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Monday, November 19, 2007
They tricked me. I don’t want to be treated this way from my email newsletters. I just received an email from Vertical Response with the Subject: Is there such a thing as too much business? “Yes, if it’s the wrong kind of business.” I was going to submit my comments above but no where in the email was the answer OR the question.
At least match the Subject line to a Headline or Story or I’m not going to read the email. I didn’t. It’s been deleted. If you’re not going to deliver, don’t bother. Please. When you write your Subject line deliver on your promise. Don’t trick your users or try to give them something that’s not. They won’t read it.  Posted by: Michael Swartz at 7:06 pm Comments: 2 Comments | Filed under: Web Design, Web Marketing, Writing For The Web Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Anyone reading this blog knows that I talk a lot about optimizing your website for your local customers. Well, another headline speaks the facts once again that more people are using the internet to find local businesses. I quote:
I am currently working with a client right now that has been having trouble getting his website listed higher in Google’s local search results. This is very important because his whole business relies on local customers. The main problem is that his website is not “showing up in Google’s Local One Box. To solve this problem, I can’t just go to Google and tell them to place his website first. I must look into many different scenarios into why his website is not listed higher.
There are a number of factors that go into how Google displays local businesses, so it’s up to us, the search engine optimizers, to try each fix individually and not expect a one fits all solution…because there isn’t one. “They” say SEO (search engine optimization) is an art not a science and I would have to agree with “them” completely. There are a few things everyone can do, but it’s always a work in progress after that. Posted by: Michael Swartz at 11:26 am Comments: None | Filed under: SEO, Web Marketing Monday, August 13, 2007
Though I am not a big fan of the extra fees Ticketmaster applies to each ticket purchase, I have to commend them on their partnership business deals. You can see in the image below, Ticketmaster has teamed up with iTunes and Facebook (and vice versa). I have iTunes and I did go to the iTunes store and download the sampler. Everyone benefited from my one action: Ticketmaster, iTunes and the bands on the sampler.  The most important business partner piece is the Facebook Users reference, “Are You Going to This Show”? Facebook is becoming the next revolution on the internet and what better way to promote Ticketmaster - and the band that I purchased - than to recommend them to my friends, immediately, on Facebook. More… After I purchased my tickets, it wasn’t over yet. I received a coupon from Netflix, with the tickets, asking me to sign up to receive 3 free rentals. Creating and establishing partnerships in the online world is more important than ever. Facebook, Yelp, MySpace and other social networking sites are becoming the future of the internet. Creating Business Partnerships Who can you partner up with? If you’re a Realtor, you can partner up with Title companies, mortgage brokers, real estate lawyers, home inspectors, etc. How? Ads on each other’s websites or being included in their newsletters. Mike Swartz says, “Check it Out”. Posted by: Michael Swartz at 1:07 pm Comments: None | Filed under: Web Marketing Monday, October 2, 2006
Hello. I hope you had a great weekend. (NOTE: Regarding my last post, I still haven’t fixed the iTunes fiasco. I’ll give an update when that’s complete (or not)). In our last email newsletter, I spoke about the importance of local search and optimizing your website for local search visitors. Turns out there is more research to back up this importance. I have seen more traffic and conversions from our own site and many of our clients websites from locally based search results. Comscore has released new data that supports this fact. Local Searchers Take Action Some facts I found most interesting were:
These are incredible findings. The most impressive finding was “The comScore study also found that performing a local search drives consumers to take action. More than one-third (37 percent) made contact online as a result of conducting a local area search.” Isn’t this the main goal of any website - to get people to take action? Are you seeing these results from your website? If not, it’s time to optimize your site to take advantage of your local customers. They’re out there searching. If your business relies on local customers, it’s now more important than ever to get your site optimized for your local customer base! Read our latest newsletter to find out more on how you can get your website found by local visitors. Or if you don’t like reading, contact us to find out how we’ve helped other organizations reach the top of the local search results. Mike Swartz says, “Check it out” Posted by: Michael Swartz at 11:44 am Comments: None | Filed under: SEO, Web Marketing Thursday, August 3, 2006
A customer of ours recently asked (in an email) why he wasn’t receiving any contacts from his website.
Something can be done and I wanted to share my answers with you.
These are just some solutions to getting more traffic and inquires to your website. Contact us to learn more on how we can generate more leads for your organization. Posted by: Michael Swartz at 10:52 am Comments: None | Filed under: Web Marketing Thursday, May 18, 2006
Here’s a great little factoid that I had to pass along… Wow! With that many people online, it’s all the more reason to be on the web. Build a New Website If you don’t have a website, it’s more important than ever to establish one. You may only need one page to satisfy your clients. A website nowadays is as important as a business card. Most people, after you’ve given them your business card, will want to check out your company further by visiting your website. If you don’t have one, you’re out of luck. The article also explains that a quarter of those people have a high-speed connection. What does this mean? It means your website can include more elaborate graphics and video without the worry of you’re website being to slow to download for people who used to have a slow dial-up connection. (Don’t get me wrong…you’ll need to do some research and make sure the majority of your visitors are using a high-speed connection). Optimize Your Existing Website With so many people on the web, you’re website needs to be found. Can it be? If you do have a website, do you know how many people are accessing it? Are they coming from the search engines? How many people are contacting you from your website? Don’t forget about optimizing your website for these (1 billion) people too. Each day more people are getting online…are you? Cheers. Posted by: Michael Swartz at 10:51 am Comments: None | Filed under: Web Design, Web General, Web Marketing Monday, April 3, 2006
When optimizing or updating your website to gain more traffic, don’t forget about mobile (or cell) phone users. A recent survey showed “that Americans are becoming increasingly dependent on their mobile phones.” Your website and internet marketing practices should reflect this growing trend.
Don’t forget your mobile market. They’re not just viewing your website from their desks anymore. Posted by: Michael Swartz at 1:45 pm Comments: None | Filed under: Web Marketing Saturday, March 25, 2006
Tonight I attended an “Introduction to Pilates” class at Mariner Square. It was a really fast introduction, so I picked up a Pilates book we have to learn a little more and really enjoyed this quote, in the book, from Stephen R. Covey… “We live in a modern society that loves shortcut techniques. Yet quality of life cannot be achieved by taking the right shortcut. There is no shortcut. But there is a path. The path is based on principles revered throughout history. If there is one message to glean from this wisdom, it is that a meaningful life is not a matter of speed or efficiency. It’s much more a matter of what you do and why you do it than how fast you get it done.”If you take the shortcut, you miss the learning process of getting there. Think about this quote when you’re waiting for your website to be #1 in Google. It takes time and patience. There is No Magic Bullet I just read a great interview about a gentleman who earns $10,000/day from AdSense. He says “there is no magic bullet…through testing you can always improve.” I spoke about this before…making minor changes to your website can have a dramatic effect on your overall bottom line. Learn from Yahoo, Google, Amazon. All are successful websites that haven’t really changed that drastically over time, but only improved on a good thing. Check out the path or growth of these sites at Wayback Machine. Anyhoo… Stephen Covey is right. There is no shortcut, but there is always a way. Have a great weekend. Posted by: Michael Swartz at 1:08 am Comments: None | Filed under: Uncategorized, Web Marketing Tuesday, March 7, 2006
After The Apprentice (yes I am addicted) an advertisement said to go to Yahoo.com and type in “the apprentice fantasy game“. I thought it was interesting that NBC (the apprentice) said go to Yahoo to search for “the apprentice fantasy game” instead of telling me to just go to Apprentice.com (Notice on the Yahoo/Apprentice Game site there is an advertisement for Fusion, which they promoted on the show today). Partnering Do it to promote your website. Whether online or off, the ultimate goal is to draw traffic to your website. Linking Partner online. Do it to promote links to your website. I’ve mentioned before that quality links to your website - will obviously generate traffic - but also help you achieve higher search results. Where do I start? Who are you partnering with right now? Do they have a website? Do you belong to clubs or charity organizations? Are you a member of your local chamber of commerce? Get added to their online member directories. Add yourself to the online yellow pages and other online directories specificlly related to your business. If you’re on the web, make sure you’re found on the web. Posted by: Michael Swartz at 12:04 am Comments: None | Filed under: SEO, Web Marketing Thursday, October 20, 2005
Hello. Hope you are well. I decided to walk to the bank today to take care of some business. It’s about 5 good blocks from our new office. What was so interesting about this walk is I realized how close I am to quite a few of my customers. My route – depicted in this diagram – included the following customers:
This is the beauty of living and doing business locally. The convenience factor is incredible. Optimize Your Website Locally So too when optimizing your website. Optimize locally. I always tell people looking to improve their rankings on the search engines to focus geographically or locally. It is one of the easiest ways of driving traffic to your website. Are Most of Your Customers Local? If you want to see a divorce attorney, you’re going to look locally. If you need a dentist or want to join a church, you’re going to look locally. So don’t compete with the world when you’re optimizing your website - compete locally.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 3:57 pm Comments: None | Filed under: SEO, Web Marketing
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