Tuesday, January 24, 5 PM to 8 PM 

Silicon Valley SCORE
234 E. Gish, Suite 100  San Jose, CA  95112 

Instructor:  

Kevin Dean 

Internet Marketing Consultant at WSI Net Advantage

Most business people understand the impact that the Internet has on the way we do business and how important it is to establish an effective Internet strategy for their company.

This 3-hour seminar is specifically designed for the small business owner. The seminar will cover:

• How to use and market a professional looking website
• How to understand the key aspects that visitors and search engines look for when they visit a website
• Discussion centered around sample websites
• Analysis of common mistakes and how to best avoid them
• A review of best practices for E-Commerce and secure websites

 This course is not a technical course on how to design websites, but a course that teaches you what a good website should look like for effective marketing of your business. 

Tuesday, January 24, 5pm to 8pm 

Sign up on line by January 23     $40 

Register at the door                     $45

5PM to 8PM 

 click here to register  

Here is a snippet…read more!

It’s no secret that landscape professionals are looking for affordable means of marketing in this challenging economic climate. But to optimize your marketing and advertising efforts, it’s important to evaluate dollars spent compared to leads generated. This type of analysis can yield invaluable information and, in turn, lucrative results.

Take Hayward, CA-based Arborwell for example. The locally owned professional tree and landscape management company enlisted the help of the digital marketing company WSI Net Advantage about six years ago when Arborwell owned a slow, outdated website that was originally built in Flash, making it difficult to update and maintain the website. Arborwell was also looking to increase its presence on the web through search engines.  

Arborwell has been recognized on the San Francisco Business Times ‘Fast 100’list for the past seven years, but less than a decade ago, the small but growing company lacked the state-of-the-art web tools it needed to achieve its potential for growth and success. Besides having a slow, outdated website that required a total content makeover, Arborwell was in serious need of search engine optimization (SEO) work, which is an extremely important aspect of building a solid online presence. As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO combines various tactics to improve the visibility of a website when users are searching key words on the web. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content, HTML and associated coding, as well as adding backlinks and inbound links.

Read more on Web Marketing in the Green Industry and contact WSI Net Advantage to learn how we can help YOU!

The good news is that when it comes to SEO, those resources aren’t as much of a factor. The algorithms that Google and other search engines use don’t care about your marketing budget, they care about whether you’re providing your end user with high quality, relevant content.

Here are some ideas for improving your user experience and boosting your SEO, without worrying about your marketing budget:

• Provide as much relevant, unique content as you can, including videos, transcriptions, FAQ pages, articles, and the like.
• Don’t be afraid to show users who you really are. The more you profile the unique personality of your company, the more likely consumers are to choose your site over another, generic one.
• Take advantage of local search by making sure that your company profile appears on sites such as Google Places and Yahoo Local.
• Check your speed. Since load times are now being used in search engine algorithms, it’s important to make sure your site isn’t holding your users up.

Most importantly, focus on your clients and potential customers’ needs. What information is most valuable to your end user? If you can figure out what your ideal market is looking for, and make your best effort to provide it, you can’t go wrong.

Rather than trying to pack your site with content you think will attract the search engine spiders, fill your pages with useful, relevant information and materials to attract your target clients. Remember, at the end of the day, they’re the ones who are going to be buying your products and services, not the spiders.

But, what about your incoming phone calls? Do you know from where those folks are coming? Do you make a habit of asking callers what inspired them to pick up the phone?

If you’re not tracking the phone calls that come into your office, you’re missing out on a vital piece of information that will help you more accurately assess your ROI on your marketing campaigns.

Tracking and linking your incoming calls gives you the ability to identify and analyze the marketing resources that are generating offline traffic, and in turn, which of those calls are leading to sales.

Here’s a list of some websites that can help you track your incoming calls:

• AvidTrak
• Mongoose Metrics
• ClickPath

By tracking offline visitors as diligently as you do the online ones, you can get the complete picture of how your marketing efforts are working. And if you find that they’re not working the way you want them to, you’ll be able to adapt your strategies to improve your campaign’s success.

If you have questions about phone call conversion tracking for any of your ads, pay per click campaigns or keywords, feel free to contact us directly. We’d love to help you get on the right track!

When deciding how much to invest in your SEO project, you want to consider what a first page ranking would mean to you and your business. Obviously, the number one benefit would be increased exposure which can generate valuable leads; most Internet searchers rarely travel to page two. However, you’ll want a more comprehensive analysis than that.

The variables that go into determining SEO value include:

• The number of searches for that keyword in your area
• The pay per click (PPC) click-through-rate times a multiplier (Google suggests that a natural search generates 3-10 times the number of clicks)
• The cost per click for that keyword

Basically, what you’re searching for is a fair market value analysis of the keyword conversion rate. Your conversion rate can then be compared to your other methods of marketing including PPC, newsletters, and other avenues that drive traffic to your site.

Once you identify the value of attaining an organic first-page ranking, you can then compare it to the value of a lead, how many leads turn into clients, and what is the lifetime value of your average client.  Then you are able to determine your overall return on investment (ROI).

To learn more about valuing your Search Engine Optimization project or to get a more in-depth analysis of your marketing campaign, feel free to contact us directly. We’re always happy to help.

A great way to maintain your online integrity and character is to collect reviews from your happy customers. Encourage your satisfied clients to comment on your great products and impeccable service on sites such as Google Places and Yelp. That way, future clients and prospects will be able to read awesome reviews and know your company is the one for them.

Here are some ideas to get you started:
•    Identify what the top review sites are for your industry
•    Create a personalized profile on each site
•    Invite happy clients to comment on those sites

Don’t have time to stay on top of every online review site and run your business at the same time? No problem. As customer reviews become increasingly important to the success of business, several third-party review services have popped up to help you out. A great one you might want to try is Customer Lobby. For a fee, Customer Lobby will gather, manage and publish new reviews for you each month.
These days, comparison shopping is done through reading reviews. Any investment you make in managing your online customer reviews, whether on your own or through a third-party site, will pay off when your future client reads all about how fantastic you are.

In simple terms, smartphones are taking over and that means more and more people will be accessing the Internet from their mobile devices rather than just a traditional desktop or notebook computer. This puts increasing pressure on Internet businesses to design (or redesign) their websites so that they’re mobile-ready.

That means your:
•    Website can be read by normal eyes
•    Navigation can be used by normal-sized fingers
•    Clients can find what they’re looking for

When your clients visit your website from their mobile phone, they’re not looking to go super in-depth with your content. Rather, they are generally looking to get a few key bits of information quickly and easily. To be truly mobile-ready, it’s important that your website is designed so that your clients and potential customers can effortlessly access what they need.

In most cases that means:
•    Location
•    Phone Number
•    Email Address
•    Products or Service Offerings

Still, making a website that is useful for your mobile users depends on your business and what information your customers would need at their fingertips. There’s no one-size-fits-all design. But, if you keep the points above in mind, you’ll be better prepared to serve your clients no matter what device they use.

Because we’re constantly connected, the way we function in our lives has evolved drastically to the point where a majority of our daily decisions are made only after we consult the Internet. Looking for a restaurant for your date? Yelp.com. Need a cheap hotel in Albuquerque? Kayak.com. Planning a road trip from Brooklyn to Toronto? Mapquest.com.

If you’re like most of us, nothing you do anymore happens before you get a chance to research or read reviews about it first. And, the same thing goes for your customers. According to a brilliant new ebook from Google’s Jim Lecinski called, Winning the Zero Moment of Truth, “a full 70% of Americans now say they look at product reviews before making a purchase.”

So, when your customers are considering buying your product or services and they go online to find out more, what are they discovering about you? Have you ever tried researching your own products or services to see what kinds of conversations are happening around them? Do you know how you measure up on the various review sites for your industry?

The days when simply having a website was good enough to create an effective online presence are gone. To build customer relationships and create interpersonal dialogue between your business and your target clients, you’re going to have to develop a presence across social media (Twitter, Facebook and the like) as well as on the top review sites in your market.

To create and maintain a successful Internet business, it is vital that you monitor and participate in the online discussion around your products and services. Most importantly, if you discover that there isn’t any online conversation about your business, it’s crucial that you find a way to get one started.

Now, rather than a person’s profile and wall only reflecting their life since they joined Facebook, members can use their account to create a scrapbook of their entire history. The new profile page is called Timeline and it will allow you, should you so choose, to organize and document your entire existence.

When people visit your page, they’ll be able to see a comprehensive story about you, rather than just – what Zuckerberg likened to the first 20 minutes of conversation with a new friend –a brief profile and your most recent status updates.

Another significant change is coming to the dearly beloved Like button. Facebook developers have expanded on the capacity of the Like button and are launching Facebook Gestures. Facebook Gestures will allow users to more precisely describe their feelings about a particular product or activity or whatever else they might be commenting on.

So, what do Timeline and Facebook Gestures mean for social media marketing? It means that simply acquiring a huge number of “likes” isn’t going to be as relevant as it was, say last week. As Facebook users become more specific about whom they are and what they’re interested in, companies are going to have to follow suit.

Facebook’s changes are intended to enhance personal connections and further the emotional bond users feel with their accounts. Companies that use Facebook for social media marketing will need to reach consumers on a personal level. Marketers are going to have to offer something of value to foster their relationships.

Bottom line, compelling content and interpersonal communication is now more vital than ever.

The best keywords are short phrases that describe your services and products in everyday words that your target market would enter into search engines. The tricky part is that while you don’t want your keyword phrase to be too broad (plumbing), you also want to avoid being too specific (toilet flapper valve kit).

Keyword selection isn’t a precise science, so you’re going to have to use a little trial and error to find the ones that work best. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

•    Avoid industry terms and insider lingo
•    Use a two-four word phrase rather than a single, broad term
•    Stay away from highly competitive terms
•    Use “buying” terms rather than “research” ones
•    Be precise and pinpoint your niche

Once you’ve come up with your list of keywords, don’t think you’re finished with that part of your SEO plan. It’s important to keep track of your keywords and their rankings with an analysis tool such as Google Analytics, and don’t be afraid to replace or update the ones that aren’t working.

Remember: don’t go overboard when using your keywords on your website or in your marketing materials. Filling your pages with the same repeated phrase not only makes you look spammy, it angers the search engine spiders, which can lead to a drop in your rankings – the exact opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish.