Archive for the ‘advertising’ Category

my phone is blowing up with folks wanting more visitors at their websites. there are a few things to consider as the catch-all “seo” leaves your tongue. 1) everyone wants more online visitors, which makes the marketplace very competitive, which means it’s not silver bullet marketing; 2) the best in seo simply gets you “on the grid” — which means people will find you somewhere along the results returned by google but not in the top 5 positions where over 75% of traffic gravitates; 3) seo can only succeed where real research in engaged — meaning that it takes a smart, intuitive marketer to navigate google data, to separate the real opportunities from millions of searches and to leverage that knowledge for results at your website; 4) seo means search engine optimization, which is misleading — it should be “search engine minimization” since it’s the least you can do for your website to get into the game (too many think it’s ALL they need to do); 5) the real difference is made with search engine marketing (sem) where you commit a budget to an ongoing campaign of measures that raise your optimized website in the rankings. a pro can prioritize which measures bring the greatest return in the near-term.

to my small business comrades, it’s time to get real. in fact, to all business owners — listen up! there’s a mantra that i’m asking you to internalize. “saving” today can cost you tomorrow. going d.i.y. almost always costs more than paying specialized experts. there are things you do well and others that you do not. know your limits. understand the risks of under-investing. procrastinating and/or slapping a patch to a problem invites damages to mount or compound. relying on your own perspective, ideas and knowledge of the market can cause you to appear amateur and/or miss opportunities — often by a substantial margin. business leaders often struggle to fully understand consumers. it’s a common trap that prevents what’s possible from being realized. don’t fall into it!

designed and launched a new website for leading arborist, dads tree service. ron kronz and his family have been in business for a quarter of a century in springfield virginia. they offer a wide variety of tree services that include tree fertilization, trimming and removal. kronz is also a notable saxophonist who has toured the world with local legend bobby parker. i came to work for dads upon realizing that the company had a long and successful history but zero profile on google. i performed a basic re-design, search engine optimization and offered consultation on how to market the website for greater results. they’re currently netting between 10 and 14 leads a week through their website for leading local searches like “tree service alexandria va” and a host of others.

caught a great commercial today from ameriprise financial. it’s rare that a commercial connects with me in any meaningful way. this one was different. there is a simple, lucid and calming tone — and an acknowledgment that fear prevents dreams from happening.