Over the last few weeks, we have been meeting several people on the internet marketing public speaking scene. Since nearly every internet marketing speaker has a slightly different approach to how they tackle the process of online promotions, we wanted to take the time and pick the brains of some of the experts we’ve met.

The first internet marketing speaker we had the chance to sit down with was Michael Temple. Below is the transcript of our awesome conversation.

Q: Why did you get into Internet marketing?
A: I had a bit of a rough trip through the dot com bubble back in the late 90s and early 2000. I worked for a dot com that had a very good product and great concept, one of the few that was proven successful in the long term. Unfortunately we didn’t market very well and we ended up going under from lack of capital as so many other dot com companies did during that time. When the company failed like so many others my stock options became worthless and I lost a lot of money. I vowed I would learn everything I could about Internet marketing and the next company or project I was involved in would not make the same mistakes. I believe I have kept that promise I made to myself so long ago and I believe my clients all benefit everyday from my hard won experience.

Q: What types of projects and work do you do now?
A: The aspect of Internet marketing I find so fascinating is how much effect it has on almost every industry and company. I have never found a company that couldn’t benefit from doing some type of marketing online. Because of that philosophy I have been very fortunate and been able to work with companies in a variety of industries. I help clients in B2B set up lead generation online systems, eCommerce for B2C firms, and a variety of other projects like copywriting and search engine optimization. I am also a passionate entrepreneur so I spend a lot of time working on my own projects and web sites. I now have several different web site projects that earn an income for me and I am constantly tweaking them to make them better. Finally, I travel the country working as an Internet marketing speaker and training companies and associations how to use Internet marketing to build up their businesses.

Q: What do you think makes you different as an Internet marketing consultant?
A: Two things, first, I am not afraid to talk about and learn from my failures. I doubt there is a marketing person alive who doesn’t have failures. Unfortunately too many people are afraid to talk about or acknowledge those failures, which is unfortunate because I almost believe you learn more from them than your successes. My dot com failure back in early 2000 was big learning experience for me and while I certainly didn’t have control of the entire company I did still learn from that failure. Second, I am an entrepreneur out doing my own projects every day. The strategies and ideas I provide to my consulting and speaking clients are ideas I have tried with my own money and time. I didn’t just read about them on web site or in a book. I have actually tried and continue to use the strategies that are most effective. In addition, I am an adjunct professor of marketing at the University of Toledo and have the opportunity to do a lot of research and writing in my role with the University, which my clients get the advantage of.

Q: What great insight can you share with your readers?
A: Being successful in Internet marketing is about marketing – not fancy technology. I think one of the critical mistakes made during the dot com era was that people focused too much on creating marvelous technological advances without asking the fundamental question of who will buy this and why? I still see it today. Too many web developers focus on creating fantastic web sites that nobody ever visits. The technology is wonderful, but it is like building a 3D Imax Theatre on a dirt road, nobody will ever find it. You have to answer the fundamental marketing questions before you decide which technology tools to use. Technology is a tool, nothing more. It is a means to an end, not the end in itself.

Q: Can you give our readers a good tip on how to improve their marketing prowess on the web?
A: Yes, focus on the concept of direct marketing. Direct marketing involves writing powerful copy and persuading someone to take action. It is measurable and causes the proverbial cash register to ring. Remember nothing happens in business until somebody buys something so focus on the one area of marketing that has consistently produced money making results for decades and that is direct marketing tools and strategies.

About Michael
Michael Temple is an Internet marketing consultant, speaker, and entrepreneur. In addition to his consulting practice Michael also is a professor of marketing for University of Toledo teaching Internet and direct marketing to the next generation of marketers. He is the owner of several different businesses both on and off the web and is passionate about helping his clients achieve measurable and effective marketing results. If you need a consultant or a speaker for your next event you can learn more by visiting his web site at http://www.web2gold.com.

Dear CEO:

I want to thank you for the opportunity to reach out to you today, I know that you are busy…..so I will try and keep this brief.

Your web presence is poor, non-existent, incognito, losing you money and quite honestly….sucks! It lacks the true meaning behind having a website and that is to increase your profits, yes that is correct….increase your profits! Now you are asking how do I know this?? Well, it is quite simple…..your potential buyers (prospects) cannot find you, which means you do not exist in their eyes, which means they will never have the opportunity to buy from you, which means you are losing money.  Feel free to continue to spend your hundreds of thousands of dollars on trade shows, trade journals, print advertising, TV commercials, Radio Spots, direct mail and the many other traditional forms of marketing available. Meanwhile, realize that 90% of all buying research and decisions takes place through the internet.

I know what you are saying, we are doing SEO, SEM, Social Media and some other forms of Internet Marketing Services and I have to stand right up and tell you…..you are not! You might be dabbling in it, playing around with it, testing things, increasing traffic and perhaps feel that your outsource firm or internal efforts are maximizing your potential, when the truth is due to their uneducated, lack of knowledge….you are losing money. Your Internet Marketing campaign must be conversion and profit focused and most external and internal teams do not have the experience or knowledge to make that happen……so you keep losing money.

You see I have been through this with your marketing department, sales manager, IT department and various other executives within your company and they seem to have this fear that you will deny this need even though it is a MUST HAVE. I have strongly demanded that I cannot believe you would take this approach since this is such a missing link to your overall marketing strategy and one that cannot be ignored any longer. Perhaps, you should re-engage your marketing department and various other execs showing them your support of such an initiative.

See my job is to take your online presence to a whole new level that you cannot even comprehend and I know that sometimes there is not even a budget established. Not having a budget is truly not a good enough reason to lose an enormous amount of potential income especially for a strategy that is so precisely trackable. Go find out how many people viewed that TV Commercial you ran or saw the full page magazine ad you placed in that trade journal…..not gonna happen, is it?

Well I have taken up enough of your time today and I will follow this letter up with repeated phone calls and contact points until you see the error of your ways and want to start making a difference and increase your companies profits. After all, you would not want me to start reaching out to the owner and/or board of directors…now would you?

Make it a great day!

Sincerely,

Your Best Shot At Internet Immortality

The other day I was speaking to someone about Internet Marketing and how to be successful for the long haul. In particular, we were talking about a certain celebrity and not wanting to be like them.

In a moment of Zen, something came out of my mouth that struck home. Do things that get you invited and make sure you do not invite yourself!

But isn’t Marketing about inviting yourself? Marketing is about putting your product in front of people and that’s why we do it!

Well, yes… and no. There are correct and incorrect ways to market. This celebrity, for example, has done everything they can to force themselves into the public’s eye. While they are “hot” right now, they came on so quick they will burn out. They never build a loyal fan base!

Sure, they have and will make some money. But how much more could they have made if they had done it the correct way with a plan that builds longevity?

Think about the last time you were heading to a party and the different feelings you had going there with an invitation versus just hearing about it and showing up? Remember the reactions from the people there when you walked in the door? When you are looking at your internet marketing strategy, always understand you will be more successful using the tools that get you invited onto computer screens than forcing yourself on them.

What are some of the things you should focus on?

The search engines for starters. When someone enters a search and you appear because you are ranked and did things the right way – that is powerful. You are marketing yourself to be put in front of their request. Just make sure what they click on is what they want and you are set up to convert!

Social Media is another great area to use. Having a following of people because they like you and you don’t always try to sell them is helpful. People like that. Plus, when you act as an expert and give good advice, more customers will start to listen to you based on your quality contributions.

Blogs are great option also. Write something that you are passionate about! People will read it. People will also start to want to know more about the author (you) and your knowledge on the products you blog about.

And what should you avoid?

Forcing yourself into the rankings. When you buy “bad” links that might come with some quantity but do not add value to your site, you put yourself in danger of hurting more than helping. Plus, consumers are better at noticing who should be there and who shouldn’t! Take the time to get the rankings correctly and it will have a much greater ROI.

Your website has to be able to handle the customer. There is nothing worse than putting your website on the front page when you can’t back up your talk. How many times have you spread the word of someone who gave you horrible service? How many times have you spread the word of someone who did their job? There is a reason why websites such as Rip Off Report exist!

SPAM. Do not get on Twitter, Facebook or a variety of other sites and send SPAM links out. I don’t even want to waste the time explaining this one. Advertising under some other category and misleading customers when they click your link because it takes them to your site which is completely different – also a “no no.” Internet users are more savvy this day in age and hit the back button pretty quick if it’s not what they want.

I do want to note: some things work for the short period that you typically want to avoid. If done correctly these can be used to accomplish your goals… but your internet marketing company can typically advise you about what’s best.

Note: Jeff Plucker is the newest addition to the ProspectMX team of internet marketing consultants. If your company is in need of SEO or internet marketing in the Atlanta-area and you’re interested in learning more about how ProspectMX can boost your business in 2010, please contact him.

Question: How much do you know about your website and internet business?

What percentage of your revenue is generated online? How many people search for your business? How many people search for what services your business offers? If you increased your online presence by (fill in the blank) percentage what would that do to your bottom line?

Roughly 2 billion searches are done everyday on Google! Is your piece of the internet pie what you want or know you can have?

You can write me a check, I’ll take a picture of it with my cell phone and immediately have it deposited into my account. Takes all of about 2 minutes…

As for traditional advertising… TV, radio, magazines, billboard, etc… while there is a decline in their quantity and effectiveness, I will admit they are not going away. However, newspapers are widely shutting down, going online, or drastically reducing their staff to cope with the change. And how many of you now record shows so you can skip the commercials? With the iPod, CDs and satellite radio who really listens to their radio anymore?

More and more people are “living” on their computer. My brother, for example, shut off his cable and uses the internet’s many options to watch TV, movies, gather news and communicate.

What does all this mean? It means that 2010 is the Year of Internet Marketing!

Get The Most Out Of The Year Of Internet Marketing

“As of 2009, an estimated quarter of Earth’s population uses the services of the Internet.” – Wikipedia.

2010 is the year that successful companies will realize they must have a proactive approach to the internet in order to maximize their overall marketing and sales goals. They must capitalize on the internet’s power and mobility:

• increasing traffic to their website
• converting the traffic into a lead or the lead into a sale

Companies will be capturing the interest of roughly 1.5 billion people that are online everyday. Trust me…this is a piece of pie you want to have!

But what does internet marketing really entail? Is it as simple as just having a website? Or doing a PPC campaign? Or using Social Media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter? Am I restricted to just my website? Or is it one of the dozens of other services out there?

To give a short answer… a true internet marketing campaign entails everything that the internet offers. And everything the internet offers is extensive. Since no one wants to read a blog longer than War and Peace, I will break it down as simple as possible.

The Building Blocks Of Great Internet Marketing

It all starts with the website. People want pretty, but a website needs certain things that sometimes makes pretty – well, pretty difficult. Once you have the design then you must make sure it’s optimized. Pretty doesn’t sell blue widgets. Starting to get a little discomfort in your head?

You must optimize for the search engines. What does that mean? How about your conversion ability? It’s great that you have 1000 people coming to your website a week.  But if they aren’t converting – what have you really accomplished?

What keywords do you rank for? How ARE people coming and how MANY people are coming to your site? What is your competition doing?

Oh… and does anyone have some Tylenol? I have a full blown headache.

The Marketing Piece Of Internet Marketing

Now that we have the website ready – what’s next? Now you have to get it seen. Since you don’t just want your friends and current customers being the only ones on your website – do you do organic? Pay per click? Now more questions come up…

How do I do that? Where do I do that? Is it more important to go from 5th to 2nd, or 12th to 8th? How long does it take? What are the benefits of one versus the other? Are these the only two options?

What happens if I just want to skip this step and use social media marketing? But Facebook will not help my business you say? Twitter is for celebrities like Ashton Kutcher… not my multi-million dollar business! Think again. You have customers that love you… now let’s use them to spread the love!

What about using other people’s websites? What happens when someone uses the internet to harm your business? What can you do? And can it be done wrong? Will Google punish you if it’s done incorrectly? How about blogs, articles, press releases, forums, etc?

Ahhhh… please get me the Extra Strength Tylenol… it’s a full migraine now!

Hire The Right Internet Marketing Firm

How do I know which internet marketing firm is correct for me? How do I know it’s not someone that just wants my money? Or a kid sitting in his basement that I never see? Can you really know “what I want” by just a 15 minute conversation on the phone? Or more importantly can you really know “what I need?”

Because I might want the fries… but an apple is better.

So… 2010 is the year of Internet Marketing. It’s the year more and more companies will maximize their online presence. But it’s important to do it correctly. And it’s important to hire the right firm.

But mostly – it’s important to start early! This is one area you don’t want to wait while your competitor is doing it.

Yes… keep up with the Joneses on this one!

I have been known when I speak to groups around the country when publicly asked about ranking in Yahoo! to smirk a bit. I have despised Yahoo! for years becuase of their completely unethical practice of having you pay them to be included in their “organic” results. Well, it’s coming to an end, largely because of their deal with Microsoft.

Barry Schwartz broke the news a few days ago and included this from Yahoo! in his post:

We are committing our resources and efforts to our core areas of focus, including improving the search experience and relevancy of our ads to increase user engagement and ROI for advertisers, and as a result, have decided to exit Search Submit. We have stepped up innovation in Search Marketing, recently rolling out search retargeting, Rich Ads in Search and improved matching technology, and in Consumer Search, with enhancements like the new search results page. These enhancements deliver value, control, innovation and relevance to our advertisers, leading to increased ROI.

Yahoo! will exit Search Submit at the end of 2009. Yahoo! is providing those advertisers affected by the decision a sufficient lead time to assist in the transition. In addition, Yahoo! has recently announced a series of important enhancements to its Search advertising business and will work closely with many Search Submit advertisers to provide them with search solutions that will benefit their businesses.

The Take Away

So what does this mean for business owners and marketers? My advice is to begin paying attention to Bing’s results if you’re concerned about engines other than Google. We believe that you’re going to see Bing’s results when you search on Yahoo! in the coming months.

At ProspectMX, we typically hold a review with our clients every 3-months to show campaign progress and provide recommendations on the project’s next steps.

Achieving top rankings for high volume, highly competitive keywords is the top goal of every SEO services campaign we start at ProspectMX. However, top ranking for competitive keywords doesn’t normally come without long term strategies, like on-going link building and social media campaigns.

That doesn’t mean internet marketing can’t be measured for success in the short term. In order to gauge short term success, traffic and conversion increases generated by long tail keywords should be more closely considered than improvements in rankings for high competition keywords.

What are long tail keywords? Why do they matter?

Long tail keywords are more specific queries that help searchers pinpoint what they are looking for. Searching for “fried chicken recipe in deep fryer” over “fried chicken” or “fried chicken recipe,” for example.

Like children, websites have to crawl before they can walk. Long tail keywords are the search terms that get organic search engine traffic off the ground. Generally speaking, long tail keywords are easier to achieve high rankings for in a short time period. If on-page search engine optimization is done properly, websites undergoing the first phases of SEO should see traffic generated quickly by long tail keywords while other internet marketing services work to improve rankings for highly competitive terms.

How Long Tail Searches Immediately Impact Organic Search Engine Traffic

Consider the following charts as evidence that long tail keywords can immediately have a major impact on quickly generating organic search engine traffic. The three charts below were taken from website analytics of non-paid searches from three ProspectMX clients. The non-paid search volume includes searches of a client’s target keyword terms PLUS all long tail keywords associated with that term from February 1 to May 31, 2009.

CASE A

CASE B

CASE C

In all three cases above, a significant spike in traffic was achieved in as little as one month thanks to on-page SEO that targets a highly competitive keyword as well as its affiliated long tail keywords. As link building was conducted over the course of 90 days, organic search traffic generally continued to increase for each client.

The Moral Of The Study

The end goal of every internet marketing or search engine optimization campaign should be top rankings for a high volume, highly competitive, revenue generating keyword. While the work is being done to top your competition for top keywords, however, there are a lot of highly targeted customers searching for exactly what they want.

Customers that enter a site through long tail keyword phrases are often some of a site’s highest converting. Long tail searchers know exactly what they’re looking for and are ready to buy.

Companies can establish themselves or their particular brand as the industry leader through ranking for a highly competitive term. While this can be achieved through a long term internet marketing plan, there’s a lot of money to be made as the top ranking result for multiple long tail terms.

Don’t lose sight of short term success by focusing too hard on a long term goal.

For more information on long tail keyword searches in your industry and how they can benefit your bottom line, consult with one of our experts.

Note: Over the next several months, ProspectMX will be conducting search engine optimization audits on top company websites (not portals, social networks, or directories) that rank in organic search engine results for high volume search terms in a variety of industries. Be sure to check back for posts chronicling the results of our audits. We will also be providing a series of 10 internet marketing tips for each industry based on the audit results. Hopefully, you find this information useful.

There are tons of internet marketing and search engine optimization blogs with general tips for improving your website’s presence.

On the web, however, some keywords are more competitive than others. For example, while packaging supplies and packaging materials mean the same thing, the former gets more search volume and requires a higher CPC rate for pay-per-click marketing than the latter.

In a recent study of FORTUNE 500 companies, manufacturing companies on the list failed to rank in the top 100 search results for around 81% of the top manufacturing search terms.

That got us thinking – why aren’t manufacturing companies utilizing search engine optimization and internet marketing services to position their site for improved online ROI?

Take the term “plastic packaging,” for example. The 10 top ranking company websites we found in one data center employed some SEO best practices on their site, but not all best practices we recommend and regularly utilize for our clients.

If you work for a manufacturing company as a marketing director, IT director, or webmaster, perhaps you might be interested in checking out our list of 10 SEO tips to improve the internet marketing efforts of your website. Does your company employ all of the best practices below?

1. In opposition to making general pages detailing all of your “services” or “products,” create an individual page on your site for each product and service.
2. Because you likely sell products on your site, name all of the images of your products with the product name and include a keyword-centric “alt tag.” More info on this can be found on our Universal Search Chart.
3. Make sure the name of the main product you sell is included in your website title tag. Instead of just having your Company Name in your title tag, reformat your title tag as “Target Product | Company Name.”
4. List actual keyword phrases in your keywords meta data. Instead of having your keywords include terms like “plastic, packaging, supplier” – list “plastic packaging supplier” as a keyword.
5. Make sure all your links work. In our audit of “plastic packaging” websites, about 80% of the websites we reviewed had broken links. Google Webmaster Guidelines clearly state that broken links on pages are a no-no. If Google says not to do something, you probably shouldn’t do it.
6. Utilize “page rank sculpting.” Take the authority your homepage has in Google and put it to good use. Funnel link authority to the most important pages on your site – “nofollow” links to pages like your Privacy Policy and Contact Us page.
7. Build links. Perhaps you can consult “Link Building 101” for some tips on link building.
8. Find your company’s best copywriter and have them start blogging or writing articles about your company’s products.
9. Update the content on your site regularly. Search engines like fresh, updated content because it is more relevant to what searchers are looking for at that particular moment. This is becoming more important as the search engines compete with sites like Twitter and, well… mostly just Twitter.
10. Submit your corporate press releases to a major web-based PR distribution service.

If you went through our checklist and are employing all those SEO best practices, great! If not, let us know… maybe we can help.

castingsnet.com – Foundries, foundry equipment and suppliers

I received in the mail one of the most remarkable direct mail pieces ever (Photo thanks to BruceClay.com – Virginia Nussey talked about it here) via FedEx this week. I opened the package and pulled out a very professional package of chocolate covered grasshoppers.

The first thing I said to myself was, “Are these SERIOUSLY chocolate covered grasshoppers?”

And then I read in fine print at the bottom of the package:

*Yes, these are real grasshoppers. They are even approved by the FDA of Thailand.

Brilliant. I didn’t have any idea what it was… but that alone made me look into it further.

A tag attached to the grasshoppers said, “Entrepreneurs can change the world. Join the movement now!”

Now I’m intrigued.

So, I went to their site and it looks like they are compiling entrepreneurs together and offering some discounts on services… but in the end, they are promoting telecommunication services of some type.

Here’s the lesson… To start something viral… it needs to be worthy of being viral. Business owners talk to us everyday about how they want to do these viral campaigns, but they often want to do things so lame, that nobody really cares. So, take a lesson from the grasshopper guys (and possibly gals, too)… and do something worth talking about in your next viral marketing campaign.

Oh… I brought the package home and had my kids eat them. That’s what the video above’s all about. I know it’s a bit long… sorry.