Here is one of the 1930 commercials. Spanky McFarland (from Our Gang: The Little Rascals) is the star in this promo.  Here are a few things to pay attention to while you watch this short clip.

1. Note Spanky’s total disinterest in the bike and in the promotion.
2. Spanky is being noticeably coached.
3. After Spanky holds a brochure, he throws it on the ground!
4. There doesn’t appear to be any editing in this promo! Remember what it was like before spell checker or Microsoft Word? Before picture editors or even before we could edit our blog posts after it’s published?

This promo was created for Speed-O Bikes!

Marketing has changed through the years! It’s been more then 50 years since 1930 commercials. If you still haven’t created a website for your small business, it’s time to get out of the past and hit the fast forward button!

• Domain Name – The address you type into the internet browser (typically is says www.) is purchased and owned by you. If you are just starting out, please wait to purchase this and contact us about the domain name. If this is for business purposes, you will want to include good keywords in the domain name to help with your placement in search engine results.
• Website – This can be created from scratch but you need to understand web development languages to do this. In today’s technology, there are many ways this can be achieved.  If web development is a foreign concept, you can pay someone to make your site or build it yourself with a free tool like WordPress.
• Hosting – This will be where the actual web site files will reside and be accessible from the web.  If you are intending on creating multiple websites, you can purchase a plan that will allow unlimited domains. (This decision should be based on what your objective is for the website.) Although there are many hosting companies, BlueHost is less expensive then many and their customer service is good.
• SEO – Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not required to make a website. But if a website is constructed with the best components, you will get the best results. Sometimes people need to back step when they realize the need to add SEO to their website. It’s always much easier to implement this from the beginning. If you intend to make a website for business purposes, and expect t0 be found in search engines, you will want to have your website optimized. This should be started BEFORE you pick out a domain for your business.

If you are just starting out, you might be overwhelmed. I hope this helps you with the question, “What do you need to make a website?” Let us help you get started! Contact us today so we can point you in the best direction for your goals and needs.

When a company gains a customer’s business, the person is put on a mailing list in hopes of gaining more business in the future. That’s typical marketing. Now let’s take that one step further. Why is it important and what is the lifetime value of keeping a customer’s business?

Let me give you my own example of horrible customer service. I’ve been doing business with a bank for years. I had a problem and literally had to call a dozen times in a two week period. In those phone calls, I also got disconnected! Hopefully the reps didn’t hang up on purpose, but I really don’t know. After I took the initiative to make these phone calls, it got resolved from my persistence.  How loyal do you think I will be to them? I have already started doing business with one of their competitors and that company has done a great job and given me several bonuses for becoming a new client with them. Will the bank with the issue realize their loss at keeping me a lifelong customer? Probably not.

Let’s look at the dollar value of a customer.  To a business, if I spend $50/ month, in a year I am worth $600. $6000 every decade.  Without doing any advertising, the value of keeping my business is maximized from our relationship. There are several possible results if the relationship is strengthened:

1. New customers from a customer’s recommendation

2. Greater monetary value from lifelong customers

3. Lower cost of customer acquisition spent in marketing

So how do you maintain customers’ lifetime loyalty to a business? The answer is simple.  Clients need to see your integrity and credibility. How it that attainable? Listen to your clients and show them they are important by your actions. This is the business purpose for  social media!

Social media’s business objective is to build credibility and relationships.

Many businesses haven’t figured out the objective for social media. (Websites such as Facebook or Twitter.) When a customer complains, calls, writes, or emails, TAKE NOTICE.   I remember in the ’80′s the phrase, “the customer is always right!”  That may not be 100% accurate, but it sure is close.  In today’s economy, society has decided it’s about revenue and nothing else matters.

Let’s go back to my example that I mentioned above. How could this bank have come out ahead?

1. They could have called me back when we got disconnected.

2. They could have resolved the issue in 24 hours.

3. They could have given me a “gift” to apologize for the issue.

Any type of positive interaction would have turned the relationship around. But nothing happened. And now I am blogging about it! If I wanted, I could use names to hurt their brand and reputation.  Internet marketing is known for the negative feedback that gets posted and appears in search engine results. That is where search engine optimization will help. But I will leave that for another post!

When a business fails to understand the importance of the lifetime value of a customer, it breaks down its effectiveness in marketing and advertising. When a business doesn’t use social media to build customer relationships, it misses the mark and will never compound revenue from dedicated clients.

Will your business or organization fall apart because you failed to understand the value of your lifelong customers?  Your business foundation is not about monetizing your product but about maximizing your client’s relationship and loyalty.

Consumers feel better about a business when they can confirm the credibility of a business. One way to achieve this is by verifying your business for clients to see that it has been “business verified” and is a trusted site by a third party.

Consumers look for third party seals, many times called trust seals. Don’t you feel better when you are ready to purchase a product, and see some graphic of authenticity? One well known and trusted site is Better Business Bureau (BBB). The best solution is BBB.  But if you have ever looked into the cost, it is much more expensive then many businesses can afford. So what are the options?

There is a good choice for business credibility that costs much less and is effective. It is simple and easy for you or your webmaster to install. What is the solution? A customized trust seal that will help increase conversions and sales!

Look for this graphic on our home page or click below for more information. Do your business a favor and sign up to increase your credibility for your business!

Time and time again, I go to Christian websites and look to see what type of internet marketing is utilized. Social Media is growing in businesses and a person can witness to the lost this way. But, I still come back to search engines.  Sometimes people type words such as “who created this world” or “who is God” or “life is rotten.” Doesn’t it make sense to apply SEO skills to give people answers they are searching for? Think about it. How often do you search for something in a search engine? Google is the most popular search engine and there are many others!

If you are a church, ministry or just an individual who wants to stand up and share the gospel with the world, think about the limitless ways that can be done on the web. If you are a quiet person or introvert, as I can be, it is easier to type on a blog or social media then get in front of a group. So what are you waiting for? The Bible tells Christians to share the good news of Jesus Christ in The Great Commission.  There is no better time! What have you done to evangelize to the millions of people on the world-wide web?

When two domains have the same exact content, Google sees this as duplicate content. This means plagiarism to search engines. As a result, Google will lessen the ranking of one or both sites and possibly kick them out of their search engine!

So, what is the solution?

1. Don’t copy text from any site, including your own website!

2. You might want to consider occasionally using  “do not come” robot.txt file to tell spiderbots not to index the page.

3. Write copy that is original. (Isn’t that a clever new approach? )

Make sure when creating a page you use these essentials on the web page to help with search engine optimization:

**Good Keywords
**Meta Tags
**Good, Relevant Content

Content is King! But everything does have guidelines and rules. And this is no exception! Don’t you want your website to be a site of authority and value?

• Links to other blog posts of interest to your target audience
• Any new products or services that you’ve launched
• Any places where you’ll be speaking
• Events that are taking place within your industry
• An opinion that you have about something that is happening within your industry
• Links to resources that you’ve found to be invaluable

Make sure to add new categories with all of your blog posts. This in turn will organize and make your blog site user friendly.  If you have questions, contact us today so we can help build your blog or website!