I had the great pleasure of attending what I remember to be one of the most useful Internet Marketing lectures I’ve ever attended. I thought I was just attending the Orange County meetup of meetups, appropriately named the MEGA Meetup, which was held at the Kettering Center in Irvine. This was Dan Safkow’s baby, where he brought together half a dozen Orange County Meetup.com groups, including Michael Bank’s Orange County Business Networking group (OCEC) and Gerry Grant’s Orange County Marketing club.
So as I’m networking and enjoying some relatively familiar material on the subject of online marketing, Andrew Lock was introduced and turned the event into a “don’t miss it Internet Marketing workshop”. Lock is the creator of the top downloaded iTunes podcast Help My Business Sucks, a series built to help small businesses and entrepreneurs think out of the box and away from traditional marketing practices.
During this incredible presentation, Lock introduced several “can’t live without it” online marketing tools. Starting his presentation with a video intro to his podcast and a referral to the gentleman who did the voice over (John Melley), he explained that this level of media can cost less than $200.
It wasn’t just Lock’s English accent that held the crowd, it was the way he was able to articulate the value and ease of use with regards to the online resources he introduced us to. These tools included many of the following:
This site will save you thousands in hiring an expensive graphic, video, or website designer. Here’s how it works: You post a project (Contest) and dozens of designers submit their ideas. You choose the one you like and reward the winner.
This online file conversion tool offers users the ability to upload just about any type of file and convert it to a similar format. Even YouTube.com files can be converted to .mov (yes, this violates Google T&C and probably won’t be offering this particular conversion too much longer). Use it while you can.
A video search engine unlike any other. Blinkx actually has AI technology that interprets audio embedded within video and converts it to text and keywords. Essentially, you can find a video about Golf if someone in the video spoke the word golf. Amazing.
Simplified version of Camtasia, by the makers of Camtasia, offering a way to record desktop movies, upload them to Jing, to a website, or to a file within seconds. If you upload to Jing, they provide you with a URL (link) to the file (similar to how YouTube.com videos can be linked to) so that you can send the link to others via email for training, demonstration or for anything else. Absolutely brilliant tool.
Lock introduced a great way to organize projects and thoughts. A scaled down, online version of FreeMind or Mind Manager Pro, where you and collaborators can synergize and essentially brainstorm in real time. Cool stuff.
This unique plugin for Skype actually records the audio from a Skype call (set to 64 kbps for best quality), which can then be used and resused for FAQ, product support, training or just for general recordkeeping. Audio files can be emailed, uploaded to the web, uploaded to a blog, etc.
For some reason, I have never used this tool. I must have thought it had costs associated, well it doesn’t. TubeMogul is the first website you should visit after creating video content. The site actually allows you to upload and blast your video to a dozen video-sharing networks, including YouTube.com.
Now imagine having someone transcribe everything you (or your competitor) says in a video into text, for as little as .75 cents per minute. Most online videos are less than 5 minutes, so for less than a lunch you can have someone create some great unique content for your website. I’m never paying for content writing again.
Before you record with Pamela and go CastingWords.com, consider this wicked virtual secretary tool. Jott allows you to call in a message that then gets transcribed into text automatically! Call from your cellphone and have Jott automatically add the text to your blog while you’re on the road. Insane.
This PhotoShop plugin is a push-button solution for creating 300 dpi images for your ebook or offline advertising. For $97, the plugin purchase really seems like a no-brainer.
So long PowerPoint, hello SlideRocket, an interactive online presentation tool. “PowerPoint on steroids” as Lock refers to it. This tool can import and export PowerPoint presentations quickly and efficiently. Use this tool for your website or for a web-based training or sales presentation.
Commercials (yes, TV commercials) for $499. Choose from dozens of templates, add in your content and within no time you have your first television commercial broadcasted in open slots SpotRunner has priority to at a fraction of the cost. Use the videos for your website or for TubeMogul blasting to get instant visibility to your business.
Summary
You’ll never use traditional marketing or expensive videography, mind mapping, or secretarial services again. Andrew Lock has a step-by-step publication on how to implement the above resources as part of a strategic online marketing plan. Visit Microwave Marketing, to subscribe and get more fantastic online marketing advice from a true wizkid Internet Marketer (Andrew Lock).
It was a pleasure meeting Andrew at the MEGA Meetup. Thank you Dan Safkow for hosting this unbelievable event. I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us at the next event!
So a few moments ago I launched two websites for small business owners who told me they’d like to “Go Big” with their small companies. So I thought it might an appropriate exercise to time the index threshold in Google, MSN and Yahoo!
Both businesses were submitted (as new websites) to all three search engines, one was submitted with Google AdSense included. If my theory is correct, the AdSense website will be indexed faster. Please keep in mind that indexing has nothing to do with ranking.
Both websites were also submitted to the local search engines (Google Maps, Yahoo! Local, and MSN Live Maps), even though the clients both had goals of extending nationwide.
The first SEO Project website is a roommate search service based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The legacy website had 8 pages indexed and received approximately 300 unique visitors per month before I de-indexed it to start over as a “new” website. Google AdSense was added to this template.
The second SEO Project website sells wooden roses at an unbelievably low price. This website never existed before I built and submitted it.
Both websites have XML feeds that were submitted to all three major search engines (thank you XML-Sitemaps.com). Listings were also created in Localeze and several other business directories.
I don’t like to leave people hanging, but you’re just going to have to wait until one of these websites gets all applicable pages indexed so that we can test the time-to-index ratio. Stay tuned!
Visionary View’s new search marketing company, Elaborate SEM, received a PR4 in the lastest Google Toolbar PageRank update. Elaborate SEM offers search engine marketing services, so it’s no wonder that the company acheived such a high PageRank in such a short period of time.
Here’s how they did it:
Start with great, search engine-friendly content
Do a press release with a service like PRWeb and PRNewswire (include keyword-rich backlinks)
Get a stellar Link Builder to compell a few hundred webmasters to link to the website
Network, network, network. Think LargestMixer.com, workshops, and free Meetup.com groups
Search engine optimization (SEO) all comes down to two very important principles: Great Content (SEO/CTR) and Popularity (links/traffic/visibility)
Watch for us to get a PageRank 5 by the next refresh of the Google Toolbar. Aging is an important criteria mixed into the popularity algorithm used by the toolbar, so I expect it will take us at least a couple of years to get to a PR7, we’ll see.
Are you attending the B2B Demand Generation 2008 Summit? Yes, it’s a 4 hour flight from Orange County, but if you can make it, MarketingSherpa.com is confident that you’ll fly home with a knowledge of how to generate more quality leads to your website.
MarketingSherpa.com puts out an endless amount of literature for Internet Marketers. One of my favorite guides (and well worth the money) is the Online Advertising Handbook, which is packed full of tips and strategies from SEO Experts to Email and Affiliate Marketing Experts.
My eBook is very popular and very good for SEO alone. However, it’s only 35 pages deep, where MarketingSherpa’s Online Advertising Handbook is an enormous guide to all things Internet Marketing. A must if you own and market a website. Give it a look!
Don’t miss this SEO Blogging and Marketing Workshop in Irvine August 27th, from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm at the Marshall Reddick Learning Center. Here’s why attending this workshop is a no-brainer if you’re trying to market your website without a blog:
What You Will Learn
How blogging can drive traffic from Search Engines & elsewhere
Where to find the best keywords to write about
How to setup and use your blog with SEO plugins and best practices
Joining and integrating buttons from social networks (such as MySpace, YouTube & Facebook)
Submitting your blog to hundreds of websites and search engines
Tracking the traffic and conversion results from blogging efforts
Sign up online today for $299. Price goes up to $349 after August 1st. Save $50 by registering early. Save $100 by joining the Orange County Entrepreneur Community and registering before August 1st. Click here to register now.
See you at the SEO Blogging and Marketing Workshop!
After several transitional months, I and my handful of clients have found a home with a new Search Engine Marketing brand, Elaborate SEM. Coupled with the talents of Visionary View, I’m now able to offer full-service business marketing and product development services.
We’ve spent the last several months helping with charities, such as the shelter for abused women and their children, SafePassageHome.org, rebuilding our strategy for 2008, and refocusing our energy on process development rather than new sales.
With this new venture comes new verticals and opportunities. For example, I strongly enjoy networking and networking groups, where I’m able to synergize with my peers and discuss the topics I’ll be covering in-depth at a new series of Internet Marketing Workshops. To join me and several others at my once-per-month, visit my Orange County Search Engine Optimization and Marketing Meetup.
To learn more about the workshop series, visit our Internet Marketing Workshop website and be sure to sign up for news and workshop dates. I’ll have more information about the new business, 2008 goals, and my newest teammates on the Visionary View blog shortly.
On Friday March 28th, 2008 (PST), the homepage of the largest search engine in existance, Google.com goes black stating: We’ve turned the lights out. Now it’s your turn - Earth Hour.
Every now and then the leadership at Google will do something different to the logo in celebration or recognition of a person or an event. On April Fools Day, they even teased us with free wi-fi via a cable that hooks up via the toilet.
Earth Hour, as it’s called by the Climate Savers Computing Initiative is the first event (to my knowledge at least) that empowered the folks at Google to swap the traditional white background with black.
According to Google, “We believe in doing our part to help combat climate change, and found the Earth Hour initiative to be a timely, important event. Further, we think the “lights out” idea’s individual-centered nature is something that millions of people worldwide can participate in. In short, we really like it. So we did something about it.”
In their apparent commitment to energy conservation, they are asking Google users to “turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone.” This event is to take place on Saturday, March 29, 2008 as part of an event labeled “Earth Hour”.
I like to unplug Saturday nights, so I’ll most-likey be in, but more out of habit than conservation.
Click here to see a screenshot of the Earth Hour info.
When we were brainstorming the value proposition of Elaborate SEM, the no-brainer was to offer free tools and reports for website owners, such as the Free SEO Analysis. on our homepage.
If our visitors are satisfied with the reports and impressed with the results of recommendations applied to their website, we have a value proposition. The same caliber of service applies to our search engine marketing clients, who have constant visibility to their SEM performance.
Something for nothing is really something for everything if you consider the value of rapport and popularity. As we continue build a self-service SEO/SEM portal, it’s our hope that local businesses will find our Local Search Engine Marketing service a data distribution they can’t live without.
We hope our domestic and international clients will read about us and after learning about the best in class team comprised of former Google AdWords employees, SEM Account Managers for Fortune 100 organization, and unparalleled knowledge bank, the decision to work with Elaborate SEM will be an easy one.
To get your Free SEO Analysis, visit the homepage of ElaborateSEM.com, enter your email and web address and in no-time you’ll have a starter checklist for improved organic search performance.
Happy Holidays! I know that I haven’t written much this year, life with two angels both under 3 years old isn’t easy. Below is a quick video I did promoting Gmail - which I love BTW. If you’re a search engine optimization client, then you know I probably have my own seo[at]yourdomain.com account. What you probably don’t know is that I use Gmail to filter and manage communications from all my clients. It’s a win-win, I get seamless integrated email access, you get a faster response from me (since I don’t have to sort through spam).
September 19th I had the opportunity to attend a private Yahoo! marketing workshop presented to a select group of high-spending advertisers. The best practices lecture was extremely informal, even for us savvy PPC Expert-types. But what I didn’t expect was the sneak peek at some of the new Yahoo! Search upgrades coming soon. Here’s your SEO Expert Blog preview of the new Yahoo! Tools. Enjoy!
Since Yahoo! went “Web 2.0″, we’ve seen a lot of interactive widgets integrated into the main portal. All of the upcoming features fall within this same Web 2.0 category. Features included:
Yahoo! Search Assist - AJAX module that gives suggestions as you type into the search box
Yahoo! Buzz Search - Type in a search term, click “Buzz” and see Yahoo! Videos, Del.icio.us bookmarks and Technorati blog posts.
Yahoo! ’s Answer to Google’s Universal Search - Integrated video, Flickr photos, movie snapshots, sports player stats, enhanced Local, and more
In the Panama PPC arena, we can expect to see “Yahoo! Analytics” (name not confirmed), better conversion tracking, integrated click fraud prevention, and following suit to Google, Campaign Optimization Recommendations.
I opened my big fat mouth when someone asked about the legacy Keyword Selector Tool, guiding them to the URL. The YSM Team made it clear that this data should be considered “outdated”. You can blame me if the tool goes away shortly. It returned zero results this afternoon when I used it, but it appears to be back up at the moment. Sorry all.
Anyway, that’s my gossip on the search engine front. I’ll try to start posting more often, I’ve just been overwhelmed with all the fantastic projects currently in my hands and on the horizon.
