I happened to stop by Mihmorandum, the blog of Portland Oregon Website Designer David Mihm and David solved a problem I didn’t know I had.
WordPress Spam Injection = Google Penalty for My Blog (But Not Website)
I had been wondering for about two weeks why I was no longer ranking for “Locomotive Consultant” and reading David’s post made me check my code.
Darn spammers 🙁
David Mihm Rocks!
This post is in response to a request for Business How Tos at Sparkplugging.com in response to the question “How can I increase the profitability of my business?”
Way back toward the end of my time punching someone else’s clock I had an idea for a service I was calling “Outsource My Brain”.
The concept went something like this:
You’re a middle-manager or executive with more work than you feel like doing. So instead of pulling an all-nighter, or even foregoing American Idol with the kids, you drop that outline for a PowerPoint presentation to the board into you email.
Wham, bang, boom! Next morning in your inbox is a nice shiny presentation filled with charts, graphs, numbers and cool animations.
Like magic, no?
No — the recipient of your email was an offshore virtual assistant with an MBA from the IIT who knows more about PowerPoint, charts and numbers and your job than you do.
So here’s the problem with my big idea… somebody’s already done it! In fact a bunch of somebodys. One of the more well known is a company called Brickwork, made famous by Tom Friedman and A. J. Jacobs.
Best of all, I learned about it while reading “The World Is Flat ” (see quote)…
on a plane…
on my way back from India.
Man I was bummed. Another great idea gone. Then comes this “4 Hour Workweek ” craziness and it all goes to the dogs.
So, for anyone who hasn’t read it the “4 Hour Workweek” is about how you too can become a lifestyle designer using extreme time management to live the life you’ve dreamed while running a profitable business supporting your every need.
Sound too good to be true? Maybe. The author insists its possible!
We report, you decide.
Let’s set some ground rules:
Whether you’re the last kid on your upline for Tahitian Noni, Herbalife or Shaklee or if you’re a virtual assistant, contract writer or run a local internet marketing company you have something in common with other business owners. You got into business because of your passion. Passion for product, customers or even money is still passion. No one is going to have your passion for your business (see quote).
I don’t know your story so I’ll tell you mine.
I used to work for a company that built the software on which some major online yellow pages run. We had customers with one phone book and others with 300 + on the Fortune 1000 list.
The yellow pages is where consumers used to go to find products and services. The Yellow Pages Association of the time had a great tag line “We’re the Yellow Pages; We Sell Things” — I love it. Sounds like us: we’re internet marketers; we sell things.
We built that company, we had some great customers and partners and we then sold it to a company who is still growing and pushing new boundaries in local and mobile search, Local Matters.
I’d been working on the web since 1994 and we had done some work in search marketing but after the acquisition a small team and I started working on search on behalf of our yellow pages customers.
I saw how well we were able to rank for local search terms for yellow pages and I thought “why not take it to the masses”. We’re still working on the mass(es) part but we’ve been doing pretty well so far. Robert Kiyosaki tells a story in his books of his rich dad saying that the way to wealth was to figure out how to do what you do now for more customers with the same effort.
In other words, if we can help the individual advertiser rank as well as or better than the Yellow Pages it’s a big win. The advertiser pays less and gets better exposure online and we get a customer. That’s the passion: helping small businesses get the most of online marketing at a reasonable cost and in control of their own destiny.
Among my strengths is seeing the systems which need to be built and finding people with skills to build and run them.
And talking. 🙂
In the past I have built the systems with my hands on the keyboard — it’s just not a thing at which I excel. Others excel… I hack… I outsource or hire to my weakness.
In the early going, I would sell the projects and do some of the work and I would find smart, reliable, contractors for the rest. You might guess that reliable part is hardest to find.
All the while I was looking for ways in which we could systematize and streamline the process.
I’ve been incredibly fortunate in the time since to develop a full-time dedicated staff (and a reliable set of contractors and vendors) who are working together to help grow even further.
So, yes, nobody knows my business like I do. I hope it’s clear that I know I can’t do it all myself. I have to rely on my team. If I had to do it all I’d only be able to serve a few and I want to serve many.
And if I don’t trust the decisions of those around me how many can we serve? Even if my team makes decisions that aren’t 100% what I’d do 100% of the time, they’re pretty close and it means they don’t have to wait for me to get our clients what they need.
In support of helping our clients we write a TON of content. This is a big management effort. Amy Arnold my production manager is responsible for keeping track of the hundreds of pieces of content we create on any given day.
I used to do this myself. I did it OK when I could get to it. Amy does it great. It’s all hers and I trust her to do it better than I would. Is it perfect? Ain’t nothin’ perfect but the Lord (as they say down south). Could I find fault if I looked really hard? Sure, but it’s getting done and I’m not doing it.
My teammates are great and they all know that we have to do 2 things: get results and serve the customer.
And the whole team knows to feel free to take things away from me.
Eva Moran keeps me from having to focus on message and brand and vendors and conference swag and all the other things which I’d love to be more involved in but which are ultimately not the best use of my scarcest resource: time.
Angie Scott our controller makes sure I don’t have to worry about money.
Prashant Tribhuvan our production team lead makes sure Amy and I don’t have to micromanage every page of HTML or directory submission or blog post or whatever.
Jennifer Wojtowicz keeps me from having to organize pay-per-click campaigns and reporting.
So, we all get to work to our strengths and know that someone else is picking up our weaknesses.
Let’s look at what Jennifer does as an example.
I know how to set up a pay-per-click campaign. I am by no means an expert. If I took the time I’m sure I could be competent. Time is the issue.
I’ll only ever be competent because my life is about talking to customers and prospective customers and defining systems.
I’d rather have excellence on task and my own time to focus where I can be excellent. Jennifer spent the last 6 years in big agencies running multi-million dollar ad campaigns. Excellence.
So, if it was all me we’d have mediocre pay-per-click implementation and we wouldn’t have the systems to support customers and staff to:
So, where am I strong? Systems and talking.
I have to be focused on getting systems in place that support all these smart people because even smart people occasionally let things slide. The systems help reduce the stress of the work.
The people excel and we get results and serve the customer .
And, the more I talk the more customers want to work with us. So I have to talk to more people so we can have more customers so I can feed all these people building and using the systems. 🙂
I talk to customers we grow. I work on systems we grow with happy customers and teammates.
Face it, you can’t do it all. And there are some things at which you suck!
I’ll admit it, I am not great at keeping track of 300 + pieces of content a month. I don’t have the attention span for it and while I see the big picture I need the time for other things.
Amy rocks.
I’m also not great with money. In my personal life I’m rich until my ATM card stops working.
Thankfully Angie is really good with that stuff. My AmEx mysteriously gets paid, vendors are happy and I don’t worry about it.
Angie also rocks.
Hey you! Get some help
I trust my team to get the work done. I could try to micromanage but I’d be sapping everyone’s effectiveness (including mine).
I live in hurricane country and I know that it can all go bad overnight. There is no control, only trust.
I trust my team to get things done. And I trust our systems to show us what needs doing. And most importantly I trust our partners and customers to tell us when we get it wrong. We’re lucky. Our customers don’t expect perfection, they expect results. As long as they get results they’ll cut us a little slack on perfection.
You can’t control everything and to try will waste your time and drive you mad.
Look, not everyone gets as lucky as I did. I knew Amy for years — she was getting ready to reenter the workforce at exactly the time that I needed her. It just worked.
Angie who has years of high-level financial management experience happens to live in my house and take care of my kids (and me) and drive my car and is the recipient of my life insurance… and you guessed it, is married to me.
And the rest of the team, in all honesty, arrived just as we needed them most.
Start easy, do that rigorous self-assessment and identify those things which take your time but not your passion. And then find someone else to do them.
One good starting point is Elance. Elance is a global marketplace for people who know how to do stuff to connect with people who need stuff done.
How bout that?
Ask around. There’s a lot of untapped talent out there. Think of how many secretaries, lawyers, ad execs and bankers are at home tending children? You think they have some spare time?
Is this you? Are you that smart work at home person with a growing business? Maybe there’s someone in your neighborhood who hasn’t figured out what they’re going to do with their time.
Take them under your wing and give them your least valuable tasks… It’s a starting point.
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
A company who’s domain is linkshog.com
has been spamming my clients. Here’s why I call it spam versus just unsolicited email (I’m not averse to well done unsolicited email).
For instance, I got an email because Search Influence ranks on page 2 of Google for “New Orleans Plastic Surgery”
I wouldn’t be so quick to call them out, but this is at least the 5th copy of this email I remember having seen from different clients. In 3 of the 5 instances they were highlighting inappropriate search phrases and in another misrepresenting the position.
And I’ve seen a dozen others with text similar enough to make me think they’re using different company names for the same offer.
Hey Links Hog, please spend the extra $0.50 per contact and make sure you’re spamming the right target.
If you get a call from these guys please feel free to give us a call at (504) 208-3900 and we’ll be happy to tell you why this is not a good idea.
Message Follows:
Subject: I visited your website and had a question
Body: I was looking at websites under the keyword New Orleans Plastic Surgery and came across your website http://www.searchinfluence.com. I see that you’re not ranked on the first page of Google for a New Orleans Plastic Surgery search.
I’m not sure if you’re aware of why you’re ranked this low but more importantly how easily correctable this is.
There’s no reason you can’t have a top three ranking for the keyword New Orleans Plastic Surgery based on your site structure and content. You have a very nice site.
You need significantly more one way anchor text backlinks. If you’re interested I can help you with this…
I’m talking about getting you ranked for ALL your keywords. Adding new backlinks on a steady and consistent basis from high PR quality websites is what produces the rankings you are looking for http://www.searchinfluence.com .
The right kind of links are very critical in getting top ranking….and I can hand deliver these quality links to you.
My partners and I own 1000’s websites and offer private linking to hundreds of website owners just like yourself.
I didn’t send this email out to very many people but I am currently reaching out to a list of your “keyword competitors” as well. But I do favor your website because I can see your website monetizing the targeted website traffic the keyword New Orleans Plastic Surgery can deliver.
I have your contact information and phone number. Is it ok if I give you a call?
I have a very simple way to prove that what I do works and it’s risk free for you to try. Nothing beats seeing the results with your own eyes
Is it ok if I give you a call? I would love to pursue this further over the phone with you or should I go somewhere else?
Sincerely,
Nate Figueroa
(480) 445-9297
www.linkshog.comP.S – If the tables were turned and somebody I didn’t know came to me with a proposition, even one that was appealing, I would be hesitant because I would be wondering – what’s the catch? What does this guy know that I don’t.
But then I would think he does know something that I don’t know. He does have thousands of high PR websites, he does have hundreds of thousands of pages indexed and ranking in Google Yahoo and MSN. Sites that can deliver the quality anchor text backlinks. I would also think that I need to get my website in the top rankings. And he is offering to turn key top rankings for me…on all my keywords including New Orleans Plastic Surgery. Even keywords I’m not currently competing for. Keywords that produce traffic that’s potentially worth tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars.
I emailed you because It’s a win -win for both of us. Think of it this way – Who wouldn’t be interested in buying money at a discount? Because that’s what I’ll be able to do offer you…Money at a discount.
Is it Ok to give you a call? Or you can can call me anytime at the number above?
Internet marketing for plastic surgeons presents some interesting challenges. Surgical practices make a lot of money and are attractive targets. Unfortunately, more often than not, the results haven’t matched the promises.
Right when it came out I pointed to a recent article in the NY Times. This post is intended to clarify my thoughts in response.
Table of Contents
We originally started working in this market around 2 years ago. Our first client was a very niche product peripheral to the mainstream practice. We did well for them and now have a number of cosmetic surgery practices under management and those who’ve been up a while are seeing great results.
So how do we do it? Obviously we can’t give away all the secrets, but surprisingly it’s good old-fashioned SEO, link-building and PPC. What we’ve found is that all the techniques which have historically driven ranking still work.
There is always “the new”, blogging, video optimization, Facebook, social media and the like but the basic unsexy blocking and tackling of traditional online marketing still works like a charm!
We often wonder, given the old – tried and true – methods still work, why is everyone else talking about buzzwords and gadgets. Maybe they’re not willing to put in the effort.
One of the great things about modern web site analytics tools is that you can get really granular on the value of a click. What I mean is that we can know where visitors came from, what they wanted and how the contact was made (did they call, did they email).
In some cases, of course, we have less granular data but we can still get within a few percentage points of the value of an ad buy.
I’ve already posted about our use of call-tracking numbers. Honestly, we want to know what’s working. Since we don’t have a directory and we’re not a one-trick pony PPC aggregator we have some latitude. We don’t have a property in which we need to outrank you.
Since our relationship is with our client we get to be agnostic to the medium. We get to focus instead on the massage.
For example, every one of our clients knows to forward us contacts from directory sites whether new or renewing. In each instance, particularly on renewal we will check referrer traffic and see what we’ve gotten.
No traffic, no renewal!
By tracking where users end up within our site analytics we can get a pretty good view of what actions are being taken by site visitors.
I agree with Jennifer Laycock when she says that it’s more important to focus on incremental improvement rather than out of the box domination. We tend to be more focused on growth in ranking, growth in contacts and of course growth in revenue.
As mentioned above, given you can’t ship a procedure, much of our focus needs to be on the offline conversion which we track by way of call-tracking numbers. Tim of Convert Offline is evaluating a new system which he reports integrates nicely with Google Analytics, but for now we’re doing it the old fashioned way with numbers from VoiceStar
(recently acquired by Marchex) and manual association of the data at the end of each month.
Again, it’s about growth in traffic, not a straight out of the gates flood.
First and foremost, check references. Good ranking doesn’t necessarily mean results and if you can’t follow the trail from eyeballs on a site to procedures in your office run away.
Know that you are the authority! You don’t have to sell your soul to portals and lead generation sites just to fill your office. And the great news is when you consider the return, the investment is minimal.
Own the content, own the links coming in at YOUR site and you’ll never need to worry about the price going up. It takes work month after month, but at least it’s building your online reputation.
I’m not trying to blow our own horn here, but we verifiably drive leads at a cost of $20 – $50 per contact. The crazy thing is that Google Pay-Per-Click in major markets can cost as much as $15.00 / click for competitive phrases. In case you haven’t already figured it out there’s a big difference between a click and a contact. In fact, you’re doing great if you get above 5% conversion (contact) rate on a click.
The most important thing to remember is you can and should be hyper critical and insist on metrics. There’s no reason you can’t measure this stuff. There’s a margin for error but at a minimum you can see what your team is doing and look for those incremental improvements. As the bankers say “the trend is your friend”.
And… if you don’t know what the money you’re spending buys you, question it and insist on metrics to back up the answers.
If you’re a member of ASPS or ASAPS, sign up for their practice profile. They’re cheap as heck and you can’t get a more higher quality industry reference. And, if you’re a Mentor implant customer sign up for LoveYourLook.com – it’s coming up fast and I think there’s a deal for Mentor surgeons.
I know it’s scary, but it’s really OK to shut down that Yellow Pages ad. You’re not missing anything with just a bold listing. And, you can get way more bang for that buck online.
For our own information we keep a list of which directory / portal sites are ranking where.
If you want to know who’s ranking well in your town give us a call (504) 208-3900.
Here’s a quick sample (as of March 29th):
| fort lauderdale breast enlargement | ||
| Site | Current Rank | Last Sample |
| plasticsurgery.org | Not in first 20. | NA |
| surgery.org | Not in first 20. | NA |
| aboardcertifiedplasticsurgeonresource.com * | Not in first 20. | NA |
| breastdoctors.com * | Not in first 20. | NA |
| breastimplants411.com * | Not in first 20. | NA |
| ienhance.com * | Not in first 20. | NA |
| implantforum.com * | 10 | NA |
| implantinfo.com * | Not in first 20. | NA |
| justbreastimplants.com * | 1 | NA |
| liposite.com * | Not in first 20. | NA |
| liposuction.com * | Not in first 20. | NA |
| lookingyourbest.com * | Not in first 20. | NA |
| loveyourlook.com * | 6 | NA |
| mybodypart.com * | Not in first 20. | NA |
| plasticsurgery.com * | Not in first 20. | NA |
| yourplasticsurgeryguide.com * | Not in first 20. | NA |
Feel free to call with any questions — we love this stuff! (504) 208-3900
Robert Heinlein – http://thinkexist.com/…/218581.html
Inspired to look this up based on a conversation with a client – she was talking about discussing marketing with her husband and that it was a frustrating experience for both of them.
Robert A. Heinlein’s statement about not trying to teach a pig to sing is an analogy for never attempting something which is impossible or futile. In other words, don’t waste your time and energy on something that has no chance of success. This same sentiment can be found in other popular sayings, such as “Don’t try to fit a square peg in a round hole,” or “Don’t try to push a rope.” All of these phrases suggest that some tasks are simply not achievable and attempting them is a waste of time and resources.
The notion of “teaching a pig to sing” carries a particularly strong meaning because pigs are known for their loud and distinct grunts, which are very different from human singing. Therefore, it is impossible to teach a pig to sing because pigs simply cannot produce the sounds required for singing. This makes the analogy even more powerful, as it emphasizes the point that some tasks are simply impossible and should not be attempted.
Robert A. Heinlein’s statement can be seen as a warning to individuals not to attempt the impossible or to waste their time and energy on tasks that are not achievable. By making this analogy, he is reminding people to recognize when they are taking on a task that is beyond their capabilities. This is an important lesson that can be applied to a variety of scenarios, from personal relationships to professional endeavors.
How apropriate that our first flickr photo is also a new baby.
Please help us launch the career of another search marketer Violet Marie Thompson.
Violet Marie is the latest addition to our team of influencers. She joined us on Tuesday April 22nd.
Tuesday April 22nd is both Earth Day, and the closing day of Small Business Marketing Unleashed.
Violet’s mom Eva (left) was critical in our preparation for that event and responsible for just-in-time delivery of all of our conference swag.
And Violet’s aunt Angie (sporting the logo) is critical to Search Influence operations as our controller.
Sadly, I can’t tell you exactly what was said (I’d have to kill you apparently according to the organizers) but Matt McGee of SmallBusinessSEM.com gave a fantastically detailed presentation on all facets of local search.
I strongly recommend this conference for small businesses interested in internet marketing and those who might help them (like us).
Matt’s presentation was absolutely worth the price of admission.
So, like I said, we’re not supposed to recap too tightly but I want to give mega kudos to Matt for such a comprehensive piece of work. Matt’s both a good presenter and a fantastic slide preparer.
I want to recap a couple areas which I think could be easily done by any small business: