Dream Systems Media Blog
[dreem sis-tuhms mee-dee-uh blog]
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Pretty sweet graphic put out by the fellas over at Authority Labs today. It shows the billion dollar reach of Demand Media. Pretty impressive graphic, but even more impressive numbers. Check it out!
From the AuthorityLabs blog
I have been asked this question by more than 1000 different business owners (at least) over the last several years, and I am finally ready to talk (post) about it (and attempt to give my answer). It is probably one of the most annoying and frustrating questions that anyone could ever ask me. It is the question itself, and not the asker that is frustrating and annoying though. Anyone in this industry knows that there is not just a simple answer, or a one “save all” solution, and I mean “legit” industry people.
The Secret (wait for it…..)
In real estate, the secret to success is always being associated with location, location, location. So what’s the big secret to successful Internet marketing? It is all about testing, testing & more testing. Any true successful Internet business owner that I have met (or know) has already done (and doing) what they are preaching. There is nothing better then learning from a real person who has “been there & done that”.
A Thanks To SEO
SEO has been GOOD to me. SEO has been GOOD to my clients. I have been doing this since the late 90s, and still no complaints…from anyone, not one.
Don’t compare us to lawyers, don’t try to tell us we are selling snake oil, and especially – I mean especially, don’t try to tell us our industry is dead (have you heard of Google?). We have heard it all before, and to be quite honest, we are getting bored of it. Seriously figure out something else to talk about in 2010. Please? Go link bait your agenda in some other industry.
About a month ago I had a conversation with an old school mate that found me via Facebook. It has been about 14 – 15 years since I last spoke/saw/did anything with this guy. We mostly just talked about what I do for a living, but it was interesting for me to hear his thoughts and ideas about our industry (and how he thought he did the same thing for a living). I have to admit the conversation was a bit irritating, and I ended up having to tell my old friend I had to . I can’t remember the reason I gave him, but the real reason was I was two seconds away from losing it and really giving him a piece of my mind!
Brandon Buttars
A long time friend of mine, who also happens to be a web developer recently took some time to answer some questions for me. He and I have noticed there is a huge communication gap between most web developers and SEOs/Internet marketers. We feel that the web developer thinks that they know how to build the site “good enough” without talking to an SEO, and the SEOs assume the developers don’t have a clue about marketing online. Both are wrong. You each bring something amazing to the table and need each other. I think we need to have some better communication from the very start and to kick things off, and get you thinking differently – here is my interview of Brandon Buttars, web developer.
Do It Yourself Site Review
I complete a lot of site reviews. Often times, I give the same exact advice to each customer. Therefore, I thought I would just go ahead and share the 12 most common things that are wrong or need fixed with most sites – from an SEO/marketing standpoint. I usually conduct these site reviews during my initial site audit for client or potential client. I know I posted about the 5 Minute SEO Audit Checklist a while back on Search Engine People, but I wanted to expand on that article with a few other things to look for:
I had a great conversation with a client last night that lasted until 10 PM. I usually don’t schedule meetings that late (or like them) but in this situation I had no other choice. It turns out that it ended up being a good meeting that involved a lot of listening. It got me thinking about the way we listen to our clients.
Often times we (Internet marketing/SEO folks) talk with smart, capable business owners who don’t understand what we do, and we end up doing all the talking, and get use to doing all the talking. Sometimes we do so much talking we don’t take the time to listen to what our clients are saying, or what they really need from us. I know I have been guilty of this in the past!
Talking with a client the other day, I was asked how to write a blog post that is efficient from an SEO prospective, yet is still worthy of a read from her customers; here is the answer. I have written about this before elsewhere, but figured I might as well post it here too.
Blogging Tip List:
The Biggest Catch of the Day
This most recent weekend I had the chance to go ice fishing with a group of friends. We went to Fish Lake in Central Utah and it was great experience, considering it was my first time out on the ice. I have been fishing on many occasions in the past, as it has been a hobby of mine since I was young, but have never been ice fishing. While reeling in the biggest catch of the day (as you can see from the picture the fishing this round wasn’t great), I started thinking that often times business owners are looking to catch the big one, but in the process forget the many existing clients that have kept them going back to the lakes, and often times kept “food on the table”. I thought about this on several occasions throughout the morning, and on the drive home, and it has inspired me to post today on what SEOs need to do to provide good customer service to their clients, thus keeping them as clients.
Yesterday I spent a few hours with a good friend of mine, Dave, that is an electrician in the Salt Lake City Utah area. He has been in this industry all of his career, but within the last few years he has started his own company and is doing contractor electrical work, along with all the small jobs needed at residential locations including remodels, etc.
We talked at length about the strategies he is currently using to gather new customers, of the which some techniques were awesome (and I won’t share them either). He has a Blogger site he uses for his business, but really hasn’t done much online except post in some free local online classifieds for the area. He is considering investing some money in getting his site ranked for electrician related local search terms here in Utah and was asking for my help. One thing he said to me over and over was that all his contacts in construction, plumbing, etc. have said to him, “If you find it works, let me know cause I want to do it as well.” So this post is for all you Electrician, Plumbers, Contractors, etc. that are sitting back and waiting to see if local search marketing works…I can already tell you the answer, YES it does!
