December 1, 2008
Web Development
2 Comments
Outsourcing is the latest buzz word to hit Internet Marketing circles, teleseminars, and niche websites. It is certainly not a new concept to outsource work, but like so much else in our lives, the Internet has given rise to a new dimension of this popular technique. Because of this, there are a number of issues to keep in mind when looking at outsourcing as a viable alternative to doing it yourself.
For good reason, outsourcing is a concept that internet marketing professionals and newbies alike should acquaint themselves with. Because a large number of internet marketers are running the show by themselves or with a limited pool of additional assistance, there are just too many tasks to complete alone. In addition to the time factor, it is simply not possible for any one individual to possess all the technical skills necessary to accomplish all aspects running an internet marketing business.
With time and skill level being the two primary factors that lead Internet Marketing to outsource, it is important to understand which of these two needs you are fulfilling when you proceed to outsource.
When analyzing your outsourcing needs on the basis of time constraints, it is advisable to have a good understanding of what an hour of your time is worth relative to the task at hand.
For example, let’s say it takes you six hours to accomplish a redundant task and it would take about 15 minutes for you to teach someone else to do it for you. Then look at what you may be able to accomplish in that same six hour period. Would you be able to use that time to finish an ebook that could be resold for untold profits, or write thousands of lines of code to package and resell? If so, then any modest fee that is paid to outsource that redundant task could be worth its weight in gold.
Outsourcing on the basis of skill level becomes a little trickier and this is where most internet marketers who are new to outsourcing can get themselves in trouble. It is imperative to keep in mind that even though you may be outsourcing an activity that you are not capable of doing yourself, you still need to be in control.
This is your business and your image and income depends on it. Failure to have a firm grasp on what you are outsourcing will almost always mean that the end result will not live up to your expectations. And this is not productive for you or the individual you have contracted with.
Communication is the key component when outsourcing a task that you are not readily able to do yourself. For example, let’s say you are not the greatest artist in the world and you contract with a designer to develop header and ebook cover graphics for your sales page. Telling the designer nothing more than the title of your ebook and expecting the graphics of your dreams to result is just not going to happen.
The more detailed you can be about your likes, dislikes and expectations, the greater the chance that you will be thrilled with the end result. Remember, just because the designer has skills that you don’t, one of those skills probably isn’t reading minds! If you don’t like the color green, there is no way someone is going to know this unless you tell them.
Another area where Internet Marketing get into trouble is when the outsourcing project involves technical skills or programming. This can be particularly difficult if both sides are not communicating properly.
A non-programmer often sees a project as being far less complex due to a lack of knowledge about the mechanics involved in the programming process. End users are used to just clicking buttons and having things work; they never have to deal or think about what goes on with the coding behind the scenes.
This can have both an impact on the perceived value of the outsourcing bid as well as the time frame and ultimate functionality of the programming project. Misunderstandings with all of these things can be greatly reduced by taking time to clearly and concisely define the project parameters ahead of time. Again, the importance of communication here cannot be stressed enough.
Finally, it is never a good idea to outsource anything you don’t understand or cannot measure. This isn’t to say that you need to understand the mechanics behind the process, but you definitely need to understand the result.
For example, it is not unusual to see bid requests on popular outsourcing sites requesting 200+ inbound links from PR7 or greater sites to be completed within 24 hours. While this may or may not be an exaggeration, the point is, if you are asking for this and adamant that you want to get your money’s worth, you better be prepared to have a means in place with which to judge someone’s performance in completing this task. Otherwise, it is just a recipe for disaster.
Simply put, if you want something done to your satisfaction, you need to be prepared ahead of time to know when that point is reached.
Remember, outsourcing in many ways is just the virtual version of an employee or subcontractor. If you have ever been an employer who created a job description, along with it you most likely implemented a means of gauging the employee’s performance. And as an employee, you knew exactly what was expected of you and the consequences of failure.
Today’s outsourcing concepts are based upon the same time honored principles used in business throughout the ages and understanding this will greatly increase your odds of success.
November 18, 2008
Online Business, Promotion and Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Web Development
1 Comment
Let me ask you this, Does putting gasoline in your car really matter? I know that’s a pretty silly question and you are probably wondering how in the world does that have to do with marketing your dental website, but stick with me for a minute and you’ll see where I’m going with this.
How many of you would like a brand new car? Any car? Your dream car?
Okay, so now picture yourself at the car dealership sitting in your dream car, your hands on the wheel, the seat
perfectly forming to your behind… pretty cool right?
Now for the best part…you get to drive it home!
You can’t wait to show your friends and family your dream car. You climb inside, start the engine and the dealer was so kind to give you a 1/164 of a tank to get you home.
You pull in the driveway and honk the horn. Your family and friends come out and are just going crazy over your new car. They all take turns sitting inside, holding on to the steering wheel, playing with your new GPS navigation system, cranking the stereo testing out the new 8 speaker surround sound, rolling up and down the windows,
moving your seat back, up, down to fit them just right. Opening and closing your sun roof and playing with the rest of the gadgets and gizmos in amazement.
Everyone loves your brand new car and tell you you look absolutely awesome in it and they are totally jealous.
You hop in one last time just to make sure it’s still real before heading inside your house. The second you get inside you go to the closest window and look outside just making sure it’s still in your driveway.
For the next few hours you about every 5 minutes you keep looking out the window, even sometimes going back outside just to touch your new car. Things are pretty exciting.
The next day roles around and you just can’t wait to go for a long drive with the sun roof open and the radio blasting your favorite tunes.
You climb in your car, fasten your seat belt, put the key in the ignition, turn the key…
And nothing. At first your shocked. Maybe you didn’t turn the key far enough so you try again even harder.
Still nothing.
You check your gauges and everything looks perfect… Except one little yellow light that’s telling you..
OUT OF GAS!!
It dawns on you that the dealer only gave you enough gas to get home and show your family and friends, but not enough for that long afternoon drive along the beach.
You’re a little bummed at the moment, but still extremely excited you have your new car.
You remember that as part of the “Extended Warranty” the dealership promised you gallons and gallons of gas free of charge as long as you kept paying your monthly payment.
So you give the dealership a call and tell them you need gas really bad so you can take your afternoon drive along the beach. They tell you they are doing all they can and will get you some gas as soon as possible.
So you wait around and a few days later someone shows up, puts in 1/164 off gas a leaves. Your excited, you got your first bit of gas, but not enough to go anywhere. So you continue to wait, and wait, and wait and you then realize your brand new car looks awesome, but your not able to take advantage of all that power, speed and gadgets.
Weeks, Months, Years go by and your still only receiving 1/164 off gas maybe once a week.
You’re now sick and tired of it and decide to look up companies that specializes in delivering gas. There are a few to choose from. Which one is the best one? Who will offer the best gas? Who will offer gas the quickest?
You have your choice of regular unleaded or premium unleaded with power boosters.
Regular Unleaded might get you around town, but doesn’t offer quite enough torque to get you where you really want to go.
Premium unleaded with power boosters will do everything you need. Give you all the power you can handle. And most importantly, fill up your tank of gas everyday. Your tank will never run dry again. Some days gas will even spill all over the place because there so much was delivered that day.
So which would you choose? Regular Unleaded Gas or Premium Unleaded with Power Boosters?
Okay, enough with the car theory, let’s break this down into Office Website and Dental Marketing.
If you caught on during my car scenario you realized that your dream car represented your brand new website you built weeks, months or even years ago.
I’m sure when you finished your website you told your family and friends all about it. They all went to your website, clicked on all the buttons, looked at all the pictures, read all the material and thought it looked awesome just like when you brought home your new car for everyone to see. It was an exciting time.
The only problem was, when you went to drive your car there was no gas. Your car was beautiful, but stuck in your driveway.
Your website could be the most coolest website in the world, but without traffic (gas) it will just sit there and do nothing.
So is Dental Marketing important? I think through this demonstration we’ve proved how important online marketing truly is.
For whatever reason, businesses with websites seem to neglect Web Promotion. For some reason they think since they have a website traffic will just start flooding in overnight.
Dental Marketing is so complex it usually overwhelms everyone and so they just forget about it and “hope” traffic just falls in their lap.
Marketing your website is an absolute must if you want to drive in quality new patients. If you have a website just sitting their collecting dust, I suggest you call your web design company and cancel your $59 monthly payment and put that money to good use somewhere else.
There is absolutely no reason why your website shouldn’t be flooded with traffic. Millions of people are searching for dentists on a daily basis. It’s not like your in a business with zero demand or searches.
Dentists are in huge demand by millions of people everyday. The dentist that puts himself in front of those millions of people are the dentists reaping the rewards.
In the past dentists would use their marketing budgets for yellow pages, radio spots, direct mail and even some tv commercials.
Back then that’s what people used, but guess what? Things have changed.
The internet is sweeping the world by storm. Even yellow pages, radio, tv are all taking things to the internet.
Just think about it, when you want to find information or do research where do you go? Let me guess…the internet?
I could go on all day talking about this, but I think by now you get my point.
Internet marketing is, and will be in the future for many years to come, the best form of advertising out there. Your website can be seen by thousands of people each and every day 24/7. You can’t say that about any other form of advertising.
Internet marketing is like everything else, you get what you pay for.
You need to look at it on a business standpoint. Usually when you purchase something for $50 you don’t care much about it. You put it on the back burner and just let it go. If it does something great, it only cost $50. If it doesn’t do anything, great I only lost $50.
If you are serious about your dental practice you’ll invest in things that bring back a return.
Why do dentists spend $250,000 on digital x-ray units?
Why do dentists spend $100,000 on Cerec Crown machines?
Why do dentists spend $120,000 on Biolase Lasers?
Why do dentists spend $1,000,000 on a new practice? or remodel?
The answer is quite simple, it makes you money. It simplifies things, makes things easier. Attracts New Patients!!
For those of you who own some of those things I listed how much is your monthly payment? My guess is your paying $5000 or more for each item each and every month for the next 5-10 years.
How much is your Million Dollar practice costing you? I’d say around $15,000 a month for the next 30 years.
So, if you are willing to spend all that money to simplify things, make things easier, keep technology current, attract new patients, then wouldn’t it make sense to invest in a solid dental marketing company that will simplify your online marketing, keep current with hot trends and techniques, and attract new patients?
I think the answer is pretty simple…YES!
No matter who you are, people will always pay for quality.
There is a reason why you purchased the $250,000 x-ray unit instead of the $50,000 unit. There is something about quality that wins every time.
Smile America Dental Marketing is all about quality. We take our dental marketing strategies very seriously. We like to think of ourselves as the $250,000 x-ray unit that comes with all the bells and whistles that produce the best
results possible.
Grab dental marketing by the horns and run with it. You’ll be amazed at the results.
Thanks for hanging with me with all my analogies. For those of you who stuck around I have a special bonus for you…
Copy this promotional code, 12350, and I will take $100 off of our Xtreme Pro internet marketing package for you. Just click this Dental Marketing tag and paste the code in the promotion box and click redeem. It’s that simple.
See you all next time,
J. King
Guru Mania!
Smile America Dental Marketing
November 12, 2008
Web Development
2 Comments
The five main methods that internet marketing companies use are applicable to businesses irrespective of geographical location or the type of business.
There is significant amount of competition in running a business online as there are a lot of profits. internet marketing is necessary if you want to run your business online and hence you should possess a basic skill set in it. The five strategies are easy to grasp. The difficult and time consuming part is the execution of these strategies.
An UK internet marketing company can save the time you spend to learn to implement the strategies. An internet marketing company can help you increase profits by cutting expenses. This is because all the money is spend on trying to learn the execution part. UK internet marketing company campaigns executed by amateurs are not up to the mark and takes some time to yield results. If you entrust this job to experts, you can be assured of a good job with less expenditure.
Here are the five strategies:
1. Focussing On Target Market
This is also commonly known as niche marketing. Advertising campaigns and the way they are designed are crucial to your success in internet marketing.
2. Building the Right Website
You have to pay attention to the overall feeling your website creates. You can either make it simple and professional or put lots of graphics in it. Before you start online marketing, it is essential you have the correct website. You have to design your website in such way that puts the correct impression in people’s mind.
3. Advertising Campaigns For Online Business
Testing can reveal which campaigns are profitable and which are not. The principle that apply to brick and mortar companies apply here too. This often requires using specific techniques and software that can track all of the relevant data.
4. Building and Maintaining Customer Lists
When people visit your website, whether they buy something or not, it’s extremely helpful to get their name and email. If they do buy something, it’s even more important, as one-time customers are likely to make future purchases. Increasing sales and your customer base is easy when you start focussing on customer and potential customer list. The next strategy is as follows.
5. The Versatality Of Email
It is a good idea to scan the customer’s list and then contact them through email to communicate about your new products. It requires certain protocols, however. The guidelines are important as you may be accused of spamming at times if you send the email to the wrong person. The email content is important and should be of top quality as it is indicative of the quality of the business.
Internet marketing companies provide solutions that can help UK businesses establish themselves on the internet.
November 6, 2008
Web Development, Web Site Marketing Strategies
No Comments
Some people are too tired to do the thinking and will opt to go with the flow whatever is the trend, be it on fashion, sports and even with businesses without even thinking what it is for. Most businesses find themselves in the need of providing websites for their company and/ or products because everybody else does. If you are one of these people, you may now start knocking your head for a very expensive mistake of not knowing what you do. Websites are being made to support a business and not as mere decoration and attraction, and no matter how dynamic your web design is, it will be useless if you are lost in the conceptualization. Now, what you have to do is, since the website ought to support the business and gain earnings, to make sure that the business website is doing well.
There are six critical elements your small business website must have to survive and perform better.
Content. Everybody is going crazy with website design and images, however many missed the principle that it is the content that matters. Users or the Internet users browse the web in search of information and not just to look on a website. Therefore, you have to make sure that included in your website design is the principle of content. Information on the website should be relevant to the site that you own or to the niche where you have included your site. This is very vital when search engine like the Google has to crawl your business site. You will be more referred by Google if it sees that you have a good content about your business. More so, to be more effective, several articles of 500 to 1000 words will help the system recognize your business site. If you do not have the time to spend to do the writing, you can have this outsourced through a ghost writer that will make a good article for you.
Blog. Some people neglect the value of blogging and sees it as for the “nerds only” and yet, blogging has proven its effectiveness of use to support the sites. This is for the reason that blogging can create a community around your site thereby generating traffic and in the long run will ultimately boost your site’s performance. It should be noted however, that a blog is not a duplicate of the site, hence, you should put new content on it to achieve better ranking and reference from Google.
Video. The Internet provides vital information to people, and becomes an effective tool in marketing. However, because of the advertising overload often generated by automated systems, consumers are becoming cautious in browsing the sites to search good content. A video introduction in your site can help attract users that your site is genuine and there are real people behind the website. Additionally, this can be powerful in promoting interactions to generate trust and promote visitor’s loyalty. This means that users will prefer to visit your site often, seeing good information and good users’ interaction, founded on credibility.
Email capture. Internet users tend to be dubious of online businesses. It takes time to establish trust and reliability on the target audience. Unless these users become familiar with the site and have encouraged visits, this will be the only time that these people can think of buying any of your product posted on the business site. Hence, making email capture as part of your web design like giving free reports or subscriptions to your newsletter can be a good way, you can have access to them by being bale to acquire their email addresses. You can have their email addresses as means to contact them for product or business promotions and entice them to visit the site most often.
Credibility through business details. It is a known fact that users are reluctant to visit a site until they knew that there is a real person behind it. Therefore, it is essential that you provide data or profile of the people behind the business. In addition, an address, phone number and other necessary details are helpful to establish that you are a true human being and not an automated system.
Lay-out of the website design. Lay-out is not as simple as the physical appearance. You can have a dynamic website design with a lot of flash files and yet your business site may not be performing well. The essence of the lay-out of the website design is that you should be able to keep the users involved. This should be user-friendly and easy to be understood. Moreover, if you are selling a particular product, the details should be accessible and easy to find. It is a necessity that your website design’s lay-out is not difficult to navigate. People do not have all the time to browse your site and you should be able to relay your message to them in a single glance.
To sum up, all these key elements of website design and SEO points to a single thing: the user. It is the audience that is the lifeblood of the business site. Make them see your site and expect that your small business site will boost its performance.