Confessions of a Search Engine Marketing Professional

by James Fowler
www.mywebsource1.com

A year ago, on July 1st, I started my business, www.myWebSource1.com. I had been doing search engine marketing (SEM) work for some time, but I thought it was finally time to make it official and start doing this for local businesses and non-profit organizations.

My first thought process was to design web sites for people and do them in a way where they had a good start with search engine optimization. Some of the web sites I saw out there were horribly optimized and relying solely on pay-per-click marketing (PPC) –or nothing at all!

After some time of this, however, I realized that many people already had a web site built for them by a nephew or cousin and they weren’t happy with the results. Some asked for a re-design, but others wanted to know how to fix what they already had. People understood a tangible web site, but finding out the non-tangible – what we do – was difficult for them to grasp. The needed a something to show them a way to make their web site matter. And thus, my SEO report was created.

This was something I was able to grasp!
I had a service to sell!

The SEO report is a search engine optimization paper, consisting of about 40 methods and suggestions for local businesses and non-profit organizations to examine their web pages, find the broken links, the misspelled words, the non-indexed pages and other problems that show poor presentation of a web site. It isn’t necessarily the aesthetic feel of your web site that is the problem, it could just be the way it is presented to the world.

Some things I tell every one of my customers is that to succeed on the internet, you need to do certain things for the search engines to find you. These can be done by yourself, if you have the time, or by a search engine professional. Here is a list of ten things you can do:

1 Have a Site Map – not just the Extended Markup Hyperlink (xml) that Google asks for, but an HTML one, too. This is especially helpful with search engines like Yahoo!

2 Use keyword metatags – these are words that describe to search engines what is on your web page.

3 Make sure that every page has a title. Nothing is more disgusting than finding out your web page is called “HOME”.

4 Create a blog. Most people think a blog is a kid’s thing or something done by musicians. There is nothing further from the truth. A blog can build your business on the web very quickly. More on this at another time.

5 Take those keywords I told you to use in Tip #2 and use them as hyperlinks in your blogs. This entire blog post is a good example.

6 Write articles and press releases. Submit them to web sites that will distribute them for you. Make sure to include plenty of links.

7 Submit your site to search engines. Make sure that each of your web pages is indexed by at least the top three search engines. (Google, Yahoo!, and MSN).

8 Join bulletin boards and online groups associated with your business or service. Post to these. Make sure to include a link back to your web site when you write in them.

9 Ask companies that are associated with your business to include your link on their web site. They may ask for you to do the same. If they do, make sure you add their link to your site.

10 Finally, don’t quit adding new content to your web site. The search engines love this and they will scan your site more often.

I hope you find these ten points useful. If you have any questions or would like to use my services, please contact me at www.myWebSource1.com or by email info@mywebsource1.com .

Email Marketing For Small Business

by James Fowler
www.mywebsource1.com

One of the best methods of making sales on your web site is to contact people who have already purchased from you in the past. You could have their names and emails from purchases made through your web site, directly, or from people you have come in contact with through your brick-and-mortar store.

Email marketing is tricky, however, because there is a very fine line between emailing people that want your product and those nasty spam messages that fill our mailboxes each day. So, how do we make the determination?

The answer is simple enough: Don't email anyone you haven't actually made contact with. The temptation to buy a mailing list is always there, but don't do it. That is spam and it will actually drive customers away from your web site.

So, the next step is building your list. This is an on-going problem with many companies, but I will give you some tips on overcoming this hurdle.

1. Collect emails from your web site. Whenever someone orders from you, gather their email and put it on your list of people to contact. These people have already created a connection with you by making a purchase and you now have permission to sell more to them.

2. Have a place on your web site that allows people to sign up for a newsletter, more information, notices on sales, etc… This will add to your list quickly.

3. Hold a contest and give something away. Make sure that the only method of doing this is via sending you information on the client. You must have it that anyone can enter the contest and that the winners will be notified by email. This will add many people to your list.

4. If you have a local business, be sure that each customer that comes in gives you there email. An easy way to do this is to ask them at the check out counter. Offer a monthly giveaway or some incentive to do this. Talk up your online newsletter at your storefront and have people sign up for advance notice on products.

Once you have your list built, it is time to email your customers! As a suggestion, do this about once a month. It is best to run a special with your email. If you are sending out a monthly newsletter, include your specials within its' contents. Always offer a link at the bottom of your email letter for the person to "Opt Out" of receiving your emails.

I hope you find this article useful and if you need any help starting an email campaign, feel free to contact me at www.mywebsource1.com.