March 16, 2010

Marketing Fail of the Week

Some of the marketing fails I put here, I find on the internet, but I
found this one in my local supermarket.   I did some research and this is most probably Brittish in origin.  I don’t suspect there’s a huge market here in Florida despite the fact that it is microwavable!  Have any of
you ever bought this type of pudding?

The 80/20 rule…sometimes you just need to fire them…

The rule goes like this.  20% of your clients will create 80% of your work .   What happens is you try to appease them and as a result  you end up neglecting the 80% who aren’t a problem.   What do you do then when you encounter this type?  I’ll tell you: FIRE THEM and fire them quickly!

I mention this again as I was reminded this yet again last week.  No matter what, you don’t have to put up with someone who will never be happy with your service or product.   Of course, you should do some soul seraching and make sure that you don’t have anything to address personally, but if you get one of those guys on your lines just get rid of them quickly.

You know the type–never happy, always critcal and demanding more service than they paid for.  In my opinion, the biggest differentiator with these guys is how that person makes you feel.   I have a friend who says to use your “spidey” sense (reference Spider Man.)   I agree. If after a conversation, you’re feeling a bit squished–get rid of them and get rid of them quick.  You’ll find bigger and better business right around the corner!    

Even Google sometimes has SEO problems

Watch this video of Google’s SEO expert Matt Cutts on some of the things he found with Google properties:

Local Search tip!

Have you heard of Four Square?  If you own a local business, Four Square

can help you greatly.  Foursquare is a social network fused with a game that anyone can play, from anywhere
in the world. It allows people to check in to any location they visit and your business can be part of the game.

In fact, if you are set up on Four Square, you can not only attract some business, but it will help your local search ranking.  You can sign up as a business (and add specials, etc.) by filling out your business information here.

The other big thing that is happening is mobile marketing.  I will be going over some of the mobile as well as Four Square and a bunch of other options on the next webinar.  We’ll go over how some of these changes effect you as well as some common sense strategies  to implement so that you don’t
get left in the dust.

Click Here to register.
This is one you don’t want to miss.

Enjoy.  Until next week!

Laura Betterly

March 4, 2010

Marketing Fail of the Week

Might be an ok product, bu the name??  Look at the attempt at staying
relevant with the “go green”..

The game continues…

In the last newsletter I went over social search and real time search.
This week real time search has moved to the front page–

Googles just released Google Buzz is now drawing more controversy as it pulls in full feeds (which means you can look at what is on someone else’s site without visiting the site..not too helpful for website owners.)  Read the article here.

See a video on  how to use Google Buzz below.

More changes on the Local Search front!

So about four days ago I was searching as I usually do and discovered

that Google has moved it’s real time search to the from page.  See
this quick video I did on it below.

The importance of this has to do with how to you optimize your website for maximum visability using these new options..

On today’s local search dominator webinar, we’ll go over how some of these changes effect you as well as some common sense strategies  to implement so that you don’t get left in the dust. Click Here to register. This is one you don’t want to miss.

Reader Feedback:

“I’ve been learning online marketing for several months and it’s refreshing to read your articles…full of great data and no hype!”

Enjoy.  Until next week!

FEBRUARY  18, 2010

Marketing Fail of the Week

Hmmm, not sure about that positioning..

The game continues…

In the last newsletter I went over social search and real time search.

This week–Google just released Google Buzz to Gmail users.  Why is this important?  Well, with the flick of a switch, Google Buzz is bigger than Twitter as it has about 38 million users–Twitter has about 25 million at best.  In less than a week it launched with fanfare but also with privacy fears.  Yesterday, a class action suit was filed again Google.  You can read about it here.

See a video on Google Buzz below.

More changes on the Local Search front!

Do you need a website?  In most cases, a set of local search results  from Google Maps, courtesy of Google’s Universal Search integration will show up before organic results. Within those results are links to individual businesses’ “Place Pages”. From here, users can find coupons, reviews, store hours, etc. There is a very good chance users will find this before they find your site anyway.

We’ll go over how some of these changes effect you as well as some common sense strategies  to implement so that you don’t get left in the dust.

Click Here to register.

This is one you don’t want to miss.

Microsoft might be getting it right.
Outlook 2010 will include a social connector.  Think about how useful it would be to have social networking information on people you’re trading e-mails with!  Check out this video.

Enjoy.  Until next week!

FEBRUARY  3, 2010

Marketing Fail of the Week

Yes, we all need those don’t we?

The game is changing again…

What game?  The search game.  What we all want is traffic to our sites and results.  Over the last weeks many things have happened that have changed how we do this and some new opportunities for us have emerged.   Let me go over a few things I consider extremely important.

Social Search:  Google has just released social search.  What
is social search?  Simply put social search gives you relevant content on what you’re searching from people in your social circle.  Click below to see the video.

There are some big implications for business on this.  For example, you can expand your reach dramatically for people that you already know and need your products or services.

If you combine that with the adding of a live stream from Twitter on Google search (it’s there now as an option) Add to that the prominence of Video, Local Results and News, search is turning into a new game.

How do these changes effect local businesses?
Actually the implications for businesses is huge.  As a result, I’m giving a special Local Search Dominator webinar next Wednesday  Wednesday Feb 10, 4:00 PM EST.

We’ll go over how some of these changes effect you as well as some common sense strategies  to implement so that you don’t get left in the dust.

Click Here to register This is one you don’t want to miss.

Don’t think where you’re location can be tracked?

With HTML5 which was just released a web browser can now be GEO aware.

Want to see this in action? Click Here.

I did this and my location was precisely shown.

Enjoy.  Until next week!

JANAUARY 20, 2010

Social Media is EVERYWHERE…

I’ve been saying this for some time as you all know, but social media
is  here to stay and it has changed how we interact with our customers and friends.   Do keep in mind though that social media is not a replacement for other forms of marketing, but more as an extension of it.  You  ignore social media at your own peril!

Here’s just a few examples of how this medium has changed how we interact.

Last week I had some issues with sixty seven of our websites.
They were all down.   How did I find out what was wrong?  Twitter.
When I couldn’t get through to tech support where our servers were housed and there was no news on this on Google news,  I checked out Twitter and found out that thirty million websites went down because of an attack on the servers.

Last year when a US Airway’s flight had an emergency landing on the Hudson River, the first news on it was reported on Twitter.  I found out about Michael Jacksons death on Facebook before I saw it on TV or the radio.

Google also considers social media important and below is a video by Google’s Matt Cutts on how Google ranks links on social media.

Don’t Ingore E-mail.

Interestingly enough email still a great way to market.  On average brings in an average of 57.25 for every dollar spent.

Do you have a list you’re not mailing to?  If so, you are leaving money on the table.  Not everyone who reaches to you will buy immediately.

How many times have you called a prospect six months after their initial reach and found out they bought froma competitor?  Unless you stay in touch, they won’t remember you when they are ready to purchase.

Done correctly, and with the right product, e-mail is still one of the lowest cost forms of reaching your target market.

If you need help getting out a newsletter, or building a  list, just let us know.

Featured client of the month.  Keystone Factoring.

Do you have to wait a month or more before you get paid from your clients?

Keystone Capital Funding buys your accounts receivable so you get paid now. Click on the above image to see the site!

We actually picked up this client as a result of Social Media.  I noticed that he had asked a mutual friend for a recommendation for a company that could build a wordpress website for him.  I called and the rest is history.  Here is what he had to say about working with us:

Laura and the staff at YadaYada converted my existing ASP site into WordPress so I could take advantage of the inherent SEO capabilities.  We were going to use a stock theme but Laura and Mark created a custom template so I could keep my existing layout.  The end result exceeded my expectations and the communication during development was excellent.  Laura would return emails and phone calls promptly and sometimes make revisions while
I was on the phone with her.   It would take my old web company
2-3 days to make a minor change.  I also liked that Laura didn?t nickel and dime me for extra features that weren?t included in our original agreement.
Now that my website has launched, I’m looking forward to working with YadaYada on a SEO plan

Marketing Fail of the Week