JUMP Internet Marketing

Thinking About a New Flash Website?

Then you're not alone.  Over the years I've spoken with many independent business owners planning an upgrade to their website and thinking about spinning graphics, flash, carousels, and such.  The obvious attraction is that done well, they can boost your company's image.

Without proper planning your site can disappear from the search engines.

Recently, a friend of mine allowed one of his employees to redesign the company's website.  The employee was skilled in graphics and web design and my friend felt comfortable turning over the project.  Even though I had strongly encouraged my friend to attend our workshops, he is, like other independent business owners, extremely busy and looking to hand off this project to someone else. (See my post, Time and Money to Burn)

Weeks later, my friend asked me to look at the results and offer some advice on how they could increase visibility in the search engines.

After just a few minutes of research, I had uncovered some disturbing news.  The website, which previously had a few pages showing in Google was nowhere to be found.  The site didn't even show up on the first page for the company's name.

Why?

The new website had absolutely no text on the home page.  It was all graphics. 

I clicked through the rest of the site.  No text, anywhere.

Google crawls websites by a software program that we refer to a crawler or a spider.  It's not a human.  Words that appear in a graphic appear as nothing to a crawler.

It's the end of 2010 and my friend has a new website that will have to be overhauled, again. (I hope he will make time for our strategy workshop.)

If search marketing is important enough to invest any time or money in, then it is important to have the right strategy.  You don't have to spend a fortune, but you do have to invest some time.  The payoff is worth it.  Otherwise, you're just letting your competition get further and further ahead.

Denise

When to Run Away from an Internet Marketing Consultant

Snakeoil salesmen...  We've used that phrase more than once this year to describe the worst representatives of our industry.  For years I've been hearing horror stories from business owners and marketing directors about how they were swindled by some "slick talking" SEO consultant.

Last evening, I was visiting with the marketing director at our club who shared yet another story of being misled.

Two fast talkers had set up a meeting with her under the guise of potential membership and event booking.   As the meeting began they quickly revealed their true intention to sell her services.

They assured her they would position her website in top listings in Google.

Fortunately, she was so put off by their misrepresentation that she didn't bite.

This all too common scenario reveals TWO important red flags to look for:

1. Misrepresentation of the intent of the meeting - I think we all know that if someone is dishonest in a small way, he will be dishonest in a big way (with YOUR MONEY).

2. Guarantees - WIth no analysis performed, a consultant could only say what MAY be possible.  Also, even Google publishes warnings about SEO consultants that guarantee positioning. 

Watch your marketing investments carefully.  Yes, you need top positioning in search engines and lots of targeted traffic to your website, but you won't get the help you need from liars.  Just say NO.

-- Denise

How to Stop Wasting Your Website Dollars - Take the First Step

A wise business owner leverages all of his available resources to grow his business in the lean years and in the gravy days.  When it comes to the Internet, however, we've seen businesses throw buckets of money towards a website that didn't produce sales.

Businesses "waste" their web marketing dollars for two primary reasons:

Reason Number 1: They don't understand the technologies involved - so the first search engine snake oil salesman or the owner's brother's friend who knows how to develop websites is entrusted with mission critical tasks. 

Honestly, it should come as no surprise when the snakeoil salesman who promised the business listings in Google for only $39.95 has now found ways to force you to buy more services and still has delivered nothing.  And if the business is lucky enough to get "listings," you can be sure it doesn't produce business.

Neither should it surprise anyone that the owner's brother's friend is late on delivery of the website, holds the domain hostage, and, when finally ordered to turn over what he has created, there is little to nothing of any value for anyone else to move forward.

Reason Number 2: Businesses forget who they are and what makes them special or important to their customers.

We are surrounded with buzzwords and technology trend news that convinces us that our way of doing business must change at lightning speed to keep up with technology.  We say, "That's a lot of bunk." 

Technology is a tool to be utlized strategically.  If you don't know how to apply the tools used then simply having the tool is worthless.  What's worse, opportunity is being lost as weeks and months of missed sales slip past while waiting for something to happen.

The truth is that businesses operated and grew before the Internet.  What makes a business special is not a flashy website or tweets or facebook posts.  Sure, businesses have used these tools to increase their businesses.  But the increase has come through the business's voice and the message delivered through the particular medium.  These tools are helping to promote what the business has to say or offer to people.

So, here's an exercise for business owners as you sip your morning coffee.  Think about one of your best customers and what he says to others about why he buys from you.  Now look at your website.  Does it tell the tale?  If not, now you know your first step to getting more from your website dollars.

If your business has no website, that's great! You haven't wasted any money yet.  Make the time to write the story that must be told on your website, and THEN proceed to step two.

Do You Know About Trade Adjustment Assistance?

We've become acquainted with several of our manufacturing friends through SWTAAC (Southwest Trade Adjustment Assistance Center) grants working with the Oklahoma Alliance MEAs (Manufacturing Extension Agents).  From their website:

"TAA focuses on providing financial assistance to import-impacted manufacturers"

The program offers 50/50 cost sharing and other benefits.  Through this program, some of our customers have been able to implement new search engine marketing campaigns and dramatically increase the visibility of their company on the Internet at 50% of the normal cost.

The link to the benefits page is: http://www.taacenters.org/benefits.html

Because of our previous experience in these projects, JUMP can get you started quickly in your project once you've been approved for the grant.  Contact the TAA program or the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance.