Web Design and SEO in Milwaukee | A Simple Stratagy

The Simple Strategy for web design and SEO.

Remember the old saying? Keep It Simple Stupid or KISS? Plain and simple. If your a business looking to gain customers. Keep it simple. Or at least, start out simple. With all this talk about Tagging, and Back linking, and content and this and that. Remember the end user and what these potential customers are looking for. That’s what we are all looking for right?
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Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Bing Demotes For Keyword Stuffing | Milwaukee Internet advertising tips

Stuffing your content on your site with keywords is common practice, but if the intent is only for search engines to list you higher or increase your ranking.  Bing may demote you for it.

Bing Webmaster Guidelines Updated To Include Demotions For Keyword Stuffing

This came from Search Engineland.  This makes for a different approach for some webmasters out their.  This also may hurt Bing in the long run.  My opinion is that if you have to toe the line between quality content and quality keywords.  The webmaster should be already creating quality content for the end user.  The issue is that if Bing decides that what is being done is keyword stuffing and demotes the website. It may be hurting itself in the long run by not offering up quality websites in its search.  Google does the same thing already.  But it seems to be able to tell the difference between stuffing and content.  The main goal is to connect users with quality results, and one of the best ways to do this is to monitor websites for content changes and relevancy.  How will they tell the difference between relevancy and stuffing?  Guess we will find out.



Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

How do you advertise online?

How do I advertise my business online?

  That's the first question I get when a new client calls.  Online advertising compared to other medias has developed into its own virtual world.  Businesses can be found on search engines, thru pay per click and SEO, Social marketing thru Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, etc.  Pay per click thru the same social networks, online directories like yp.com, Superpages, Yelp, and so forth, Display advertising on the online newspapers, magazines and websites. Web design and more..  All of these options split and give you even more variables.  The more you buy, it seems the more areas you need to buy again to make sure your covered.  That's why we are called Web Presence Pro's.  We cover all these options for you, and develop an online presence for your business so you are put in front of perspective customers where they are looking for you.  We are impartial to all of these options as we know that you need them all to develop your online presence.  Give us a call and we will show you how effective having an online presence will be. 

 

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Web Design Milwaukee | Web Presence Pros

Having a great looking website for your Milwaukee based company is one thing, but if you don't have anybody seeing it, then it wouldn't be very useful.
Our strategy involves Social marketing, Local representation, SEO, SEM, Video, and more resulting in rich content and relevant results.  People are looking for you in many different ways online.  In order to be found, you need a developed web presence. 

As Internet Marketing and Online Advertising Consultants In Milwaukee, We Specialize in SEO, SEM, Website Construction, Web Design, Reputation Marketing, Display Advertising, Local Advertising, Video advertising, and Social Marketing. Why do we handle all of these areas?  Because in order for a business to to be found online, it needs to be where perspective customers are looking for them.  And that is everywhere.  We handle all of this at a rate lower then most internet marketing firms.  Why?  Because in order for us to provide you with the most effective internet strategy.  You will need all of these areas covered.  Most companies will charge a separate fee for each product that you are using.  We don't, we know that in order to market your company effectively, all of these areas need to be covered at a reasonable cost.   If you want your business found on the internet, contact us. 414-699-5444.

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Milwaukee Local Advertising online tips

 Local Milwaukee and surrounding businesses need to make sure they are found on all the local search directories and engines along with social media.   Here is a great article explaining....

One phrase that has been ubiquitous when discussing offsite SEO tactics for the past decade is “link neighborhoods.” There have been countless articles, presentations and graphics describing what they are, how to identify them and how best to determine what your neighborhood is so you can focus your link building efforts there.
While most recent articles focus more on how to prevent your site from being associated with bad neighborhoods, trying to associate your site with good neighborhoods is still considered a best practice.
With the advent of local search rising in importance over the past six years, citations have been rising in importance.
There are many tools available to help you mine the citations, but it's quite easy to categorize them into neighborhoods similarly to how links exist. Let's look at some examples of citation neighborhoods, and tips for how you can take advantage of them.

Local Properties of Search Engines

The first set of sites to focus on isn’t really in a neighborhood at all but includes the sites that use the citations in different neighborhoods to verify and confirm the accuracy of their information. Specifically, Google+ Local, Bing Local, and Yahoo Local should all be ground zero for any local search marketing effort. Until a business has claimed and optimized their presence on these, citation generation is probably not the best use of the business owner’s time.
Tip: Claim your business listings, clean up duplicates, and fill out as much information as possible on Google+ Local, Bing Local, and Yahoo Local.

Large Directory Sites

There are dozens of sites in this neighborhood that have large amounts of structured citations, including Citysearch, YellowPages and Superpages. Filled with business listings dominated by data from the primary data aggregators (Localeze, InfoUSA, and Acxiom), businesses should obtain and clean up their citations in this neighborhood after taking care of listings on Google+ Local, Bing & Yahoo.
Tip: Utilize Localeze, InfoUSA and Acxiom to make sure that the information in this neighborhood of the local ecosystem is correct.

Social Media Sites

This neighborhood is rapidly becoming the number one place to generate unstructured citations and can influence heavily how you perform in the search engines for queries with local intent. Facebook and Twitter lead the way, but businesses should not overlook LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Tumblr. Besides making sure they have a business profile properly filled out, business owners should also work toward having people mention and tag their businesses on these sites.
Tip: On Facebook, ask your followers questions that would encourage them to respond with information that would add to your citation count. “Complete the following phrase and add to your timeline and be entered into our sweepstakes! ‘My favorite memory at [your city’s name]’s is...’”

Review Sites

Yelp is still the 800 pound gorilla in this neighborhood, but Angie’s List, TripAdvisor, OpenTable, and Judy’s Book are all important sites as well. Also, many sites in other neighborhoods – including the search engines themselves – offer user reviews which are more opportunities to build citations in those neighborhoods.
Tip: Claim your listings on these sites directly and make sure your business information is correct and secondary information optimized.

Niche Local Sites

A true “Neighborhood” in the classic sense of the word, these are going to be sites that all revolve around people’s current locations. Think of local government sites, local newspapers, local job boards, local event and meet-up sites, local restaurant bloggers, and so on. Any and all of these generally have mentions if not full citations of local businesses, and anytime a business can get its information listed on these sites can have a powerful effect on Google rankings.
Tip: On your next press release, include your address and/or phone number to build extra citations on sites in this neighborhood. Also, make sure your information appears correctly on your local Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau sites.

Niche Industry Sites

There are tons of sites out there focused on a single industry that can be great places to obtain structured and unstructured citations. Often times, sites in this neighborhood are how-to guides, forums and other user-generated content sites that make adding citations relatively easily.
Tip: Start participating on industry sites and making sure to leave your business information where and when appropriate. Adam Dorfman, December 13, 2012

Summary

While it’s unlikely that Google has become adept enough to recognize neighborhoods when it comes to citations similarly to how they are able to with links, businesses with a wide variety of citations often tend to rank better.
As Google continues to refine its local ranking algorithm, it wouldn't be surprising to see them take a more “neighborhood” view of citations in the future; so spreading out those citations sources and going for ones in relevant neighborhoods is something all local search marketers should be focusing on now.

Full article here

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

SEO or PPC advertising what works best ?

GREAT ARTICLE ON SEARCH ENGINE WATCH

Many times I am asked if a business had money to invest in internet advertising and had to choose between organic or sponsored links, where should they spend it.  I always tell them that you would obviously want to be where people are looking for you.  Overwhelmingly, organic results receive more clicks then sponsored links.  Yes it requires a lot of work, but in the long run, your results will be much better and the cost will be much lower.  Search engine Watch has a great article explaining.

Click here


If your looking to be found online and some internet marketing rep tries to tell you to purchase big bucks on paid ads read this first. 


My Milwaukee customers already know.

Paid Search Growth Continues to Slip, | Milwaukee Internet Advertising

 Businesses in Milwaukee and around the world are looking into better ways to be found online.  Keeping your presence online requires you to sometimes add PPC or Pay per Clicks into your mix of advertising along with SEO and Social marketing.  Here is a good article from Miranda Miller, October 24, 2012 on Search Engine Watch.

Slowing growth and lower CPCs in paid search don’t bode well for companies like Google, though advertisers are seeing a higher return on their paid search investment, according to recent reports.
U.S. search spend grew by 11 percent Year over Year (YoY) while ROI improved by 26 percent, according to Adobe. They found that Google’s CPCs fell 10 percent over the last year and attribute the loss to an increased volume of less expensive mobile clicks. It’s a problem Google knows all too well; one that was a hot topic during their recent quarterly earnings call.

Rimm-Kaufman Group (RKG) puts paid search spend growth slightly higher, at 18 percent YoY, down from 32 percent in Q2. IgnitionOne was almost in line with RKG on search spend, reporting growth of 17.8 percent YoY. For their part, Covario reported that growth in paid search advertising was up 33 percent in the third quarter compared to a year earlier, and up 6 percent over Q2 2012.

In their Q3 report, Marin Software noted they are well on their way to hitting their prediction that mobile devices will account for 25 percent of all paid search clicks on Google by December this year. Average CPC in the US fell from $0.95 in Q3 2011 to $0.82 today, they reported.
Adobe expects Google’s CPC losses to turn around next quarter, explaining, “The cost per click (CPC) downward trend caused by mobile traffic appears to have bottomed out and is projected to rise in Q4 due to seasonal trends and changes to the Google Shopping model.”

Mobile vs Desktop

Nearly 21 percent of organic search visits occurred on mobile devices in Q3, up from 18 percent in Q2, according to RKG (see chart). For paid search, 16 percent of clicks and 11 percent of ad spend were mobile.
Across their client base, Marin Software found that smartphone and tablet devices accounted for 19 percent share of clicks and 14 percent share of spend.
Covario reports, “On a global platform basis, mobile advertising grew 17 percent in the third quarter when compared to Q2 2012 and 90 percent growth year-over-year when compared to Q3 ’11. The breakdown of mobile ad spend was 52 percent mobile device/smartphone spend, while 48 percent was in the growing tablet space. This is a much closer split than a year ago when smartphones made up 73 percent of the mobile spend.”
Across their base, IgnitionOne reported an increase in mobile’s share of search advertising budget, with 16.3 percent of total search spend in Q3, an increase of 14 percent over the past quarter. Tablet devices accounted for 52.2 percent of the total mobile search advertising budget for the quarter, which is a decrease compared to last quarter (60 percent).

Click here for the rest of the article

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Proving the Value of SEO | Internet Marketing Milwaukee

 Great Article from Search Engine Watch dealing with those non believers in SEO.

Convincing others of the importance of organic search and the need for SEO management has admittedly become easier over the years. Many have followed suit with competitors to jump into SEO endeavors to keep pace and many are coming to see that online organic ROI often times is much better than traditional marketing, is better targeted and easier to measure.
However, there remains a skeptical, more “old school” crowd, that still needs to be shown the need for organic search devotion. Whether you work for an agency trying to make a sale or on an in-house team tired of not drawing leads, taking a look at your Google Analytics data with this 10-minute drill down on what organic is doing for you can make a great impact.
Google Analytics has taken great strides in the last year or so by adding multi-channel attribution data to site reporting, in addition to maintaining historical bare bones data that can be quite convincing in itself. We now enjoy an analytical progression where additional data on referred visits that shows organic may be playing more of a part in your site conversion success than previously thought.
What follows are some of the common questions and responses you might get as you're painting the picture.

Click here for Full Article from  Josh McCoy on Search Engine Watch.

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Research For SEO vs. PPC

Often when I complete a keyword research project for a client, they ask me about keywords I may not have included, or they want to know what the relative competition on the keywords looks like. This happens often enough that I thought I would remind everyone that while research for SEO and PPC can go hand in hand, they’re actually very different.
First, think about what your goals are with each medium. What are you trying to do, and what constitutes success in that area? Next, think about how the keywords will be used. Where, when, how often?
Finally, consider what your margin for error is. If you don’t get exactly the right keyword, what’s the penalty?   Search Engine land Aug 28, 2012 at 11:11am ET by Jenny Halasz

What… Is Your Quest?

In SEO, your goal should be to understand the keyword landscape of a topic. What keywords do people search for, and what does this tell us about their intent? What can we learn from looking at keywords in a broader context?
For PPC, your goal should be to find the keywords that you can bid on. Which keywords are going to make you the most potential money for your cost-per-click investment?
You should focus on keywords that suggest a purchase (or goal completion), that represent a category area that is profitable for you, and that you can’t easily get ranked for in organic (most of the time – there are exceptions to this).

CLICK HERE to go to entire article.

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Reaping the Long-Term Benefits of Content Marketing

Milwaukee business owners trying to be found online have to remember 1 thing,  CONTENT.  Search engines are looking for relevant up to date content.  It is one of the ways that they are able to tell if you are engaged with your customers and that you are a legitimate business.  Here is a great article that explains more.
 

 Content marketing has the power to produce more than just links – it can enhance your brand image and build relationships with key brand advocates who are sure to get you even more links and exposure than you ever could without a content-based strategy.
It may sound counter-productive, but focusing less on link building can actually gain more links.
The four content marketing benefits below can all come with the additional side effect of natural links. Craft your content strategy with these core benefits in mind, and you can spend less (or even zero) time on link acquisition.

Click here for the full article from  Loren Baker, on Search Engine Watch

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Back to School Search Marketers

 Ok, time for us SEO marketers to buckle down and see how your customers are doing. 

The end of summer means it’s time for back to school. Kids of all ages are trading in their swimsuits for backpacks and heading back to class.

Now that summer vacation is behind us and a busy Q4 lies ahead, it’s as good a time as any for search marketers to crack open the books and make sure your account is in good shape and you have a solid plan for the future. Dave Ragals, August 30, 2012

Click here for full article from Search Engine Watch

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Internet advertising Milwaukee

Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at 414-699-5444 or email him at borntorun1234@yahoo.com.

Call for a free Consultation on how to get your business found online.

414-699-5444

Or Email me at

borntorun1234@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Images, Status Updates, Videos Spur Most Brand Engagement

A recent study from marketing firm Perfomics shows that 33 percent of people are most likely to respond to brand offers when they are reposted by a friend. The study states that 27 percent will do so on the brand's page, 26 percent from the newsfeed, and 20 percent from a social ad.
The study also touched on some valuable information about branded content engagement. Consumers are most likely to engage with branded content containing images (44 percent). A close 40 percent of people said they are likely to engage with Status Updates and 37 percent with videos.ClickZ, July 27, 2012

Another interesting piece of information the study stated was the social media tendencies of mothers and fathers. It showed that moms are more likely to have a Facebook account than dads, although dads are significantly more likely than all other men and women, including moms, to have YouTube and Twitter accounts.
This information is based on the Perfomics Life on Demand social media survey which studied 2,000 Americans who visit a social network at least once a day about their use of social media across devices, channels and screens.

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Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

7 Habits of Highly Effective SEO

When I started my professional career (selling advertising), one of the most influential books that I read at the time was "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", by Stephen Covey.
It’s not much of an over-statement to say that this book changed my life.
What’s interesting to me is how many of the tenets that Mr. Covey conveyed in this book hold true in many facets of my life, and specifically with digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).
I speak to many prospects for SEO services, every day. Some of these believe that SEO is a one-and-done affair.
While I find instances where companies could see some solid gains by simply implementing proper title tags and correcting a few things, more often than not, proper SEO efforts need to be worked on a regular basis to realize the types of gains that can deliver really solid, long-lasting and “optimized” (optimal) results.
Every SEO company will have its own processes for performing SEO, and I’m not suggesting that what follows covers everything that goes into an ongoing SEO effort, but the key ingredients are here.
*Note: items in italics come directly from Stephen Covey’s website.

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Instead of reacting to or worrying about conditions over which they have little or no control, proactive people focus their time and energy on things they can control. The problems, challenges, and opportunities we face fall into two areas--Circle of Concern and Circle of Influence.

Proactive people focus their efforts on their Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about: health, children, problems at work. Reactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Concern--things over which they have little or no control: the national debt, terrorism, the weather. Gaining an awareness of the areas in which we expend our energies in is a giant step in becoming proactive.

In our world, being proactive means you can't chase an algorithm.

Full Story here


Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Paid Search Continues to grow

Milwaukee businesses are aware of how well PPC has grown as a part of everyone's online search strategy.  What they may not be aware is that it is now growing much slower then in tie past.
Paid search spend growth is relatively steady, but slowing from the impressive rates seen over the previous few quarters.
U.S. mobile paid search spend increased astronomically, while organic search visits from mobile, mobile as a percentage of total search spend, and mobile clicks and impressions all rose.

Q2 Paid Search Spend Up But Growth Rate Slows

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Brookfield Wi Dentist Marketing tips

If you are a dentist, you might have noticed by now that the number of patients checking Yellow Pages and calling you afterwards has drastically dropped. There are a few exceptions such as places with limited access to Internet.
Instead, it has been replaced by on-line channels such as Google, Yahoo, Yelp or other specialty directories. But what happens when patients go on-line and look for a dentist? How do they select the provider of their choice and how do they book an appointment? The following dental marketing tips will help you get a better grasp of the on-line behavior of patients:

• First and foremost, you need a website! But the era of just having something up and running is over. Besides having a beautiful, informative and engaging dental website that adds value to your patients, you need to make sure it will be viewed by enough prospective patients.
• You need engaging and reliable content on your website to educate your patients, before and after their treatment.
• You need to be at the top of the search engine results. When someone looks online, they rarely go beyond first page of Google, and most of the time they select one of the first three results. You need to be among them. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a series of techniques including on-page optimization, link building, setting up the proper analytic and submission tools such as Webmaster Tools, etc that help you improve your rank in search engines. The better SEO you have, the more visitors you will have to your website.
• You need a Google Places Page. You have to build it and manage it constantly. In local searches, Google shows the results from Google Places and they are becoming more important every day.
• Build and manage your on-line listings on Yelp, Super Pages, Online Yellow Pages and other specialty directories. Patients check your reputation on-line in those channels.
• Build your reputation. You might want to ask your patients to spread the word.
• Sometimes there are negative reviews on-line; you might want to check on-line reputation management solutions.
• Engage in social media! Your patients are on Facebook; they use Twitter and LinkedIn and watch on-line videos. Be in those channels, be active and add value to them.
• Set up a blog and engage your patients with new updates on the practice, the area or the industry.
• Have an on-line newsletter and send it to your patients regularly. They deserve to be informed.
• Make videos and educational material and put them up on the internet and your YouTube Channel. You can ask Video Marketing experts to spread the word.

Being a dentist, your time is probably limited. You might need to have your front desk take care of some of these tasks or ask for professional help. The good thing about professionals is that they know their job and won’t waste your valuable time.

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Do Milwaukee buisnesses need a middleman to advertise online?

 Nice article from Searchengineland.com regarding advertising online and the different ways an SMB may use a middleman to market their business.  I have to agree with this article but disagree in the fact that he see's automation in the future.  I think that SEO, Local, and Social media is changing so rapidly that the need for constant monitoring would be required by somebody other then automation if you want to continue to be successful.
Full article here

Having worked in the local search space for a while, I am often asked how is it that SMBs are so slow in adopting self-serve systems in their online advertising. And indeed, in the age of Internet advertising, when anyone can purchase keywords on search engines, is there really a need for a middleman anymore?

by  Hanan Lifshitz

While an important function of these middlemen is to convince the local plumber or dentist to spend their hard earned money on online advertising, they also help guide the SMB owner through the planning phases of the ad campaign, explaining the various options and helping to optimize the campaign.
In this post, I will review a number of local search platforms, from the traditional to the new, and examine the complexity that is involved in advertising on them.
Print Yellow Pages, the forefathers of SMB advertising, are relatively easy to understand – in order to gain visibility, an SMB has to purchase a large ad on the first page of his category. Pretty straightforward and simple:

Online Yellow Pages have added new features to their offerings, but the concept is still mostly the same – visibility is determined by size and placement of the SMB’s ad:

Local Search Sites such as CitySearch have added yet another level of complexity with features such as performance advertising that require some additional explaining.

And then we get to what many regard as the most effective form of local online marketing – search advertising. Search Engines have opened a whole new spectrum of options that make it far more difficult to understand and manage local ad campaigns. There is constant discussion on what SMBs should do to rank better (a couple of weeks ago, David Mihm posted his second volume of Local Search Ranking Factors – 27 experts analyzed and evaluated 49 criteria). Many SMBs may think that if they appear “first” on Google Maps in a certain relevant search, their job is done… However, this is often far from true.
Take for instance the following searches, conducted a few minutes apart, and the results they generate.
Search 1: plumbing contractor los angeles

Search 2: plumbing contractors los angeles – note that “The Best Plumber I Ever Had”, #1 from the previous list, is nowhere to be found.

Search 3: cheap plumber los angeles

Search 4: emergency plumbing los angeles, ca – and here is “The Best Plumber I Ever Had” again…

There are many more possible searches in this category and it is very likely that each of them will yield different results. Small, seemingly insignificant variations of a keyword (e.g. from singular to plural) or a geographic modifier (adding “ca”) can change the content of the 10 pack. This inherent complexity has bred a whole new class of companies like ReachLocal, Yodle and Webvisible, that help SMBs effectively manage such campaigns.
Looking at the development in the local advertising industry, from print to online, and even within the online world, it is clear that if anything, local search advertising services are getting more complicated. It is ironic that the question of whether mediators are still required in this industry has intensified in parallel to the ever growing complexity of online advertising. A complexity that for now, for the majority of SMB owners, can be overcome only with the help of… a middleman.
Being a big believer in self-serve, I predict that one day these complicated ad services will also be automated into systems that mask their complexity and enable users (SMBs) to simply enter their needs and budget and get the right solution. However, that will take some time and until then, the middleman will remain a critical component of this eco-system.

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

US Newspapers are hit by downturn in online advertising

Milwaukee companies looking to advertise on the internet should follow the national trend.  Deal with an internet marketing specialist.  Newspapers were able to sell ads in their newspapers for two reasons, reach and timely content.  In the past getting the news every 12 to 24 hours was quite fast, and readership was huge.  Everybody got the newspaper.  Not anymore.  With Social networks, blogs, online news, and website news services.  Do you really read the newspaper?  I know the local newspaper in Milwaukee has online versions of their paper, but do people really go to it when the news they are looking for is usually right on their homepages?  Or being updated on twitter in real time?

  To make matters worse they decided to charge you for the content after something like 20 page views per month.  Really?  The newspapers have become the middleman when it comes to delivering the news and delivering ads to customers.  The internet is available to everybody, the content and distribution on Yahoo and Google is available to anybody who advertises on Google, Yahoo and Bing.  You don't need to pay for all the overhead required, or sign a long term contract.  Shop around, you will be surprised to find out how inexpensive it is if you work with the right people.
Here is a great article showing how online advertising revenue is dropping for newspapers at a time when overall online advertising is booming.

Posted by

Roy Greenslade 

As if the news for the US newspaper industry couldn't get much worse, it now appears that online advertising is vanishing.
According to the Newspaper Association of America, digital advertising revenue in the first quarter at newspapers rose just 1% from a year ago. That's the fifth consecutive quarter that growth has declined.
This troubling trend comes against a background of US newspapers fleeing print to go online and the imposition of paywalls by many publishers.
Publishing executives and analysts believe that a flood of excess advertising space, the rise of electronic advertising exchanges that sell ads at cut-rate prices and the weak US economy are all contributing to the slowdown.

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Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Google & Ecommerce: 10 Things Business Owners Need to Know Before July 

Mary Weinstein, June 29, 2012

 Fifty percent of Google Product Search traffic will be switching to paid Google Shopping by July 28. Online merchants who aren’t ready for the switch will face some serious repercussions. Below we break it down and present all the latest and greatest updates ecommerce business owners need to know about Google and Ecommerce to stay ahead of the changes.

1. Google Shopping is Google’s new paid option for merchants who wish to list products on Google’s product pages.

According to IgnitionOne, between 5 and 10 percent of search traffic for retailers comes from Google Product Search. Google Product Search, Google’s current free product listing program, will gradually be replaced by Product Listing Ads (PLAs) and ultimately Google Shopping.

Click here for the full article

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.

Window Replacement Milwaukee

 Many Milwaukee window replacement companies are looking online to find customers.  Out are the newspaper and yellowpages, work of mouth is still great but social marketing is now the new word of mouth.  So finding a way to be found by local customers online is extremely important.  Besides SEO and SEM, Social marketing is beginning to take hold.  If you don't know how to do this and you trust your internet advertising to newspaper and yellowpage companies, your not helping your effort.  Here is a great article from windowanddoor.com about social marketing online.  Look back at my blog regarding other ways to get found online

John G. Swanson
October 4, 2011
THE TALK... | Sales & Marketing

An electronic newsletter came to me yesterday from Abe Gaskins at MGM Industries.  He is an active blogger and the Tennessee vinyl window maker's website is filled with his wisdom on a variety of topics. This week he talks about search engine optimization and blogging and how it can translate into leads.  He says it's working for MGM and its dealer customers and he encourages his company's dealers to start doing it too.

Survey Results as 10/10/2011 :

When it comes to the internet and social media--

My company is active, but hasn't seen a lot of results.				44%
My company's activity is limited, but it doesn't seem to have an impact.				32%
My company is active and benefiting as a result.				15%
My company's activity is limited, and it is hurting us.				9%

I know many dealers and manufacturers are definitely out there on the internet doing the same thing.  I also know many are not.  Sure, most have a website, but blogging, tweeting, Facebook, etc., are not high on the priority list.  Are you like Abe?  Active and seeing the results?  Or are you focused on other things?  Is lack of internet activity hurting you?  With this week's poll, I thought I would see what's happening out there in the industry.
Of course, Id' like to hear from you too.  Post a comment and tell us what you're doing online.  What's working? What isn't?  There's some great stuff out there by the way, like the latest video from Mathews Brothers. Sometimes it's educational, sometimes it's humorous, and we'd like to share more, so send us the links too.

click here for Full article

Disclaimer: The postings of opinions on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my clients or publishers. Jim is an experienced Internet Marketing Consultant in Milwaukee Wisconsin. His mission is to help you increase your advertising return on investment and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He works with local businesses, agencies, and Non-Profits. Feel Free to call him at (414)699-5444 to schedule a Free Consultation.