When I turned 12, my father took me down to the social security office to get my card and said I would start working on the weekends busing tables at a local restaurant.  I remember when I first started, feeling totally overwhelmed by all the things you had to keep track of.  In the restaurant industry, you quickly learn how to prioritize based on the needs of the owners, the kitchen, the bar and the customers.  I think Social Media Marketing works much in the same way; you need to decide what your priority is for attaining your goals and then go from there. Do I bring water to that table, or do I serve the food that is sitting in the kitchen getting cold? Chances are the table can wait for water, but the customers are going to be pissed if they get cold food. Read the rest of this entry »

I was introduced to cigarettes at a very young age.  Yes, in the womb like most kids my age, but I don’t actually remember that.  What I do remember is when I would wake up in the early morning and see my Dad light up his Salem cigarette.  He was a pretty hardcore smoker.  My Mom on the other hand, only busted out her stale, “I only buy a pack of Marlboro’s a year,” for special occasions, i.e. family gatherings and events.  I remember at one of these parties, my Aunts talking about how cigarettes curb your appetite and help you digest food after a meal.  So early on I believed that cigarette smoking was good for you because it helped to keep the pounds off. Read the rest of this entry »

At a conference back in September, my co-worker Ralph got stopped by a rep at one of those companies whose goal in life is to buy domain names and then sell them for tons of money.  He told the woman he owned pizzadelivery.com.  She almost fell down.  He, of course, was kidding.

We all know that this industry is a bit “shady” (while at the same time we all wish we had the foresight to buy coke.com when it was first available).  When it comes to companies that sell website domain names, it is a very competitive and lucrative industry.  After all, how much did Go Daddy pay to advertise .co as a top level domain during the Super Bowl. Read the rest of this entry »

In Website Search Engine Ranking Got You Down? Stop the Insanity!, I highlighted all of the reasons why you should not focus on keyword search engine ranking.  In this post, I outline what you should be looking at to ensure success.

Of course, the answer depends on your marketing campaign goals, objectives and the action plan you have in place to fulfill those goals.  However, if you need something to fill the void, here are some things that are going to give you a much better idea of what your website search engine ranking means and could be for you: Read the rest of this entry »

I have found myself once again fighting the good fight about why website search engine rankings are not the thing to focus on.

These conversations usually go something like this:

• Business Owner (who wants to see results, now – believe me, so do we):  I want my website to rank number one for “this keyword” and “that keyword” oh and maybe “this keyword, too.”   How quickly can you make that happen?
• Marketing Director (who has to answer to the higher ups – yes, we understand that):  I Googled “insert brand name keyword” last week and I was number one and now I did it today and I am not on the first page anymore.  What did you do?
• Manager (who wonders how they ended up doing the marketing for the company and are swimming in information – we feel your pain):  I used this keyword ranking checker tool my boss just read about and it says I am number one for “insert keyword” but I am not seeing us at all on the first page when I search.  What’s up with that?

Read the rest of this entry »