Internet Marketing Blog | Search Consulting Service

Academy at Sisters | Boarding School for At-Risk Girls

Chewuch Inn & Cabins | Winthrop Wa Lodging

Deschutes Brewery – Oregon Brewery

Deschutes Property Management | Bend Oregon Home Rentals

FlashCut CNC Controls

Kialoa – Stand Up Paddles Outrigger Paddles

Mountain Room Banquet and Catering

That was useful. I just completed a 95 lesson on-line course that entailed the taking of 18 tests. Since the art and science of search engine marketing is new and changing, keeping updated is important for my clients. If you are interested in seeing what the course covered click on the certification icon below.

Typically I urge my clients to add content to their website, but this content should empower a goal, not inhibit it.  Usually the website’s goal is to either directly produce revenue (an e-commerce website) or the website is intended to attract people to contact my client (a lead generation website).  Quite often we lose site of these website objectives. Images, text, movies, and other glitzy media is added to the site without regard to purpose. Other times “administrative” information is added for a select few customers or because we can. Does this content aid the decision process of a potential customer, or does it detract? If you were a salesperson, would this information help the sale or would it make the sale more difficult? These are questions you should ask yourself when looking at your website.

I often get asked: How do I turn a website visitor into a paying customer?  I believe the question might be better framed as: How do I get customers/clients to visit our website? You will always get visitors who have no intention of buying your goods or services. The trick may not be to change these visitors into customers but to find more potential customers. To find a customer, consider offering them something they want, but that is not necessarily your product. And two, develop a relationship with them.

I usually assist my clients in deriving 10 or so keyword phrases. These are phrases that a prospect would  use to search Google and find my client. An example of a keyword phrase for a local bike store might be “Bend Oregon Bike Shop”. Now that you have these keywords what do you do with them? What we do with keywords is as important as finding the correct keywords.

Blog vs e-Newsletter, which should your business use? The quick answer is both. The purpose of both blogs and e-newsletters is to keep connected with your customers. By bringing customers into the fold, they feel like they are a valuable part of your business. Both communication devices are valuable to promoting your business and therefore increasing sales, but there are significant differences between the two methods.

Sam Handelman, owner of Search Consulting Service, began developing a practice in the productive commercial uses of the Internet in 1995 while a Senior Manager at KPMG Consulting. In 1999, he joined an Internet start-up, Calico Commerce, which soon offered an IPO. As a marketing manager he learned many valuable promotional lessons.