a stock broker for Smith Barney in Salt Lake City, seemed like a good fit until their business started going south and I made the decision to protect my investment, sell my client list to my partner and take over the day to day operations of an Internet company.
What a nutty move that was at the time, as a public company we were compelled by the Securities and Exchange Commission to have a complete disclosure of all financials and business operations. Anything that was deemed a material event was required to be announced. This was so that any shareholder would be able to evaluate the quality of his or her investment and make a wise choice whether to hold the stock or not.
For the life of me I cannot figure out why any private organization would be so forthcoming. I applaud the move but question the logic or the benefit. In the Search Engine Optimization business we each seem to have our own specialty. We have clients that we have been successful in getting ranked highly and their businesses have benefited greatly by the increased exposure. None of us disclose the methods we deploy for our client’s or the strategies we are using for obvious reasons so I fail to see the reasoning of announcing everything else. Perhaps I am just too private.
The update to this story is that in order to survive financially, I sold the public shell to a California company and then bought the entire Internet operation back from them and took the company private. This process saved us about $130,000 a year in attorney fees alone and then another $65,000 for auditors, accountants, filing fees, writers and agents. I certainly have no interest in revisiting any procedures of the past. So for now folks don’t expect Wiworks, Inc. or any of our operational divisions to announce anything other than new clients and cities we are establishing operations in.
Good luck to all of you in this great market and SEO industry for 2007. You seem to do good business and provide clients with real and recognizable value. Especially to Joshua and Rand, professionals that we all look up to for their contribution to our search engine optimization world, whether or not their financial disclosures are real or fictitious as they wisely state, they are pretty smart guys.
A social Site like MySpace, Facebook or Xanga provide a user (usually young) an opportunity to meet, exchange information, exchange ideas, share photos or video clips and gossip about anything or indeed anyone. It is estimated that 55% of all teens between the age of 12-17 use a social networking site on some level. This extraordinary number using a tool that is rapidly becoming mainstream by this large group.
A 17-year old in California for instance, moved to a new town and her MySpace account and relations there became her lifeline to the outside world and old friends while she attempted to make new friends in her new area. Checking a MySpace account 2, 3 or more times a day is not uncommon. (What a marketing medium)
It also is not unusual to have a young man more interested in a girls My Space address than her phone number. Even though it is disturbing to log the amount of time a young person is spending online with friends in this fashion instead of exercising, camping and being active. It is very obvious as a business that this incredible change in society and accessibility deserves close observation.
If a business is going to stay in business they had better not overlook large and influential marketing like these networking sites and more importantly the social search engines that they are associated with.