February 2nd, 2010
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I just received an email from Google Apps and am grinning from ear to ear. Google announced, “…we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.”
Amen!
IE6 was released in August of 2001! Yet people still use it today, not taking advantage of the latest technology. Could you imagine in 2001 using a browser from 1992. No, you wouldn’t because the experience would be so much different (Mosaic was starting development in December of 1992!)
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Tags: browsers, google, ie6, internet explorer 6, LinkedIn
Posted in B2B Internet Marketing, B2C Internet Marketing, Online Business, Website Development | No Comments »
January 25th, 2010
I have had this same question posed to me several times over the last year and I thought it would make a good blog post.
It’s no secret the last year has been very difficult for people personally and professionally. The good thing, however, is that the economy is looking up and the downturn has produced a lot of opportunity.
But here’s the question: How can I stay motivated when things are hard?
For me, motivation is assisted mostly from attitude. Keeping an upbeat attitude is key even when you feel like you’re getting kicked in the gut over and over again.
What else is a big motivator? Money. You need it to survive, and you really need it for your business to survive. So here’s a quick way to think positive and get motivated.
Start by thinking about how much money you NEED to make to pay your bills and be happy per year (that’s X). Something very realistic.
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Tags: LinkedIn, Motivation, Sales
Posted in B2B Internet Marketing, B2C Internet Marketing, Online Business | No Comments »
December 4th, 2009
If you’ve ever been deep sea fishing I’m sure you remember how there were far more fishing poles with lines in the water than there were people on the boat. This helped increase the chances that each person on the trip enjoyed the awesome experience of hooking and reeling in a nice big fish.
You should employ this same strategy when you are looking to build traffic to your website.
The most effective way to do it is to expand your digital footprint by increasing the amount of content that links back to your website from other websites.
You can accomplish this several ways which include:
Tags: blogging, internet marketing, Online Business, Search Engines, SEO, social media, Social Media Engagement
Posted in B2C Internet Marketing | No Comments »
November 20th, 2009
For some companies, times are tough. So when a marketing manager or CMO (chief marketing officer) receives an email from an “Internet marketing specialist” who can get their site to the top of the search engines for a specific phrase, the company might jump at the opportunity.
Marketers beware…these “opportunities” from these “Internet marketing specialists” may not be as good as they sound.
Here’s a real world example that just prompted this blog post.
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Tags: Fraud, Internet Marketing Specialist, Scam, Search Engines, SEO
Posted in B2B Internet Marketing, B2C Internet Marketing, Online Business, Website Development | No Comments »
November 17th, 2009
So it’s been a touch over two months since I posted my rant on the “posers” in the online marketing world.
Believe it or not I am still fired up over the “hacks” that swindle business owners out of their money for services they are less than qualified to provide. I am quite sure I’ll continue to be irritated because this type of junk will never stop.
Rather than go off on another tangent, I want to provide some value and equip you with a step-by-step process I promised to post if enough of you asked for it.
Well, I received several requests and although it’s been awhile … here you go!
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Tags: b2b, B2B Internet Marketing, Fraud, internet marketing, keyword research, web business
Posted in B2C Internet Marketing | No Comments »
September 22nd, 2009
A very common statement made by clients to their design firm is, “Make my logo bigger.” In some instances this might be a good thing, like on a billboard where your target audience is doing 70 MPH (on a slow day). But I’m here to help you understand why “make my logo bigger” regarding your website is actually, believe it or not, a pretty bad idea.
Let’s face it. You love your company. With the logo being your staple, why wouldn’t it be BIG on your website?
The answer actually has two parts: Your logo doesn’t sell and visitors really don’t care.
Now, let me explain.
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Tags: LinkedIn, logo design, make my logo bigger, web design, website design
Posted in B2B Internet Marketing, B2C Internet Marketing, Online Business, Website Development | No Comments »
September 16th, 2009
Harvard Business School recently published a working paper titled Do Friends Influence Purchases in a Social Network.
And I read it, of course. So I’ll save you some time and give you a simple overview on what they learned, and what I learned from them.
- First, I had to get back to my Trigonometry and Calculus classes to get my head around all the equations they have in the document to define their findings. Very interesting. Very amazing. Very intelligent. And I am not pretending to really understand what all of it was. Ha.
- Second, the paper is a working paper, so a bit of duplicate content to get through. Unless they were just trying to really drive the point home.
- Third, I found it odd that a paper from 2009 would use data mined in 2004. Sure seems like behaviors could change over this 4+ year span.
Ok, so this is what I gained from it:
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Tags: LinkedIn, social media, social networks, web marketing
Posted in social media | 1 Comment »
August 31st, 2009
It drives me nuts when I’m helping a client who trusted a, so called, “professional” to help them with their optimization or pay-per-click campaign, and all they did was flush their money down the toilet.
I’d like to take a second to make an announcement to all those “professionals” out there who insist on preying on the naivity in the marketplace …
STOP PRETENDING YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING MORONS!!!!
Sorry for the harsh words and tone but I am tired of it. The more of this garbage that happens in the marketplace, the more the industry I love gets muddied up.
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Tags: B2B Internet Marketing, Fraud, Online Business, pay-per-click advertising, Search Engines, SEO
Posted in B2C Internet Marketing | 4 Comments »
August 24th, 2009
It’s interesting to look at the process people go through when starting a new website …
Once they decide they need a site they begin to plan what content they’d like to have on the site.
The majority of the companies decide they need a page that talks about them so they add an “About Us” page to their site.
Secondly they would like to talk about their products or services so they add a “Products” or “Services” page to their site.
The most important part to the new website is giving it’s visitors the ability to contact them to do business or ask questions which is where the infamous “Contact Us” page comes from.
I could go on and on but I am guessing you’ve seen these types of pages on almost every website you’ve ever been to, so I won’t bore you. I am sure when you decided to get your first website online you had the intention of increasing your business and tapping into the “gold mine” the Internet makes available to us all.
Heck, this was my initial motivation as well and I’m sure this is no earth shattering revelation.
Well the problem with this process of developing a website is unfortunately absolutely wrong. No, I’m not saying you won’t make any sales or receive any phone calls by structuring your website this way. I am just saying you are limiting the potential revenue by doing it and you could do MUCH better.
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Tags: B2B Internet Marketing, b2b website strategy, Online Business, web design, Web strategy, Website Development
Posted in B2C Internet Marketing | No Comments »
July 3rd, 2009
Today was an amazing day down here in the Dominican Republic on many levels. Although I leave tomorrow to come home, I am not returning alone. I’ll be bringing memories of all the kids we had the opportunity to help and meet while we were down here home with me.
I’ve been feeling like I wanted to help others who were less fortunate than myself for the past six months or so. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, or how I could help, and then this opportunity arose. I personally believe that everything happens for a reason and I immediately decided I wanted to go.
I purposefully decided to not draw any preconceived notions of what it was going to be like. I’ve seen presentations from people who have attended mission trips in the past, so I had an idea of what it MIGHT be like, but I decided to just go and let the experience happen. WOW am I glad I did. I would have never guessed in a million years how powerful it would be!
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Tags: charity, dominican republic, helping others, mission trip, personal growth, vision trust
Posted in B2B Internet Marketing, B2C Internet Marketing, Online Business, Website Development | 1 Comment »
