I was talking to a prospective client today, following-up a proposal I sent for a small website she needs (and wants).

I’ve also sent her an update on the new Google search results plus a piece on how to avoid the biggest mistake people make about their website (an over emphasis on the design of the site rather than the marketing of it).  So she’s well informed about the current important aspects to marketing on-line.

But when we spoke she said “Who knows my business better than me?” and she had decided to do more planning for a bigger site.  My head swooned at this.

Firstly, making the project bigger is a sure-fire way to bring the project to a screeching halt.

But the biggest problem is that she “knows” her business better than anyone else.  While that’s true to a large extent in terms of the operations, most business owners rarely know their business from a customer’s perspective.  And almost certainly is the worst person to plan and implement their marketing.

How I Learnt The Secret To Marketing Yourself Online.

Last December, I was struggling to create my new website.  I couldn’t get a grip on where to start and thought, “How can I consult to people if I can’t do my own site?”I was in inner turmoil about it.

Then I was being interviewed about SEO by a successful marketing consultant in San Francisco.  She mentioned that she always outsources her marketing because she’s too close to it. Phew! It wasn’t just me.

A week later I was chatting with a marketing guy in England and he said the same thing – he outsources his marketing. Hmm – interesting.  I see a pattern developing

Then soon after I was talking with New Zealand’s top marketing consultant and he said that he always has someone else check his marketing.  Hallelujah!  The answer to marketing myself is not to try it.

And that’s it.  You are very unlikely to be successful with your marketing, whether it’s an ad, a sales letter, a web page or your search engine optimisation because you know what you want to say but you rarely know what a customer wants to hear.

An Example – The Same Market – Two Different Languages – No Business

A client in a small volume, high ticket price industry was #2 in Google and his competitor was #1 but neither got any traffic to their sites. I did some keyword research and found that between them they had many hundreds of web pages but hardly any searches for their keywords.

At the other end of the spectrum, there were a good number of searches but hardly any pages.

The business owners were using the wrong language because they know the topic inside out but they didn’t know how a customer expresses the problems.

So, for an independent view on your online marketing and SEO, email here for a complementary 30 minute consultation with an Auckland Internet marketing service.

Technorati Tags: Auckland, Internet marketing, local marketing, Small business marketing

Think back over the last week about when you’ve been driving around your city.  I live in Auckland, New Zealand but this applies to any city in the world.

How many vans have you seen for plumbers or electricans or any other service for that matter?

Chances are you’ve seen 2 or 3. Maybe more, maybe less but around that number

Now, how many of those can you remember the name of the company?

And even more importantly, how many did you get on the phone and say, “I want you to come and …..” whatever service they provide.

I expect you can’t remember a single one and I’m positive that you didn’t call any of them.

“Hi, I’m in the car behind you.  I’ve been cruising round town looking for a plumber’s van and you’ve saved my bacon.  We’ve got a burst pipe, water flooding everywhere, carpets are ruined…..” It just isn’t going to happen is it?

Yet so many businesses use van livery as a key component in their marketing but as we’ve just seen, it’s completely untargeted, un-noticed and is rarely anywhere near the point of purchase.

And the same is true of many other offline marketing tactics too. Like magazine ads, newspapers, radio etc.  They have a very short life and it’s very unlikely that you have an immediate need of those products at the moment that you might possibly see the ad.

Which is why the media owners and your marketing agency say you have to have a campaign that repeats and reinforces your message. Oh, and keep re-paying for.

Yet when people go to Google, they are actively looking for products or services.

Can you imagine sitting down on a rainy afternoon wondering what to do.  “Ah, I know. I’ll fire up my computer and casually browse for a lawyer, a bookkeeper or an insurance agent.” Again, it’s just not going to happen. People only look for those businesses or more precisely, those websites, when they have a specific need .

And, if you want to be one of those companies people are ready to spend money with, you have to be easy to find, which means being high in Google.

Do you really have to be high in Google?

You decide when you see these stats.

・    60% of local business purchases start with a Google search
・    89% of people only use Page 1 of Google.

So if you aren’t on Page 1, your chances of missing out on those local dollars are worryingly high.

Yet it is relatively easy for most local businesses to be among those at the top of the pile.

The process of rising in Google is SEO or search engine optimization and, because most sites are badly optimized, it’s not difficult to zoom past your competitors to boost your rankings.  The change can be almost overnight for some Search-terms.

For many who decide to do SEO, they want it all and go for the Search-terms with the big traffic volume figuring more searches equals more traffic equals more sales enquiries.

Ehh aghh.

The secret to top Google rankings is to find the Search-terms with low competition.

These probably have less search volume but what would you rather have?

Busting a gut and blow tons of dollars going for a phrase with 200 searches a day but struggling to get off Page 2.  Or ten Search-terms with only 20 searches each per day and being top dog for each one?

A no-brainer huh?

The same number of searches but you are Number 1 ten times instead of number 15 once.  Of course, yo may not get Number 1 each time, but you get the point.

So, to get those local dollars into your bank account do these three things:
・    quit wasting your money on short-life, un-targeted, un-noticed media,
・    divert it to improving your Google ranking.
・    ignore the macho big keywords and target the easy pickings in the low volume Search-phrases.

Want some help?

Drop me a line and I’ll talk you through it.

Best

Andy Haddleton

Technorati Tags: Auckland, local marketing, Search engine optimization, SEO