Join us for our Website Design and Search Engine Optimization Fundamentals Seminar Series.  We teach you the basics and show you the tools that industry professionals use daily.  We let you in behind the curtain!

We are breaking out this jam packed 3 hour seminar into several pieces:

3 Easy steps to increase conversions

• 3 Things Never to Do
• 3 Things you should Always Do

Search Engine Optimization Fundamentals:

• How do Search Engines work and how can I create a plan of attack to get exposure and drive up sales?
• 10 steps to a successful Search Engine Optimization campaign!

Social Media Use:

• Social Network opportunities, am I missing the boat or should I let it sail off?
• What’s really important in the Social Media world?
• 2 Fundamental steps to creating trust and driving revenue with Social Media

Who should come?

Business owners, Marketing Professionals, and Anyone who wants that extra bit of knowledge to put in their toolbelt to help get a business more exposure using the Internet.  More Business = More money!

Claim your seat NOW for the Website Design and SEO Fundamentals Seminar scheduled for Friday 9/11/2009 at 9am MST in Westminster, CO.

Seats are extremely limited!  Claim your seat now….  Website Design and SEO Fundamentals Seminar

Some people love playing Golf….I’m doing my best to not lose a few clubs!

A while back I was asked to join a group called the Colorado Business Leaders - it’s essentially a group of Denver Metro Area Business Owners who are succeeding, gaining market share, doing a good job of running their businesses ethically and trying to give back to the community.  It’s a good group.

So, I joined the board and one of our intentions was to help a local charity.  We went through several and decided on NEWSED whose mission is:

“To promote and develop economic and community programs and projects that raise the income, educational and political levels of West Denver residents.”

And in order to help support this charity, we are playing some golf tomorrow (August 17th) at The Pinery!  With over 160 golfers, several donated prizes, a few celebrities, and some great sponsors, Neon Rain is going to represent Denver’s Web Development community as we play the greens and try to have some fun as I’m told, “The pinery beats all but the best!”

We are just doing our part to make life better in Denver for at least a few families.

Arif Gangji

Very nice video from Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com – No company starts off perfect and true perfection is never reached, but it’s the attempt and journey that sometimes brings more favor than you would expect.

Every small business has questions on how to market their business online as well as how much to spend and best practices on measuring ROI. MSNBC had a great clip on this very topic:

If you haven’t heard yet, Google is now allowing users to setup their own profiles and will integrate Google Profile information on specific Google Search Engine Result Pages (SERP).

Here is what Google stated in their Google Friends Newsletter:

Profile information now in search results
To give you greater control over what people find when they search for your name, we now show Google profile results at the bottom of U.S. search pages. These results offer abbreviated information from the profiles you created, a well as a link to the full profiles. We’ve also added links so it’s easy to search for the same name on MySpace, Facebook, Classmates and LinkedIn. Your public profile page identifies you and serves as a hub for your content on the web.

You can click here to setup your Google Profile.

Okay, so Google doesn’t know my bank account numbers or what my K-1 shows or any other financial details – I think.  But they do know where I hang out online and probably in real life, how I search, what I read, and so much more. I guess personalized search results require some privacy to be relinquished.

Anyway – back to the point – if you hurry, you can get a set of FREE Google Profile Business cards.  iPrint.com is giving away 10,000 sets.

Just click here for your free Google Profile Business cards – if you are quick enough!

Google announced on their blog that they had optimized the product search pages to be easier viewed on mobile devices.  You can now easily sort by price, rating, brand, or even online stores where the product is available.  Here’s a link to the the Google Blog post.

Sounds like a good plan for consumers.  When you are out and about at the store and you want to purchase an item, that’s the point where you need knowledge of the product:

1. Is it a quality product?

2. Is it being sold at a fair price?

3. Does it have good user reviews?

By allowing mobile users (specifically on iphone and Android, but available on other mobile devices) to be able to research products through an interface designed for mobility at the purchase point, Google helps keep information at the fingertips of the user.

Now, the question that is begging to be asked…Does having more information create an opportunity for the brick and mortar store to lose a sale?  Will Google let online e-tailers advertise on these pages?  Will Google develop location awareness and offer alternate retailers nearby to purchase the same product?

What do you all think?

5 reasons why Internet Marketing kicks-ass over traditional marketing efforts:

1. Testing an off-the-wall idea is easy

With the Internet, you can go from idea to conception within a few days.  In many cases, digital is so much easier and quicker than having to go through a design/print or guerrilla marketing campaign.

2. It’s easy to measure ROI

With proper web analytics, you can judge the success of your campaign.  Whether it’s tracking traffic or conversions, show ROI!

3. It’s relatively inexpensive

With a budget of a few hundred dollars, you can test things out through pay-per-click – just to test out an idea.  Where else can you test out an idea on a massive targeted marketplace for that cheap?

4. More efficient – cost per click is going down, so targets are being fine tuned.

With proper keyword research and targeting, you can actually test your idea on a specific demographic.  Instead of throwing something on the wall to see if it sticks, at least focus in a bit and throw it on the wall in the direction of someone that may actually be interested.

5. It’s pretty quick.

You can get a campaign up and running pretty quickly compared to traditional marketing such as planning an event, attending a trade show, designing, printing, and mailing postcards.

Forrester Research projects that paid search marketing will grow 26% this year, reaching $11.4 billion in the U.S. In addition, the company’s “U.S. Search Engine Marketing Executive Survey” (conducted by Jupiter Research prior to its July acquisition by Forrester) forecasts that search budgets will remain stable through much of 2009.

Don’t get me wrong…if consumers are not spending money then Search and Internet Marketing WILL SUFFER, but not as much as traditional marketing efforts.  You’ll see a decline, but businesses still have to market for long term growth and they will focus on things that bring them more sales vs. brand building.

Okay, that title was a bit harsh!  Not ALL PR companies have their head stuck in the sand…quite a few are evolving and growing.  We’ve seen this lately through business closures.  Several PR firms are closing their doors because they didn’t adapt to a changing market – even though they thought they had.

One big gap that still remains is PR companies focusing solely on Adwords and sponsored links (pay-per-click) without any On-page SEO or Inbound Marketing initiatives – this is an expensive recipe for failure.

How does pay-per-click work?

Let’s think about how Adwords and Sponsored links work.  Essentially, you are bidding on specific keywords.  As long as you bid high enough, your ad and web site link will show up wherever the Search Engine is serving ads (SERP or Ad delivery networks).  Each time a user clicks on your ad, you pay your bid amount.  The Search Engine decides when to show your ad, how often, and in what order.

There are a few inherent problems with basing your whole marketing strategy on this:

1. You don’t control the Search Engine.  They choose when and were your ad will show up and how much you will pay for the click or impression.  Yes, you choose a limit, but ultimately the Search Engine still has control.

2. You can estimate how much to bid, but you can’t be 100% sure how high you need to bid to take the top spot.

3. If your business plan is based on Pay-Per-Click, then any competitor old or new just has to out bid you in order to take your spot. You can be de-throned and lose a lot of traffic if you are relying just on sponsored links.  This is assuming your web site and product are mediocre.

4. If you did not spend enough time figuring out what keywords to target, then you  may just be throwing all of your money down the toilet.  Pay-per-click assumes you know your market and you know what keywords to target.  If you are targeting the wrong words, you may be wasting your marketing dollars because you  may get traffic, but no conversions or sales.

5. Even worse is letting the Search Engine decide what keywords best suite you.  With Google this is called Broad Match. It takes your list of keywords and then makes an assumption to related terms.  If you targeted the keywords “dog biscuits” and you used broad match, then Google may also show your ad for someone searching for “dog kennel cough” – they both deal with dogs, but someone looking up kennel cough may not be looking for dog biscuits and those marketing dollars were most likely just wasted.

So, what’s the missing key?

Do use pay-per-click, it’s a good way to supplement gaps in Search Engine Coverage, get visibility for new product launches, or even help you with keyword discovery.

Don’t plan your whole marketing campaign on pay-per-click.  Make sure you are looking at on-page SEO and off-page SEO – that’s what you’ll need for long-term sustained growth.

With 2009 just hours away, there’s hope, expectation, and reservation in the air.

A few thoughts: 2009 will be the year of…

The self-employed

There is one key attribute to success that most do not realize.  Everyone is self-employed.  Whether you work for a corporation or have your own freelance company…you are essentially self-employed.

If you work for a company as an employee and get a W2 at the end of the year, you are still in theory a one person company and your product is…you.  Your time, your creativity, and your talent…that’s what you get paid for.

In 2009, I believe we will see people take more responsibility for their own progress and careers.  Instead of leaning on job security – which is a mind game anyway – we will lean towards independently looking towards progressing ourselves.  You are your own boss…even if you have to answer to someone.

Through this realization, we will see people branch out into other areas.  You no longer have 1 job…you may open up a side business selling info products, freelancing, blogging – who knows.

2009 will be the year of the self-employed.

Shifting priorities

As retirement accounts dry up, loans are called, and credit lines are reduced we need to optimize and adapt for the better.  What were priorities in 2007 and 2008 will change this year.

From families and businesses paying off their debt and re-structuring their expenses to save more to real estate investors going crazy over bargains to be had.

From workaholics spending more time with their families to students finding new ways to pay for school so they don’t have to borrow.

From parents taking back control of their retirement by not relying on extremely leveraged institutions for help to college savings accounts being started for new born babies.

2009 will be the year of shifting priorities.

Inbound Marketing

As marketing morphs into consumer interaction and corporate execs become transparent a new way of reaching your audience is taking hold.  Inbound Marketing is the process of building your brand and evoking consumer loyalty through communication, relationships, and an equally satisfying need to make our world a better place.

Utilizing Search Engine Optimization, Brand Marketing, Social Media, and overall Reputation management; start-ups will compete with giants by creating communities for niche markets and taking over market share through quality products/services and Inbound Marketing.  If you build it correctly, they will come.

2009 will be the year of Inbound Marketing.

Personal Branding

In line with being self-employed, the personal brand comes into play.  No longer do consumers only care about the product or service, they now care about the people behind the curtain.  With so many companies faltering in 2008 it becomes increasingly important to put your money towards the leadership behind a cause.

With the transparency that social media networks bring to executives, personal brand will play a big role in consumer confidence.  This is extremely apparent when you look at Apple and Steve Jobs…then the challenge is how do you pass on “your brand” to the company yet still take it with you when the time comes.

2009 will be the year of Personal Branding

Twitter Emergence

Many people are confused by how to monetize or even utilize social media networks.  Whether it’s Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, or twitter, they are confused.  And rightly so…these applications have a feature set but it’s up to the users to determine how that feature set is used.

In 2009, I see twitter emerging to a mass audience.  Whether they know how to use it or not, twitter offers something the other networks are not geared towards..the ability to find and connect with strangers of like mind.  Networking and building, this is where I see twitter exploding.

2009 will be the year of twitter emergence.

On a side note, if you are interested in a really cool twitter showcase coming in January ‘09 – follow me @arifgan – details to come early Jan…seriously, you don’t want to miss this one.

Now, on to you…our readers are clever, creative, and determined so let’s hear it…

2009 will be the year of?

Here’s the deal…we all want to and need to accomplish specific tasks to be successful in what we do.  If you are employed, you better do your “job” or you won’t have one.  And if you are self-employed, well…you know this better than anyone, you have to stay productive.

Successful people are driven and focused.  They may not be caught up on episodes of Survivor, Heroes, How I met your mother, or any other TV shows, but they have their priorities straight.  If you are caught up on your favorite TV shows, maybe you are just much more efficient than me

This post is geared towards freelancers, entrepreneurs, and business people…there is some overlap to those working traditional W2 jobs.

1. Make a list, People like lists!  A list is easier to skim and read if needed.

By making a list, you are creating action items for yourself.  You can look down at that piece of paper and follow it…don’t worry about how big the items are, just make a list of no more than 5 items you MUST get done and prioritize them in order of what is MOST important.  Why limit to 5? To not overwhelm you with a list of the top 182 things you must accomplish this week.

There are different ways of determining what’s most important…that’s for another post Coming soon…

Keep your list handy, it’s funny how our minds forget what’s next and while we try to remember we take a quick peek at Twitter, Facebook, Break, or some other distraction.  Once you are done with item #1, CROS IT OFF.  Seriously, take a marker and feel a sense of accomplishment by marking it complete.

Now, if the project or task is too large for one sitting, you may have to time box it.  Which means, creating a time limit and working on it with determination and focus during that time box and then if needed, creating another time box on a different day to re-visit the project and continue to make progress.

Thoughts from twitter: @acclimedia – When a deadline is looming, I always take a step back and create an action plan of what needs to be done, complete w/an outline.The key is to organize into mini tasks you can ‘check off.’ If it’s a writing assignment, get a shell down on paper you can expand upon.

2. Close your email program, don’t just minimize it.

Close it down, you are less likely to hit the Send/Receive if it’s closed and you have to wait for it to re-open.  In almost every case, email can wait. If something is EXTREMELY important, they will call.  Checking email every few minutes creates distraction that is hard to recover from, do it often enough and you will rob yourself unknowingly.

Suggested by @kristofcreative

3. Get your groove on.

Put on some music. I prefer to zone out, I have a play list in iTunes for working out, for chilling, and for productivity.  You know what gets you going, make a play list, put on some head phones and get cracking in your “productivity zone.”

Suggested by @idesignstudios – Selene actually suggested TOOL specifically.

4. Know your vices.

Turn your blackberry/smart phone off, fill up your water bottle – you know what defeats you. Admit it and then overcome it.

We love to be connected, but studies show that multi-tasking doesn’t help much.  By dividing our attention, we cheat ourselves of valuable productivity.  Know your vices. Let me say that again, KNOW your vices and take control over them.  If you have a bad habit of hitting up Facebook while you are “thinking”, stop it.  Make it a reward…set an alarm, after X number of hours of focused attention on your project, then you can chill on Facebook for Y number of minutes.  If you get up often to get a drink, fill up your water bottle ahead of time.

Suggested by @minjae – turn off your blackberry

5. Turn off twitter, TweetDeck, or whatever you use.

If you aren’t on twitter…you need to be, it’s a GREAT networking tool.  But it’s also the essence of wasted utilization when used incorrectly or at the wrong time.  The Internet NEVER stops.  Twitter NEVER stops, you can not keep up with it all…you may be able to with 500 followers, but you can’t at 60,000 followers.  Don’t worry about it, you will miss something at some point and that’s okay.  Life goes on, when you get back on you can contribute and interact, but feel okay about missing a few things.  The productivity trade-off is immense.

The same goes for Digg, RSS Blog feeds, etc.  Block out time for those; don’t let them steal your time.

Suggested by @andysowards

6. If the van is rocking, don’t come knocking.

Let people know that you are in a “Do Not Disturb” state of mind.  People will respect it and if they have an emergency, they will interrupt you.  The point is to let others know that you wish to not be disturbed so that you can focus.  If you don’t tell them, you can’t blame them for the distraction.

7. Keep it clean.

When your work space is organized, it’s easier to keep your mind organized.  A cluttered environment creates opportunities for distraction, frustration, and excuses.  You’ll stay more organized in your thoughts and you’ll be able to accomplish more if your workspace is organized and geared for productivity.

5 ways to stay de-cluttered by the Container store – more lists

8. Be prone to action.

The longer you delay, the more time you are wasting by thinking about what you need to get done.  This is a tough mental block…aka procrastination.  Just know that those prone to action succeed more often…I’m not saying you should give up if you are a lazy SOB, but if you were that lazy then you probably would not be reading a blog post on how to focus and get sh*t done.

9. Take control of your most valuable resource.

I directed a large tech team at a publicly traded company and the culture of that company was very reactive.  It took me a while to get out of the mindset of sitting there and waiting for a fire to put out.

Take control of your day and decide what you will get done, choose what will bring the highest results and choose what you will focus on.  You can still block out time for those reactive moments because we all know that fires will come, but you don’t have to let them rule how your day will be spent.  After all, that’s what you are doing – spending your most valuable resource – decide ahead of time how you are going to spend your time.

10.  Be present, physically and mentally.

When you are spending time with your family, do you have a hard time letting go of work?  If you spend your work time focusing on being productive with business related tasks then it becomes easier to spend your family or personal time just focusing on things other than business.

The more productive you stay in your business the easier it is to feel accomplished and let go during personal time.  Your family and your friends will appreciate this.  As they fret, you’ll be the one that “has it all figured out.” 

10.5. Keep true to your purpose.

Why do you do what you do?  Are you trying to make a difference in the world? Are you trying to provide for your family?  Are you saving up for an Aston Martin Vanquish?  Whatever your motive, keep it in mind…determination follows passion, what is your passion and purpose?

Focus, stay determined, and most of all – Don’t let it beat you!

I KNOW you have a tactic that I didn’t mention…how do YOU stay focused?