Queen Bee Marketing’s Blog About Marketing, SEO, and Design.

Almost 100% of all the companies we talk with about s.e.o. have “upside down” sites. What I mean is that the site was designed completey upside down from an optimization point of view. (Or you could say backwards.) This normally leads to companies spending a substantial amount of moola with nothing to show for it except a nice-looking site.

Once the company realizes they’re getting zero traffic, leads, or conversions, they usually decide to a) scrap the site and forget about the web, or b) call an s.e.o. firm to attempt a fix. Unfortunately, many times the “fix” may mean redesigning the entire site, especially if it’s programmed in flash or with javascript links.

Well, we’re trying to help companies design their sites “right-side up,” meaning that the optimization is taken into account prior to any design work is started. We suggest performing research or “due diligence” to find out the best choice of key words, what the competitor’s sites look like in terms of s.e.o., and to create a proper internal and external link campaign.

Without this effort, the companies are back to designing their sites upside-down. Which again, means zero traffic, leads and conversion.

As John Wooden says, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

Chris

After becoming overwhelmed from all the information about s.e.o., internet marketing, blogs, article submissions, press releases, reciprocal linking, directory submissions, on-page optimization, viral marketing, Google Dances, Google Slaps, Pay Per Clicks, Adwords, Yahoo, MSN, etc, etc, etc, and a few more etc’s. (oh, and Page Rank, Matt Cutts, in-bound links, prospecting, back-end marketing, newsletters, stop.)

I realized there’s only ONE thing you REALLY need to know about Internet Marketing. Yep, I’m claiming a “one thing.” If you get this “one thing,” you don’t have to worry. About anything. This is so easy, that I didn’t even come close to seeing it.

This “one thing” was probably a sub-conscious thing, that we all know, that the market tells us about, that the BILLION-AIRES know, that Google knows, and that all the “waste-land” companies didn’t get.

Ready?

Here’s the one thing. (don’t leave me yet. You’ll read it, and you probably won’t get it. Yes, it’s obvious. But if you’re not a Billion-aire, or even worth a shy million, you don’t get it. Not even close.)

Here’s the secret: GIVE. THEM. WHAT. THEY. WANT. AND….. GIVE. THEM. MORE. MORE. MORE. THAN. WHAT. THEY. WANT.

Don’t click away yet. Let me explain. If you “get this,” you can be worth a lot of money. I’m going to give you SIX very specific examples. I can think of HUNDREDS of examples. My examples may not mean much or anything to you, OR, they may “hit home.” My first three examples are “brick and mortar,” my second examples are internet. Watch closely:

1) Starbucks: “We’ll give you a good cup of coffee or latte-datte-daaa’s, consistent, fast, in a great environment, etc.”

2) Wal-Mart: “We’ll give you low-prices (as far as you know) in a consistent lay-out, easy accessible, 24 hours a day in most locations.”

3) McDonald’s: “Fast hot food, in a clean environment, consistently served and consistently tasting in the whole-wide-world.”

Now for the internet version:

1) Ebay: “Buyers meet sellers in a friendly, easy to use forum, with a trusted system for ranking service. The WORLD’s auction.”

2) Google: “Find out VERY accurate information on the web. We’ll save you time while you try to find out WHATEVER IT IS you’re looking for.”

3) YouTube: “Broadcast yourself. Share your experience with the world.”

O.K. Get my point? Here it is, the “dirty little secret to bullet-proof internet marketing,” and for that matter, to WILD SUCCESS.

You see, we all have something to sell. The problem is, most of us have goods or services to sell that AREN’T really that good. So we have to work, work, work, to promote those good and services. The secret is:

Your goods and service’s ultimate value determines your need to invest time and money to market those goods and services.

So, if you have the “best widget,” with minimal “kick-starting,” you will win. If you have a crappy product or service, over time, you will need to expend a GREAT deal to market that product or service. The problem (or opportunity) is, the internet is exposing “crappy” products and services and promoting GREAT goods and services, because feed-back for these products and services become known almost instantly. In some cases, the serps pick-up information almost instantly. (see my recent post about my ability to get ranked in two days for a term with 400+ million results on page one of Google.)

So, if you GIVE. THEM. WHAT. THEY. WANT. They’ll take it. AND (as an added bonus,) they’ll tell 3, 5, 7, or 200 of their friends!. AND, if you give them MORE. THAN. WHAT. THEY. WANT., they’ll tell 7, 15, 35, 3000 of their friends.

Sure, you WILL need to “jump start your site” with basic s.e.o. principles. But your ability to “stick” in the serps, blogs, and communities is determined truly by how “GOOD” your site or business is.

This is scary stuff. Not for the meek. The meek may NOT inherit the world. Oh well. OR, it’s exciting stuff for the bold. The people who really believe they have something to give to the world that WILL MAKE IT BETTER.

The BEST will inherit the world. The BEST service, the BEST consistency, the BEST prices, the BEST community, the BEST reaction to consumer’s needs.

If your business is LAZY, poor at service, in-consistent, confusing, etc., you may do well in the short term, BUT, the internet and world-trend communications will find you. AND either: lift you above the crowd, or DESTROY you.

I used to play “hide and seek.” If you hid well, you won. Not anymore. The game “hide and seek” is gone. Now it’s called “SHOW and WIN.”

And if you have the basics mastered (on-page content, context, tags, etc- a given soon) and you “jump-start” your “off-page,” (links, submissions, postings, etc), AND, you have a superior product or service….

YOU WILL WIN. You have NOTHING to worry about. No hide/seek. No slaps, dances, changes in algs, etc. It’s like exposing it all. Let it rip.

Try harder. (I guess we have Google to thank for this. Make us better. They’re the leaders. Isn’t it amazing? The MASS democracy called the web is truly revolutionizing the world.) And I REALLY believe that this won’t be a “cyclical” thing. BECAUSE it’s not in a vacuum called a country like “the U.S., the Soviet Union, the Roman Empire, Napoleon, Hitler (German 3rd Reict), the Aztecs, etc.” It’s truly the vacuum called the EARTH.

Are you ready? Jump to the front of the line. Don’t be afraid to take the hit. Just be willing to do your best and the spiders will find you. (and the whole world will follow.)

Chris

We talk with web designers all the time who don’t understand why their clients’ sites aren’t ranking or even indexed.

“I keep submitting the site, over and over, and nothing!”

We then launch into our bit about links and how spiders find sites. But I wanted to post a quick example of how truly fast your site or blog can become indexed, and how high you can rank in this time.

Two days ago, I wrote a post (Back In My Day…) about how the internet is changing commerce in a big way. For fun, about 15 minutes ago, I decided to search Google for Back In My Day to see if I could find my post.

Here’s what’s cool. Guess how many page returns there are for Back In My Day? OVER 471 MILLION. And guess where my blog post is currently? NUMBER SIX. IN TWO DAYS. This is coming from our site (www.queenbeemarketing.com) which is fairly new and

Read the rest of this entry »

Ohnoooooo. This post dates me. I’m a sprite old 39′er (and holding.) Seems like I was just celebrating my 30th…

I had to make mention of a surprising response I’m getting from our clients. It goes like this: “I’m not doing a phone book ad next year.” And, “The only thing we use our phone book for is boosting our four year-old daughter at the dinner table.”

Well, back in my day, we used the phone book for everything. Need to find out what movies are playing? Flip to the right ad in the phone book and dial. Need a dentist? Same thing. Need an attorney, tax advisor, lawn guy (girl:), painter, trophy shop, doctor, insurance agent, etc. etc. etc. NOT ANYMORE.

From our sample of clients and internet users, the day of the phone book is GONE. How long will there even be one? Shoot, I even use Google as a spell checker. My wife’s Father uses the internet all the time. My Mom is still off-line, standing firm, “I don’t need the internet.” O.K. Mom, but how cool would it be if I could email you? I haven’t sent a U.S. Postal letter to a friend or family member in probably 10 years.

Google as The Phone Book

We try to tell our clients that web sites are similar to phone lines. You must a) have a phone line and b) get listed in a phone book. Google and the S.E.’s are the phone books. I would guess that 80% or greater of all web sites are like having a phone number but omitting your business name in the phone book. Sure, you have a web site, but, WHO CAN FIND IT? A common response is, “Our business is doing great. Just type in our name and you can find us.” Congrat’s you have your title bar at least referring to your business name. But, what if people DON’T KNOW YOUR BUSINESS NAME?

Let me get off my soap box, because Back In My Day…. Small Town USA was thriving. International trade and competition weren’t an issue. Shoot, I’m probably the last of the bunch who took a typing class in high school (on the old IBM typewriters.) I was, however, probably one of the first of the bunch to have a computer class in high school. Apple IIE. We played games like Death Maze 5000. I could explain what episode of Star Wars we were watching. Shit, I even went to the LIBRARY. (I wonder what the traffic flow in libraries is like today?)

And, Back In My Day, I started my career as a fax machine sales rep. Sure, we still have a fax machine. We have to hook it up for the very few clients who still demand to “fax us” a document. wow…

The internet is going to ROCK OUR FOUNDATION for commerce. The next five years will re-define the world. It’s now a global game, and businesses that understand this will dominate. I really believe that the days of the local brick and mortar are gone. The only local brick and mortar stores that will succeed will be those that are online and selling their goods and services to an international market.

I’m just happy to know this and to be a part of this. The REALLY amazing thing is that it’s not too late. We managed to rank www.zionsvillecandlecompany.com in less than 70 days for terms like “soy candles,” custom candles,” “scented soy candles,” etc. Sure, it took an amazing amount of work, but what if we’d waited two more years? Forget it. Game over!

Till next time,

Chris

Incredible video posted from www.bradfallon.com, A REAL SHOCKER.

Following up on my earlier blog “The Wild, Wild, West Internet,” this really hits home.

Here’s the link: