Darling Online Marketing

Local SEO Keyword Strategy Part 2

Darling — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:09:06 +0000

Here is the second part to the recent interview with Chris Darling and Matt Coffy, a local SEO expert across the bridge in New Jersey. I do hope you get some decent insight from it.

Get your free local ranking report to see how your business is doing in local search. Not only that, if you have some traction in local search, the report will tell you who is getting all of your business when you don’t show up!

Local SEO Keywords

Darling — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:20:30 +0000

Matt Coffy, this local SEO guy in our neighboring state of NJ, recorded a little discussion we recently had about local SEO keywords. What in the world does that mean to you? I know, most of the time, people don’t quite know what all this SEO stuff means to their business. Basically, it comes down to keywords. What words are people entering into the search field when they go online looking for your services?

Keyword research can get a little complex but for those operating a local business, it does not need to be that difficult. Watch the video below to get just a little insight. We mention some free software tools and resources you can use to find phrases to get your site found for. There are also some premium ones to work with.

In this video, I mention one premium tool that really is for more advanced keyword research; SEMrush.com. There are other ways to find out more about your local competitors and the phrases they are using.

If you want to get your hands on a free report, showing you what people are searching for and who is getting most of the business (a.k.a. Your Competitors), check out THIS video.

Please leave your comments and feedback below on this topic.

Chris Darling of Darling SEO is the creator of the Be The Obvious Choice Online system that helps businesses not only get found online but to drive traffic and stand out from their competition while growing their customer base and business. For more information on how you can Be The Obvious Choice Online apply for a Discovery Session.

Essential Tips for Local SEO

Turn Your Small Mom and Pop Shop Into A Thriving Local Business Empire

Darling — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:02:01 +0000

Have you ever heard that when you do what you love with an energy and passion like no other, the money will follow? Do you BELIEVE that to be true?

It is true. I am living that truth and I want to help others live that truth as well.

But, if I had a dollar for every time someone told me that I can’t make any money trying to help small local businesses use the Internet more effectively so that they can do what they do best and love the most while thriving in an economy that everyone else is going around moaning and groaning about, I would have me more than just a couple dollars!!!

If you have been faced with endless frustrations, have felt completely invisible online, and are tired of hearing others dish out the same crap day after day about the economy, this post is for you!

This post is for all of you out there running a small local business, struggling to just get by to make ends meet yet convinced there must be a better way. There is a better way. I’m here to tell you all about it. It is my mission, my passion, my vision, my purpose to help you if you are so willing and open to accepting the help. It is so important for me to show you the resources available to you that if you tap into them, you can stand out, compete with the corporate conglomerates, and Be The Obvious Choice Online for what you do best and love the most. You can thrive and enjoy your life, make a lot more money, and provide for your family.

There are so many people out there looking online for your products and services that would really prefer to work with YOU because YOU give the type of service and commitment to getting a job done that no large bureaucratic organization can even come close to. You just have to get into that space! Get online into that space and utilize technology, the Internet, local SEO and search, Social Media, and email marketing to turn your small mom and pop shop into a thriving local business empire. This is for you even if you don’t have a “shop” or you simply work out of your home. Shoot… even your garage!

If you implement the right strategies, you could actually move out of that garage someday! :-)

Check out this little video about how to turn your small shop into a thriving local business empire.

(Note: If you already received the audio on the 7 Secrets to Be The Obvious Choice Online, then click here to become a member right now.)

Let me know which one of the 5 tips you need the most help with. Seriously, you can do this stuff if you believe you can. Believing is what started my journey.

One day, I got this crazy idea that I could do so much more. In a very short period of time, I took a local computer repair service from little to no existence online to the top spots in search. That was my little PC repair business that replaced the income from my day job within just a few short months. That computer repair website now sends traffic, referrals, phone calls, and repair requests to another shop in town. I don’t repair computers now. I’m so busy and fueled with a purpose to help other small businesses use the Internet more effectively.

My point is, you have a skill, a talent, a product, or a great service you can provide to people. If your business is not generating the volume of customers, clients, or sales that you believe you can get, then let me know what part of the 5 tips in the video would help you leverage online marketing more effectively so that you can thrive while serving and building your business.

The 5 Tips:

Get a website that works for you.
Diversify your marketing with local SEO, search engine optimization, and getting found in maps or places.
Develop a presence on just one or two social sites best for your business (Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.)
Capture and convert traffic to subscribers to your email list.
BELIEVE you can do this and actually compete with the corporate conglomerate down the street because YOU CAN!

Please leave your comments and feedback below on this topic.

What’s New With the 2nd Largest Search Engine in the World?

Darling — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:08:15 +0000

YouTube is the 2^nd largest search engine and something like 24 hours worth of video footage is uploaded every minute to the site. How in the world does a small to medium sized business like yours stand out and leverage the platform?

Take advantage of it with YouTube’s new home page layout with the subscription feed. This layout and feature is making YouTube play more like a social networking site rather than a video content sharing site and this is great news for small to medium sized businesses with limited resources.

If creating viral videos is not your thing or figuring out how to make web videos optimized for search is too difficult for you, your next best option is to get a boatload of subscribers to your channel. I do highly recommend optimizing your channel as a whole on YouTube for the keyword phrases it is about. Seriously, lets get with the program here so you can totally maximize all of your time on the second largest search engine in the world.

If someone is subscribed to your channel, your latest videos are more likely to pop up on their new home page layout inside the subscription feed. Sort of like Facebook huh? As you create more interaction and value with those that subscribe to your channel, you can increase the chances of others seeing your videos when they are poking around on YouTube.

======>> Please subscribe to my YouTube channel! <<======

Think people are not on YouTube much? Is your world all about Facebook? Or are you just concerned with Google? There are 800 million UNIQUE visitors every month to YouTube. That’s a lot of people. So, if it makes sense for your business to be creating videos then it will make sense to create a decent presence on YouTube with an optimized channel.

How can you leverage YouTube’s new home page layout and subscription feed feature?

Like any other social network, the best way to leverage it for a positive return on your marketing dollars and time are to 1) consistently use the network on a daily basis and 2) prompt interaction with your subscribers.

This means you need to create good content for the site, and get views, ratings, and comments.

Geez…. You just can’t get away from this whole requirement of content creation, time and engagement with your online marketing can you? There just doesn’t seem to be a set it and forget it solution or a plug and play hit the big read easy button and watch your bank account get fat!

Welcome to the new age of digital and interactive marketing. I LOVE it as do many other smaller businesses because this is your chance to compete with those corporate conglomerates and make a decent living while you are at it! With a decent understanding of how SEO or search engine optimization works underneath it all, you could be quite dangerous out there!

If you are looking for additional guidance and support on how to use the Internet effectively to stand out and Be The Obvious Choice Online check out the exclusive club www.BeTheObviousChoice.com. In there you will discover how to get to the top of search results, drive traffic, and grow your customer base so that you can make a lot more money from your online marketing efforts doing what you do best and love the most.

Please leave your comments and feedback below on this topic.

Marketing Systems: Ruling the World

3 Very Important Questions To Ask Yourself When Evaluating A Keyword Phrase

Darling — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:29:16 +0000

Selecting the proper keyword phrases to target in your online marketing activities is one of the more important and valuable skills to master if you want to see a huge return on your investment in time and money.

This process has a science behind it that could literally set your mind into a spinning mess of numbers, words, data, directions, and information overload.

The biggest problem with that is that many people end up paralyzed and just don’t get started. This leads to a significant delay in their progress with SEO and online marketing.

It does not have to be that crazy difficult and involved in order for you to just get started!

I have three very important questions that you should ask yourself when beginning the process of selecting keyword phrases.

Is the keyword phrase that you want to rank for relevant to your website and what you have to offer?
If someone finds your website or web page based on searching for that keyword phrase, will they find the answer they were looking for when they click through to your site?
When you search for the term, look at the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), do you see others advertising or paying for clicks to their website?

The answers to the above questions must be a definitive YES before moving forward.

If your site is not relevant to the search, you don’t even have a chance to walk out on the playing field of SEO and Online Marketing.

If you do get to the first page for a certain keyword phrase and your visitors do not find the information or answers they were looking for, that back button is just a click away! Eventually, the mighty search engines will compile all of their data on search and visitor behavior to your particular page and purge the less than worthy results for certain keyword phrases.

A YES to question #3 is important because that will give you an indication right away that there is profit to be had in your keyword phrases. Others are paying to show up for those phrases because they return them high valued visitors and paying customers. Ideally, you should run your own PPC campaign to determine the real value of those phrases in relation to your website. Take that data and work it into your ongoing SEO and Online Marketing plan for 2012.

If there is no one advertising on the SERPs for your keyword phrase then it’s likely it’s not a very profitable phrase to pour your time and money into. You could just end up sitting there on the first page of search for it looking all pretty like a Freshman at their high school prom. (Imagine braces and no date, just chillin’ by the wall, waiting for someone to notice you. )

Once you have established answers to the above questions, the next thing to do is find out exactly how competitive the phrases are and if you have the stamina and budget to withstand the journey to page one.

Take all of this information and work it into your ongoing SEO and Online Marketing plan for the next year so that you can see results.

Map Out Your 2012 Online Marketing Plan

Darling — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:18:18 +0000

Now that you are wrapping up 2011, what kind of progress have you made in natural and local search, in social media, with building up a customer base, and with your online marketing as a whole?

The technology and resources are advancing at warp speed aren’t they? But, no matter how fast it moves, if you had an online marketing plan in place and you worked that plan, you should be able to show some kind of progress in your business by now.

The clients I have worked with over the last year are experiencing business growth from new contracts, projects, and jobs that they have been found for online for during 2011.

One client told me that during this time of year (December), he could literally lock up the door to his showroom and take a vacation because business is just that slow. Not this year. This year, his phone has been ringing like the silver bells of Christmas and business is much better this month than it was just last November!

A lot of my clients are affected by the seasons. It’s the nature of their industries. If they are not affected by the seasons, they seem to be affected by the housing market or economy. It always seems to be feast or famine. There always seems to be an excuse.

You can avoid the consequences of a slow economy and seasonal work when you put a sound and consistent plan in place with marketing your business.

If the past year did not generate the revenue you expected then get a better marketing plan in place for 2012. In your marketing plan, carve out a little for local search SEO, social media, or online marketing in general. Why? Well, I proved it with the client I was just telling you about. There is no doubt that people are searching for your products and services on the Internet. If you are not there or you don’t want to “fool with this Internet thing”, you are leaving money on the table!

Here are things to consider when mapping out your online marketing plan for 2012.

For smaller businesses, look at your entire IT budget and marketing budget, especially if you come to Darling SEO & Online Marketing. Often times, we have a program or campaign that will take care of your entire online business from building or managing your website to getting it found to building you that all too important email list.
With your overall marketing budget, if you are spending $1,000 a month for a print ad in the phone book, it is very logical to expect to be able to take half of that budget and put it towards your online marketing efforts to see a much greater return on your investment during 2012. And, you will still have enough left to keep some kind of print ad active in the phone books. A smart marketer will use many different channels. A wise one will exploit the ones that return the best results.
Accept the fact that if you want your business to get found on the Internet in today’s WWW landscape, you must create content. If you think you are going to crush it online in search with a 5 page static brochure type website then you are in for a rude awakening. Or, maybe just a deep slumber of no new business activity. (zzzzzzz…) So, decide how much content you can create whether it’s you doing it or you are paying someone. When deciding on this content development plan, think consistency. Even one new piece of content a week published online will put you 52 steps ahead of your competitor this time next year. If you become a member of the Be The Obvious Choice Online club, you will learn how you can turn that content and those 52 steps into leaps and bounds if not milestones!
Accept the fact that if you want your business to get found online today, you must build a presence on the social media channels. With a carefully thought out plan and daily action, you can leverage social media channels to grow your business exponentially in 2012. It will take a budget of time as well as money. But, even a small budget of time and money supporting a consistently implemented plan is far better than what you may have done in 2011.
Stop making excuses right now! The Internet, Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube are not going anywhere any time soon. Either figure out how you can help your business grab a piece of the action and prosper or keep struggling through the moments of feast or famine. When you stop making excuses, start mapping out your new online marketing plan for 2012.

Happy Holidays!

Please leave your comments and feedback below on this topic.

Speedy Web Videos – Easier Than You Think

Darling — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:11:22 +0000

How would you like to create a video like the one on this page?

Using videos on your website and with your online marketing strategy returns positive results. Creating them does not have to cost you an arm and a leg either! The information I am about to share with you is going to save you a ton of money when it comes to creating web videos, especially speedy web videos!

I am not going to train you on how to create a video. Other people have already done this and the small investment in their training material is well worth it.

Click Here to Begin Creating Speedy Web Videos Now

I will provide you information on how to optimize your videos, syndicate them, and promote them so that they actually work for you in the private membership club. When I say work for you, I mean drive traffic and increase conversions so that you can make a lot more from your online marketing efforts.

See, you can have a professionally produced video that doesn’t do a bit of good to your bottom line. I have heard stories of people dropping as much as $30,000 on video production with no apparent return on their investment. YIKES!!

I have also seen people just like you and I create extremely low cost videos and make thousands of dollars from them over and over again. Creating speedy web videos is just one step.

Click Here to Begin Creating Speedy Web Videos Now

The training program above is incredibly affordable and so totally worth it. Listen, after you create some great videos for your online marketing efforts, sign up for the Be The Obvious Choice Online club and discover how to use them so that you can drive crazy traffic to your website, grow your customer base, and make a lot more money from your online marketing efforts. Seriously, you can do this stuff. If you do not, you are missing out on a lot of business out there.

Let me tell you something, the only software program I had to actually purchase a license to so I could make speedy web videos was Microsoft PowerPoint. The other pieces of software have free alternatives. And honestly, if I had the time, I’m sure I could have figured out how to use Open Office to make a suitable slide presentation for this.

Here are the free software options to make this speedy web video creation possible:

Paint.net for graphics
Audacity.SourceForge.net for audio
CamStudio.org for screen capture (CamTasia alternative)
NCHSoftware.com has alternatives for video file conversion and slide show creation/editing
OpenOffice.org if you don’t have Microsoft Office or Keynote for MAC

Be your own speedy web video master!

No related posts.

Why You Should Never Say “Thanks” When Networking

Darling — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:26:29 +0000

by Brooke Grubb, Guest Blogger and Leader of the Referral Marketing & Networking Column

Some of you have heard me preach about the importance of handwritten thank-you notes. Well, I was wrong. I recently learned it’s better to show zero gratitude. Ideally, one should have an undying sense of entitlement.

I learned this lesson about a month ago. Until then, I innocently sent notes to people I’d meet for the first time at networking events. But then I met Jay Wheeler of Wheeler Financial. He seems nice enough, but don’t be fooled by his firm handshake, good conversation, and ability to walk and blink at the same time.

At a recent event, we got on the topic of thank-you notes. He’s a die-hard fan. Every Monday, he writes notes to those who have been on his mind the prior week. I asked him, “Jay, aren’t you lazy to wait till Monday?” He replied, “I like to start my week by thinking of everyone I’m grateful for. For instance, I just wrote a note to my mom, thanking her for watching my children over the weekend.”

I was floored for two reasons:

(1) Jay focuses too much on his blessings. This overshadows his attention on what really matters… what he doesn’t have. Shouldn’t business owners and salespeople devote their entire soul to desperately chasing that elusive account, or scheming ways to eventually afford that obnoxiously large yacht? We would all reap greater success by starting our week with tears, temper tantrums, and preferably a hunger strike.

(2) Clearly, Jay is a terrible son. Every mother loves hearing the voice of her children. Knowing this, he emotionally tortures his dear mother by sending her cardstock rather than picking up the phone. Shame on him.

Also, I advise against writing thank-you notes because so few people do it. The majority must be right. Why would you want to stick out like a sore thumb?

I would say “thank you” for reading this, but I already expect you to read it in its entirety, print it out, and frame it in your living room. I also expect you to send me a box of chocolates. This hunger strike is killing me.

Happy networking! (P.S. – Surprisingly, this message was approved by Jay Wheeler.)

Please leave your comments and feedback below on this topic.

Brooke Grubb is Director of Business Development for Unique Impressions, Inc., which specializes in customized apparel and creative promotional products. She credits 95% of her sales to the relationships built through networking. Ms. Grubb also serves as an Ambassador for her local Chamber of Commerce, and she is an active member of Toastmasters, the world’s largest public speaking and leadership organization. She may be reached at 302-738-7933 or find her on LinkedIn.

Seo Friendly Ways To Play Nice With Corporate Bureaucratic Bull

Darling — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:00:41 +0000

Who else gets annoyed with corporate bureaucratic bull? It is a pain in my side AND a huge motivating force that brought me to this point of building up this business Darling SEO and Online Marketing.

My mission to help small to medium size businesses get found in the top spots of search, get over those technological barriers, attract high quality traffic to their sites, convert that traffic into subscribers, and ultimately stand out to Be The Obvious Choice Online for what it is that they do best and LOVE the most.

All of that equates to more revenue in your business so you can continue to live the life you choose, free from corporate bureaucratic bull!

But, today I was so frustrated with bureaucratic bull stemming from an ongoing issue we are experiencing with a horrible accident a year ago that I suffered a major mental block preventing me from writing a decent blog post for you. I found a solution though. A pretty good solution that I think you will enjoy for yourself as well. I promise to share that solution with you.

There is this website that you can use to find decent content written by good writers. You can search or browse for specific topics that suit your needs. As long as you follow the licensing rules, you are good to go.

The following article caught my eye since I was feeling so frustrated. If you are someone that works for a large corporate conglomerate that runs into road block after road block (a.k.a. bureaucratic bull) and your role is to understand what an SEO friendly website is and help progress the corporate site in search, the following article may help.

Three Ways to Make Your Corporate Website SEO Friendly

There is a slight divide between the corporate world and the online business world. No, it is not the suit-and-tie divide, which has seen corporate attire absent in dotcom start-ups since the 1990s, and it is not the difference in business plans or funding sources between the two worlds. It is the difference in website design and development, and it is a divide that is putting the bootstrapped online business world far ahead of its corporate rivals.

The problem is relatively clear when you visit a big company’s website. There’s content — lots of it — but there’s relatively little effort put forward into converting that content into anything. There’s a ton of information, a list of contact details that puts the Yellow Pages to shame, and massive potential for SEO work. However, very few big businesses put their SEO muscle to work, and more than a few settle for websites that simply do not sell their services.

As easy as it is to blame the lack of SEO on established buying practices — in store orders, online stores, and resellers — it’s not the total problem. Much of it is simply the fact that a lot of corporations simply are not well educated on the ultra-competitive SEO world, and view search as something other than a major priority. If your company is sounding similar, it is time to take a different approach, and to embrace search for the incredible sales and lead generation machine that it is.

These three suggestions could be the difference between an unknown business website and a conversion-powered one. Implement one, two, or all three and you are sure to see a world of difference in website traffic, online sales and orders, and noticeable online PR.

#1: Add a blog to your company website.

Blogs are great for SEO, and they are even better for grassroots PR efforts. By adding a blog to your company website, you introduce a human element to an otherwise stale website. Even a simple blog can add some massive SEO power to your website, and if it attracts attention it is easy to convert that readership into a massive SEO resource.

#2: Experiment with dedicated SEO.

External SEO firms are often a waste of money, especially for small businesses. However, when your online presence has the potential to sell millions of dollars worth of services, products, or coverage per year, it is in your best interests to open yourself to as many channels as possible. Search is the biggest online referrer, and the small cost of retaining an SEO company is quickly paid back in the incredible order boost that you’ll receive.

Note: External SEO firms can be of great use for businesses of all sizes. They are actually quite empowering to small companies that need to save on employee and education/expertise costs required to help you compete with the big boys in the corporate world.

#3: Use in-house SEO to lower costs and boost awareness.

Hiring a full time SEO for your company is less expensive than you would expect. While contractors are good for temporary assignments and one-off SEO boosts, if you want a dedicated SEO presence it is best to invest in someone that can work for you full time. Experiment with contract work and temporary SEO at first, then decide whether it is worth the expense of a full SEO team.

– Author: Goes by raphael.da911 on Constant Content.

So, there it is, a pretty good article to help further you along this week. If you need help sourcing decent content check out Constant Content.

Please leave your comments and feedback below on this topic.

5 Reasons Newbie Email Marketers Should Avoid Buying Email Lists

Darling — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:34:42 +0000

Are you toughing out this economy and trying to inject your business with a sudden influx of sales?

Have you heard that an email list is practically a sure fire way to print your own pay check whenever you want?

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a magic bullet system that you could just plug your business product or service into for a small investment and it would start spitting out dollars?

If you answered yes, yes, and of course then you are prime prey online for bulk email list dealers. Here are 5 reasons why you should not purchase an email list.

Permission Marketing and Opting In – The bulk email list dealer will tell you that all of their subscribers opted in. What they don’t tell you is that they didn’t opt in to receive messages from your specific business. If a subscriber did not opt in to YOUR list for YOUR product or service, they are not interested in anything YOU have to say. Sorry… but that’s the cold hard truth and you need to hear it.
Deliverability– (A little technology lesson) When you send an email to someone, it is sent from the email provider’s web server to the email recipient’s web server. The web servers have IP addresses. IP addresses can be blacklisted for sending too many requests or receiving too many SPAM complaints. IP addresses can simply be blocked by default when dealing with email.
If you purchase 100,000 email addresses and send a blast to those people from your web server, it is highly likely that the email message will not even be received by a large percentage of the people on the list. The remaining ones are likely to report it as spam since they don’t know who the heck you are and don’t care what you have to say.

If you message is not even delivered, what do you think your return on your investment for purchasing the list will be?
Open Rates – This goes hand in hand a bit with deliverability. Let’s just imagine your email blast actually makes it to someone’s inbox and doesn’t bounce or get labeled SPAM. If you have a list that does not consist of targeted subscribers that chose to opt in to YOUR business messages, your subject lines would have to be extremely creative to get someone to actually open up the email and read it.
If you just spent a few grand on a huge email list from a dealer (a.k.a. data farmer), then you are going to want your message read! There are standards with email marketing as far as open rates and click through rates go. Of course they vary greatly depending on your market and how good you are with crafting subject lines. When purchasing a bulk email list, the chances are almost certain that your open rates will not come close to even the lowest average open rate.
Relationships– When buying a bulk email list from a dealer and then sending out a blast asking people to buy your stuff, expect disappointment. Really. People are bombarded with marketing messages and you as a marketer of your business products and services must find a way to stand out from all of that noise and Be The Obvious Choice!
People that have huge lists that talk about being able to practically print themselves a paycheck just by sending out an email blast are not doing it with purchased email lists. They are doing it with an email list they built from the ground up. They are doing it with a huge list of people that WANT to hear from them because they have built a relationship with that list of subscribers.

I know it may seem weird to consider a relationship with an email list but once you do build this relationship with your own list, you will find your open rates increasing, your click through rates increasing, and ultimately, your bank account increasing.
Money – Do you want to make your money work for you or would you prefer to just throw a couple grand into the dumpster outside? I believe you would like to make your money work for you. Buying huge lists from a dealer simply equate to throwing money into the dumpster outside in my opinion.
If you have a few grand to do that with, consider other strategies to build your own list. There are tons of alternatives. If you get set up correctly, a few grand could easily equate to a few grand of willing subscribers to YOUR list. People that you would have the opportunity to build a relationship with. People that would not only see your message in their inbox but actually open it up to hear what you have to say, see what you have to give them today, or learn what you are trying to help them with. Those very same people will be the ones that contribute to your big payday…. (multiple paydays).

As an SEO Specialist and local online marketing consultant, it is my mission to help small business owners not only get found at the top of search results to increase traffic to your site but to help you grow your customer email list so that you can make a lot more money out of your online marketing efforts now and for a very long time into the future.

Please leave your comments and feedback below on this topic.