One of the debates we hear most frequently is whether search engine marketing – both in terms of organic search engine optimization and paid search advertising – are truly more effective and efficient than other forms of marketing are. In other words, do they really give you your money's worth, or is a good ranking on Google similar to a decent ad in the Yellow Pages?

Our answer would be that search engine marketing isn't just more efficient… it's a lot more efficient. In fact, it can bring you better customers, at a lower cost, than just about any other marketing or promotional medium.

Here are just a few of the quick reasons why:

Search engine marketing allows you to catch the right people. Some types of media, like television advertisements, can reach hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of people once. But how many of those are interested in what you sell, and how much of that advertising is wasted? By limiting your messages to the people who are actively looking for them, and costing you money only when they click on your ads, the major search engines allow you to market much more efficiently than would be possible elsewhere.

Search engine marketing lets you catch them at the right time. Not only do search engines put you in front of potential customers, they only do it at a moment when they are actively looking for your solutions. No other advertising or promotional platform can help you reach buyers with such precision, which is why the return on investment you get from search engine marketing is hard to match.

Search engine marketing lets you target your message... and change it in an instant. Likewise, when you're trying to find customers through search engines, you have the option of defining customer groups as tightly as you'd like. In some cases, it might make sense to have the same offer for everyone; in others, you want your ads to change along with certain words, phrases, locations, or customer types. Search engine marketing gives you the flexibility for either.

Likewise, if you have ever tried to change your Yellow Pages description, ongoing newspaper ad, or TV spot, then you already know that shifting your message – much less testing different approaches – can be difficult. With search engine marketing, however, you can decide to take your marketing campaigns in a new direction in minutes.

Owners of all size businesses should have a search engine marketing plan that takes advantage of the tremendous opportunities available in the digital marketing environment. If you would like to sit down and discuss these opportunities, you should contact WSI since we have been helping small and medium size businesses grow through professionally developed online strategies since the mid-90's.

If you're in the Madison Wisconsin area, give us a call today at (608) 523-4255 and let's discuss these opportunities right away!

Best Regards,

Thomas J. Holzkopf
Certified Internet & Digital Marketing Consultant
Tom@WSIPrositebuilder.com
www.WSIPrositebuilder.com
Office: 608-523-4255

There are a number of reasons that otherwise successful companies don't invest in a good search engine optimization plan. Some are worried they don't have the budget, or that the market is too competitive; others might've tried it years ago, but didn't get the results they were looking for.

Regardless of the reason, however, if you haven't been actively trying to reach the best spots on Google, Yahoo, and Bing for your most important keywords, the time to get started is right now.

Why? Because having a strong search engine ranking can literally mean the difference between having thousands of new customers find out about your business every week and watching those same buyers go elsewhere. What's more, high-level SEO tools – like optimized web pages, blog posts, article and press releases, photos, videos, and other digital assets – don't just help you improve your search engine ranking, but enhance the rest of your online marketing, too, by expanding your brand visibility across the web. The more assets you optimize for the right keywords, the more virtual real estate your brand takes up across the web, and the more visible your company becomes for those keyword searches.

In order to realize these benefits for your company, though, it's important that you point your search engine optimization efforts in the right direction. Often, that means investing some of your hard-earned money in your future success.

It's understandable that so many business owners want to cut down on search engine optimization costs, but hiring one of those SEO "companies" that spam you from time to time isn't going to get the job done. You need a professional search engine optimization team, not a fly-by-night operation that's more interested in your money than your success. This is especially important when you consider that the questionable tactics that many of the low-end providers use tend to work for a few weeks or months… only to have your site permanently blacklisted by the major search engines later.

So how do you find the right search engine optimization partner? There are several ways to go about it. The first is to look for the right set of qualifications and certifications. For instance, where have they received their training? A professional SEO consultant will have attended training such as that offered by the Search Engine Academy, which teaches professional-grade SEO tactics. In addition, they should be a member of professionally recognized organizations such as SEMPO (the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization). Does your search engine specialist necessarily need to have those exact credentials? Maybe not, but it can help you find someone who is serious about their craft, and the future of your business.

Another way you can check out a potential SEO provider is by looking at the feedback they've received from other customers. If dozens of businesses like yours are willing to say they're happy with the service and value they’ve received, then there's a good chance you have found someone who will go the extra mile to help you bring in new business. So ask for testimonials or the address of their online customer review page. It’s not only important to find out if they have the necessary digital marketing skills and experience, it is also important to know how their customers feel about “service after the sale”.

Search engine optimization is too important to your company's online marketing success to ignore, or to trust to a firm that doesn't have the right background or experience. A high-quality search engine marketing campaign can do wonders for your bottom line, so get started with the right partner today.

Owners of all size businesses should have a search engine marketing plan that takes advantage of the tremendous opportunities available in the digital marketing environment. If you would like to sit down and discuss these opportunities, you should contact WSI since we have been helping small and medium size businesses grow through professionally developed online strategies since the mid-90's.

If you're in the Madison Wisconsin area, give us a call today at (608) 523-4255 and let's discuss these opportunities right away!

Best Regards,

Thomas J. Holzkopf
Certified Internet & Digital Marketing Consultant
Tom@WSIPrositebuilder.com
www.WSIPrositebuilder.com
Office: 608-523-4255

One  of the most fun and interesting things about business web design and online marketing is that it's a bit like fashion or art: Every once in a while, something that's been around for a long time comes back in a new form, and more effective than ever. We've already seen it in pay per click advertising, search engine marketing, and social media.

Now, the same thing is happening with barcodes... only this time, they're just a little bit different. Make no mistake, though, marketing through QR codes can be a wonderful way to attract more buyers, and more sales.

If you haven't tried QR codes before, or aren't entirely sure what they are, here's what you need to know: Although they look somewhat like traditional barcodes, QR codes are actually small images that customers can photograph or scan with their smart phones. Once they do, the QR code takes them to a specific Internet destination – one that you have specified.

In that way, QR codes bridge the gap between print advertising, mobile business web design, and online marketing. Where can QR codes be placed? There aren't many limits, since they can work almost anywhere that your customers can take a picture of them or scan them in their smart phones. That could include a billboard, your storefront window, on shelf space, on your business card and pamphlets, or in a print advertisement, to name just a few examples.

What makes QR code so exciting, however, isn't just that they can go almost anywhere, but that they can be used for almost anything. Here are just a few of the ways successful marketers have already put QR codes to use:

To offer shoppers further product info. Let's say your customer is looking around your store, and you would like them to have more information on the featured product. Simply place a QR code next to it, and they can find all the relevant details online in seconds.

To offer a coupon. Likewise, a QR code placed at the front of your retail shop, or in a print ad, could offer users an instant coupon or special web price. That's great for sales, and also allows you to track the QR code's effectiveness.

To take customers straight to online reviews. If you want shoppers to see how popular your products have been with others, simply use a QR code to show them the relevant reviews. Again, it only takes a second, and can make the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity.

To let customers compare prices. If you have the lowest prices, then don't keep it a secret. Your QR code could take visitors to a page showing your prices next to your competitors’.

To download a document. If you have the kind of product or service that can be promoted with a special report, article, flier, or other document, why not use QR code advertising to let customers access it or download it?

To sign up for something. From newsletters to events, QR codes are perfect for bringing customers to registration pages and sign-up sheets, and to your social media pages to get more “like”s, “follows”, network connections, “subscribes”, etc.

These are just a few uses for QR codes, and there are probably thousands more that exist, and thousands of new ideas currently being investigated. Their use is really just beginning to evolve.

Owners of all size businesses should have a mobile marketing plan that takes advantage of the tremendous opportunities available in the mobile technology environment. If you would like to sit down and discuss these opportunities, you should contact WSI since we have been helping small and medium size businesses grow through professionally developed mobile and online strategies for many years.

If you're in the Madison Wisconsin area, give us a call today at (608) 523-4255 and let's discuss these opportunities right away!

Best Regards,

Thomas J. Holzkopf
Certified Internet & Digital Marketing Consultant
Tom@WSIPrositebuilder.com
www.WSIPrositebuilder.com
Office: 608-523-4255

As we wrote recently, the sheer numbers of smart phones being sold – and subsequently, the numbers of people accessing the Internet through them – practically scream for business owners to launch mobile versions of their websites. But at the same time, it isn't enough to simply have a mobile version of your site online; to really profit, you need to conform to the medium.

To help you understand why and how, here are four things that we have noticed in truly great mobile business websites:

They load quickly and consistently. It shouldn't matter whether your customer has an iPhone or a Droid. Either way, they want your mobile business site to load quickly and cleanly, and without putting a huge dent in their data plan.

They have lots of easy to access calls to action. On a mobile business website, don't ask people to download a lengthy white paper or read dozens of product details. Instead, give them the choice to do things like "add to cart”, "click to call us now”, “download coupon”, “subscribe for discounts”, or “scan QR code” (more on this in our next blog post!). These are much easier to manage on a smart phone, and make more sense for customers using one.

They allow users to click through to everything. Speaking of which, the more of these actions that are available through a single click or tap of the screen, the more of them your customers will take advantage of. So, if you really want to boost the profitability of your mobile business website, then make it very easy for users to do what you're asking.

They are reduced to what's necessary. In the vast majority of cases, a mobile business website can easily be squeezed into four or five brief pages. Again, it's important to remember that your mobile customers have a limited amount of time and bandwidth at their disposal, so make sure you aren't asking them to waste either one.

Owners of all size businesses should have a mobile marketing plan that takes advantage of the tremendous opportunities available in the mobile technology environment. If you would like to sit down and discuss these opportunities, you should contact WSI since we have been helping small and medium size businesses grow through professionally developed mobile and online strategies for many years. If you're in the Madison Wisconsin area, give us a call today at (608) 523-4255 and let's discuss these opportunities right away!
Best Regards,




Thomas J. Holzkopf
Certified Internet & Digital Marketing Consultant
Tom@WSIPrositebuilder.com
www.WSIPrositebuilder.com
Office: 608-523-4255

Why You Need to Have a Mobile Website for Your Business

In case you're wondering what that figure represents, that's the number of Google Android smart phones being sold every single day. Add to that a similar number of iPhones, not to mention iPads, tablets and other web-ready mobile devices, and it's easy to see why mobile business websites aren't the passing trend or fad that a lot of companies want to treat them as.

With that in mind, there are two important implications for every company that is serious about online marketing:

First, that you really do need a mobile version of your business website. Estimates are difficult, because the market is changing so quickly, but it's clear that hundreds of millions of people are already accessing the web via smart phones. In fact, more of them will go online through mobile devices than they will through traditional laptop and desktop computers in the next few years. If you want to capture some of that market – and you should – then a mobile business website is a necessity.

And secondly, that your mobile business website shouldn't just be a smaller version of your existing site.  In a rush to "go mobile," a lot of companies are simply shrinking down their existing websites. That's not a good idea, because mobile users want speed and accessibility that they can't get from simply shrinking a standard-sized business website.

Rather than just going small, look for a way to condense the most valuable elements of your current website into a smaller, four- or five-page design. Once you've done that, you'll have a mobile business website that's more useful for your visitors, and more profitable for your company.

Look for our next post where we'll talk more about how to leverage your mobile website.

Owners of all size businesses should have an online marketing plan that takes advantage of the tremendous opportunities available in the online environment. If you would like to sit down and discuss these opportunities or have us review your existing online plan, you should contact WSI since we have been helping small and medium size businesses grow through professionally developed online strategies for many years. If you're in the Madison Wisconsin area, give us a call today at (608) 523-4255 and let's discuss these opportunities right away!
Best Regards,




Thomas J. Holzkopf
Certified Internet & Digital Marketing Consultant
Tom@WSIPrositebuilder.com
www.WSIPrositebuilder.com
Office: 608-523-4255