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Click on the link to download a copy of my wine presentation. I hope you enjoyed it!

Craig

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Now, I’m not saying you can’t find a company to design a search marketing plan for you for a reasonable amount, but there is some truth to the old adage, “You get what you pay for.” You value the products and services you sell; your customers value the products and services they buy from you. You should be cautious of a company that is selling search marketing solutions for less that its value. Your results will reflect your expenditure. If you spend $10 a month on a search marketing program, you’ll only get $10 worth of results.

True search marketing involves several layers of knowledge and labor to achieve real results. And to even begin the practice, a real SEO practitioner will ask good questions, provide significant value and not just provide cheap rates and make vague promises.

So what should a real SEO provider do for you?

He will start by asking pointed questions about your goals. Search marketing is about customer generation and conversions; information collected and acted upon through the SEO program should represent how to achieve that – not how to achieve high rankings on Google for search terms that your customers may not even be using.

The SEO provider should review your current website with you and explain its strength and weaknesses – often the best SEO results require some site redesign with SEO functionality in mind. If you are considering a new site and care about performance, SEO consideration needs to be included from the very beginning; this will save a lot of time and cost and will result in a website that performs for you!

Search marketers also realize that reports are useless without analyzing the results and reacting to them. Great SEO guys will spend A LOT of time reviewing data to determine how best to manipulate content, site structure, and other website features to make use of the collected data (analytics).

Proper SEO will pay for itself many times over, so the investment is well worth it!

Before signing on the dotted line, ask the SEO provider what results he has achieved for his own company or for his customers in the past. The proof is in results. Why spend $50 a month on nothing more than a report, when what you need is a detailed action plan that could increase your company’s revenue significantly?

A real search marketer wants to help your business grow through quality management of your website’s search engine optimization program. A good search marketer will work with you to understand what you can expect from a strong SEO program. And a great search marketer will partner with you to keep delivering results and providing you with a measurable ROI. Keep these points in mind the next time a company randomly calls you on the phone offering you inexpensive SEO services.

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A well designed email marketing campaign can increase interest in your business, while also increasing traffic to your website.

How?

I like to share snippets of blog posts I think readers may find entertaining or educational. I do write the information myself, or have other staffers who write about things they are qualified to share. It is not hard to tell when you are receiving an email from an automated system that has been written generically for everyone. There are services that do this, and it’s my opinion that they often are left unread or considered SPAM.

Your readers want to maintain the connection with a person they “know” or someone they can visit to ask more questions. The writing also helps to build your credibility in the field of expertise. So some writing about what you enjoy or thoroughly understand, along with some notes about offered services, can be a great way to use email marketing.

Don’t share all of the information in the email! First of all, if your writing is too lengthy you will lose your audience, but just as importantly you have an opportunity to lead your reader to your website where they can learn about ALL of the services you offer, if they so choose. With a snippet of your article, and the entire post on your website, you give them a chance to see more than a short email can provide. Remind them to bookmark the site so they can learn more about you later if time is short. Just use the email marketing solution as a lead in, provide enough useful information for your reader to make a decision to read further. And now they know where to find you.

I also like to offer added value to customers of mine in the form of a short ad about their service when they have completed web projects with me. Perhaps even allow them to feature a coupon. They get a little exposure at very little cost to me and no cost to them. Email marketing can work – it is all in how you plan. If you provide information people care about, they will let you know. If you don’t, they will opt out.

And that reminds me! Be certain, however, that you are obeying the CAN-SPAM act of 2003. You can get yourself in a lot of trouble if you don’t follow the rules. Click on that link to learn more.