Recently, I had some problems with a home improvement contractor who made some promises that he can’t keep. It’s gotten to the point where I am about to report it to the BBB and online sources. Right now, we are just threatening him as leverage.

However, I have not pulled the trigger on it just yet, because I know as an internet marketer how destructive that a pissed off customer can be. According to a recent marketing book by Pete Blackshaw, the average angry consumer tells 3000 people about their frustration with a company that does them wrong. If the pissed off consumer is technically savvy or an internet marketer, the danger is much much worse. I truly believe that a tech savvy consumer can completely destroy a small business that wrongs them in a matter of days.

While this is quite empowering as a consumer, as a business owner it’s downright scary. You work for years to build a business and someone can tear it down quickly. I know that most business owners do their best but sometimes things simply happen. Here are some tips to protect your online reputation.

1. Don’t let it happen. Well, that sounds obvious, but you would be amazed at how many businesses let complaints slide, or simply ignore them. Most people will complain to you and make threats before reporting it to BBB and online review sites. Take these complaints seriously.
2. Get good reviews. The best way to combat bad reviews is to have good reviews. Claim your profile at Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Thumbtack, Yelp, Judy’s Book, Yellow Book and the other places where reviews are done. Get your satisfied customers to post good reviews on your company. That way, if a bad review does slip in there, it will be negated by good reviews. By the way, Google does look at the reviews that your site has. A site with a lot of good reviews will get rewarded and placed higher in the search engines.
3. Respond immediately to any negative feedback. Sometimes things just happen and a bad review gets posted that you may not even be aware of until months later. Most review sites have a way to tell your side of the story on any bad feedback. It’s very important that you respond to any negative feedback immediately.
4. Set up Google Alerts and monitor your company. Google has a great tool called Google Alerts where you can monitor anything said about your company. You should set one up immediately on your company name and your personal name so you can be sure that your reputation is protected.

The best defense is a good offense. While I can’t protect you from negative feedback, I can help you set up those all important review site accounts which will help you rank higher on the search engines and will help you get positive customer feedback. Contact me today for the full details and a price quote.

Protecting Your Online Reputation is a post from: Dayton SEO Services

The Dayton Ohio market presents a lot of choices for your web design needs. You can choose someone with a graphic design background, a programming background, you can attempt to build your own website or you can hire an internet marketer. Let’s look at each option.

One route that you can take in choosing a web designer is picking someone with a graphic design background. Graphic designers generally have an art degree from a school like the Ohio Institute of Photography and Technology. They will know Photoshop inside and out. They will also know everything about every font known to man. They will know about different colors and styles. However, the downside of hiring a graphic designer to build your website is that in many cases, they will not know how to get your website to the top of the search engines or more importantly how to turn your website into a money making machine. Their knowledge of SEO can be limited. Additionally, they may do things that are not ideal for your website like overusing graphics. Overuse of graphics can be a problem because Google cannot read graphics and using too many graphics can make your site rank lower.

Another option that you may be considering is hiring someone from a programming background. Programmers are sometimes self taught but often have degrees in computer science. Programmers are great if you want to get a specialized application made, but might not know how to make your website look good or how to get your website to rank highly.

You could also try to build a website yourself. This would certainly save you some money, but what’s your time worth? Do you really want to go through the frustration of learning how to build a website? There are many tactics that SEO experts know that the average person does not. Do you really want to take the time to learn all of these things just to build one website? Again, what’s your time really worth? Even worse, if you do certain things that Google doesn’t like, you could even get banned from Google and not have your website show up at all. Be careful.

Finally, the last and best option to consider when selecting a web designer is someone with an internet marketing background. Internet marketers sometimes have degrees in business and most often learned web design on their own and through forums.

Many internet marketers have done other things online, like affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is simply where someone sells a product or generates leads on behalf of a company on a commission basis. The best example of affiliate marketing is Amazon.com. Amazon has a program where you can sell an Amazon product on your website and Amazon will pay you a commission. Many other companies also have affiliate programs as well.

Internet marketers will look at your website and tell you how to get ranked higher. Internet marketers will keep one thing in the back of their mind: how can this website make more money? At the end of the day, that’s all any business owner wants: to get more phone calls do they can make more money. In nearly all cases, internet marketers are the best choice for your web design needs.

How To Select A Web Designer in Dayton Ohio is a post from: Dayton SEO Services

Many small business owners are struggling to reply to their online leads in a timely manner. I’ve noticed that this habit is especially bad in industries like home improvement where business owners are away from their computers for long periods of time. Internet leads go stale super fast. You need to be on it to get the deal done!

If you are out in the field for long periods of time, and don’t want to get a smart phone, here’s an easy and free solution for you to stay on top of your most important leads without breaking your bank account.

1. Get text messaging set up on your cell phone, if you don’t have it already.
2. Use the chart at the bottom of this post to figure out the email address that corresponds with your phone’s text messaging.
3. Update your contact info on your website using the email address from step 2.
4. Update your contact me forms on your website to also go to you as a text message.

There you have it! You now get your important leads by text message and can respond to them quickly. Now, go make some money!

Free Email To SMS Gateways (Major US Carriers)

Carrier
Email to SMS Gateway

Alltel
[10-digit phone number]@message.alltel.com
Example: 1234567890@message.alltel.com

AT&T (formerly Cingular)
[10-digit phone number]@txt.att.net
[10-digit phone number]@mms.att.net (MMS)
[10-digit phone number]@cingularme.com
Example: 1234567890@txt.att.net

Boost Mobile
[10-digit phone number]@myboostmobile.com
Example: 1234567890@myboostmobile.com

Nextel (now Sprint Nextel)
[10-digit telephone number]@messaging.nextel.com
Example: 1234567890@messaging.nextel.com

Sprint PCS (now Sprint Nextel)
[10-digit phone number]@messaging.sprintpcs.com
[10-digit phone number]@pm.sprint.com (MMS)
Example: 1234567890@messaging.sprintpcs.com

T-Mobile
[10-digit phone number]@tmomail.net
Example: 1234567890@tmomail.net

US Cellular
[10-digit phone number]email.uscc.net (SMS)
[10-digit phone number]@mms.uscc.net (MMS)
Example: 1234567890@email.uscc.net

Verizon
[10-digit phone number]@vtext.com
[10-digit phone number]@vzwpix.com (MMS)
Example: 1234567890@vtext.com

Virgin Mobile USA
[10-digit phone number]@vmobl.com
Example: 1234567890@vmobl.com

Reply to leads faster by using email to text message is a post from: Dayton SEO Services

Someone recently asked me about my opinion of Google's "Bad Neighborhood Penalty." It's an interesting topic that anyone who has a website needs to be aware of, so I'm going to share some thoughts about this topic.

First of all, what is a "bad neighborhood" in Google's eyes? Essentially a bad neighborhood is online junk. Some examples are: spam sites, porn, viagra sites, gambling, viruses, etc. You will certainly know it when you see it.

By trading links with these types of sites, Google may think that you endorse these types of activities and they may penalize you.

You may be thinking, "That's fine, I don't link to spammers or porn". True, but do you have a blog? If so, the spammers could post links to their site in your blog comments.

Now if a viagra link or two ends up in your comments, will your blog get banned? Probably not. But it certainly won't help your site. Your readers won't be impressed either.

If you are running WordPress, sometimes the plugin authors will place links to spam sites in your footer. It's sneaky and sometimes you won't notice it. I've had it happen to me and sure enough the site got penalized.

The other type of spam is when your site gets hacked. This can and certainly does happen. When there is a hack, your site could get penalized while the hack gets resolved. Luckily, sites will go back up in rankings once everything is fixed.

The other type of "bad neighborhood" is your inbound links. This area is a bit controversial in the SEO world. Some people say that you can get as many links as you want as fast as you want. Others claim that Google will penalize you for getting too many links too fast, especially if they are from websites with a less than stellar reputation.

I've personally found that I've not had any problems with getting links too fast. Worst case scenario, Google won't give me much credit for the links.

In summary, build quality links to your site and create outbound links to quality sites as well. Keep your site secure and always moderate your comments. If you use WordPress plugins, check your footer occasionally to make sure there aren't any strange links. Do these tips and you will be ok with Google.

Are You Linking To Bad Neighborhoods? is a post from: Dayton SEO Services

Back in August, our a/c went out in our house right in the middle of the summer. It got very uncomfortable fast in our house! I looked through my network but the only guy in know in the heating and air business was not available.

So, I ended up going online to Yelp (I don't use the phone book) and called someone to fix it. It turned out to be bad blower and $450 later we had ac again. Yea!

This company did a mighty fine job and certainly no complains. However, they left a lot of money on the table. It's not just HVAC. I see this all the time with countless local businesses both big and small.

What if, when I called to schedule the appointment, after we set the time but before I hung up, they asked me a simple question. The question is "Would you like to get our newsletter with tips on how save money by making your home more efficient? We send it out a couple times a month and we also include money saving coupons."

Would I have said yes to that question? Yes!
Would many other people? Yes!
Would the people that don't want the newsletter be offended by being asked? No!

Or how about this….
What if after I spent the $450, they had sent me a card thanking me for my business?

Or what if they asked for my birthday and sent me a birthday card? Would I be impressed then? Absolutely!

Would I tell my friends about them? Absolutely!

These things don't have to be expensive. In fact, its some of the cheapest advertising you can do. The heating and air company that I dealt with has phone book, tv, radio, etc. I bet that they easily spend 4 figures a month on advertising.

Does sending a card or developing a newsletter take time and work to do? Yes it does! Is it worth it? Absolutely!

If you want to develop an online newsletter, there are several resources that you can use to help you.

In my opinion, anyone with a local business should have an account with Constant Contact  or an equivalent autoresponder service. It's simply too valuable in today's marketplace. They should also have an account with a greeting card service like SendOutCards. Again, another valuable tool that is simply too important to ignore.

What if you simply don't have the time or technical know how to get these services set up? No problem! Give me a call and I can do it for you. No more excuses…get your follow up system set up today!

Local Businesses Are Leaving Major $$$ On The Table is a post from: Dayton SEO Services

Bob Goldberg from Food For Thought Marketing asked me an interesting question the other day. He asked me if he should be using affiliate links on his website. It's an interesting topic and a lot of business owners make mistakes in this area, so let me tell you what I think about this.

First of all, I need to explain to you what exactly an affiliate program is and how it works. An affiliate program is simply a referral program put in place by a website. The oldest and one of the best known affiliate programs is Amazon.com. Their program is simple. The affiliate links to an Amazon product using their special tracking links and if someone buys the product from the affiliate's link, then the affiliate gets paid an agreed upon percentage of the sales price.

In the 12 or so years since Amazon started their affiliate program, things have expanded quite a bit. Today, there is an affiliate program for just about everything.

Affiliate programs generally fall under these categories:

Pay per sale- the product sells, you get paid (like the Amazon program above)

Pay per click- Google Adsense is the best known in this category

Pay per lead (also known as Cost per Action or CPA)- Commonly used for insurance and home improvement

Where to find affiliate programs

Some websites like Google and Amazon have their own in house affiliate programs. Many other websites use a third party company called an affiliate network.

Here are a few well known affiliate networks out there (very partial list)

Commission Junction – Offers from well known Fortune 500 companies like VistaPrint and Monster.com.

Clickbank- Downloadable products, generally hot to books and software

Rextopia- A great place to find pay per lead offers like insurance and home improvement

How to take advantage of affiliate programs

Now that you have some understanding of what affiliate marketing is, should you use it on your website? Well, yes and no…

Let me explain. You should only use affiliate links if it adds value to your website and does not cause distractions. You should not use affiliate banners on your business website. Only use text links. Google Adsense is a bad idea in almost all cases as well.

However, if you are blogging and you happen to mention a product or service that you like and use, why not get paid for it? Just use a simple text link to the site you are recommending inside of your blog post.

Another area to make money with affiliate marketing is through your unqualified leads. For example, an insurance agent could send leads outside of his area to an insurance affiliate program. Other industries that have local territories like home improvement can also use affiliate programs to refer out non-local leads that would otherwise be dead leads.

You could also use affiliate programs for people that simply don't qualify or can't afford your product or service. An example of this is a mortgage broker recommending a credit repair book to someone who can't get a mortgage due to bad credit. The broker makes some money and the prospect is helped as well.

I hope you got some ideas from these tips and as always, feel free to post your comments below.

Should You Use Affiliate Links On Your Website? is a post from: Dayton SEO Services

Last Friday, I had lunch with David Wright from the Dayton area office of The Growth Coach. In addition to coaching, David has also started a side business selling SMS text messaging broadcast services for business. He told me a little about the benefits of SMS messages. However, after asking a few questions about his services, I determined that a lot of business owners are jumping into the text message arena before they have the basics of online marketing down pat. It’s like trying to take Algebra before you can add. It just doesn’t work!

I’ve seen this sort of things happen several times at Rainmaker events. People want to be on Facebook on Twitter because it’s the “in thing to do” without any kind of real strategy. It’s a sure fire recipe for online marketing disaster!

Here is, in my opinion, the order in which you should build your online presence:

Level 1: Website and personal social networking profile
Without a website and profile, you aren’t really online are you?

Level 2: Blog with regular updates.
Once you have a website, you should then add in a blog and post useful content to it regularly.

Level 3: Email list.
The money is in the list! Now that you have content, sending things to the list is easy. See why this has to be in order? If you have a list and no content, that does you no good!

Level 4: Facebook Fan Pages and Twitter.
Now that you have content and a list, you can add in your fan pages. Since you have content, you can syndicate it to Facebook and Twitter for additional traffic.

Level 5: Pay per click campaigns.
Now that you have a website and content and hopefully a website that converts, you can run pay per click campaigns to add in additional traffic. Be sure to track what keywords are working and which keywords are not working for you.

Level 6: Search Engine Optimization.
Take the top converting keywords from your Pay per Click campaign and build content around it. Tweak your site pages to build more traffic around those keywords.

Level 7: SMS text messaging/voice blasts/other technology.
Now that you have a list and have a website with converting traffic, then you can add in the newer technology like opt in text message blasts and opt in phone blasts. These simply serve as a secondary way to get your message out to your fans and build additional exposure.

Follow these tips in order and you will see your online presence zoom!

The Right Way To Build Your Online Presence is a post from: Dayton SEO Services

We recently started building small business niche directories. We are getting these directories ranked in Google and sell sponsorships. These are super niche targeted in the local market. We currently have sponsorships ready to roll in the following directories (all on page 1 on Google as of today).

DaytonPreschools.com
DaytonMoldInspection.com
CincinnatimoldInspection.com
DaytonHeatingContractors.com

The sites are fairly new and should be at #1 very soon. These types of sites get super targeted traffic ready to do business with you. Our advertising rates are a fraction of what the newspaper or the phone book would run and there are different options available.

Several more sites are in the works soon. If you have a niche not listed but are interested, please let me know and I can add it too the list.

Advertising Opportunities is a post from: Dayton SEO Services

I recently read a really good book about LinkedIn called LinkedWorking by Frank Agin and Lewis Howes. If you are serious about using LinkedIn or are simply curious as to how to maximize its effectiveness, this is a book you should definitely consider picking up.

In the book, Agin and Howes give real success stories about people that have used LinkedIn to grow their business. There really isn’t a right way or a wrong way to use LinkedIn. Rather, its picking a strategy that works for you and doing it consistently.

Here are a few tips that I got from the book and am implementing now:

1. Have a plan of action and do it consistently
2. Join as many groups as possible. LinkedIn limits you to 50 groups. Make sure that they are spread among different interests for best results. Visit the groups and if the group is inactive, drop it and find one that’s better. Alternately, you can talk to the moderator and take over the slow moving group.
3. Better yet, start your own group if you have the time.
4. Use Linkedin Answers. You will meet some great people and help people in the process.
5. Find out your local events and post them to events. Invite your local connections to them.
6. Get and use the Firefox LinkedIn plugin
7. Send helpful newsworthy items to your contacts. Also post your best content in LinkedIn’s Groups. Get people engaged.

I also changed my profile since getting the book. You should add the keyword of your business to your profile in several locations. The video below explains it a lot better than I can. After using the tips from the video below, I got my profile to #3 in the US for the term “SEO”. Nice!

There is some talk as to whether its better to have a lot of contacts you don’t know well or just a few contacts that you know quite well. I’ve decided to take the “lot of contacts” approach. I joined some open networker groups and in a short time grew my contacts from around 300 to now having over 1800. It’s been well worth it as I’m getting more leads and partnership opportunities than ever before.

One of these contacts, Darrell O’Dea sent me a free ebook called Breaking the “Linkedin 500 Barrier”. It’s a great 60+ page book and you can download it here.

I hope you really enjoyed these tips and if you aren’t connected to me on LinkedIn, please feel free to contact me.

How To Leverage LinkedIn Effectively is a post from: Dayton SEO Services

Here’s an interesting You Tube video that’s going around about the growth of social media. Wow, that’s some insane growth.

Interesting Video About Social Media Growth is a post from: Dayton SEO Services