It doesn’t matter what you’re selling or what industry you’re in…if you selling online or offline you can only stay in business if you’re making a profit.  That profit comes from either increasing sales or reducing your expenses…

This blog Video is about both, because when you make your marketing materials more effective — you’ll increase your bottom line.

Read More [ ... ]

In this video segment we’ll look at what kinds of things that might be blocking your creativity.

The Three things that can get in your way and block your creativity are:

• Your Perceptions
• Your Emotions
• Your Culture &  Environment

Perceptions. - What things MEAN to you?

Read More [ ... ]

Whiz-kid goes from Rags to Riches and Makes Millions with Bike Rack Idea!… was the headline in The Globe Magazine in 1988.   That was just one of literally hundreds of articles and stories that were generated from my publicity efforts for my sporting goods company.

Now the GLOBE wasn’t my first choice for my entrepreneurial story when I was working to increase exposure and sales using press releases.   It started with me sending press releases about my products to local papers, then trade publications, and went on to include national & international magazines, including USA Today, Entrepreneur, Success, Popular Science and many others.

“Using the Power of Publicity to Increase Sales”

Read More [ ... ]

How to increase targeted traffic to your website and sell more products and services.

On our Internet Marketing Video Part 1 (see other blog posting) we were talking about getting into the mind of your prospects… and the Four-stages of the buying process.

Read More [ ... ]

Increase Sales with Internet Marketing Speaker Ford Saeks

It was 8:00 o’clock on a Thursday morning. I arrived at my office to find my email-inbox filled with orders worth over $70,000 dollars…  It was a great way to start my day!

Read More [ ... ]

Using Relevant Keywords is the Most Important Element to Increase Your Site Traffic

Everyone I talk to as an Internet Marketing Consultant wants to know how to get more site visitors from search engines.  It starts with a basic understanding of how the search engines work-or rather what their responsibility is to their user-the searcher.

The search engine’s job is to provide the best and most relevant results to the person using their search engine to find solutions to their searches. To do that they need to catalog a site’s content and while there are every-changing algorithms for top rankings a critical element for search engine optimization (SEO) is the content, which of course is made of WORDS.

Those words when filled with your “keywords” make up your content.  Knowing which words to use and where to put them on your site is a huge element of SEO to get more traffic.   Keywords and keyword phrases are the same thing.

Here are a few tips for keyword success:

1. Make a list of the main types of prospects you want to attract.

Create a marketing profile for the typical prospect and customer for your business in a word doc. Get as specific as you can so you can put yourself in the “mindset” of the type of people you want to attract.  Ask yourself and evaluate what keywords you think they would type into a search engine to find you, your products or services.

2. Do your research.

Look at your website statistics because that will show you what words people are using now to find you. It doesn’t mean they are the best words, but your stats will show you what keyword phrases they are using now.  We use “Google Analytics” for sites. It’s a free service, easy to implement and offers a ton of benefits.

You want targeted traffic that will convert into customer leads and sales.  Many years ago I optimized my Internet Marketing Speaker website for my name “Ford Saeks” but because my first name Ford is also a major automotive company I was receiving tons of spill over traffic for people looking for Ford cars and Ford car parts, and not my professional services to help people improve their marketing results and profits.  The keywords we use now are related and relevant to what our prospects and customers are searching for to find our solutions.  The research results, our site statistics and usage of the popular keywords research tools all help us optimize our sites for top rankings.

Two of my favortite Keyword tools are:

Read More [ ... ]

The real power of Social Media Marketing (SMM) is the “social” part meaning that anyone with the desire can now become a publisher, host or broadcaster of content. There are new SMM sites popping up daily.

Just visit www.Go2Web20.net and you’ll find thousands of sites on every topic imaginable. Eventually, there will be a few winners and a ton of losers. It’s easy to get carried away and jump at every new site, but before you waste a ton of your time — think about the purpose and outcome of your efforts.

Read More [ ... ]

It’s a fact: People won’t use your website if they can’t find their way around it.

Yesterday’s Web looked far different from today’s Web, and tomorrow’s Web will look more different still. Amidst all of this change, however, one aspect of Web use remains the same: The sites that offer the best, easiest, most intuitive experience are the ones people visit again and again.

To ensure that your sites provide the best user experience, you and your web developer need the essential guide from Steve Krug “Don’t Make Me Think; A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability” (2nd Edition)  that distills his years of on-the-job experience into a practical primer on the do’s and don’ts of good Web design. His book is a quick read and while there are a couple of points I don’t agree with for SEO reasons, I agree with his basic concepts outlined below.

The number-one usability rule, most often expressed by users…  

1. Don’t Make Me Think. Basically your website visitor doesn’t want to venture into a site that requires them to figure it out. It should be self-explanatory. Web pages should be obvious and self-explanatory. Buttons should have short text and look ‘clickable.’ The default search for your site should be simple.

2. Design for scanning not reading. By observing users Krug found that people glance, scan some text, and click on the first reasonable option. People scan Web pages, they don’t read them. We don’t make optimal choices, we click on impulse.
 

** In our copywriting courses (Ford Saeks), I express that there are two main types of people reading your copy (text in print or online) and those are “scanners” and “readers.”  You should write your copy for both types of readers. Give enough headlines, subheads, and bullets along with limited use of bold and color to help the scanner get the gist of the main benefits or message, and then enough information for the reader to get the necessary details. Formatting is just as important as the copy. **

Okay, back to Steve Krug’s Book points…

Read More [ ... ]

The beauty of blogging is that if you can send e-mail, you can blog.  Blogs make it easy for the non-techie person to add new content to their site and build relationships with new prospects and customers.  Every site we build now includes a blog as part of the actual domain. 

Q:  Why do I want my blog to be part of my site when I can set one up for little to nothing at sites like BlogSpot.com or WordPress.com?

Read More [ ... ]

For you Social Media Marketing buffs… another day… another social media site… and they all need your profile information to help you benefit from the site and help you drive traffic to your other sites.

The SMM site of the day is http://www.naymz.com/ and it offers you the opportunity to tell the world why you are talented, valuable, and unique.  What I like about Naymz is that it allows information to be verified, and as such, should become a trusted resource.

Anybody can post information about themselves on the Internet.  This site allows the people who are closest to you to vouch for your reputation.  Through the power of the Naymz Reputation Network, you can now allow others to verify the information you claim about yourself.

Read More [ ... ]