Kristin Colier - Technology Troubadour

Pay for Local Online Marketing? 2 Who Should & 2 Who Shouldn’t

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Kristin

Hi all –

I’ve been making websites for a long time. Before that I was making “user-friendly” software applications. The kind we used to buy off the shelf, in a box at CompUSA or Software, Etc. They came with several disks and a big user-manual.

I translated my human factors and usability expertise into web design. As in: it is not a very useful website – if it is frustrating or users can’t find what they are looking for.

Now, I have a new challenge. It doesn’t matter how good-looking, how user-friendly and how well-designed your website is if no one ever finds it.

So the last couple of years, I became an expert in SEO – helping my web clients be found on the internet by both optimizing their on-screen site content for search engines and build off-screen factors by encouraging them to become good “net citizens” by sharing their expertise on the internet (via blogs or contributing to forums).

This is an investment of time and resources – but the ROI is usually well worth the effort.

I’ve recently started managing paid search engine marketing campaigns (Google AdWords) for local small businesses by targeting just the area around their business. That is, where their customers live – and will most likely be searching from. (ie. most people don’t drive more than 5-10 miles for a hairdresser, gym, auto-mechanic, pizza, picture framer, etc.)

Full disclosure – among the other web technology things I get paid for (creating websites, graphic design, copywriting, SEO, etc.), I also manage online ad campaigns through AdzZoo. However, I won’t recommend this product if it’s not right for you. So, is PAYING to be found on Google right for your business?

Local online Search Engine Marketing (SEM) WILL bring more business to the following:

1. Do you have a storefront? One or more physical locations? Is your primary goal – to get people to walk into your store? Almost all consumers today look for new services online. No more yellow pages. You will definitely benefit from a Local Search Ad. Try this: Go to Google and search for your primary service. (Not your business name.) For example, “florist.” If your competitors are showing up under “Sponsored Links” and you are not, you are losing business… and Local SEM is right for you.
Examples:
Doctors
Medical Specialists
Opticians
Dentists
Hair Salons
Restaurants
Florists
Gift Shop
Nail Salon
Cleaners
Tailors
Yoga Studios
Athletic Clubs
Chiropractors
Spas/ Massage
Specialty Stores (Model Trains, Custom Embroidery, Sports Memorabilia, Comic Books)

2. Do you have a target service area? Even if you don’t have a store-front, many small local businesses, such as party-planners, insurance agents, house-cleaners, painters, plumbers and landscapers have a targeted geographical area. For example, within 20 miles of Metro Atlanta. Local targeted ads are great for you too. In fact, since Google knows the location of the “searcher,” local businesses are more relevant than big chains with no geo-targeting.
Examples:
Accountants / Financial Advisors
Insurance Agents
Caterers
Home improvement contractors (landscapers, painters, concrete, etc.)
Home repair (plumbing, roofing, HVAC)
In-home care (nursing, pet-sitting, massage)
Photographers
Event-planners
Event-performers (magicians, clowns, musicians)
Cleaning services
Suppliers

When Not to use Local Ads:

1. Do you have an online only business? – which sells software, services, gifts, etc. only over the internet, local targeted ads will not bring your best ROI. I’m not saying local ads won’t work for you – but an investment in strategic Search Engine Optimization and link-building may work better for you. Google AdWords campaigns will drive traffic to your site – but you are now paying to appear on all searches, not just locally – so expect to budget accordingly.

2. Is your business model based primarily on your content? If your website provides recipes, home improvement tips, business strategy, personal coaching… anything that is mostly there for the reading – at least before the buying happens, I strongly recommend you invest in a Search Engine Optimization/ Search Engine Marketing strategy. If you don’t have time to do it, hire a professional company. (Here’s one: http://prominentplacement.com)

OK – so that’s my quick and easy should you or shouldn’t you pay for Local Search Engine Marketing strategy.
I’d love your feedback.
If I left your business of the list – let me know…

Cheers!
-Kristin Colier
Technology Troubadour

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Long-term effect of Negative Customer Experience (Mom Buys a New Car)

Posted on July 3, 2009 by Kristin

You’ve all heard that good news travels fast and that bad news travels faster – or in marketing circles, one negative experience gets ten times more word-of-mouth than one positive one.

Here, I’d like to illustrate the impact of one negative experience, magnified over time…

I had the ‘pleasure’ of helping my mother shop for a new car this weekend. This is pretty big-ticket item and I bet the car industry would like to know what went through Mom’s head for the decision making process.
Mom had several simple criterion. Budget: around $15K, more leg room in the backseat than her current car and that it NOT be purchased from a Curry Auto dealership.

About 25 years ago, my mother was in the market for a car – after looking around, and considering several at the Curry dealer, the salesman said to her: “I know you probably want to go home and discuss it with your husband first.”

DOH! Not the right thing to say to a liberated, well-educated, recently-divorced woman. It pissed her off, she never went back and she bought her car elsewhere.

Fast forward to this past weekend…it appears Curry has taken over just about every car dealership in the Yorktown, Peekskill and Cortland area.

“Why, again, do we need to buy a car three towns over?” I asked her.

She said: Once when I was at the Curry dealer shopping for a car, the salesman said: “Hey, Little Lady, why don’t you come back when you’ve got your man with you and we’ll talk.”

When she tells this story, you hear the smarmy voice, smell the hair grease and imagine the too-tight plaid jacket. This cracked me up. Not only had she been re-telling this story for years until it evolved into something out of a movie (I’m picturing Danny DeVito here.) The single incident had played over in her head so many times that it seemed like it was Curry’s ongoing policy hire slimy, sexist jerks. Why would anyone want to buy a car there?

I suspect that Curry’s (real or imagined) misogynistic, old-school, good-ol’-boy sales force has since retired and been replaced with more progressive thinkers. Unbeknown to them, however, they are competing with stereotypes or misconceptions they probably didn’t even know existed among sixty-something year-old women that still have a bad taste in their mouth from years before. How much business do they lose? I don’t know, but as empty as the dealerships have been lately, every bit counts.

For most people, parting with $15,000 needs to satisfy an emotional component, not just a logical one… so we drove to another car dealership several towns over and bought Mom’s new car there.

Our marketing lesson of the day?

Well, you tell me…

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The JOY of Cooking (and Social Media Networking)

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Kristin

There’s no question that Facebook has changed my life. I have reconnected with old friends and stayed in touch with people I probably never would have seen again. Plus, I’ve made lots of new friends.

Here’s a story I just have to share with you. If you are from Atlanta, or a fan of Top Chef (or both) you know Richard Blais – a finalist in Top Chef Season 4 and local Atlanta Celebrity. So – I “friended” Richard on Facebook. And he was kind enough to accept. He recently opened a new restaurant here in Atlanta called FLIP! Burger Boutique.

A couple weeks ago – my husband and I planned to meet some friends in town for dinner – and I suggested we go to FLIP! I sent a message to Richard telling him we were going on Saturday – would he be there? I would love to get a picture with him.

We get there on Saturday, after 9pm and there was still a 2+ hour wait for the table. As our party of six and stood in the parking lot contemplating (me wanting to wait, them wanting to eat sooner) out walked Richard Blais through the back door on his way home.

Me with Top Chef Finalist Richard Blais at FLIP! in Atlanta.

OMG! Yes, I was star struck – no one can use liquid Nitrogen like Chef Blais… So anyway – I said “Hi Richard – I sent you a message..” – he said “Hi, yes I remember from Facebook” – he asked if we were eating at FLIP! tonight and my friend Paul said the wait was too long. Then Richard said “Let me see what I can do…” He went back in and pushed us up the wait list. Told us to talk to Mike the Chef and so on…

What a great experience. Of course, Richard was extremely nice too… Which illustrates another good point about Social Media Networking: A small group of loyal followers will bring you closer to success than shotgun marketing to the marginally-interested.
Cheers! -Kristin

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What’s a Meta For? (SEO Basics)

Posted on April 3, 2009 by Kristin

What is Search Engine Optimization and how does one do it effectively?

The goal of search engines is to match the “Searcher” (he who types a phrase in a search engine) with content (those most relevant websites to the search phrase.)

As soon as this concept was realized, there have been attempts to “trick” the search engines. Starting with white-on-white text, stuffing keywords and duplicating content – all in the name of higher rankings. These “Black hat” approaches are usually thwarted in the next Google or Yahoo search algorithm – and don’t make for a good net citizen regardless. So, if you don’t actually give away “free beer” – don’t put it in your meta tags – at the least it just pisses people off and at worst could get you blacklisted from Google.

So anyway – what are good, “White Hat” SEO practices?

1. First do your keyword research and find out what terms related to your product or service people are looking for. Be creative. I have one client that sells Gourmet Butter. This butter makes delicious sauces really easily for anyone that can melt butter. But – do people search for Gourmet Butter? No, more often they look for “easy recipes.” In fact, according to Google, over 1 million people searched for “easy recipes” in February and only 8,100 searched for gourmet butter. Another factor to consider is competition, of course – which leads to your KEI or Keyword Effectiveness Index. This also needs to be considered when selecting keywords, but I’ll get into that more another time. Let’s just assume for now you’ve picked your best keyword phrases to optimize on.

2. Put your keywords in your Meta Tags: these are your page title, page keywords, and page description. It is best to use separate meta tags for each page if you have significantly different content on each page.

3. Put your keywords in your H1 and H2 tags. Rather than have an H1 tag called “About Our Products” – instead use “Butter Ingredients” or “Recipes using our Butter” – this gives the spiders (search engine bots) some idea of what content is to follow and whether it’s relevant to the search query.

4. Put alt tags on your images with – you guessed it, keywords. Now might be a good time to get into the nature of spiders. They are blind. When they index your site (yet another term to be defined later) they crawl without seeing table structure, or images, or flash, or cool graphics… they just look for text. So put alt tags on your images that say something other than “foodpicture5.jpg.” Try “Balsamic and Shallot butter is great on steak, fish and pasta.” That way even a blind person (or spider) can read what you are trying to illustrate.

5. Use a CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) based web design. Back in the old days, everyone put their style formatting right there with the content. Try reading this: TABLE: BOLD:LARGE:FONT=TIMES:MY BUTTER IS BETTER:END LARGE:END FONT:END BOLD:END TABLE.
Where’s the Beef? (as anyone my age might appreciate). It’s hiding between the buns. So – the beauty of CSS, is that it moves all the styling away from the content. Not only does this make it W3C compliant (the web standard), more accessible for mobile and specialty devices (blind readers), easier to update your look and feel (see csszengarden.com) but also more spiderable based on actual content not style text. More Beef, Less Bun.

6. Use meaningful keywords in your links. Stop with the “For More Info Click here…” That is a wasted opportunity. Try “More Simple Sauce Recipes.” Use keywords in the link, linking to more relevant information for the user.

7. Use keywords in your content.

Change: Our products are really good. You should try them. They are delicious and so easy to use. Even you can impress even the most judgmental of in-laws.

To: These Gourmet Butters are terrific and enhance any recipe. Try the Wasabi-Soy on Mahi Mahi, Steak, Pasta or Chicken. Break out your “Kiss the Cook” apron and impress your mother-in-law with these simple recipes.

(Add links on Gourmet Butters and Simple Recipes for bonus points.)

Well – that’s it for now. I haven’t even touched on Link-Building yet. (Maybe next time).
Hint: Posting a link back to your site on every blog, twitter or other Social Media outlet is not the answer.

Until next time.
Cheers.
-Kristin

Oh, and by the way if you want some Delicious Gourmet Butter…

Posted in SEO, Technology, User-Centered Design, marketing, social media, usability | Tagged butter, css, Google, Meta, recipes, Search, Search Engine Optimization, SEO | 1 Comment

Two Business Tips I Learned from my Kids

Posted on March 29, 2009 by Kristin

I’ve got two elementary school-aged kids who just came home with report cards. Two very different kids, two very different strategies for navigating through school, and life. Two different parenting messages to convey.

Tip One: Give yourself a break. My 11 year-old daughter was extremely disappointed to have one B among all her A’s. She is a “pleaser” and anything less than perfect can be very upsetting. Call it a first born, Libra or “girl” thing, it doesn’t matter. I wish she would ease up on herself a bit. Mistakes are not a thing to be dreaded, they are to be learned from and then move on.

She is sometimes paralyzed to try new things for fear of not being great at them. She gave up on trying to ride a bike for fear of falling. We all know, the older you get – the harder it hurts when you fall. Both physically and metaphorically. But the best rewards come from trying the most challenging things and living to tell the tale.

In business as in life, only when you are being challenged are headed in the right direction.

Tip Two: Do your best. And then we have my son, second born, Taurus, Year of the Newt, I don’t know what the reason is, but he is the proponent of the philosophy “good enough.” He goes through his homework as fast as he can – often making simple mistakes – and not re-checking his work. “He’s not working up to his potential.” As is the standard teacher line.

But on the other hand, he is not afraid of failure. He’ll try new games, and keep practicing until he’s really good. He learned to ride a bike and then next wanted to learn tricks on it. The falling was one step closer to the success.

So where is the wisdom in this when he is getting C’s and D’s on his report card? He must learn to differentiate between accepting setbacks gracefully as a byproduct of ambition and only striving for mediocre. You might land in the same place – but the neural pathways created by the experience are entirely different.

I don’t require straight A’s from my children. I just want them to do the best they can, accept challenges as part of process and forgive themselves along the journey. The sooner we all figure this out, the more successful we will be.

Cheers.
-Kristin

Posted in marketing, social media | Tagged advice, business, children, grades, parenting, success | 1 Comment

The Freelancers To-Do List: 5 Steps to get you on your way

Posted on March 12, 2009 by Kristin

Hi all - As the economy “does it’s thing” (no need to get into that now), I keep hearing it’s a freelancers market out there. There are definitely pros and cons to the corporate life, but having been there, done that, and thrown out the leftover business cards – I’ve opted for the flexibility and variety that freelancing offers. So, if you’ve made that decision too, but not sure what to do next, this list is for you.

1. Establish your Personal Brand.
List your talents and attributes and things that make you unique. Are you a writer? Or are you a sports writer, humorist, community fly-on-wall? It’s worth taking a little while to get it right, because you then want to incorporate your personal brand onto your website, your business cards and your message. Consider a personal logo or color scheme.
David Cohen is a colleague and expert on the subject of branding.

2. Get Online
Even if you are an organic soybean farmer, in today’s market – you must have a relevant internet presence.
A simple blog, can be established for free in 10 minutes. www.wordpress.com. With a little more time and effort you can add a unique look and feel and all sorts of functionality.

3. Follow the Leader
I don’t mean steal someone’s business idea, just learn from the best. Do research. Is there someone in your field you admire? Buy their book, read their blog, take their advice. Most successful entrepreneurs are happy to mentor and help you learn from their mistakes. See what works, then differentiate into your own niche. You soon will have followers of your own.

4. Network.
Join groups on Facebook and LinkedIn, but also get out in person to local Meetups, conferences, business associations and so on. When I was helping a friend with his gourmet butter business, I discovered there was an official Association for Dressings and Sauces. There is something for every niche. If there isn’t, start one.

Let people know what you do, and foster genuine relationships with people.

When I was in Nashville at a songwriting conference I learned a rule about Open Mike etiquette which applies here as well. In Nashville, there are Open Mike Nights all over the city, and some of the more impatient up-and-comers, sign up for several different shows a night, wait their turn, play their song and leave for the next one. They don’t stay and listen to the other artists up on stage hoping to get their big break, they don’t mingle in the bar with the audience and other aspiring musicians and songwriters. This will get you noticed, but not in a good way.

Everyone thinks their own song (story, business plan, idea) is the best. But the best music that comes out of Nashville usually comes from collaborative talent, established relationships and artists “getting out there.”

When you network, be sure to listen as well as sing.

5. Get Down to Business
This is my least favorite part, which makes it all that much more important to have on the to-do list.
Figure out the billing, invoicing, taxes, cost overhead required and how to stay organized. Find tools for project management, customer management, payment processing, etc. Here’s a starting point: 85+ Freelancer Tools

Best of Luck!
-Kristin

Posted in SEO, Technology, Technology Troubadour, Twitter, marketing, social media | Leave a comment

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