Cincinnati – Marketing

TEDxCincinnati is a locally and independently run organization operated in the spirit of the famous TED conferences, also known as TED Talks (http://www.ted.com/). TED conferences feature renowned experts from all over the world in various fields giving presentations at an annual conference on all kinds of topics, including technology, science, economics, religion, society, and culture. Many Nobel Prize winners and other famous figures speak at TED, such as Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Al Gore, Gordon Brown, Richard Dawkins, Bill Gates, and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

TED is about sharing ideas on topics with a profound impact in the world to engage minds in the deepest ways. The motto for TED is “Ideas Worth Spreading.”

Here’s one of the most-watched TED Talks of all time:

TEDx—the Local Version

TEDx conferences are local, independently organized versions of TED. They embody the same spirit and purpose but feature experts sharing ideas with a profound impact on the local community. TEDxCincinnati produces several events per year. Its most recent event was TEDxCincinnatiChange in April, and its next event will be in October (name and details to be announced). It will also do a Youth event in November and a Women’s event in December.

Top Dog Marketing Group is proud to be a part of TEDxCincinnati, a nonprofit venture, providing marketing support in the form of website administration, social media management, email marketing, and copywriting. We are providing all of this assistance for free, but we don’t mind—we are having a blast! It’s not often when you get to take part in an initiative that’s fun to work and means so much to your community.

Plus, we have been able to get to know some of the raddest people in Cincinnati, such as crazy artists, savvy entrepreneurs, best-selling authors, amazing playwrites, passionate social activists, ingenious educators, and other really cool folks. That in itself makes the experience worth it.

Here is a great talk on education from TEDxCincinnatiChange 2012:

For more information about TEDxCincinnati, including on volunteering, check out
http://tedxcincinnati.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/TEDxCincinnati.

You may also watch more TEDxCincinnatiChange 2012 videos here: 
http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDxCincinnati.

Columbus – Marketing

However, one client’s results are a little more eyebrow raising than all the rest. With our help, this client raked in approximately $140,000 in just one weekend!

While we’d like to take the lion’s share of credit for our client’s incredible windfall, the truth is many factors were at work. First of all, this client offers an excellent revolutionary service with high inherent demand, and they have no competition in their market (thus, we are obligated to not reveal who this client is or what service they provide). Second, they achieved that cash bonanza by running an excellent Groupon campaign in which they sold packages of their service at a significant discount.

A mere 48 hours after launching their Groupon campaign, our client grossed about $140,000! Groupon did take half of their earnings; but still, a net haul of $70,000 in one weekend is quite a life-changing accomplishment. Their success was so dramatic, in fact, that they have to put another Groupon campaign on hold for at least six months because they are booked up with customers until then!

So, how did we assist this business with their “overnight” success? We designed and developed their website from scratch right before they launched their Groupon campaign. We made sure they had a visually stunning website with compelling videos explaining the features and benefits of their service. The site also featured a well-organized structure, a persuasive sales funnel and appealing opt-in form, well-written content, and other elements strategically implemented to encourage sales of their service.

Therefore, while we can’t claim full credit for their Groupon success, a poorly designed and functioning website certainly would have chased potential customers away. Instead, we believe that the high quality of their website contributed positively to the success of the campaign, and we’re happy to be a factor in their extreme success.

Cincinnati – Marketing our clients is something we’re not ashamed to admit we’re very good at. We’ve been delivering excellent Columbus and Cincinnati marketing results for businesses and nonprofits for several years and have produced some great results.

For example, take Credit Smart Solutions, Cincinnati’s most reputable and successful credit repair firm. We designed, developed, and search engine optimized their website a few years ago. Their website continuously receives accolades because of how attractive and welcoming it looks, how well its content is organized, and how clear and compelling the calls to action are. It’s been a successful Cincinnati marketing initiative.

What’s more, within a couple of months of launching the site, we were able to take it to #1 in Google for the search terms “cincinnati credit repair” and “ohio credit repair” and keep it there. The site has remained #1 for those keywords to this day. It’s also #1 for “oh credit repair,” “cincinnati ohio credit repair,” “cincinnati oh credit repair,” and numerous other keyword phrase permutations.

Because of these #1 Google results, Credit Smart Solutions lands several new clients monthly through online leads. So, they are earning tens of thousands of extra dollars annually from an initial investment a mere fraction of that amount. Talk about successful marketing for a Cincinnati business.

The Flip Side of Our Cincinnati & Columbus Marketing Services

On the other hand, we have completely neglected our own marketing efforts over the last couple of years. We have been so focused on building everyone else’s business success, that we haven’t kept up with properly marketing our own Cincinnati-based marketing firm as well as we should. It’s not that we are hurting for business—on the contrary, we have had more than enough to keep us going strong.

Yet, one of our core marketing principles is to rarely if ever take the foot off the gas pedal. So, while we’ve enjoyed a good measure of abundance, we still should do more—particularly in the way of blogging and SEO of our own site. So, while we will continue to provide our Cincinnati and Columbus clients with the highest level of marketing work to foster optimal business success, we’ll be doing a lot more marketing of our own website and services.

What that means for you is to check back here at our blog more often. We’ll be posting fresh marketing tips and advice regularly that you should find valuable as you continue to aim for the maximum success of your own business.

Keep on Blogging, Tweeting, Posting…

…Update Your Affiliate Site’s Content

• Your site will possess the foundation to rank well in searches for your affiliate product
• Your site will possess the foundation to rank well in searches for relevant terms, especially if you conduct good keyword research and analysis and implement the keywords strategically in the site
• All of the backlinks you create to your affiliate site in your blog and elsewhere will enhance its search rankings (not all backlinks are created equal, though, but that’s a discussion for another day)

Even More Affiliate Website Marketing Tips

• Write compelling content with a clear unique selling proposition (USP) and benefits
• Host your blog and affiliate website under the same domain name
• Implement other effective SEO strategies, including the right backlinking techniques
• And more…

Keywords that web users are actually searching for in any meaningful volume naturally become highly competitive keywords as many site owners optimize for them. Therefore, ranking highly in the search engines for those keywords becomes no quick and easy task, and it takes a concerted effort using many different strategies to effectively target those keywords. And it takes time.

It can take four to six months’ time or longer to achieve top rankings for competitive keywords. The activity required for best-practice, effective SEO is significant, too, and that’s why proper SEO is no bargain basement service. Good SEO simply can’t be. And that’s also why businesses with a healthy marketing budget—and a willingness to delay gratification—can dominate the search engine rankings for the most valuable keywords: they’re willing to invest the money and time to fund the type of comprehensive SEO campaign necessary for premium results. Also, once they’re ranking at the top, there’s no time to let up on the reins, because competitors are constantly gunning to knock them off their perch.

For the business owner without a strong budget for SEO, however, there is an option. They can aim for what’s called the “low hanging fruit.” These are keywords that are not especially competitive yet typically not searched for in an especially high volume. High rankings for these keywords are easier to achieve and can be had for a lower budget—and sometimes a shorter time frame—although the ROI likely won’t be as significant as what is offered by keywords of greater value. But sometimes limitations require the pursuit of low hanging fruit, and that’s okay. They’re an easy target until the budget can be increased.

For the business owner with a very healthy marketing budget and a desire for immediate results, there’s an option for them too. They can combine their SEO efforts with other online strategies, such as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. With adequate funding, a PPC campaign can yield immediate results. For example, effective advertising in Google AdWords can place a business among the paid advertising links above or beside the natural search results at the top of the page. This strategy allows a business to be visible to web users immediately while their natural search rankings ramp up through consistent SEO efforts.

One must be very cautious, however, when employing a PPC or any other paid advertising campaign. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can burn through your budget quickly with little results. You should always use a knowledgeable and experienced campaign manager to handle your online advertising initiatives. Managed properly, a PPC campaign should target keywords that are not only in demand but also have a high rate of sales conversion—an inexperienced campaign manager may not properly make this distinction. As well, a well-run PPC campaign should be testing a number of different keywords to discover the ones that provide the highest ROI. This also benefits your SEO strategies because it identifies valuable keywords you can integrate into your SEO efforts. A mixed strategy of PPC and SEO, therefore, is an ideal one for most commercial websites.

So, now, depending on your budget and tolerance for gratification postponement, you have a few options for SEO and other online marketing initiatives. Just make sure you are realistic about the time frame and results, willing to sufficiently fund the required efforts, and employ a team that truly knows what it is doing. With the right combination of expectations, budget, and expertise, your online business venture should be a tremendous success.

Cincinnati & Columbus, OH – Web design implemented effectively is a crucial factor not only in your online success. A website that is strategically implemented can also boost your offline sales.

Online market research and analysis firm eMarketer published a report concluding that consumers are increasingly conducting online research to augment their offline purchases. The results show that all retail businesses, whether in Columbus, Cincinnati, or elsewhere in Ohio or the world, need to take advantage of this rising trend.

“Any retailer who isn’t using the online channel to promote offline sales—as well as online sales—is missing a sizable opportunity,” says eMarketer.

eMarketer estimated that, in 2007, a total of $471 billion in offline store sales were influenced by consumers conducting online product research first. The research firm also predicted that this online-to-offline dynamic will translate into $1.124 trillion in 2012.

Armed with this information, you now have a prime opportunity to influence more sales through your website. Your e-commerce website should, first of all, be a funnel that skillfully persuades Web visitors into making a purchase online. However, for those consumers intent on only conducting product research, your website should also provide them with the right balance of information to both answer their questions and convince them of your product’s and store’s advantages over those of your competitors—in other words, your unique selling proposition (USP).

If you struggle with creating compelling product descriptions, however, do not fret. You can still leverage the expertise of a skilled online marketing firm—such as Top Dog Marketing Group—to help you craft descriptions that accomplish the online and offline results you seek.

To help answer this question, let’s look at some numbers involved with SEO.

Since you own a small business, one of your primary goals is obviously to make money. Your time is extremely valuable and cannot be wasted away on ineffective tasks. Therefore, it’s imperative that you focus your precious time on the competencies that are most profitable for you, whether you do business nationally, internationally, or locally in Columbus or Cincinnati.

Is SEO, therefore, a profitable activity for you to take on yourself?

SEO—The Breakdown

Let’s assume that your time is worth $100 per hour. Here’s how the value of your time breaks down when spent on the SEO efforts of about a 10-page website:

• Time to teach yourself how to conduct bare-bones adequate search engine optimization—40+ hours.

I am estimating on the low side here. It took me, a guy who earned a perfect GPA in grad school (I’m not bragging, just making the point that I’m no dummy), many more excruciating hours than 40 to learn SEO sufficiently enough to do it right. And I’m still constantly learning, because the field of SEO is constantly evolving; as well, to be the best, one must maintain a competitive edge over other SEO specialists.

• Time to research and analyze keywords—3+ hours.

• Time to integrate keywords in HTML code—4+ hours.

• Time to integrate keywords in website copy—12+ hours.

This time could be even greater, because keyword phrases can be very awkward in syntax and therefore difficult to incorporate gracefully into the text. It takes a master wordsmith to do this task well.

• Time to obtain sufficient inbound links—4+ hours (per week).

This task is an ongoing one that requires much time and careful effort to do right. Today’s best practices advise building links through time-intensive manual efforts. Trying to take shortcuts, such as by employing automated link-building software, can actually cause the search engines to penalize and degrade your website.

• Time to keep website content fresh—4+ hours (per week).

The world’s #1 search engine, Google, loves new and frequently changing content. So, you’ve got to keep your website consistently updated. But you can’t just slap on any website copy: it has be both appropriately keyword rich and compellingly valuable to your visitors.

• Time to conduct all other various SEO tasks—8+ hours.

SEO—Final Analysis for Your Business

Okay, so in total all of the time required to conduct effective initial search engine optimization is at least 75 hours. Furthermore, add at least 10 hours per week of ongoing work—really powerful SEO work can easily be a 40-hour-per-week endeavor—to keep your website at the top of its SEO game.

So, 75 hours multiplied by $100 per hour (the value of your time) equals $7,500. Is this not-so-insignificant sum of money worth your time to spend learning and executing SEO on your own?

Before your answer, also consider the fact that the 75 hours plus 10+ hours ($1,000+) per week you spend conducting search engine optimization is also taking you away from the things you do best to make money in your business. Moreover, if you do a lousy job on your SEO work and end up essentially no better off than when you started, it’s like taking you away from your business and core competencies for 150 hours (75 hours on SEO plus 75 hours of lost time that you could have spent on more lucrative activities), or $15,000. Is that risk and expense—including the $1,000 per week, or $4,300 per month, in ongoing work—worth it?

For significantly much less than the $7,500 (or $15,000) initial cost of your time plus $52,000 annually (or $104,000) in ongoing cost of your time, you could instead hire an expert search engine optimization firm—like Top Dog Marketing Group—to do your SEO dirty work. That firm would do a far better job than your novice efforts could likely produce, thereby saving you many thousands of dollars and much frustration if you inevitably yield miserable results on you own.

With time and patience, the SEO firm will move your website up in the search engine rankings—effective SEO is no overnight gimmick—and manifest a flow of quality leads to your business. If you have a solid sales department in place, many of these leads will then convert into customers.

These days, just about anyone can throw together a website. But, consistent with the way things have always been, only a skilled professional can create a website that does justice to a serious business.

I can’t tell you how many times lately I have heard a small business owner say they’ve had or are having their nephew, friend, spouse, or other self-taught acquaintance design a website for them. Every time I hear this, I cringe.

Over 80% of your potential customers will visit your website at least one time before they decide to do business with you. Moreover, studies have shown that the majority of customers will make their decision to do business with you within 10 seconds of viewing your website. If you are truly serious about your business, leaving the design of your website to anyone other than a professional is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

The most common result I have seen from a friend or family member designing a website is one that looks amateurish, functions poorly, and does not contain the features the site needs to be effective. Quality Web design is hard enough for a professional; impossible for a novice.

Cincinnati & Columbus Web Design Done Right

Your website is a digital representation of your business. It reflects your professionalism and capabilities. Therefore, don’t risk letting a sloppy website be your online showpiece.

Ask yourself, is it okay for our company to look amateur and inept? Or is it best practice for us to look like high-profile all-stars?

If you want your business located in Columbus, Cincinnati, or elsewhere to be appropriately represented online, you really should hire a professional for the job. But do consider that not all professionals provide the same level of results. I have seen numerous businesses get gouged for Web design or search engine optimization services—and yet receive sloppy or underperforming results. This type of business practice really irks me; I’ve seen too many good businesses lose a ton of money on services that just weren’t up to par.

So, know that if you plan to have your business website designed or redesigned, please be wary about putting the project in the hands of a friend, relative, or other novice who says they can do the job. Chances are, they will waste a great deal of your time and enough of your money, and leave you worse off than before you launched a website that made your business look like a substandard operation.

Additionally, you will offend your friend or relative when you turn the website over to a professional to fix the mistake. Or, if you are too loyal or too uncomfortable to turn the site over, you will then have to suffer with a website that does your business a costly injustice.

Keep in mind the idiom “penny wise, pound foolish.” It applies most aptly when it comes to whom you hire to design your website.