What to look for when buying car insurance

You should never purchase the first thing you find when you are looking at buying a big ticket item, although this should be common sense. You visit several shops, find out what's on offer and at what prices. When you know what the market can supply, you can make the best decision on what to buy. It should be exactly the same when you are looking for insurance except it needs a little more work before you start.

Deciding which make and model of car suits your requirements is the first thing you should consider and working out which insurance cover you require for that particular make and model should be the next. Of course, you may simply decide to keep whatever vehicle you have, but you should always consider how much you might save if you switch to a safer vehicle. Only when you know what you want to insure and how much cover you want can you get quotes. Always compare like with like. That's the way to find out that some insurers can ask for car insurance rates differing by hundreds of dollars.

Although you may just be looking for cheap car insurance, never assume all insurers are equal. You need confidence the insurers offering the cheapest rates are financially secure and have a claims-handling process that offers some protection to you as a customer. Companies like A M Best, Moody's, and Standard & Poor rate insurance companies for reliability. Every state also has an Insurance Commissioner. On your local site, you should find information about whether complaints have been made and upheld against the insurers licensed to sell policies in your state. You do not benefit if you buy a policy from a company that sees its mission in life as being to deny all claims made by its policyholders. The good news is that there's a federal program to rescue policyholders if their car insurance company is declared bankrupt. Your policy will be passed on to other insurers. If there are outstanding claims, they will be dealt with by the new insurer. Take care and protect yourself by shopping around.

How to Buy Cheap Car Insurance

Like many things today, it seems as though the cost of insurance is rising. Since all drivers are required to have insurance, more often than not they prefer cheap car insurance. When looking for affordable insurance, there are recommendations you can follow to find the very best coverage at the lowest rates.

Take Advantage of Membership Benefits

Being a member of certain organizations has its perks, including lower rates on insurance. Several memberships are particularly beneficial to drivers. These include AAA and AARP which offer significant discounts on auto insurance. Even membership in chambers of commerce or warehouse chains like Costco can save you money on insurance.

Manage Mileage

The less you drive your car, the better insurance rates you can get. This is because the chances of you becoming involved in an accident are reduced. You may even want to consider pay-as-you-drive insurance programs which track your mileage and bill you accordingly. Insurance companies are more than willing to give you reduced rates in exchange for being on the road less frequently.

Look for Discounts

It is possible to save over 50% on your insurance costs with discounts. All insurance companies offer discounts of some sort. The most common types include safe driver, good student, and senior discounts. But there are many more that your insurance provider offers. It is your responsibility to make sure you receive all discounts you are eligible to receive.

Consider Where You Live

Your location is a major factor when it comes to cost savings. Not only your actual neighborhood but also the state in which you live can impact your premiums. Certain states are simply cheaper. States with fewer people, such as North Dakota, offer some of the lowest insurance rates in the country. Living in states that are more populated, including Florida and New York, will result in higher premiums.

These are just some of the ways you can get cheap car insurance. It merely takes a little work on your part to compare policies offered by multiple insurance companies by requesting free quotes from all who provide cheap car insurance.

Car insurance quotes and the black box

If you ask most folks, they would tell you they were great drivers. What do your friends of family think? It is subjective. Most folks would judge your behavior on whether or not they do the same thing. So how can you prove you are safe driver? How do you get car insurance quotes based on your true driving habits?

Being a safe driver is more than not being in accidents. I have watched a number of people cause accidents on the road that they never knew happened because it was behind them. You have seen it too. The person who crosses three lanes without signaling heading for an exit. You may have even been in the mayhem of tires screeching behind them, as they blindly did what they thought was ok. We have all had the person in front of us who seems to brake periodically for invisible aliens, then speeds away. My all time favorite is the person who has to speed right up to the red light, brake, gun it for the green only to brake suddenly at the next red light and repeat the procedure as if the car only has two modes, stop and go. If they had no accident history, and the insurance company asked if they were a good driver, they would say yes.

What if you really are a safe driver, and want a way to get out of the actuarial table and prove you are better than they are? Go for the box or the pay as you drive program. Europe has been doing this for years, and it is just catching on here. If you car is equipped with a satellite navigation system you may qualify for a program that uses the information from your autos black box to record your driving habits. Otherwise you may get a black box from the insurance company that connects to your under dash diagnostic port. Both will record you average speeds, the speeds that you take turns, how you apply your brakes, and average distances. The box digitally sends the information to the insurance company much the same way you use your cell phone, and analyzed to show exactly how you drive.

There exist black box car insurance discounts

If you know you are a good driver, then compare car insurance quotes for companies that offer black box discounts. Review how their program works, and ask how much you can expect to save.

Auto insurance: commonsense to keep your premiums down

Insurance is all about risk. However, the insurance companies are not gamblers, they have research and years of data behind their decisions. They have actuarial tables depicting life expectancies, ages, gender, race, education and reasons for death collected over time and over population densities. It is the real actual data, hence the name actuarial. Auto insurance companies combine that date with the data that the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) for crash statistics, car safety data, theft rates, repair rates, regional conditions and more.

What does that mean? That means they take your data, plug it into an algorithm in a computer, along with your credit score (gives them a hedge on whether you pay your bills) and come up with your premium. You may argue with it. You may even give them extra data like a bad driving record. Traffic citations, number of years driving, and the number of claims you have made over time all are predictors of your risk. So how do you bring your premiums down even when all the data seems stacked up against you? The answer is simpler than you think.

Work on your behaviors. Start with simple things first like car maintenance. Whether you have an unlimited income and drive a Porsche, or live for the day and drive a beat up old car, setting a routine to check it out before you drive can save you in un expected breakdowns or close calls. Create a notebook where you make your own table. Check your oil on regular intervals and check your tire pressure. Make sure your windshield wash is full. Check the fluids on a regular basis. At the start of fall (and spring depending on how many miles you drive) replace your windshield wiper blades. Have a mechanic, or do it yourself, check the battery condition. Make a note of how many mile you have on your breaks.

Then you can begin to work on your driving behaviors. Leave a little earlier. That way you won't be as frustrated when traffic bogs down because you gave yourself plenty of time. Make a conscious decision to slow for the yellow, stop for at least two counts at a stop sign; and signal for lane changes as well as turns. Statistically people who behave this way have lower premiums...they are lower risks. When you are looking at auto insurance, look at yourself in the mirror and ask "am I worth the risk?"

Drop Shipping Best Kept Secrets Exposed

It's a fact. Making money on the Internet is easy, if you have the inside track to the same secrets about drop shipping,
all the TOP 'gurus' are using to make tons of cash.
Have you ever been interested to start your own web business but you've been discouraged by the hassles of things like
creating your own products or services, tracking your inventory and shipping products?
Bear with me, you don't have to wade through piles of pages full of hype to discover the real meaty content.
This article reveals the Best Kept Secrets about Drop Shipping...
Just like in any business, there are advantages and disadvantages that you should know about before getting started in the Drop Shipping game.
SECRET #1 - Beware of the Scam Artists
There are probably hundreds of companies out there that will drop ship products for you, everything from gifts and home accessories to furniture and pets.
Make sure you identify only reputable companies that you'd like to work with. Your online reputation is on the line, just like in the offline business medium, so don't risk it, represent only quality products and companies.
NOTE: a reputable company should offer quality customer support, fast feedback and quality products (notnecessarily low-cost products!)
SECRET #2 - Find Companies that Ship Items One at a Time
Your main goal is to find those reputable companies that will ship items one at a time instead of requiring that you purchase a fixed minimum number of items each time.
The KEY is that you don't have to invest your hard-earned money in inventory that might not sell. Save your money and do smart investitions.
SECRET #3 - Set-Up A 24/7 Profitable Online Store
Creating your web site and seting up your online store doesn't have to be expensive or time-consuming. With less than $50 a month you can get professional web site hosting with all the options you need.
TIP: check out those reputable companies that offer low-cost but quality web hosting solutions for your site and online store.
You should be able to add new products to your Web Site almost instantly, featuring drop shipping products online is a breeze, promoting them effectively and closing the *sale* is the hardest part.
NOTE: do not add too many products on the main page of your online store. You don't want to confuse your visitors with too many options.
Do you remember what happens when you enter a store and too many products compete for your attention?
You're right! You become confused and leave the shop without buying anything.
If you want people buy from you, feature 3 to 5 main products with pictures and a brief description next to them.
Finally, you've discovered the 3 Drop Shipping Best Kept Secrets. Don't you think you deserve to succeed in the drop shipping business?
Now, go on and identify those established, reputable drop shipping companies that you'd like to work with and represent their products.
TIP: people buy online from those they like and trust. If you're a trusted person folks will purchase based on your recommendations.
The BEST way to build trust with others online is to write articles and publish them on the web, participate in online forums, create your Web Site and Newsletter, etc.
You will have to become a popular person on the Internet, so people will find about you and get to know you better from your articles and online forum postings.

Drop Shipping Best Kept Secrets Exposed

It's a fact. Making money on the Internet is easy, if you have the inside track to the same secrets about drop shipping,
all the TOP 'gurus' are using to make tons of cash.
Have you ever been interested to start your own web business but you've been discouraged by the hassles of things like
creating your own products or services, tracking your inventory and shipping products?
Bear with me, you don't have to wade through piles of pages full of hype to discover the real meaty content.
This article reveals the Best Kept Secrets about Drop Shipping...
Just like in any business, there are advantages and disadvantages that you should know about before getting started in the Drop Shipping game.
SECRET #1 - Beware of the Scam Artists
There are probably hundreds of companies out there that will drop ship products for you, everything from gifts and home accessories to furniture and pets.
Make sure you identify only reputable companies that you'd like to work with. Your online reputation is on the line, just like in the offline business medium, so don't risk it, represent only quality products and companies.
NOTE: a reputable company should offer quality customer support, fast feedback and quality products (notnecessarily low-cost products!)
SECRET #2 - Find Companies that Ship Items One at a Time
Your main goal is to find those reputable companies that will ship items one at a time instead of requiring that you purchase a fixed minimum number of items each time.
The KEY is that you don't have to invest your hard-earned money in inventory that might not sell. Save your money and do smart investitions.
SECRET #3 - Set-Up A 24/7 Profitable Online Store
Creating your web site and seting up your online store doesn't have to be expensive or time-consuming. With less than $50 a month you can get professional web site hosting with all the options you need.
TIP: check out those reputable companies that offer low-cost but quality web hosting solutions for your site and online store.
You should be able to add new products to your Web Site almost instantly, featuring drop shipping products online is a breeze, promoting them effectively and closing the *sale* is the hardest part.
NOTE: do not add too many products on the main page of your online store. You don't want to confuse your visitors with too many options.
Do you remember what happens when you enter a store and too many products compete for your attention?
You're right! You become confused and leave the shop without buying anything.
If you want people buy from you, feature 3 to 5 main products with pictures and a brief description next to them.
Finally, you've discovered the 3 Drop Shipping Best Kept Secrets. Don't you think you deserve to succeed in the drop shipping business?
Now, go on and identify those established, reputable drop shipping companies that you'd like to work with and represent their products.
TIP: people buy online from those they like and trust. If you're a trusted person folks will purchase based on your recommendations.
The BEST way to build trust with others online is to write articles and publish them on the web, participate in online forums, create your Web Site and Newsletter, etc.
You will have to become a popular person on the Internet, so people will find about you and get to know you better from your articles and online forum postings.

Generating At Home Income On the Internet With a Home Business

Is your desire to produce income at home? For how long have you been trying to find or excited about generating income online? Isn't it time to stop considering it and take steps to change your bank account? Begin investing that time learning how it's done. Visions do come true and let's examine if I could help you make it happen.
There are scams, needless to say, however you can find a whole lot of extremely profitable and lucrative at home income opportunities, that offer an effective way of tapping into web-based income generation. For those who keep things simple and sensible, you'll probably be amazed at the potential for online marketing.
Everybody knows another person enduring in this economy and a lot of us have our own back against the wall financially. I have been involved in various systems for many years, looking for a simplified solution for anybody who need to earn supplemental at home income or replace a full time salary. Numerous at home income possibilities I analyzed fell considerably short and I would not suggest them to anybody, however the guru-folks who're promoting these products are doing wonderfully. They are aware a needy marketplace when they see one.
It is time for you to make your move. And now we don't know when the overall economy will strengthen. And we don't know when jobs will begin increasing once more. What you can easily do is take control yourself, begin immediately and resolve to make the future significantly better for you and for your family members. You can do it but being familiar with where to start and what steps to take is the hardest part of earning at home income.
I've been doing well in this tight economy, since 2005. I'm not a guru but my efforts on the internet have saved me throughout this undesirable economic climate. I am not boasting, I simply recognize what it is like to be struggling. You'll be able to flourish in this economy because there's an enormously enormous need for ways to earn income from home. You can start and tap into this demand. People will follow you and take up your online business. Allow me to reveal to you what I am doing ensure you are on the internet income path.
I have had my downfalls and I experienced my successes on the internet. It's what you learn from the unfortunate experiences and how you apply them looking at the future. Every successful person does have disappointments and the real lucrative ones grow from them. Let me try to help you to minimize your downfalls and accelerate the learning curve.
If you are looking at sales pages and wishing this "secret method" or this "insider information the gurus don't tell you" will be the answer to generating at home income.
Too many people need assistance and far too many sites are simply not presenting any help but are only screaming "buy now". So I'm spending some time to provide some genuine information which can help you find out how you can flourish in the at home income market. A question that you might have asked yourself is "what type of online home based business should I start?".
This is a very common question and one that has a large amount of various answers. The answer can come down to the level of experience you might have, what you're interested in, the amount of money you have available to invest and the amount of time you're able to put into your online home-based business. Let's get this straight, it'll cost you time and money get going. If it's stated it's free, that you can earn income without investing, then skip to another web site. It is just a scam. Free training is fine and many sites offer this and are legitimate but keep in mind in due course you will have to invest.
Before I let you go come across your own successful online income permit me to explain to you what bonafide program I decided to leapfrog my at home income web based business. Quite simple yet so powerful. See the resource section at the end of this article to find out more.
I wish you the best in your search and please perform your research prior to jumping into something.
Suggestion: Get hold of the person you might be dealing with. If you can communicate with them via email or even better on the phone, you will be on the right path to a beneficial at home income.

Generating At Home Income On the Internet With a Home Business

Is your desire to produce income at home? For how long have you been trying to find or excited about generating income online? Isn't it time to stop considering it and take steps to change your bank account? Begin investing that time learning how it's done. Visions do come true and let's examine if I could help you make it happen.
There are scams, needless to say, however you can find a whole lot of extremely profitable and lucrative at home income opportunities, that offer an effective way of tapping into web-based income generation. For those who keep things simple and sensible, you'll probably be amazed at the potential for online marketing.
Everybody knows another person enduring in this economy and a lot of us have our own back against the wall financially. I have been involved in various systems for many years, looking for a simplified solution for anybody who need to earn supplemental at home income or replace a full time salary. Numerous at home income possibilities I analyzed fell considerably short and I would not suggest them to anybody, however the guru-folks who're promoting these products are doing wonderfully. They are aware a needy marketplace when they see one.
It is time for you to make your move. And now we don't know when the overall economy will strengthen. And we don't know when jobs will begin increasing once more. What you can easily do is take control yourself, begin immediately and resolve to make the future significantly better for you and for your family members. You can do it but being familiar with where to start and what steps to take is the hardest part of earning at home income.
I've been doing well in this tight economy, since 2005. I'm not a guru but my efforts on the internet have saved me throughout this undesirable economic climate. I am not boasting, I simply recognize what it is like to be struggling. You'll be able to flourish in this economy because there's an enormously enormous need for ways to earn income from home. You can start and tap into this demand. People will follow you and take up your online business. Allow me to reveal to you what I am doing ensure you are on the internet income path.
I have had my downfalls and I experienced my successes on the internet. It's what you learn from the unfortunate experiences and how you apply them looking at the future. Every successful person does have disappointments and the real lucrative ones grow from them. Let me try to help you to minimize your downfalls and accelerate the learning curve.
If you are looking at sales pages and wishing this "secret method" or this "insider information the gurus don't tell you" will be the answer to generating at home income.
Too many people need assistance and far too many sites are simply not presenting any help but are only screaming "buy now". So I'm spending some time to provide some genuine information which can help you find out how you can flourish in the at home income market. A question that you might have asked yourself is "what type of online home based business should I start?".
This is a very common question and one that has a large amount of various answers. The answer can come down to the level of experience you might have, what you're interested in, the amount of money you have available to invest and the amount of time you're able to put into your online home-based business. Let's get this straight, it'll cost you time and money get going. If it's stated it's free, that you can earn income without investing, then skip to another web site. It is just a scam. Free training is fine and many sites offer this and are legitimate but keep in mind in due course you will have to invest.
Before I let you go come across your own successful online income permit me to explain to you what bonafide program I decided to leapfrog my at home income web based business. Quite simple yet so powerful. See the resource section at the end of this article to find out more.
I wish you the best in your search and please perform your research prior to jumping into something.
Suggestion: Get hold of the person you might be dealing with. If you can communicate with them via email or even better on the phone, you will be on the right path to a beneficial at home income.

Home Based Businesses - Why Do Most Fail, and So Few Succeed?

There are exceptions of course, but the exceptions are in a definite minority. The simple truth is that for every example of someone who succeeds in a home based business, there are thousands who do not, and probably the most damaging statistic is the fact that the successes are sprinkled very thinly across a broad spectrum of different types of home base businesses, and not confined to a few specific areas, which means there are few obvious common denominators of success. Therefore it is very difficult to identify the key requirements for operating a successful home based business. Yet despite this, a quick search engine enquiry will show no shortage of experts offering to reveal the insider secrets to generating massive incomes via their particular version of a home based business, and to be fair, some do offer good, practical information, however there is also a lot of totally useless information as well. The problem is that even when people receive good basic advice, the failure rate remains largely unchanged.
Of course this is partly due to the simple fact that most new small business start ups fail within 5 years anyway, not just home based businesses, but all types of small businesses, and there are several common reasons for this, including under-capitalization, insufficient market research, inexperience etc. However, the fact remains that home based businesses have the highest failure rate of all, so why is this?
Well first of all let us take a closer look at home based businesses. There are basically 3 types of home based business. The first is the Hobby Extension business, this is where someone develops a hobby into a commercial enterprise, and continues to operate from home. Generally these businesses are craft based, jewelry manufacture is a common example, and the owner is well versed in the demands of the business, having been involved for several years during which time it has slowly evolved from a simple hobby to the point where it has become a viable commercial enterprise. The second is the Professional Practice, where a person with appropriate qualifications or experience, decides to go it alone and work from home. Generally these people bring a client list and numerous contacts with them from their previous position, so once again the risk factor is low because they are working in a familiar field, dealing with familiar clients, and their success is largely based upon their existing reputation. The third type of home based business is the New Entrepreneur, where people attempt to establish some form of commercial enterprise for which they have little or no, prior knowledge or experience. The two most common examples of this are Network Marketing and Online Business. This is obviously where the high failure statistics come from, people are generally drawn to these two types of business because they desperately want to escape from the stress of their existing job, or they have a passionate desire to enjoy the perceived freedom and wealth of self employment; and there is no doubt that both of these business types have the potential to satisfy these two ambitions, but unfortunately, the potential rarely develops into reality.
So given these alarming facts and figures, should people still aspire to establish a home based business?
Well obviously there is no major problem with the Hobby Extension or Professional Practice, the difficulties are with the New Entrepreneur type, though even in this sector there is encouraging evidence. Firstly, the potential rewards are very attractive, secondly there are some basic common sense rules which need to be applied, and finally, keep your capital investment low, work your new business on a part time basis until your home based business income exceeds your traditional job income, and only then think about quitting your job. This way you are risking very little and not putting yourself under too much pressure.
So why do most New Entrepreneur businesses fail?
It's quite simple really, most new participants in network marketing fail because it looks easy and they think they know what they are doing, they ignore the advice, training and coaching that is offered to them, and they proceed to do it their way, with failure being the inevitable result.
Most new online business participants fail for the opposite reason, they find the business incredibly complicated, technical, and confusing. They quickly discover that they can not get sufficient targeted traffic to their site, they spend a fortune on ineffective advertising, they run out of money, and they simply give up.
So what is the solution? Well I have one more vital piece of advice for all New Entrepreneurs.
Do not try to do it alone, you need an experienced, ethical, caring, knowledgeable, and accessible Mentor. Someone with a proven track record and a genuine interest in your success, someone you can rely on to guide you through all the difficult times, and who can in the process teach you how to ultimately perform the same valuable service for your own downline. Without this you will probably add to the failure statistics within 12 months.

Home Based Businesses - Why Do Most Fail, and So Few Succeed?

There are exceptions of course, but the exceptions are in a definite minority. The simple truth is that for every example of someone who succeeds in a home based business, there are thousands who do not, and probably the most damaging statistic is the fact that the successes are sprinkled very thinly across a broad spectrum of different types of home base businesses, and not confined to a few specific areas, which means there are few obvious common denominators of success. Therefore it is very difficult to identify the key requirements for operating a successful home based business. Yet despite this, a quick search engine enquiry will show no shortage of experts offering to reveal the insider secrets to generating massive incomes via their particular version of a home based business, and to be fair, some do offer good, practical information, however there is also a lot of totally useless information as well. The problem is that even when people receive good basic advice, the failure rate remains largely unchanged.
Of course this is partly due to the simple fact that most new small business start ups fail within 5 years anyway, not just home based businesses, but all types of small businesses, and there are several common reasons for this, including under-capitalization, insufficient market research, inexperience etc. However, the fact remains that home based businesses have the highest failure rate of all, so why is this?
Well first of all let us take a closer look at home based businesses. There are basically 3 types of home based business. The first is the Hobby Extension business, this is where someone develops a hobby into a commercial enterprise, and continues to operate from home. Generally these businesses are craft based, jewelry manufacture is a common example, and the owner is well versed in the demands of the business, having been involved for several years during which time it has slowly evolved from a simple hobby to the point where it has become a viable commercial enterprise. The second is the Professional Practice, where a person with appropriate qualifications or experience, decides to go it alone and work from home. Generally these people bring a client list and numerous contacts with them from their previous position, so once again the risk factor is low because they are working in a familiar field, dealing with familiar clients, and their success is largely based upon their existing reputation. The third type of home based business is the New Entrepreneur, where people attempt to establish some form of commercial enterprise for which they have little or no, prior knowledge or experience. The two most common examples of this are Network Marketing and Online Business. This is obviously where the high failure statistics come from, people are generally drawn to these two types of business because they desperately want to escape from the stress of their existing job, or they have a passionate desire to enjoy the perceived freedom and wealth of self employment; and there is no doubt that both of these business types have the potential to satisfy these two ambitions, but unfortunately, the potential rarely develops into reality.
So given these alarming facts and figures, should people still aspire to establish a home based business?
Well obviously there is no major problem with the Hobby Extension or Professional Practice, the difficulties are with the New Entrepreneur type, though even in this sector there is encouraging evidence. Firstly, the potential rewards are very attractive, secondly there are some basic common sense rules which need to be applied, and finally, keep your capital investment low, work your new business on a part time basis until your home based business income exceeds your traditional job income, and only then think about quitting your job. This way you are risking very little and not putting yourself under too much pressure.
So why do most New Entrepreneur businesses fail?
It's quite simple really, most new participants in network marketing fail because it looks easy and they think they know what they are doing, they ignore the advice, training and coaching that is offered to them, and they proceed to do it their way, with failure being the inevitable result.
Most new online business participants fail for the opposite reason, they find the business incredibly complicated, technical, and confusing. They quickly discover that they can not get sufficient targeted traffic to their site, they spend a fortune on ineffective advertising, they run out of money, and they simply give up.
So what is the solution? Well I have one more vital piece of advice for all New Entrepreneurs.
Do not try to do it alone, you need an experienced, ethical, caring, knowledgeable, and accessible Mentor. Someone with a proven track record and a genuine interest in your success, someone you can rely on to guide you through all the difficult times, and who can in the process teach you how to ultimately perform the same valuable service for your own downline. Without this you will probably add to the failure statistics within 12 months.

Internet Marketing - Ensure Your Business Survives the Recession

Dollars are scarce in today's economy. Phone book advertisements, radio spots, billboards, and other forms of advertisements have not become any cheaper in recent times, and in fact, costs are on the rise. In uncertain financial times, it can be very uncomfortable to sign a contract binding your business into a predefined term that commits you to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars over the next several months to a year. With no guaranteed results and no way to effectively measure return on investment (ROI), most business owners would prefer not to be bound to such contracts, especially since such contracts usually include stiff exit penalties for early termination. But what are the alternatives?
We live in an Internet world today, and most people are familiar with finding what they want through search services like Yahoo!, Google, and MSN. As consumers, we're all familiar with the concept of typing a few words in the search bar and clicking the search button to explore our options. As business owners, however, the process on how to achieve a prominent placement in the search engine listings is often a murky, undefined, seemingly "random" process. Additionally, it can be very confusing when telemarketers and solicitors call on your business with various conflicting packages, promising to deliver "guaranteed" results but at a steep price tag. Many times, the lip service is gone once you sign the contract.
Using the Internet to advertise your business is a viable way to cut costs, focus marketing efforts, and deliver incredible results, but there are a few key points that you must know in order to protect your interests. Here are a few deceptive practices and myths to be careful about if you consider marketing your business online:
Deceptive Practice #1: Guaranteed Placement
There is no such thing as "guaranteed" placement on any of the major search engines. I wish there were, but if you think about it, such guarantees don't make sense. It's always possible that someone else might be willing to pay more for higher placement in the sponsored links area of search engine results. In the organic (or natural rankings) area of the search results, there is only one "number one" spot, so if someone offers you a "guarantee" that they can get your website to the number one spot, you'd have to question how they can possibly do that for your business when other unscrupulous sales people are making the same guarantees elsewhere. And what if they approach another business in the same industry as yours? Are they guaranteeing your competitor the #2 spot? I doubt it. What about the sales person four states away that is pitching their prospective client that they "guarantee" the number one spot? How can that be? In short, it can't. Individual telephone or marketing companies may own their own, propriety search services in which they may guarantee placement within their own listings, but you must consider how narrow or wide-reaching their services encompass, and whether the price is worth the exposure for the number of people who search through them versus the major search engines. Regardless of how many angles someone tries to play it, there is no way to ethically guarantee a particular placement on the major search engines. If someone makes such a claim, show them the door.
Deceptive Practice #2: "We work closely with the search engines"
It sounds great, and it would be quite the cozy situation if it were true, but again, no one has the "inside scoop" on how to tip the scales in your favor by "being in bed with" the search engines. Every professional, competent Internet marketing provider keeps up-to-date on current changes, but to say "working closely with" is, at best, misleading. If someone gives you a sales pitch that they have an inside track with Google, Yahoo!, MSN or any other search service, they're blowing smoke and trying to "sell" you on a relationship that simply can't exist. Why can't it exist? Because search engines would go out of business if they compromised the integrity of their ever-changing algorithms. (Their "algorithm" is the formula they use to rank and score websites based on weighted criteria, and it is "super-double-top-secret"). True, experienced search engine companies stay very familiar with updated materials and guidelines that search engine companies make public, but nobody has the executive privilege of calling up a particular search engine and saying "Hey, I've got a client that needs to be ranked number one for a particular keyword. Can you 'hook me up?'" Anyone who says that "they're in bed with the search engines" is making promises in the dark.
Deceptive Practice#3: Flat Rate Offers for Search Engine Submissions
Buyer beware. You may receive solicitations in the mail that appear to be bills but the fine print reads, "This is a solicitation. This is not a bill. You are under no obligation to pay this amount." Elsewhere in the correspondence, in much more conspicuous print, you will see the words, "Remit the following amount by (some date)." It's a legal scam. How can it be legal, yet still be a scam? Quite easily, actually. They will deliver EXACTLY what they advertise, which is often some number of keyword phrases submitted to some number of search engines on some periodic basis over the next year or so. If they do what they promise they'll do, it's legal. However, submitting a website to search engines without properly preparing it (called "optimizing") for submission and marketing to the search engines produces virtually zero results for you. Therefore, taking your money for something that will knowingly do nothing for you makes it a "scam," at least in my opinion.
Deceptive Practice #4: Using a Name to Define Itself
This is a common ploy that capitalizes on the unsuspecting and th unknowing. It's pretty typical (although not guaranteed) that a company will appear in the number one spot on search engines when using the name of the company as the search term. It makes sense that a company's name will be the best fit for search results when searching using the company's name. (Sounds redundant, right?) Do not let anyone fool you by telling you that they worked hard for the money to achieve great results by showing you that your company comes up prominently when you search for yourself. Such results often happen almost "automatically," with no effort at all. Plus, how many people really search for you by company name? The goal in search engine optimization and marketing is to get your company "found" by searching for your products, services, manufacturers, etc.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Marketing (SEM) is like the Wild West. Technology has expanded much faster than laws have been able to keep pace, and therefore there are plenty of opportunities for fraud and deception. The burden of maintaining integrity in the system has fallen largely on the individual search service companies like Google, Yahoo! and MSN, which explains why those companies need to continually update and refine their algorithms to keep the riff-raff out. In true "Western Movie" style, the terms to describe "good guy" practices is dubbed "white hat SEO/SEM" while the "bad guy" practices are labeled "black hat SEO/SEM." It sounds over dramatic, but the "good guys" engage in industry best-practices and adhere to ethical approaches, whereas the "bad guys" try to subvert the search engine algorithms and are usually the ones who engage in deceptive practices while preying on the ignorance of unsuspecting business owners.
Someday, there will undoubtedly be legal controls in place to support SEO/SEM malpractice lawsuits, much like how consumers are protected from medical or legal malpractice. I look forward to that day, because it will "clean up" the industry. As it stands now, the search engine optimization and marketing industry is the only one I can think of in which:

• there is no way to ethically guarantee results
• SEO/SEM practitioners can collect money with the disclaimer of "no guarantees", and
• after collecting money for no-guarantee work, SEO/SEM companies can legitimately deliver "no results".

Of course, reputable SEO/SEM companies that engage in fair practices will likely take measures to make a happy customer, but the overall big picture allows for a lot of dubious practices in the market place. The few "bad apples" that leave a trail of destruction spoil it for the bunch who are honest, white hat SEO/SEM service providers.
How can you protect yourself? How can you be reasonably assured of not being ripped off? First and foremost, get references. Secondly, check those references. And finally, apply common sense to the situation, resisting the urge to take the bait of anything that seems "too good to be true." Any company that offers to provide you with SEO/SEM services should be able to provide you with qualified references. Even so, be sure to contact their actual clients to ensure a couple of things:

• is the company easy to work with?
• are the clients happy with their results?
• are the results producing traffic?
• would the clients recommend the company?

Remember, the level of service you get will differ based on what you pay. SEO/SEM efforts, done properly, are based on data but are somewhat subjective. In other words, there is more that one way to achieve positive results, and different SEO specialists can achieve comparable outcomes by employing different techniques and strategies. This often makes it difficult to compare "apples to apples" as a business owner when you are trying to determine the best company to hire for your search engine project. Here is another scenario to consider:
Let's assume you have a typical seven or eight-page website in a moderately competitive market. You can interview three separate companies regarding the same SEO/SEM project, and you may receive three dramatically different prices for the same job. One bid, for example, may come in at $200 to optimize your site, while the others come in at $1200 and $3000 respectively. Is the $200 bid the best value? Is the $3000 bid overpriced? Not necessarily. All three salespeople can look you in the eye, shake your hand, and tell you that they will optimize your site for their respective prices. The confusing part is that they are each being honest with you.
The person who quotes you $200 to optimize your site may do so by doing some cursory research to select a few keywords, and then use those same keywords on each page of your website while also adjusting basic information in your web page titles. Can that person legitimately say that your site has been optimized? From the "something is better than nothing" department, yes. In such a scenario, your site has been optimized-- to a degree.
In comparison, the $3000 bid would likely be much more thorough of a job. There may be several hours of detailed keyword research conducted, including an in-depth analysis of each of your top competitors' websites to define the best quality words and phrases to use. Then each page of your site might be individually optimized using specific sets of keywords to maximize the effectiveness of each keyword, including changes to the textual content on each page to include strategic placement of keyword phrases throughout. Additionally, pictures on the site might be annotated with descriptive labels (called alt-tags) on each page, and additional characteristics involving fonts, links, descriptions, etc. may be adjusted to refine the page characteristics so that search engines "smile upon" the website when your site is indexed. Certainly, you can be confident that your website was optimized in this case.
The individual that quoted you $1200 would likely involve something in the middle, perhaps with less market research and a more universal selection of keywords on each page, but still including alt-tags and other content adjustments to improve the website's merit with the search engines.
In all three instances, your site would be optimized. The difference would be the level of detail involved with the job. I wish it were just that simple, but the story continues...
It's true that you can do too little to achieve any worthwhile results. For example, if your budget is only $50 to optimize a website in a highly competitive market, spending the $50 on optimization would probably do nothing for you, and it would be better to take the money and treat yourself to a nice dinner. It's also true that you can wastefully spend too much money without seeing any improvement. For example, if you do achieve page 1, number 1 results in the organic rankings on Google consistently with a $200 budget for a particular set of keywords, increasing your budget to pay for more marketing efforts using those same keywords won't yield any better results. (i.e., you can't get better than #1.) In between the "too little" and "too much" areas, there is a very large "gray area" of spending that will produce varying results in varying time frames.
Optimization is a part of marketing. It is the preparatory work to ensure that your site is ready to be promoted, much like how producing a television commercial is the preparatory work in getting the commercial ready to be aired on TV to the public. The other part of the equation is the actual marketing of the site itself. Marketing the site, which involves submitting it to search engines and then promoting the site on an ongoing basis, is akin to broadcasting the television commercial. If you only air the commercial once, you might see some short term results from it, but in the long term the money spent to produce the commercial would be wasted because people would forget about it. Likewise, if you only market your website for one month, your site will not gain visibility in the long-term. Search engine marketing is an ongoing process. You need to establish a budget for it, just as you would for a phone book ad, magazine ad, radio spot, etc.
The good news: Actively promoting your website to the public is much less costly than traditional methods of advertisement, as long as it is done correctly. The end result of effective SEM is that you receive focused, pre-qualified buyers for your goods and/or services, and you can measure your ROI by reviewing which keywords are working, how long your visitors stayed on your site, knowing which pages they visited, and seeing when and where they left your website.
The bad news: There are obviously a lot of "small parts" to the SEO/SEM puzzle which pose a "choking hazard" to the non-technical business owner. Consequently, the process of actually getting the job done can be confusing, frustrating, and (for the unsuspecting) expensive. This is where a little bit of information and education can save you a whole lot of grief and time.
What most people do not realize is that the quality of your website's optimization (the SEO part of marketing) often directly affects the costs of the ongoing marketing costs for the site. For example, when Google indexes your website (which means that it "takes inventory" of your site's contents), it assigns a quality score to the merit of your keywords based on the content and construction of your site. If you participate in a marketing campaign using a pay-per-click service like Google Adwords, the higher your quality score, generally, the lower the cost per click for a given keyword selection. This means that you can end up paying less per keyword than your competition, but actually achieve higher placement in the sponsored links area of the search results.
In the example scenario above, the $200 bid for your job would probably not yield the same quality score impact as the $3000 job. However, if your budget doesn't support the more expense, detailed work, then it may be more comfortable for you to pay a slightly higher price per keyword (in a pay-per-click campaign), but spend less money on the optimization efforts for your site.
In many ways, you can compare SEO work with putting a heating system in your home. To equip your home with a heating system, you can pay more up front for a geothermal system, and realize a monthly cost savings over a long period of time. Or, you can put in a heat pump for less money up front, but your electric bill will be somewhat higher on a monthly basis. Either system will heat your home, but the break even point will be very different depending on the choice you make. Detailed versus general SEO works much the same way, and the variables that you must consider are 1) when do you want to start seeing results, and 2) how much do you want to spend monthly or quarterly on an ongoing basis?
The key to remember is that your website should first be optimized (to whatever degree you can comfortably afford) prior to marketing it. There are some search engines (and search related services) that will place your site (or a business listing that represents your company) in their search results for a "raw dollar amount" without your site being optimized, but such services can typically only do so within their own service networks. If your customers generally do their searches via major search engines instead of phone company or private industry search sites, then the dollars you spend for top placement within a marketing service's proprietary system may not be worth the cost.
What NOT to say: When discussing your project with a search engine optimization and/or marketing consultant, avoid asking the question, "What placement will I get on the search engines if I hire you?" It reveals that you aren't familiar with how search engines work, and it tips your hand that they might have "low hanging fruit" to make a sale. Of course, if you are savvy to how search engines work (and the limitations that SEO/SEM companies are subject to in achieving results), then asking this question may be a qualifier/disqualifier for the sales person who solicits you, depending on their response.
What to ask: It's reasonable (and shows insight) to ask an SEO/SEM consultant how involved their SEO efforts will be for the price. You may not have a good feel for what a reasonable budget is, so you can ask them to provide a "Good / Better / Best" proposal that outlines what they would include for different levels of optimization, so you can make a "best fit" budget decision for your business. With regards to marketing efforts, ask about the number of blog posts and/or article publications that can be expected for the money (for organic marketing), or what keyword selections (and their corresponding popularity demand) would be used for pay-per-click advertising.
I'm a firm believer that a company's SEO/SEM strategy needs to be customized to their specific market (local, regional, national, etc) and industry within that market. To illustrate the point, the roofing repair market in Seattle, WA, is much different than the roofing repair market in New Orleans, LA. In both cases, companies in roofing repair would likely focus on local search results within 50 to 70 miles of the business location. Priorities, word choice, and economic factors in each market will have a different impact on the best choices for keywords to use in each. Yes, of course, there will be some overlap. But in the big picture, the competition within each market is limited to the local area, so there would be a much more narrow approach to addressing the competition in order to achieve the best search engine results.
Comparatively, a health and nutrition company that wants to be competitive nationally for vitamin sales would involve a much different strategy in achieving desired results. The amount of time and effort, and consequently the costs involved with doing the job right will be completely different.
Therefore, if you are presented with a one-size-fits-none "package" deal to promote your business at some flat price, you might think twice about the quality of results you can expect for the money, given that many companies are "very good" at living up to the no-guaranteed-results nature of search engine marketing. Spend your money wisely. Ask questions. Get references. Check them. There is no "free lunch", and unfortunately in the search engine arena, you may not get what you think you pay for.
Qualifying Your SEO/SEM Provider
The biggest challenge you will face in achieving positive results via Internet marketing will be finding a capable, competent, ethical, experienced search engine company. In your interview process, if the sales person seems more interested in pitching you on their product rather than learning about your needs, beware. If you feel pressured into "closing the deal" by time-sensitive "now or never" discounts, or if you don't get straight answers to your questions, walk away. Sometimes the right answer to a question is "it depends," but such an answer should be followed by a reasonable, understandable explanation. Your prospective search engine optimization and marketing provider should be more interested in providing you with an education than in taking your money.
What to Expect if it's Done Right
Again, based on the ethical issue that no one can guarantee placement, your best indicator will be checking out references from different potential providers to get a reasonable assurance that a particular company has delivered for customers in the past. A proven track record is a good indicator that you have found a reputable, reliable company. Why is this so important? Because you will have to trust them to look out for your company's best interests in an ever-changing, no-guarantee environment, so you want to have some peace of mind that you aren't overpaying for their service, and they will not be using your business as a guinea pig to experiment. By talking with their references, you can also assess whether a client's prominent search engine placement is short-lived or consistent. Short-term and intermittent placement on search engine results may be (but not necessarily) an indicator of black hat SEO techniques, rather than white hat best-practices that yield more consistent results. Realize that there is little to no correlation between what one customer paid for their SEO/SEM work versus what another customer might have paid. The amount of money it costs to do the job is typically tied to the amount of time involved, and it will vary widely based on industry, market, and each client's goals.
All things considered, when you find a SEO/SEM provider you are comfortable with, trust, and can afford, you can expect your costs to be a fraction of what you pay for traditional advertisement, while yielding better results. This allows you to cut your advertising costs while increasing revenues. As more revenues flow in, meaning better cash flow, you can pare back your traditional advertising (meaning, reduce but not discontinue), and redirect the additional funds to additional internet methods for compounding effects.
Budget permitting, you can even use the Internet to measure ROI on your traditional marketing methods. For example, by securing multiple domain names (which are inexpensive), you can target your marketing efforts by individual source (such as billboards, magazines ads, etc.) and measure the traffic from each source. There are many ways to creatively and cost-effectively use search engine and Internet methods to measure, monitor, adjust and control the marketing success of your business.

Internet Marketing - Ensure Your Business Survives the Recession

Dollars are scarce in today's economy. Phone book advertisements, radio spots, billboards, and other forms of advertisements have not become any cheaper in recent times, and in fact, costs are on the rise. In uncertain financial times, it can be very uncomfortable to sign a contract binding your business into a predefined term that commits you to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars over the next several months to a year. With no guaranteed results and no way to effectively measure return on investment (ROI), most business owners would prefer not to be bound to such contracts, especially since such contracts usually include stiff exit penalties for early termination. But what are the alternatives?
We live in an Internet world today, and most people are familiar with finding what they want through search services like Yahoo!, Google, and MSN. As consumers, we're all familiar with the concept of typing a few words in the search bar and clicking the search button to explore our options. As business owners, however, the process on how to achieve a prominent placement in the search engine listings is often a murky, undefined, seemingly "random" process. Additionally, it can be very confusing when telemarketers and solicitors call on your business with various conflicting packages, promising to deliver "guaranteed" results but at a steep price tag. Many times, the lip service is gone once you sign the contract.
Using the Internet to advertise your business is a viable way to cut costs, focus marketing efforts, and deliver incredible results, but there are a few key points that you must know in order to protect your interests. Here are a few deceptive practices and myths to be careful about if you consider marketing your business online:
Deceptive Practice #1: Guaranteed Placement
There is no such thing as "guaranteed" placement on any of the major search engines. I wish there were, but if you think about it, such guarantees don't make sense. It's always possible that someone else might be willing to pay more for higher placement in the sponsored links area of search engine results. In the organic (or natural rankings) area of the search results, there is only one "number one" spot, so if someone offers you a "guarantee" that they can get your website to the number one spot, you'd have to question how they can possibly do that for your business when other unscrupulous sales people are making the same guarantees elsewhere. And what if they approach another business in the same industry as yours? Are they guaranteeing your competitor the #2 spot? I doubt it. What about the sales person four states away that is pitching their prospective client that they "guarantee" the number one spot? How can that be? In short, it can't. Individual telephone or marketing companies may own their own, propriety search services in which they may guarantee placement within their own listings, but you must consider how narrow or wide-reaching their services encompass, and whether the price is worth the exposure for the number of people who search through them versus the major search engines. Regardless of how many angles someone tries to play it, there is no way to ethically guarantee a particular placement on the major search engines. If someone makes such a claim, show them the door.
Deceptive Practice #2: "We work closely with the search engines"
It sounds great, and it would be quite the cozy situation if it were true, but again, no one has the "inside scoop" on how to tip the scales in your favor by "being in bed with" the search engines. Every professional, competent Internet marketing provider keeps up-to-date on current changes, but to say "working closely with" is, at best, misleading. If someone gives you a sales pitch that they have an inside track with Google, Yahoo!, MSN or any other search service, they're blowing smoke and trying to "sell" you on a relationship that simply can't exist. Why can't it exist? Because search engines would go out of business if they compromised the integrity of their ever-changing algorithms. (Their "algorithm" is the formula they use to rank and score websites based on weighted criteria, and it is "super-double-top-secret"). True, experienced search engine companies stay very familiar with updated materials and guidelines that search engine companies make public, but nobody has the executive privilege of calling up a particular search engine and saying "Hey, I've got a client that needs to be ranked number one for a particular keyword. Can you 'hook me up?'" Anyone who says that "they're in bed with the search engines" is making promises in the dark.
Deceptive Practice#3: Flat Rate Offers for Search Engine Submissions
Buyer beware. You may receive solicitations in the mail that appear to be bills but the fine print reads, "This is a solicitation. This is not a bill. You are under no obligation to pay this amount." Elsewhere in the correspondence, in much more conspicuous print, you will see the words, "Remit the following amount by (some date)." It's a legal scam. How can it be legal, yet still be a scam? Quite easily, actually. They will deliver EXACTLY what they advertise, which is often some number of keyword phrases submitted to some number of search engines on some periodic basis over the next year or so. If they do what they promise they'll do, it's legal. However, submitting a website to search engines without properly preparing it (called "optimizing") for submission and marketing to the search engines produces virtually zero results for you. Therefore, taking your money for something that will knowingly do nothing for you makes it a "scam," at least in my opinion.
Deceptive Practice #4: Using a Name to Define Itself
This is a common ploy that capitalizes on the unsuspecting and th unknowing. It's pretty typical (although not guaranteed) that a company will appear in the number one spot on search engines when using the name of the company as the search term. It makes sense that a company's name will be the best fit for search results when searching using the company's name. (Sounds redundant, right?) Do not let anyone fool you by telling you that they worked hard for the money to achieve great results by showing you that your company comes up prominently when you search for yourself. Such results often happen almost "automatically," with no effort at all. Plus, how many people really search for you by company name? The goal in search engine optimization and marketing is to get your company "found" by searching for your products, services, manufacturers, etc.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Marketing (SEM) is like the Wild West. Technology has expanded much faster than laws have been able to keep pace, and therefore there are plenty of opportunities for fraud and deception. The burden of maintaining integrity in the system has fallen largely on the individual search service companies like Google, Yahoo! and MSN, which explains why those companies need to continually update and refine their algorithms to keep the riff-raff out. In true "Western Movie" style, the terms to describe "good guy" practices is dubbed "white hat SEO/SEM" while the "bad guy" practices are labeled "black hat SEO/SEM." It sounds over dramatic, but the "good guys" engage in industry best-practices and adhere to ethical approaches, whereas the "bad guys" try to subvert the search engine algorithms and are usually the ones who engage in deceptive practices while preying on the ignorance of unsuspecting business owners.
Someday, there will undoubtedly be legal controls in place to support SEO/SEM malpractice lawsuits, much like how consumers are protected from medical or legal malpractice. I look forward to that day, because it will "clean up" the industry. As it stands now, the search engine optimization and marketing industry is the only one I can think of in which:

• there is no way to ethically guarantee results
• SEO/SEM practitioners can collect money with the disclaimer of "no guarantees", and
• after collecting money for no-guarantee work, SEO/SEM companies can legitimately deliver "no results".

Of course, reputable SEO/SEM companies that engage in fair practices will likely take measures to make a happy customer, but the overall big picture allows for a lot of dubious practices in the market place. The few "bad apples" that leave a trail of destruction spoil it for the bunch who are honest, white hat SEO/SEM service providers.
How can you protect yourself? How can you be reasonably assured of not being ripped off? First and foremost, get references. Secondly, check those references. And finally, apply common sense to the situation, resisting the urge to take the bait of anything that seems "too good to be true." Any company that offers to provide you with SEO/SEM services should be able to provide you with qualified references. Even so, be sure to contact their actual clients to ensure a couple of things:

• is the company easy to work with?
• are the clients happy with their results?
• are the results producing traffic?
• would the clients recommend the company?

Remember, the level of service you get will differ based on what you pay. SEO/SEM efforts, done properly, are based on data but are somewhat subjective. In other words, there is more that one way to achieve positive results, and different SEO specialists can achieve comparable outcomes by employing different techniques and strategies. This often makes it difficult to compare "apples to apples" as a business owner when you are trying to determine the best company to hire for your search engine project. Here is another scenario to consider:
Let's assume you have a typical seven or eight-page website in a moderately competitive market. You can interview three separate companies regarding the same SEO/SEM project, and you may receive three dramatically different prices for the same job. One bid, for example, may come in at $200 to optimize your site, while the others come in at $1200 and $3000 respectively. Is the $200 bid the best value? Is the $3000 bid overpriced? Not necessarily. All three salespeople can look you in the eye, shake your hand, and tell you that they will optimize your site for their respective prices. The confusing part is that they are each being honest with you.
The person who quotes you $200 to optimize your site may do so by doing some cursory research to select a few keywords, and then use those same keywords on each page of your website while also adjusting basic information in your web page titles. Can that person legitimately say that your site has been optimized? From the "something is better than nothing" department, yes. In such a scenario, your site has been optimized-- to a degree.
In comparison, the $3000 bid would likely be much more thorough of a job. There may be several hours of detailed keyword research conducted, including an in-depth analysis of each of your top competitors' websites to define the best quality words and phrases to use. Then each page of your site might be individually optimized using specific sets of keywords to maximize the effectiveness of each keyword, including changes to the textual content on each page to include strategic placement of keyword phrases throughout. Additionally, pictures on the site might be annotated with descriptive labels (called alt-tags) on each page, and additional characteristics involving fonts, links, descriptions, etc. may be adjusted to refine the page characteristics so that search engines "smile upon" the website when your site is indexed. Certainly, you can be confident that your website was optimized in this case.
The individual that quoted you $1200 would likely involve something in the middle, perhaps with less market research and a more universal selection of keywords on each page, but still including alt-tags and other content adjustments to improve the website's merit with the search engines.
In all three instances, your site would be optimized. The difference would be the level of detail involved with the job. I wish it were just that simple, but the story continues...
It's true that you can do too little to achieve any worthwhile results. For example, if your budget is only $50 to optimize a website in a highly competitive market, spending the $50 on optimization would probably do nothing for you, and it would be better to take the money and treat yourself to a nice dinner. It's also true that you can wastefully spend too much money without seeing any improvement. For example, if you do achieve page 1, number 1 results in the organic rankings on Google consistently with a $200 budget for a particular set of keywords, increasing your budget to pay for more marketing efforts using those same keywords won't yield any better results. (i.e., you can't get better than #1.) In between the "too little" and "too much" areas, there is a very large "gray area" of spending that will produce varying results in varying time frames.
Optimization is a part of marketing. It is the preparatory work to ensure that your site is ready to be promoted, much like how producing a television commercial is the preparatory work in getting the commercial ready to be aired on TV to the public. The other part of the equation is the actual marketing of the site itself. Marketing the site, which involves submitting it to search engines and then promoting the site on an ongoing basis, is akin to broadcasting the television commercial. If you only air the commercial once, you might see some short term results from it, but in the long term the money spent to produce the commercial would be wasted because people would forget about it. Likewise, if you only market your website for one month, your site will not gain visibility in the long-term. Search engine marketing is an ongoing process. You need to establish a budget for it, just as you would for a phone book ad, magazine ad, radio spot, etc.
The good news: Actively promoting your website to the public is much less costly than traditional methods of advertisement, as long as it is done correctly. The end result of effective SEM is that you receive focused, pre-qualified buyers for your goods and/or services, and you can measure your ROI by reviewing which keywords are working, how long your visitors stayed on your site, knowing which pages they visited, and seeing when and where they left your website.
The bad news: There are obviously a lot of "small parts" to the SEO/SEM puzzle which pose a "choking hazard" to the non-technical business owner. Consequently, the process of actually getting the job done can be confusing, frustrating, and (for the unsuspecting) expensive. This is where a little bit of information and education can save you a whole lot of grief and time.
What most people do not realize is that the quality of your website's optimization (the SEO part of marketing) often directly affects the costs of the ongoing marketing costs for the site. For example, when Google indexes your website (which means that it "takes inventory" of your site's contents), it assigns a quality score to the merit of your keywords based on the content and construction of your site. If you participate in a marketing campaign using a pay-per-click service like Google Adwords, the higher your quality score, generally, the lower the cost per click for a given keyword selection. This means that you can end up paying less per keyword than your competition, but actually achieve higher placement in the sponsored links area of the search results.
In the example scenario above, the $200 bid for your job would probably not yield the same quality score impact as the $3000 job. However, if your budget doesn't support the more expense, detailed work, then it may be more comfortable for you to pay a slightly higher price per keyword (in a pay-per-click campaign), but spend less money on the optimization efforts for your site.
In many ways, you can compare SEO work with putting a heating system in your home. To equip your home with a heating system, you can pay more up front for a geothermal system, and realize a monthly cost savings over a long period of time. Or, you can put in a heat pump for less money up front, but your electric bill will be somewhat higher on a monthly basis. Either system will heat your home, but the break even point will be very different depending on the choice you make. Detailed versus general SEO works much the same way, and the variables that you must consider are 1) when do you want to start seeing results, and 2) how much do you want to spend monthly or quarterly on an ongoing basis?
The key to remember is that your website should first be optimized (to whatever degree you can comfortably afford) prior to marketing it. There are some search engines (and search related services) that will place your site (or a business listing that represents your company) in their search results for a "raw dollar amount" without your site being optimized, but such services can typically only do so within their own service networks. If your customers generally do their searches via major search engines instead of phone company or private industry search sites, then the dollars you spend for top placement within a marketing service's proprietary system may not be worth the cost.
What NOT to say: When discussing your project with a search engine optimization and/or marketing consultant, avoid asking the question, "What placement will I get on the search engines if I hire you?" It reveals that you aren't familiar with how search engines work, and it tips your hand that they might have "low hanging fruit" to make a sale. Of course, if you are savvy to how search engines work (and the limitations that SEO/SEM companies are subject to in achieving results), then asking this question may be a qualifier/disqualifier for the sales person who solicits you, depending on their response.
What to ask: It's reasonable (and shows insight) to ask an SEO/SEM consultant how involved their SEO efforts will be for the price. You may not have a good feel for what a reasonable budget is, so you can ask them to provide a "Good / Better / Best" proposal that outlines what they would include for different levels of optimization, so you can make a "best fit" budget decision for your business. With regards to marketing efforts, ask about the number of blog posts and/or article publications that can be expected for the money (for organic marketing), or what keyword selections (and their corresponding popularity demand) would be used for pay-per-click advertising.
I'm a firm believer that a company's SEO/SEM strategy needs to be customized to their specific market (local, regional, national, etc) and industry within that market. To illustrate the point, the roofing repair market in Seattle, WA, is much different than the roofing repair market in New Orleans, LA. In both cases, companies in roofing repair would likely focus on local search results within 50 to 70 miles of the business location. Priorities, word choice, and economic factors in each market will have a different impact on the best choices for keywords to use in each. Yes, of course, there will be some overlap. But in the big picture, the competition within each market is limited to the local area, so there would be a much more narrow approach to addressing the competition in order to achieve the best search engine results.
Comparatively, a health and nutrition company that wants to be competitive nationally for vitamin sales would involve a much different strategy in achieving desired results. The amount of time and effort, and consequently the costs involved with doing the job right will be completely different.
Therefore, if you are presented with a one-size-fits-none "package" deal to promote your business at some flat price, you might think twice about the quality of results you can expect for the money, given that many companies are "very good" at living up to the no-guaranteed-results nature of search engine marketing. Spend your money wisely. Ask questions. Get references. Check them. There is no "free lunch", and unfortunately in the search engine arena, you may not get what you think you pay for.
Qualifying Your SEO/SEM Provider
The biggest challenge you will face in achieving positive results via Internet marketing will be finding a capable, competent, ethical, experienced search engine company. In your interview process, if the sales person seems more interested in pitching you on their product rather than learning about your needs, beware. If you feel pressured into "closing the deal" by time-sensitive "now or never" discounts, or if you don't get straight answers to your questions, walk away. Sometimes the right answer to a question is "it depends," but such an answer should be followed by a reasonable, understandable explanation. Your prospective search engine optimization and marketing provider should be more interested in providing you with an education than in taking your money.
What to Expect if it's Done Right
Again, based on the ethical issue that no one can guarantee placement, your best indicator will be checking out references from different potential providers to get a reasonable assurance that a particular company has delivered for customers in the past. A proven track record is a good indicator that you have found a reputable, reliable company. Why is this so important? Because you will have to trust them to look out for your company's best interests in an ever-changing, no-guarantee environment, so you want to have some peace of mind that you aren't overpaying for their service, and they will not be using your business as a guinea pig to experiment. By talking with their references, you can also assess whether a client's prominent search engine placement is short-lived or consistent. Short-term and intermittent placement on search engine results may be (but not necessarily) an indicator of black hat SEO techniques, rather than white hat best-practices that yield more consistent results. Realize that there is little to no correlation between what one customer paid for their SEO/SEM work versus what another customer might have paid. The amount of money it costs to do the job is typically tied to the amount of time involved, and it will vary widely based on industry, market, and each client's goals.
All things considered, when you find a SEO/SEM provider you are comfortable with, trust, and can afford, you can expect your costs to be a fraction of what you pay for traditional advertisement, while yielding better results. This allows you to cut your advertising costs while increasing revenues. As more revenues flow in, meaning better cash flow, you can pare back your traditional advertising (meaning, reduce but not discontinue), and redirect the additional funds to additional internet methods for compounding effects.
Budget permitting, you can even use the Internet to measure ROI on your traditional marketing methods. For example, by securing multiple domain names (which are inexpensive), you can target your marketing efforts by individual source (such as billboards, magazines ads, etc.) and measure the traffic from each source. There are many ways to creatively and cost-effectively use search engine and Internet methods to measure, monitor, adjust and control the marketing success of your business.

Why Experienced Businesses Often Fail Online and How To Win!

This series of articles takes a different slant than the usual targeting of aspiring entrepreneurs. Here we focus on existing business owners that believe the Internet is important to their future success, but they just can't seem to get started embracing it as an effective marketing tool. Since this is a series of articles we will need to lay a little ground work here. This introduction may seem a bit lengthy but it's necessary to be sure we are on the same page and the message is clear. Then we'll get to the main course and cut to the chase!
There are countless of experienced business persons knowledgeable in brick and mortar offline business operation, but don't really have a clue as to what the Internet can really do for their business or how to do it. Yet, they see its overwhelming impact on business worldwide and realize they had better embrace this new technology or risk falling behind the competition. This article series is dedicated to YOU! Even if you are a beginner, the practical information here can be of great benefit to you.
Yesterday, I had a call from Frank M. in St Petersburg, FL. He is a very intelligent person that built a strong website around a niche product. The presentation is professional and he's been at it for several years with unsatisfactory results. He's paid good money after bad for "consultants" that have made grandiose promises of Internet marketing magic, claiming they have the best Opt-in mailing lists, miraculous software guaranteed to eliminate all the work of running an online marketing business, or even to place his domain name at the top of Yahoo or Google. All were a waste of his resources.
Are you experiencing similar disappointments, money and time wasters? You likely seek what Frank wants, real information, not blue sky dreams. If you're successful running an offline business, you don't see the world through rose colored glasses, but know it takes a polished business plan, you are forever refining, for ongoing success.
Welcome to the real world of the Internet. The same rules apply. There just isn't any secret formula like many so called Guru's would like you to believe. Like any business endeavor, you must research and learn the right information that works. We call this "insider secrets." Not because it's mysterious, but because successful people generally don't reveal their secrets. All industries have their specialist that have "been there done that," and are willing to write about it. We're not referencing "get rich quick" formulas targeting rookies and wannabe millionaires.
We mean consultants that have a proven track record of doing it themselves and testimonials from others that have done it. The real problem here is anyone can create a website and have their friends give bogus testimonials. Most of their "how to formulas" don't work. You've probably already learned that lesson. Frank did.
So what's a person to do? What approach did you use to setup your existing offline business? You researched your industry, learned all you could about it, and finally implemented your business plan. And you're still developing it, in some cases after many years. It must change as the times change. Again, welcome to the Internet.
Let me explain. Internet technology is changing faster than most of us can keep up with. That's confusing. We purchase some software to provide a solution for a business need. Then a new way comes out that seems much better and we upgrade losing our investment in the older version, which we may not even had time to utilize. This happens because most individuals running brick and mortar businesses can't seem to spend the time to focus on their Internet business. Sure it's the same business just a new marketing tool. The reality here is it takes the work and knowledge of setting up a completely new business.
We get the point. We have explained some problems facing your Internet marketing endeavor. But what are the solutions, real practical answers. We will cover the following topics in this series. We'll break each one down over the next several articles.
What you need to get started in the right direction:
o Access to accurate important information that provides working solutions.
o Will my product or service have a chance for success on the Internet?
o Identifying important information that is true, timely, and works. Not the phony claims from individuals that supposedly "made it" but didn't or those that had a tremendous behind the scenes advantage over competitors from the get-go. Sure, there are always the exceptions that project "If I can do it so can you."
o Knowing what really works and what doesn't on the Internet.
o Examples and case histories of others doing it and some insider information on how they are doing it.
o Having choices to the best solution for your specific needs.
o A plan that will take you step-by-step through the maze of software, tools, and activities necessary to make an online success of your business.
o Which current technology is best for my personal circumstances?
o How can I minimize my expenses while having the maximum benefits?
o Where can I go to get truthful answers to important business questions?
o What is different on the Internet opposed to my current marketing offline approach?
o How do I get advertising exposure if I can't get a good search engine position?
o What advertising alternatives are available besides search engines?
o What is Affiliate Marketing? Scam or real income generator?
o Shortcuts to automating and managing a new online business
The list is endless but we will focus on getting started, teaching you how to crawl (quickly), then to walk, and finally to run. Our goal here is to open your eyes to the real value of taking your business online, a true expose and road map on Internet success. Now let's cut to the chase!
Access to accurate important information that provides working solutions
I suggest taking some time to get acclimated to the Internet before jumping in. Remember when you first started working with a computer? There was likely a learning curve before you were effective using it. If you're like me, the computer seems to often waste as much time with crashes and problems, as it saves. The Internet can be a premier time waster by doing things wrong. Build the wrong type of website and you've wasted a lot of time and effort.
The objective here is to:
Observe what seems to be working for similar businesses and meet other online entrepreneurs that "are doing it." Visit business forums and read questions and answers by others. After a short time, you'll know the real players that know what they are doing. They are active, helpful, and a wealth of information. People of this caliber often have books and courses they offer. The beauty of dealing with these people online is their "performance based" approach.
Remember Frank M we referred earlier in this article? He paid upfront, like most of us have and received little or no value for his expense and effort. He didn't know how to "test the waters" of his providers. Online it's a different process to get to know your service providers. There ARE ways. I suggested to him to locate consultants and service providers that have strong track records of quality and fair pricing.
Some service providers require upfront deposits and others are solely performance based, meaning they deliver on their promises first and then get paid. Often the best approach for both parties, a win-win scenario, can be a reasonable deposit and draws based on progress. This way each party feels protected. This arrangement is workable when a client is dealing with a professional they are sure is honest and will deliver the quality and product in time as promised.
Here's an example. Frank M. stated he needed a writer and designer for some brochures he will use on and offline. I referred him to an online service. This is one of the premier websites loaded with consultants and service people bidding for work contracts. It is free to clients for posting their project needs, attracting service providers through a bidding process. The winning consultant or service provider completes the assignment, whether it be for building a new website, article writing, website search engine placement, etc., then is paid through them Then the provider is paid their fee upon payment of completion of the contract and the takes their modest cut from the providers proceeds.
There are three strongly appealing benefits of this program to the client, or buyer of services. They have a source for advertising their project needs, at no cost, to consultants. Secondly, the consultants post a profile so the client can learn more about them, and like eBay, upon project completion, feedback by the client is given so new potential clients can determine if they want to accept the providers bid.
At this online site, you describe what you want to get, and let the experts figure out how to do it. You don't need to know every detail about what you want, but the more detail you provide the better. Skilled professionals review your needs and send you proposals - usually within 24 hours. You can even see the earnings of each consultant. Prices are more competitive than any other service I've found.
There are ads for Internet services all over the Net, but only a few provide the safeguard assuring you of the best quality services, at the best prices, and even additional protection through payment controls. It's a great service.
Summary
Use forums, and other similar sites you'll discover through researching search engines to find verifiable talent. EBay set the format and standards successfully being utilized by other industries. Use them! The RIGHT forums open doors for you to meet other like minded businesspersons. They permit you to witness their service and advice to others. In a short time you'll know if what they say works and if you should buy their book, course or follow their recommendations.
Performance based means the service provider shows you some upfront value before you shell out your hard earned cash. You can experience some perceivable benefit positioning you in your comfort zone before contracting with them.

Why Experienced Businesses Often Fail Online and How To Win!

This series of articles takes a different slant than the usual targeting of aspiring entrepreneurs. Here we focus on existing business owners that believe the Internet is important to their future success, but they just can't seem to get started embracing it as an effective marketing tool. Since this is a series of articles we will need to lay a little ground work here. This introduction may seem a bit lengthy but it's necessary to be sure we are on the same page and the message is clear. Then we'll get to the main course and cut to the chase!
There are countless of experienced business persons knowledgeable in brick and mortar offline business operation, but don't really have a clue as to what the Internet can really do for their business or how to do it. Yet, they see its overwhelming impact on business worldwide and realize they had better embrace this new technology or risk falling behind the competition. This article series is dedicated to YOU! Even if you are a beginner, the practical information here can be of great benefit to you.
Yesterday, I had a call from Frank M. in St Petersburg, FL. He is a very intelligent person that built a strong website around a niche product. The presentation is professional and he's been at it for several years with unsatisfactory results. He's paid good money after bad for "consultants" that have made grandiose promises of Internet marketing magic, claiming they have the best Opt-in mailing lists, miraculous software guaranteed to eliminate all the work of running an online marketing business, or even to place his domain name at the top of Yahoo or Google. All were a waste of his resources.
Are you experiencing similar disappointments, money and time wasters? You likely seek what Frank wants, real information, not blue sky dreams. If you're successful running an offline business, you don't see the world through rose colored glasses, but know it takes a polished business plan, you are forever refining, for ongoing success.
Welcome to the real world of the Internet. The same rules apply. There just isn't any secret formula like many so called Guru's would like you to believe. Like any business endeavor, you must research and learn the right information that works. We call this "insider secrets." Not because it's mysterious, but because successful people generally don't reveal their secrets. All industries have their specialist that have "been there done that," and are willing to write about it. We're not referencing "get rich quick" formulas targeting rookies and wannabe millionaires.
We mean consultants that have a proven track record of doing it themselves and testimonials from others that have done it. The real problem here is anyone can create a website and have their friends give bogus testimonials. Most of their "how to formulas" don't work. You've probably already learned that lesson. Frank did.
So what's a person to do? What approach did you use to setup your existing offline business? You researched your industry, learned all you could about it, and finally implemented your business plan. And you're still developing it, in some cases after many years. It must change as the times change. Again, welcome to the Internet.
Let me explain. Internet technology is changing faster than most of us can keep up with. That's confusing. We purchase some software to provide a solution for a business need. Then a new way comes out that seems much better and we upgrade losing our investment in the older version, which we may not even had time to utilize. This happens because most individuals running brick and mortar businesses can't seem to spend the time to focus on their Internet business. Sure it's the same business just a new marketing tool. The reality here is it takes the work and knowledge of setting up a completely new business.
We get the point. We have explained some problems facing your Internet marketing endeavor. But what are the solutions, real practical answers. We will cover the following topics in this series. We'll break each one down over the next several articles.
What you need to get started in the right direction:
o Access to accurate important information that provides working solutions.
o Will my product or service have a chance for success on the Internet?
o Identifying important information that is true, timely, and works. Not the phony claims from individuals that supposedly "made it" but didn't or those that had a tremendous behind the scenes advantage over competitors from the get-go. Sure, there are always the exceptions that project "If I can do it so can you."
o Knowing what really works and what doesn't on the Internet.
o Examples and case histories of others doing it and some insider information on how they are doing it.
o Having choices to the best solution for your specific needs.
o A plan that will take you step-by-step through the maze of software, tools, and activities necessary to make an online success of your business.
o Which current technology is best for my personal circumstances?
o How can I minimize my expenses while having the maximum benefits?
o Where can I go to get truthful answers to important business questions?
o What is different on the Internet opposed to my current marketing offline approach?
o How do I get advertising exposure if I can't get a good search engine position?
o What advertising alternatives are available besides search engines?
o What is Affiliate Marketing? Scam or real income generator?
o Shortcuts to automating and managing a new online business
The list is endless but we will focus on getting started, teaching you how to crawl (quickly), then to walk, and finally to run. Our goal here is to open your eyes to the real value of taking your business online, a true expose and road map on Internet success. Now let's cut to the chase!
Access to accurate important information that provides working solutions
I suggest taking some time to get acclimated to the Internet before jumping in. Remember when you first started working with a computer? There was likely a learning curve before you were effective using it. If you're like me, the computer seems to often waste as much time with crashes and problems, as it saves. The Internet can be a premier time waster by doing things wrong. Build the wrong type of website and you've wasted a lot of time and effort.
The objective here is to:
Observe what seems to be working for similar businesses and meet other online entrepreneurs that "are doing it." Visit business forums and read questions and answers by others. After a short time, you'll know the real players that know what they are doing. They are active, helpful, and a wealth of information. People of this caliber often have books and courses they offer. The beauty of dealing with these people online is their "performance based" approach.
Remember Frank M we referred earlier in this article? He paid upfront, like most of us have and received little or no value for his expense and effort. He didn't know how to "test the waters" of his providers. Online it's a different process to get to know your service providers. There ARE ways. I suggested to him to locate consultants and service providers that have strong track records of quality and fair pricing.
Some service providers require upfront deposits and others are solely performance based, meaning they deliver on their promises first and then get paid. Often the best approach for both parties, a win-win scenario, can be a reasonable deposit and draws based on progress. This way each party feels protected. This arrangement is workable when a client is dealing with a professional they are sure is honest and will deliver the quality and product in time as promised.
Here's an example. Frank M. stated he needed a writer and designer for some brochures he will use on and offline. I referred him to an online service. This is one of the premier websites loaded with consultants and service people bidding for work contracts. It is free to clients for posting their project needs, attracting service providers through a bidding process. The winning consultant or service provider completes the assignment, whether it be for building a new website, article writing, website search engine placement, etc., then is paid through them Then the provider is paid their fee upon payment of completion of the contract and the takes their modest cut from the providers proceeds.
There are three strongly appealing benefits of this program to the client, or buyer of services. They have a source for advertising their project needs, at no cost, to consultants. Secondly, the consultants post a profile so the client can learn more about them, and like eBay, upon project completion, feedback by the client is given so new potential clients can determine if they want to accept the providers bid.
At this online site, you describe what you want to get, and let the experts figure out how to do it. You don't need to know every detail about what you want, but the more detail you provide the better. Skilled professionals review your needs and send you proposals - usually within 24 hours. You can even see the earnings of each consultant. Prices are more competitive than any other service I've found.
There are ads for Internet services all over the Net, but only a few provide the safeguard assuring you of the best quality services, at the best prices, and even additional protection through payment controls. It's a great service.
Summary
Use forums, and other similar sites you'll discover through researching search engines to find verifiable talent. EBay set the format and standards successfully being utilized by other industries. Use them! The RIGHT forums open doors for you to meet other like minded businesspersons. They permit you to witness their service and advice to others. In a short time you'll know if what they say works and if you should buy their book, course or follow their recommendations.
Performance based means the service provider shows you some upfront value before you shell out your hard earned cash. You can experience some perceivable benefit positioning you in your comfort zone before contracting with them.