Marketing Success Strategies (SEO,SEM,SMO,MSS)

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. Right now, business grade Facebook fanpages that use Facebook's iframe application in order to publish fanpages. Sites are no longer hosted on Facebook, the Fanpages are hosted elsewhere. We build living business fanpages as opposed to static fanpages that never change. It allows us to host and maintain business Fanpages, and manage the content for clients, so when there are new promotions or videos, we are there to update the Fanpages. We build the Facebook fanpages as websites designed to fit in the 520 pixel width that is allowed. So one Fanpage can have a navigation menu and load more pages within the same tab.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Find verified information, just like what Thumbtack provides when business owners participate in giving the directory what it needs to verify. Look for testimonials, and if a fair amount of work is being considered, ask to speak with a current client, and look on Thumbtack for testimonials for people you can check with. A lack of reviews by customers means either the business does not keep continued communication with their clients, or their aren't a whole lot of customers willing to take the time to write a review. If you've done a good job, a business should ask for reviews, otherwise, you have to ask why they are not asking?

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. Keep in mind, when you admit you know very little about the internet or marketing, you are giving a lot of power to a salesperson. Your best bet is to have a list of questions to work from that give you insight and not necessarily help the consultant persuade you. It is next to impossible to discern the level of support you'll get. Be careful of expensive training programs, because the usual result is you are out thousands and still no closer to implementing your dream business. There are so many free resources that only require a little research to discover. Be sure to get off the phone to give yourself time in searching for another solution and don't fall for the significant discount given if you act right now, that you lose it the second you hang up. That is a sign to put some distance between you and the consultant. The price is inflated and you will not know how little you could have gotten it for unless you fight through a 'negotiation' that is all fluff to give you something others have paid too much for. That does not make you very smart when the program turns out to be a deep money pit designed for fleecing and not value. If you are talking to the person who actually does the work, then it's all in your favor, the pricing is reasonable because there are no fat commissions.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. Their purpose or goal in mind would be number one. It's critically important to gather all account info where work is to be performed and have that ready. Written content they want to use along with graphics, having that in one location/file saves a huge amount of time. Having a marketing budget in mind that is comfortable enough to keep a consistent campaign is very important to consider. There's almost never a time that a one shot ad will produce results. Consistency, that allows for testing and keeping a presence is the way to go, just know what you really have to work with. That way you stay within your means and as the business grows, a marketing budget can be added to.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. I believe it's in the first approach followed by how accessible you are when the client needs something done. The first approach is listening to the client's story, goals and problems. Then I research the web properties and their competition and come back with a specific proposal. With that worked out, giving expectations of what's to happen next, followed by completion dates helps build a lot of confidence when I put the client in the loop, and get it done in the time stated. The reason our work stands out is the ongoing support, our all inclusive program does the marketing for the web properties so the client can see how it's done for the first two months. In this time, the client can learn how to run the marketing on their own because they know how everything works. At the end of the two months, we are sometimes delegated to perform certain marketing activities that the client prefers we continue with.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. Every project is different and a challenge to do my very best to make it a winner for the client. I still have my first early clients who will call to ask me a question about something about their business, or send me a kind note for something I thought of and did for them. It's a people business. I went to Las Vegas this year for a gift packaging and wholesaler convention, to meet one client, and I got a wonderful surprise of meeting three clients and having a great time. It's one thing to build business relationships over the internet and web cams, and that is satisfying. But getting the opportunity to meet in person when we all live in different parts of the country is a great experience.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. The most common question, are they going to be able to learn how to use the marketing tools themselves? I let them know we stay with them till they're comfortable marketing their online business, and if they don't always have the time, we're here to pickup and perform monthly activities as needed.

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. This happens a lot. A client gives an outline of what they want, then wait for production to start revising and coming up with what they really want, including pictures, graphics and content, right down to the font. Recently I did a Fanpage for Chocolate Wellness, and put a lot of work into the idea conveyed over the phone. What happened next was receiving a scanned hand drawing of what they intended their page to look like. It is interesting that the client needed to see an interpretation in order to coalesce their thoughts in a way I would understand more clearly. Give the client what they want. It takes time to earn trust. Once you've earned trust, my marketing expertise is more carefully weighed and most of the time followed with good results in its execution.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. It is rife with sales people who act as sales consultants, who usually do none of the work, but make as much as 50% for selling you their program. It is always a tell tale sign that you are going to be sold when nowhere on their website are prices. The answer to that is they don't want to be undercut, the truth of the matter is they have to build value to justify charging what they do. In a complex marketing program that is justifiable, my answer is to post some program pricing and let people know we listen first, then research, then propose. Every client has a different set of problems to solve even though there are similarities, the problems need understanding to know how to customize a program if it needs customizing.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I started with building websites and doing pay-per-click in the original Overture system. My bent has been towards producing content, writing blogs. This must have come from my early interest in journalism as a sports editor for my school newspaper. I like producing results and helping clients, while using my creative writing skills on behalf of my clients. I don't get writer's block, but there are times I want to stack up the work and go at it for hours until I've worked through the content that is under contract and deadlines. I suppose you could say, I'm waiting around to get into the mood.

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. We just completed a set of articles and review for a new product being introduced called Fast Fan Pages. The author offers a lot of free training on how to build Facebook iframes through the FB developer tools. Paul takes a complicated process and breaks it down so anyone can learn to to it well. Content management is one of our services that we are proud to perform. It is a blend of keyword research, optimized on page content, with strong meta tags for each article or blog post. We look at the way the blog has been optimized for search, and help with getting the main site optimized to match up with the content that is pointing to it. If both ends are not in sync, then the content will not be as effective as it could have been.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. There are many web platforms to become proficient in, all in order to best serve the needs of the client. From Joomla blog customization, to Google Education Suite for educators, there are always different client problems to solve and the right applications must be used in order to obtain the kind of results you were hired to perform. So there is continuing education, I feel the more you know, the more you discover that there's more to know. It comes down to accepting the fact that as a business person, change is the one thing you can be sure of. You could just put it down as constant personal growth.

Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?

A. Social Search is the future, it's already starting to happen when a person searches for products, and a pop-up or sidebar alerts you what your friends have had to say and their experience with the product. Mobile apps are growing faster than ever. There are people now who've earned the Mayor title or Ambassador of their favorite place such as Starbucks. It's only getting better for people, and businesses are getting rewarded for delivering great content that has real intrinsic value.

Q. Describe your most recent project, what it involved, how much it cost, and how long it took.

A. The most recent project is an ecommerce site for a service oriented company called www.sidejobgaragedoors.com. This is a local business so it is optimized for local search. Most garage door repair and installation businesses seem to give percentage discounts without stating what the original price is. The owner wanted his prices to be very clear and educate people that the professional work performed is at side job prices. There were several concerns beginning with picking the right ecommerce platform that is very affordable and allows unlimited items to be added. Also, that the cart could handle different options and pricing information in a simple dropdown box format. The work was done for a special price of $700 that included the first twenty-five products/services being added. A year's worth of hosting was included ($180 value) and a $105 Google Adwords voucher was provided as additional help to promote the new business. It took about 25 hours to build and will take an hour a month to maintain and update.

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. It's not too complicated, we do an all inclusive website marketing program for $1699 that includes the first two months of marketing, content production and training. Custom Blog, Fanpage,Twitter, and YouTube are developed or upgraded. There are programs ranging from $79 to $297 for Facebook Fanpages, depending on whether it's a single Fanpage or a multi-page website on Facebook. A new marketing package builds a custom Facebook Fanpage site and integrates with a customized and optimized business blog. It includes the training and a $100 Google AdWords voucher. This program is produced for $395 plus options for minimum to maximum marketing support.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. There are several disciplines involved, it's best to master one area first that you can comfortably perform, and build a team of trusted associates to outsource to. This gives you an income that grows as you grow your skill base. A key to internet marketing is keyword research. Go beyond Google keywords and use teaching platforms where the software gathers the information and the tutorials show how to draw the best keyword phrases to prioritize. This is a foundational process of being able to build web properties that are terrific in structure. You may not need to learn the ins and outs of graphic design, but you need to have the talent at hand. Same for website developers, they can build the sites, but it is you that needs to have developed the keyword research that needs to be applied to the structure. This means you can be successful delegating tasks, or outsourcing. But it is you who has to understand the client's situation and interpret what the marketing strategy should be.

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. Why is social media so important?
Well it's what has changed the game of marketing, putting the 'power' in the hands of people instead of one-way messages coming from businesses. Websites do well if they integrate their social networks on their pages and make it easy for visitors to share, or see who else they know is recommending the business. I like to say it speeds up word of mouth faster than anything else. It's to the point that a business must address and interact with people who are talking about their business. It is imperative to be part of the conversation so you can demonstrate that your business cares and is known to address problems and hold themselves accountable. If they don't pay attention to what customers and people are saying, it can have a very negative affect on their business.