by Adam Killam on August 29, 2008
So what’s in a name?
Well quite a lot really. First of all, your name is likely unique. Yes, there are lots of John Smith’s out there, John Doe comes to mind etc. but even in extreme cases like that, how many people in your industry, in your niche, in your area, have the same name as you? I’m willing to bet next to none.
If you’re in business for yourself, are in sales or marketing, investing or for that matter anything to do with business, you need to own your own domain name. Simply stated, a domain name is your website address. In the case of this blog, adamkillam.com is my domain name and also my personal name - see the connection?
Part of the power of owning your own domain comes from the fact that in business today, one of the first things people do after meeting you is Google your name. If you haven’t tried this on yourself, you should - it’s your job, no one elses, to know how you are showing up online. Better yet, you should control the top 5-10 results. While the scope of how to do that is outside of my goal for this article, ideally you want to control as much as you can about what people are finding out about you online - mainly by having your website or sites and profiles you control being ranked highly in the major search engines.
The phone book is dead. People Google you now, or they facebook you or both. If your a business person/professional/investor etc, you should also show up on linkedin.com. Again, I won’t provide a detailed explanation of these services in this article but suffice to say if you don’t have a presence on any of these, you’re missing out. Due to my web presence I get speaking engagements, new business leads, potential partners find me, and gain a level of credibility much more quickly with people than the average joe all because of my site and domain.
If I’ve convinced you and you’re ready for the next step, head over to Godaddy.com and buy yourname.com or yourname.ca today. Then get in touch for help with the next step.
by Adam Killam on May 14, 2008
New(ish) service lets you monitor and participate in online conversation
If you haven’t checked out Twitter yet, I’d suggest you do so now. I first started hearing about Twitter about 6-8 months ago and decided to keep an eye on the service even though I didn’t take it too seriously at the time.
Twitter is a social networking tool by definition that enables its users to make small, 140 character posts called “tweets”. Tweets are collected on a user’s blog, commonly referred to as micro blogs due to the short length of each post. The social aspect comes from the ability to follow or subscribe to other user’s conversations and to monitor the general conversation and posts via Twitter.com, where you can see an up to date snapshot of all recent posts by users.
If any of this sounds confusing at this point, I’d suggest you sign up for the service and test it out to get a better idea of how it all works. Much has been written already about Twitter and the idea is not to write a comprehensive, all encompasing post here today.
With the basics out of the way, I wanted to point out a service that enables you to more closely monitor what people are saying about you and your brand on Twitter and other places around the web called Summize.
Using summize, you can search for a term such as your company name, and get a list of the most recent conversations taking place that match your keyword.
Where’s the value in that you ask? Well, for one thing, you can tell if the current sentiment is positive or negative and take action immediately to either leverage the good or quell the bad while it’s happening. How you ask? By getting involved in the conversation of course.
Like any new technology, (i.e blogging 4+ years ago) you need to spend some time learning the conventions, lingo and netiquette. Once you’re up to speed you need to get involved and submit your thoughts, monitor the conversation and contribute.
The cool thing about Twitter is that once you get into the conversation and become a member of the community, you’re likely to find out about things faster than others in your industry. Twitter caters to people who like to be in the know and enjoy spreading ideas with others on the cutting edge.
Happy tweeting!
by Adam Killam on May 5, 2008
Aaron Wall of SEO Book fame, has out done himself again by recently publishing a lengthy article entitled “How much is a #1 Google ranking worth?”. The guide points out the importance of achieving 1st place rankings in Google and teaches readers how to place an approximate value on doing so.
A couple of quotes I found particularly interesting were:
- Based on this data, if you are ranking 8, 9, or 10 you may be able to increase your traffic for that keyword 1,400% by ranking #1. Even jumping from #8 to #3 can triple your traffic.
- In early 2008 Google’s Avinash Kaushik stated that 14% of Google clicks are on paid search ad and 86% of clicks are on organic search results.
- 2008 Penn State research titled Determining the informational, navigational and transactional intent of Web queries [PDF] found that roughly 80% of search queries were informational, while approximately 10% were each navigational and transactional. With so many searches being informational and navigational, it is unsurprising that people click the organic search results more often than the associated PPC ads.
View the full article on SEO Book here.
On a related note, tt’s also important to note that relying on Google as your only source of traffic can be a fatal mistake. As their ranking algorithms change on an ongoing basis it’s quite possible that your site could loose its position in Google without proper monitoring and updates. For many business loosing their 1st page placement would be fatal.
If a significant chunk of your leads and revenue come from the web, specifically Google, it would be wise to consider alternate sources of traffic including:
- Social networking sites such as Linkedin and Facebook
- Consider an offline PR campaign
- The blogosphere (interacting with bloggers)
- Relevant forms and niche sites in your industry
- Email marketing
If you have additional tips for my readers, post your thoughts to the comments section.
by Adam Killam on March 27, 2008
A few interesting links from the web marketing universe that might be of interest to you:
by Adam Killam on March 7, 2008
And still profit…
Wired Magazine recently took a good look at business models for the web and the culture of “free”.
Whether or not your business model centers around technology the article gives sheds light on a number of business models such as Google’s and points out that “things” such as attention and reputation are becoming measures of value in the online economy.
Continue reading via Wired Mag..
by Adam Killam on February 3, 2008
Aaron Wall over at Seobook.com, recently published an well thought out article on the potential implications of a Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo. In the article, Aaron discusses the potential impacts on SEO and PPC and actions you should take to prepare in the case of a merger.
Read the full article here.
by Adam Killam on January 27, 2008
When was the last time you updated your content or added a new page to your site? Why would you want to?
I’m working to build out the content of the site and added a page today on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
The idea is to provide a more in-depth explanation of each one of the services I offer and also provide more content for the search engines to index. By adding new content to the site and additional static pages regularly, the idea is to make the site more valuable for visitors and in turn provide additional pages to be indexed (listed) in Google, Yahoo and other search engines and thereby create more ways for people to find the site.
Explained a little differently, each page you add to your website can be listed on its own in Google. This means that if you add 1 page a week to your site then at the end of the year you will have 52 new potential entry points for people to find your website in the next 12 months. Each page represents a doorway for people to find and access your information.
Ideally, each page will also contain valuable, relevant content for your visitors and also persuade them to purchase your products and services.
In the case of the posts I list here, each one is building my credibility in your eyes (hopefully!) and offers you valuable information that you can use to improve your business. The idea is that the more I give away here the more will return in terms of new business and relationships with happy clients. An additional benefit is that I enjoy writing and doing so helps to clarify my ideas.
Closing thought: get into the habit of adding new content to your site regularly. If you’d like a pain free way of doing so, setup a blog using Wordpress.org and start publishing a new piece of content each week. You don’t have to write much, just write something useful for your current and potential clients. It’s worth it and over time your posts will add up to new traffic and sales for a little bit of effort each week.
by Adam Killam on January 20, 2008
Google Trends is a useful tool when making tough decisions on what keywords to use in your search marketing and search engine optimization campaigns.
The tool enables users to determine, relative to one another, what term is more popular to searchers based on activity taking place in Google over the past several years. As an example, I wanted to see how popular Salesforce.com was in Google compared to several of its competitors.
Take a look at the live trend example here.
A nice feature of the tool is that it charts news stories to traffic patterns for the most popular search.
Try your own comparison using Google Trends.
by Adam Killam on January 20, 2008
Search Marketing Now recently published a great webinar on paid search marketing for big brands.
The webcast explores the challenges that are unique to larger companies running pay-per-click advertising campaigns.
Check it out here.
by Adam Killam on January 11, 2008
Blogging = Closed Deals
Picture this; a sales rep at your company is on a call with a hot prospect who is coming up with some particularly tricky objections. The rep knows that he’s being tested and with some additional information and reassurance that your company is the right fit, the deal would probably close.
Now picture this: for the past several months preceding this call your internal team has been interviewing the sales team and developed a list of the top questions and concerns prospects come up. Your team then took those questions and concerns and developed several reassuring answers to each one. Next, they developed a blog post around each objection and the corresponding answer being sure to include links to third party experts or customer testimonials to add credibility.
Now snap back to the sales call currently in progress. Your rep quickly and easily drafts a quick email with a link to the post and sends it over to the prospect mid conversation. The prospect takes a quick look, the objection is overcome and your rep has just gone from sales person to valuable resource in the eyes of the client. Deal closed.
Bonus Tip #1
If you’re using a CRM system such as Salesforce.com, create a series of pre-formatted emails with answers to major objections and link to blog posts that over come each one. That way your reps can save time when they’re on the phone with prospects and your company looks like a top-notch organization that knows what’s up.
Bonus Tip #2
When considering a blogging platform, skip the evaluation process and choose Wordpress.org. It’s easy for your IT department to install and for your designer to skin to match your corporate website. It also has a huge following in the developer community and has many marketing oriented plug-ins. It’s pretty much the best platform out there so why waste time thinking about others? Get it today.
