Local Search Engine Business Profiles

You’ve read about the importance of being found online.  The trouble is, most companies don’t know how to go about it very well.  I hate to admit it but it’s not rocket science.  It’s just a matter of doing something everyday to improve the marketing of your organization.

Recently I have decided to build some Local Search Engine Business Profiles for our clients and now I have decided to roll them out to the public.

These Local Search Engine Business Profiles include your company information, primary keywords so your prospects can find you, a short description of your products and services and a map to your location.  They also include up to three links back to your own web site to help improve your rankings for those terms.

In addition they include links to other related profiles and links back from other profiles.

Each profile is hand-built by me and very well optimized for local search.

View a sample profile for a Frisco, Texas Electrician and then take a look at our Business Profile Master List for other profiles.  There’s not a whole lot there yet, but it won’t be that way for long.

For a limited time you can save 50% off the first year.  Sign up today!

Getting the Tough Things Done

There’s a saying that goes something like this, “If you have to eat a frog, eat it first and everything else will go down much easier.  If you have to eat more than one frog, eat the biggest one first.”

Basically what this means is that if you do the tough things first in your day, everything else will go a bit smoother.  You won’t have that monkey (or frog) hanging on your back all day.

Here’s a cute, short movie (about a minute and a half long) that explains it nicely.

Thanks to Kyle Hunt, my fellow Duct Tape Marketing Coach up in Michigan, for sharing this.  I originally found the link to this video on his marketing blog.

Being In 10 Places At Once

This post was inspired by a blog post from a friend of mine “across the pond”, Rod Sloane.

Rod was talking about showing up everywhere so that your prospects and customers see you or your content everywhere they look.

With the introduction of Social Media and Social Networking, being in 10 places (or 100) at once is more of a reality than science fiction.

RSS feeds are really the catalyst behind it all.  If you set up profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and FriendFeed it really is possible to be in 100 places at one time.

Every blog has an RSS feed.  The key is to add that feed to each of your social media profiles.

Here’s the down and dirty of getting it all set up.  For more details and commentary, check out the ebook created by John Jantsch for Microsoft, entitled Let’s Talk – Social Media for Small Business.

To add your blog feed to your LinkedIn profile all you need to do is go into the Applications section.  There are two options, one if you have a WordPress blog and the other for TypePad blogs.   First, you add your blog URL to your profile, then just activate the appropriate application.  Done!  Now every time you add a post to your blog it shows up on your LinkedIn profile.

To add your blog feed to your Facebook profile, go into the Notes application and add your blog’s RSS feed to it.  Now every time you add a post to your blog it not only shows up on your profile, but the profile of everyone you are friends with!

The next step is to add a your blog feed to your FriendFeed profile.  Just click on Import Site and then click on Blog and add the URL of your blog feed.  It’s as simple as that.

One more step.  Each time you add a post to your blog, go to Twitter and post a link to your blog.  That becomes a part of the public timeline and can be seen by literally thousands of people at once.

I know it sounds a bit complicated at first, but it’s really very simple once you get started.

Now you can be found in not only 10 places at once, but 100 or even 1000.

To your success,

Ken

Connect with me:

LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/in/wemakemarketingeasy
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=793787924
Twitter – http://twitter.com/kenpartain
FriendFeed – http://friendfeed.com/kenpartain

Make The Next 12 Months Your Best Ever!

Want Your Next 12 Months to be Your Best 12 Months Ever?

Who wouldn’t?

Join my friend, colleague and best selling author Kevin Eikenberry on December 18^th for one of his two free Start Today! Make Your Next 12 Months Your Best 12 Months teleseminars.

Go to here to get the details, register and lock it into your calendar.

It will be the most valuable 75 minutes you spend on your future.

I’ve known Kevin for about five years now and highly recommend this program.

This call is in just a few days, so click here to register and I’ll be with you on the late call.

I Will Persist Until I Succeed

I recently began re-reading a fantastic book by Og Mandino called The Greatest Salesman in the World.  This is a great little self-help/motivational type of book with several nuggets of wisdom that can really transform your life, regardless of whether you are in sales or not.

The tenth chapter is about persistence and I want to share a very powerful quote from it.

I will persist until I succeed.

I was not delivered unto this world in defeat nor does failure course in my veins.  I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd.  I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with sheep.  I will hear not those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious.  Let them join the sheep.  The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny.

I’ve been meaning to share this with you for several days now and when I checked my email this morning, there was an email from Jeffrey Gitomer, probably one of the greatest sales trainers in America, if not the world.  Guess what the main point of his email was…persistence.

He quotes from Napoleon Hill’s timeless classic, Think and Grow Rich.  Another favorite of mine.  Hill has an entire chapter devoted to the development of persistence, but I’ll share with you his steps on how to develop persistence.

There are four simple steps which lead to the habit of persistence.  They call for no great amount of intelligence, no particular amount of education, and but little time or effort.  The necessary steps are:

1. A definite purpose backed by burning desire for its fulfillment.
2. A definite plan, expressed in continuous action.
3. A mind closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances.
4. A friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose.

If you haven’t read either of these books, take the time to do so.  They can literally transform your life and your career.

In this tough economic time we are going through, persistence is key to achieving the success you desire.

To your success!

Ken

Top 50 Marketing Blogs

Evan Carmichael recently released their new list of the Top 50 Marketing Blogs to watch for 2009.  Once again the Duct Tape Marketing Blog has made the list.  Not only that, it moved from #16 last year to #2 this year.  Congratulations John Jantsch.  Click the image below to view the entire list.

How Your Small Business Can Thrive During a Recession

Like many of my colleagues, I get a ton of email from other marketers just so I can see what is going on around me.  Today I received my Marketing Minute from Marcia Yudkin with a link to a report called 33 Ways to Thrive During a Recession.  I have read through the report and it is spot on.

If you are wondering what to do next to keep your business humming along during these tough economic times you need to read this report.  There’s no charge and you don’t even have to give her your name and email address, although you probably want to sign up for her Marketing Minute email because it always has good stuff in it that you can take action on right away to improve your small business marketing.

Anyway, here’s the link to the page where you can get your own copy of 33 Ways to Thrive During a Recession.

Last Chance to Register for Marketing Intensive Seminar

Act today and get 25% off the Marketing Intensive Seminar

John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing wants to help you create your marketing plan in person, in the beautiful Sonoma County region of California -

Spend two transformative days with him and the folks at E-Myth Worldwide Thursday, November 13 and Friday, November 14 to develop the marketing and lead generation systems that will take your business to the next level of success.

Register Now for the Marketing Intensive Seminar and get 25% off the regular price (a savings of over $373 that can help cover your travel costs). The seminar price includes a delightful Sonoma County Winery Dinner experience on November 13.

Use special purchase code EBMK1108 by midnight Monday, October 27th to receive your 25% discount. That’s $1121.25 per person ($1495 regular price). Act Now!

http://www.e-myth.com/seminars/ducttapemarketing/

PS – All participants also receive a copy of the new software Marketing Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing

Small Business CRM Solution

I realize this blog is not about CRM or Customer Relationship Management, but I just felt the need to make this post today.  Most small businesses need some way to keep track of prospects and clients and manage the interactions with them all.

Well, the folks at 37 Signals have done it again with Highrise.  I have been using their Basecamp product for about three years.  I recently started using Highrise and am very impressed.  Today they announced a new feature that allows you to track Deals, and whether they are pending, won or lost and the related dollar amount of the deal.

For years I used contact management software that was installed on my computer.  The last few installs have been a huge nightmare, so I refused to buy it again.  Not only that, if I had it on one computer I couldn’t access the data from another computer.  In addition, if the computer that the software was installed on crashed I was S.O.L.

By using an online version I can get to my data from anywhere I have an internet connection and I won’t lose anything if my computer crashes.

I can’t speak highly enough about all of the products from 37 Signals.  They are very intuitive and easy to use and I recommend them to everyone.

The Challenges of Picking a Niche

Yesterday I wrote a post about Riches in Niches and would like to get your feedback about the challenges and/or opportunities of selecting a niche to work with.

Picking a niche to target is kind of like picking a major in college.  For some people it comes so easy.

A good friend of mine knew from the time he was a very young boy that he wanted to be a doctor.  Guess what?  Today he is a very successful surgeon and is having the time of his life.

Then there are the others that go off to college because it’s what they’re “supposed to do,” or their parents threatened them within an inch of their lives if they didn’t get a degree.

I fall somewhere in between those two extremes.  I went to college because I wanted to, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to major in.  There were so many interesting things to learn about, but to get anywhere at all I had to pick a major so I could get that sheepskin for my wall.

To make a long story short (too late?), I didn’t finish college because I was too anxious to get out in the real world and make some money.

I remember lots of my classmates struggling to decide on a major, or picking one and then changing it later, and then changing it again a semester later.

What I know now is that they would have been successful no matter which major they chose as long as they were interested in the subject and enjoyed learning about it.  And most importantly, stuck with it until the end.

Well, in life there really is no end, until we take our final breath.  Everything is a learning process.

Which brings me back to the title of today’s post.  Although I’ve thougth about it, I’ve never selected a niche to target for our SEO services.  I currently have clients in a dozen different industries in cities all over the country.

Just this year I started working with two franchises, a Senior Living Franchise and an Organic Lawn Care Franchise.  I am intrigued by working with franchises for a couple of reasons.  1) they are typically targeting two different audiences, the prospective franchisee and the end user of the product.  2) It provides some long-term possibilities because once you do well for the franchising company, there’s a good chance of working with new franchisees to develop their local marketing campaigns.  So, I’m leaning toward focusing on franchises, but would like to get your feedback.

Here’s my questions for you.

1. Have you selected a niche to target?
2. If so, how did you select that niche?
3. Did you pick that niche for the money or for the joy of working in that industry?
4. If you haven’t selected a niche, why not?
5. Do you feel like it would hinder your success or enhance it?

Just click on the comments link below to add your thoughts.

Thanks and have a great day!