LocalAdLink or "Local Ad Link"

Has anybody been approached by the network marketing program localadlink(.com)? (I am putting the ".com" in () because I do not want to risk accidentally promoting them at this point.

I have watched their videos and read a bit on their website-from what I have seen it looks like a lot of fluff, without a lot of substance from the perspective of being a good advertising platform. It looks to me like what they are doing is trying to sell people on joining their network for about $300 with the promise of potential results and commissions from signing other people up.

The geo-targeting technology is not that unique from what I can tell, and actually not that reliable in the way they are trying to utilize it. For instance; I am on my VPN so it is completely useless to me as a search engine because it thinks I am in Dayton, OH.

I do not want to bash anyone's company or idea, but before I recommend this or not to friends, customers and prospects I want to learn as much about it as I can. If you have hard evidence that shows any positives or negatives of this company please let me know.

If you go to Semrush.com and plugin localadlink.com you will see that they have no high organic rankings for any significantly searched keyword phrases. Not that they are only trying to grow their company via SEO, but the likelihood of someone using them over Google, Google Maps, Google Local or a local online Yellow Pages seems very slim.



For REAL Internet marketing for attorneys visit www.lawyermarketingexpert.com.

For solid and honest answers to internet marketing for all other types of businesses visit www.integrityroi.com

How do you become the leader in your industry on the Internet?

Think about Search Engine Optimization this way: no matter how good your business is, if you are not getting yourself out on the Internet letting everyone know what you are doing, what your expertise is, how experienced you are, what your products or services are and what makes you the right choice for your prospects- on a regular basis, no one searching online for your products or services will be able to find you.

Many business owners want to get to the point where they are driven by referrals. They want the phone to ring with the best prospects calling from referrals, or at least have the choice of operating this way once they have grown to the level they are comfortable with. Even referral based businesses must have a strong Internet presence, because their referrals “Google” them by name. As long as your site represents you well and is decently designed you should come up at the top of Google by name. Referral based businesses need to remember that more people will see their website than see their see them or their businesses, so they need to try to keep their website up to date and at a level that does not increase the risk of you losing referrals.

I spoke to a business owner who had a customer a few blocks a way that he never met face to face until after a year of doing business with them to the tune of $120,000.

I was at a business a few months ago that said every time the phone rang from a referral that said “I was looking at your website…” they cringed because as good as they were their website looked very “20th century”. They did not want to invest in search engine optimization for advertising purposes, but they needed to be represented online at least as well as they were at their office location and through the words of others who were referring them customers. A business like this can get a fully customized website with RSS feeds, and add flash and video for a total cost of between $3K and $6K-with no need for significant time or money spent on Search Engine Marketing.

If you are like the rest of us and you are not already famous and you need more quality customers, then you need to treat the Internet like another community that you are reaching out to and getting to know so they can get to know you. You need to “take Google out to lunch” and discover what they want from you for you to be considered an authority in your field and recommend you to the people who come to their site looking for a business like yours.

You need to get up to date information about you and your firm online regularly. Taking your referral partners out to lunch once every two years is not going to work as well as taking them out once a month or once a week.

How do you do that? The short answer is through blogs, press releases, forum postings, videos, emails and of course your website or websites.

If networking is not your strong suit, you might consider developing that skill or hiring a PR or sales/marketing specialist to do it for you. If you are not capable of implementing the strategies required to earn Google’s respect and have them begin to refer you business, and you do not want to spend your time learning how to be a website developer and optimization specialist, then you need to hire someone you can trust to do it for you.

How do you find someone to do it for you?

Check out my previous post on choosing someone to do your Internet marketing.

Of course, if you really wanted to be thorough, you could take the time to put together a comprehensive RFP (request for proposal) and ask 2-3 reputable SEO service providers to look at it, put together a proposal and present it to you.

The problem is that you are not likely to be an Internet marketing expert (if you are, that’s still only half the battle). You may not know what is available or what you should even look for in an Internet marketing specialist.

Blogging for links...

I am obviously a believer of blogs and the value of blogs to the readers and writers of them, but they are not THE answer for getting links to your site and winning the battle for search engine optimization.

While a blog can be a good way to generate traffic to your website, it is better utilized as a means for you to engage with your potential prospects and current customers with current advice on topics they may be interested in about your business or industry.

In fact, one of the great things about blogs is that the search engines love them, and you can easily update them to reflect news events like the democratic national convention coming to Denver.

Of course, this blog is competing against a host of other blogs and press release organizations, and I would be surprised if just by posting to this blog I could appear at the top of Google for the search: denver internet marketing.

Some of you may have heard that blogging will bring your website to the top of Google or Yahoo!, and that you just need to “blog, blog and blog more”-link to your site and watch it rise to the top.
This may work in less competitive markets for less competitive keywords (like “rodent racing”, as Peter Kent always says), but it is not sufficient for competitive terms like attorney internet marketing. The fact is that you must generate tens, hundreds or even thousands of links to your site if you are going to win the battle to get to the top of Yahoo! or Google for competitive search terms.

One quality link from your blog will not do the trick.

The moral of the story is; keep on blogging if you want to, but don’t expect miracle placement for your website as a result. There are other things you can do that will generate higher rankings on Google and Yahoo! that are much more efficient.

What can you do to get your site to the top of Google?

Getting an honest answer to it can be very tricky.

Until now.

You can ask me through the form on this blog, wait until my next post, or call me at 720-985-7945 to schedule a free Internet marketing consultation for your business or firm.

In the meantime-have fun blogging!

Local Internet Marketing and the Yellow Pages

How good of a resource is my local Yellow Pages?

Most of the available evidence, statistical, anecdotal and otherwise points to one thing: the return on investment for yellow pages advertising is decreasing. Even if overall Yellow Pages usage is staying the same (despite population growth), there are so many new books that your advertising in the YP is becoming diluted unless you advertise in all of the books-which probably will cost you significantly more. In 2007, more and more businesses that I work with either cut out their Yellow Pages completely, or are planning on doing so the next time the YP salesman comes around. In most cases this is because their Internet Marketing program is outperforming their Yellow Pages.

There are at least two ways in which Internet Marketing outperforms the Yellow Pages:
1-Internet marketing, if done strategically usually has a lower cost per customer acquisition and/or return on investment. Bottom Line: A well implemente Pay Per Click marketing program, Search Engine Optimization program, or other Internet marketing program has a better ROI than the yellow pages.

(I know that many of the Internet marketing programs out there are NOT working very well-which is why you need to call Dan Stratford for a free 15 minute consultation at 720-985-7945 if you are considering Internet marketing or looking to improve your program. In 15 minutes Dan can point you in the right direction.)

2-The quality of the customers is higher online. On average, the income and education of an Internet user is higher than that of a yellow pages user. Of course, all demographics use both to some degree, but on average the Internet is higher.

3-In most cases the Internet is outperforming the yellow pages advertising when a business is spending the same amount on both (provided their Internet marketing is legit)

If you spend the amount of money it takes to dominate the Yellow pages (which, for an attorney in a metro area the size of Denver can easily be over $150K/year) this can result in a higher quantity of calls than what you might get from Internet marketing. However, you will have to do a lot of sifting to get to the diamonds in the ruff. So if you have the time or resources to advertise aggressively in the phone book and you are aggressively growing your business, then the yellow page might be at least a break even proposition in the short run. However, my Internet marketing customers consistently increase their Internet marketing budgets and many are cutting out their yellow pages advertising completely.

Come back tomorrow for advice on Internet marketing with the yellow pages-what works what to look out for.

Local Search Engine Marketing

I hear one of three stories when talking to someone about their experience with local search engine marketing, search engine optimization and pay-per-click marketing-when they are being honest with me:

1-"We tried that before from this guy who promised us the world, but it never worked, and that guy is out of business."

2-"We have someone doing that for us, butwe aren't sure how it's working for us."

3-"We have that taken care of, and we are getting great results from our ______ program."

Of course, it's no wonder that the majority of businesses are doing very little to strategically and successfully market their business online in such a way that matches their needs, while providing a solid return on investment (ROI)

What are your best options for local search engine marketing?

First thing you need to ask-is selling your product or service online going to be profitable?

If you are selling a product that is a commodity and that people think they can get anywhere-like a 250 gig hard drive, you are going to have a hard time selling it online successfully, unless you have some kind of unique differentiator, because you are competing against hundreds if not thousands of companies selling the same thing on the Internet. There is a gentleman named Chip Roepke who owns a computer store by Park Meadows Mall south of Denver who offers superior service for local businesses and good prices, but my experience is that he cannot compete online against Gateway, Dell, Best Buy, etc. on price alone. I still have friends who buy from Chip because they know him and trust him, they know they will get a good deal, and his service is impeccable. His advantage is great local service, but he is not the price leader.

If you have a service that someone wants and needs to use locally like a landscaping contractor, a massage therapist, or a beauty salon, you can likely and easily profit very well from local Internet marketing.

That doesn't hold true for local insurance brokers, real estate agents, and attorneys. They CAN profit from local search engine marketing strategies, but not without a strong solutions provider, the right strategy, or a lot of luck. You can find a strong solutions provider, you can implement the right strategy, but you cannot depend on luck.

If you are unsure of what will work for you, call me-Dan Stratford at 720-985-7945 for a FREE 15 minute Internet Marketing Consultation. I will give you honest answers to your questions and within 15 minutes help you pick a direction to go that will help you succeed. If you get my voicemail, just leave a message and I will call you back.

You can also come back tomorrow for some FREE online advice, and answers to the question:

Where should I invest my time and money in Internet marketing?

"Transparent SEO"

I am excited about this new term I heard from the SEO team at LexisNexis; "Transparent SEO". It's an SEO service where the SEO experts (in this case, LexisNexis/Martindale Hubbell's SEO service for attorneys) don't make empty promises to their customer's for position on Google, however, they give their customers an idea of the amount of time that will be spent on the program as well as an overview of the strategies the SEO consultant will be implementing. This allows the customer to hold the SEO firm accountable and essentially get what they are paying for: SEO knowledge, SEO strategic development, SEO implementation and consistent SEO management.

A new SEO firm in Denver that does NOT do work for attorneys but for other types of industries including real estate, appraisal firms, beauty salons, other service and other retail based businesses in Colorado and around the country is Integrity Internet Consulting. You can get to their site at http://www.integrityinternetconsulting.com/ or http://www.integrityroi.com/.

The Top Pay Per Click Marketing Mistakes

Too Many Keywords Per Pay Per Click Marketing Ad Group
It's important to target your Pay Per Click Marketing keywords to be as relevant as possible. Don't group all your keywords into one or two ad groups-splitting them up will give you more control over ad variables so that you can be as relevant as possible.

Tracking the Results of Your Pay Per Click Marketing Program
Too many businesses throw money away on Pay Per Click Marketing without even tracking the results. We can show you how to track which keywords result in sales, leads or actions taken, and how to improve the profitability of your program.

Not Separating Your Pay Per Click Marketing Content and Search Marketing
This may be the biggest mistake of all. Content search results are not nearly as valuable as search results. If you do not know the difference, then you need to call us for a free 15 minute consultation at 303-997-3424.

Utilizing Geo Targeting in Your Pay Per Click Marketing Locao or Regional Program
We have customers that are able to profit from keywords they would never be able to profit from in a Search Engine Optimization program. Yet for many businesses geotargeting can be a wasted investment. You really need to talk to our expert to find out which applies to your business: call 303-997-3424 for a FREE 15 minute consultation.

Not Considering a Search Engine Optimization Strategy
Of course, many businesses need to implement a Pay Per Click marketing program alongside a Search Engine Optimization program (otherwise known as SEO).

Visit the links below for more help:

Pay Per Click Marketing
Pay Per Click Marketing Denver
Pay Per Click Marketing Las Vegas
Pay Per Click Marketing Kansas City
Pay Per Click Marketing Hawaii

"Transparent" SEO

How many have you heard an SEO service company pitch that goes like this:

"Pay us X thousands of dollars and see what happens."

or

"Sign a long term contract with us for x thousands of dollars and see what happens."

There are two companies I know of that are breaking the mold when it comes to transparency and SEO.

LexisNexis/Martindale Hubbell is actually offering an SEO service for attorneys that is as transparent as it can be. They provide the attorney with an estimate of the hours it will take to provide a successful SEO campaign based on the competitive landscape of the keywords. The attorney receives reports every month with reports services provided so that the attorney can hold them accountable. No one else that I know is providing that transparent of a service for attorneys.

For non-attorneys there is a newly formed SEO company that does the same thing. The company is based out of Denver, and they are called Integrity Internet Consulting.

"Transparent" SEO

How many have you heard an SEO service company pitch that goes like this:

"Pay us X thousands of dollars and see what happens."

or

"Sign a long term contract with us for x thousands of dollars and see what happens."

There are two companies I know of that are breaking the mold when it comes to transparency and SEO.

LexisNexis/Martindale Hubbell is actually offering an SEO service for attorneys that is as transparent as it can be. They provide the attorney with an estimate of the hours it will take to provide a successful SEO campaign based on the competitive landscape of the keywords. The attorney receives reports every month with reports services provided so that the attorney can hold them accountable. No one else that I know is providing that transparent of a service for attorneys.

For non-attorneys there is a newly formed SEO company that does the same thing. The company is based out of Denver, and they are called Integrity Internet Consulting.