The Leads King Blog

Does your business need credit and cash like a human needs air?

Bob Regnerus — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:05:43 +0000

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Head over to www.BusinessCreditTalk.com to register for this training call.

What System Do You Use To Convert Leads Into Customers

Bob Regnerus — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:31:20 +0000

First off, we have to say, we’ve been blown away at the number of requests to talk with us about your marketing. One of the reasons why there is such a gap between posts is the number of people who’ve taken us up on our offer of a free 30 minute consult.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get down to business. Today’s post…

No System To Convert Leads Into Customers = No Revenue

This should come as no surprise to you. Having a fool proof system to convert your leads into customers is critical to your long term success.

In talking with business owners for the past couple of weeks, it seems that everyone is seeing a slip in their business. Let’s face it, all of us had it pretty easy in business for some time. Only to see the rug ripped out from under us in the past 18 months.

Most businesses have no simple and fool proof way to follow up with a lead. What they have is a mumble jumble mess of half systems that might work if someone is paying attention.

Let me give you an example.

Recently we had a client in our office that does 7 figures a year in coaching. They sell a very high end coaching program to a very selective niche. What is amazing, is they have no system to follow up with a lead once it’s in the system. The sales have just sort of happened.

Granted they are bit more sophisticated than most businesses.You have to be in order to get up to 7 figures a year. We made a few suggestions to improve their system.

I’ll share those in just a moment, but first let me tell why this system is built the way it’s built.

In today’s economy, your customers are looking for something very easy for you to create. They want a relationship with a provider they can trust. Which leads me to some very key insights we’ve discovered when it comes to converting more leads into more sales.

1. Don’t sell right off the bat. That’s like asking someone to marry you over the first cup of coffee. Sure it happens, but it happens less than you think.

2. Communicate in a mediums other than email. It is unstable and isn’t always delivered and read by the prospect. Some of your prospects don’t like reading email and wish you’d do something else…

3. Picking up the phone is a lost art. We have personally and for a number of our clients made huge positive financial impacts by hiring virtual customer service reps to call and follow up with a prospect and see how we may serve them and their needs. (More on this later)

4. Don’t think your prospect is just like you. Too many times we have a customer in our office and they’ll say: "I love email, it’s my favorite way to communicate. I don’t like it when someone calls me." Yes, that may be true, but for everyone of you, there is someone like me who prefers to get on the phone and get it handled.

When you bypass using the phone, you bypass over 33% of your prospects base prefer way of communication.

The bottom line is this, if you are not happy with the number of conversions of leads to customers, take a look at your systems. Maybe you need to add a phone calling program, monthly newsletter or you’re asking for the sale too soon. Fine tune your systems and you’ll see a dramatic increase in sales.

Okay, next we’ll hit our next topic which is all about your Pay Per Click online campaigns.

Best,

Bob and Matt

Don’t Celebrate The Launch

Bob Regnerus — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:34:00 +0000

One of the hardest things to impress into clients, and even my own staff at times, is an urge to celebrate a launch…

…of a new Website

…of a new Landing Page

…of a new SEO campaign

…of a new PPC campaign

You get the idea. We all love to celebrate a job being finished, but in online marketing, and in ALL marketing for that matter, the launch is NOT the time to celebrate. Sure, go ahead, high-five each other for nailing the deadline, putting out good-looking work, or figuring out that complex issue, but do not get drunk in this celebration because you’ve only completed about 7% of the task.

If you really want to celebrate, save that for when the sales roll in. I could care less about how a web site looks, reads, or acts until I start to see what it does in terms of sales.

We’ve got a new saying around here, it’s called NATO (Not Attached To Outcome). Meaning, we never get "attached" to any website, campaign, or strategy in case we have to dump it for poor performance. And folks - believe me - you will very rarely hit home runs from Day 1. The real work is Days 2 through 9972. If a campaign, site, or strategy is not cutting it, and tweaking it does not increase sales - it’s gone. No funeral, no tears. It’s gone. Next idea, please.

When I wrote my book, Big Ticket eCommerce, I purposely boiled down my philosophy into 4 simple steps.

1. Strategy
2. Website
3. Traffic
4. Optimization

But even with 4 simple steps, people jump right into step 2 and then worry about step 3 once they have their site up. Since my book came out, clients are coming to us much more prepared, and they know they need to start with step 1, and they are willing to sit down with us for a day and hammer this out. They are patient to wait with us as we carefully plan, design, and blueprint a strategy to marry their business objectives into a well-defined website and traffic strategy, and then hand it over to us and wait for launch for several weeks.

If launch is Day 1, then Step 4 starts on Day 2, and this is the step that you never complete. Sorry. For you achievers that like to put the check marks in your planner for tasks completed, Step 4 is a step that you will never complete if you understand the concept of continuous improvement. In the optimization stage we discover small, hidden, and powerful tweaks that turn losers into winners, average campaigns into excellent campaigns, low response into high response, and weak sales into strong sales. Most people can’t stomach this, but you must if you want success.

You see - even if you get a campaign to a good ROI, if you don’t continually optimize, you will continually and eventually lose. Every campaign and project that we’ve every worked on in which we’ve allowed it to "coast" has always regressed and needed to be propped back up.

This is where we really excel, and where tiny little hinges can swing big doors. We track, report, and analyze campaigns every week and continually tweak, toss, or turn the strategy to improve them.

If you think it’s time for you to enter our 4-step program (Hey, we’re 300% easier than a 12-step program!), or you’ve completed steps 1-3 and want us to dig in with you into Step 4, I invite you to set up a call with our chief marketing officer to discuss how we can help you increase results and slash your advertising costs. You won’t regret it.

Bob.

Are You Happy With Your Website Results?

Bob Regnerus — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:46:36 +0000

Let me ask you a simple question…

Are you happy with the results of your web site, online marketing and/or pay per click campaign?

In my conversations with customers and prospects every week, most people are less than happy with the leads and the sales they get from their site.

As I take the time to review each site, I notice there are three key components missing or seriously deficient in their site or online strategy.

First, the site is not designed to maximize the number of conversions from visitors to leads. It would be like having an ad run for your store, but then you forgot to open the door for business.

Second, they don’t have a process and system to convert the lead into buyer.

Third, the pay per click campaigns don’t synch up with the offer on the site.

Finally, they skimp on their SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and use outdated tools to try and rig the system, only to find those tools don’t provide long term success.

I am going to take a few moments through the upcoming weeks to breakdown each of these issues. Mind you this information is determined from our work with clients in 30 plus industries.

If you have a starting company this will help you build your plan. If you are a successful company looking to grow more, then you’ll find these useful and helpful.

One final comment. There is nothing that is going to be sold at all. This is not some kind of warm up to a big launch. Sure, some of you (a very small number… less than 1%) might be a good fit for our company and our service, but that’s not the intent.

Our intent is simple. Get the truth out into the market place.

You will find, however, an opportunity at the bottom of each email to have 45 minutes with me on the phone to review your site and strategies.

Again, no obligation and there is no hidden charge. All I ask is…

** Your company is doing minimum of $750,000 a year. (Or has done consistently)

** You are not selling MLM, affiliate programs or anything like that.

** You be open and honest with me on the phone and in the pre call questionaires. It helps me help you.

Okay, be on the lookout for an email in the next day where I’ll start discussing the four points in more detail.

Best,

Matt Gillogly

Chief Marketing Officer - RJR Computing

PS. If you meet the criteria list above and you’re not happy with the results you’re getting online, then contact our office by dialing (877) 349-2615. You must ask for Dawn. She will then send you a survey to see if you really match up. If you do, then a call will be scheduled with me.

When Your 7 Figure Business Becomes A 5 Figure Business

Bob Regnerus — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:48:40 +0000

Throughout 2009 I witnessed a business phenomenon. It wasn’t hyper growth, it wasn’t technological breakthroughs in Twitter and Facebook. Nor did it have anything to do with new slick offers that work online and offline.

No, the phenomenon had to do with once largely successful companies going from 7 figures a year to doing 1/10^th of that one year later.

It would be easy to point a finger and say it was the economy, the Wall Street issues or that the consumer ran out of credit.

The simple fact is this, business changes and when it changes it changes quickly. If you don’t change quickly then you will become road kill.

I can speak to this in my own business.

Last year at this time our typical customer was a start up that had generated maybe $100,000 in sales, offered up coaching or membership site. Or they had a new idea they wanted to test out. These customers paid us anywhere between 1,000 to 2,000 a month for lead generation.

Today, our typical customer is someone who is already doing 7 figures (or was doing 7 figures consistently) who has a proven program, offering or service. They have some online presence but have not really perfected a system of getting leads online and converting them into long term customers.

This customer takes a long term view and understands that investing in the growth a business takes time and money. And they are willing to invest in both.

They are willing to test many different new ways to get in customers and realize that when something doesn’t work, it’s not a failure/end of the world, it’s just part of the process. They don’t just need leads, they need perfected conversion systems that convert the leads into buyers. Plus someone to set up and manage the statistics of how a program works, whether it’s successful and what is the return on investment.

The great thing is this customer is willing pay $8,000 to $15,000 a month for our services and willing to sign a long term contract (one year or more) to accomplish this goal.

As you can see our typical client changed and they changed quickly. If you would have told me a year ago that our business/customer focus would change so much, I’d laugh at you.

The reality is, in our current economy, it is easier to sell a high end product/service vs. selling one that inexpensive. We can service our clients better, get more involved in their business and give them results based on statistics vs. theory.

It was a huge mind shift for our team. There have been and continue to be long lonely nights of wondering if we made the right move, but we are seeing proof.

We have to learn to deal with more ‘Nos’ vs. the ‘Yes’. Our sales processes have had to change. (More on that later) Most importantly our service offering has had to become quick, streamlined and more service oriented.

It takes us longer to convert a lead into a customer but it is much more gratifying in the end.

You might be asking yourself how this applies to your business. Well if you business is down, you might be in a niche or industry that is dead, dying or rotting. It is in those places that we find the hidden rich veins of new businesses.

Ask yourself what has changed, where is the business going and most importantly what does the customer need now more than ever.

Examples Of What’s Working Now

Bob Regnerus — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:19:19 +0000

Yesterday I shared a list of things that we found to work, and things we had difficulty in the past 6 months getting to work well.

Today I want to focus on what it’s taking to get people to respond on your website. You know, there was a day when you could slap up a website with an opt-in box or order form and you’d get a ton of response without any attention paid to design, copy, or the offer itself. Bad marketers could make things happen as much as the good marketers.

These days, you better be on top of your game, and really focus on details to get people to respond.

We’ve found that in a majority of the markets where we’ve worked, the traditional landing page has simply stopped working. I think the landing page as we’ve been taught has reached such a critical mass, that people now are hip to what these pages are for, and know that they aren’t really getting anything for nothing and will be asked to buy something sooner or later.

What we’ve started working on are multi-page mini-sites with offers on each page. (To see an example, go to: http://kinkadedreamscollection.com/)

In many cases, we’re finding that people are not only responding to these sites, they are spending several minutes on the site, reading, viewing, and listening to the information that’s being presented. (Prospects on the Kinkade site spend and average of 5 minutes)

It seems that the best approach is to give them a lot of quality information up front, give them the ability to click around a bit, and keep a consistent offer in front of them that appeals to exactly what they want.

Also, we’re finding that the traditional follow-up campaign to an email lead is pretty much worthless. What we’ve done is still have that as part of our follow-up, but we’ve added in a phone call to the lead (so capture phone numbers!) and cut through all the hype and get right to their pressing question. (Here is a good example of a site that get’s the name and phone number to get a follow up call.)

This seems to work well because not many online marketers will do this, or have the capability. The personal connection and attention are things people miss online, and will respond to when used without being pushy.

We’re also seeing some success by putting up inbound 1-800 numbers, getting them to skip the opt-in and get right to a sales associate. This is especially true for service businesses, and businesses at a local level (which means you can geo-target and used local numbers instead of 1-800 numbers).

Getting back to the websites, we’ve noticed that design, color, and layout - which previously had little affect - now make all the difference in the world. I used to say pretty websites don’t sell - I’m beginning to change my mind, but….

You better put good copy and offers on that pretty site. (One more bonus, click here to see how we’ve made pretty and copy work.) All the pizazz in the world won’t sell squat unless you spend a lot of time connecting to your visitor with well-written, concise copy with a drop-everything-you-are-doing offer. Even though we have to step up on the design, we got to REALLY step up on creating great offers and writing world-class copy.

It’s still possible to get people to respond, but you better be on your game to keep the flow going in this economy.

Lots Of Traffic vs. The Right Traffic

Bob Regnerus — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:57:33 +0000

Getting traffic to your sites continues to be the #1 issue people bring up. When evaluating a client’s funnel, I typically ignore their request for more traffic and diagnose the real issues which are their website, offer, or sales funnel. But once we fix those things, it’s fine to get into traffic issues.

As I’ve always said, it’s not about how much traffic your get, it’s about getting the right traffic. We can’t get people to respond if the offer doesn’t match what they want, so getting a bunch of people to the site isn’t the goal.

Traffic seems to be the one area where things change quite rapidly, and strategies and tactics that work one day, are not effective 3 months later. Google remains the key source of targeted traffic for our clients, but we’ve noticed that Adwords (both Search and Content) seems to have lost some of its effectiveness as harnessing a consistent flow of visitors. It has really become a game (yes, a game) of seeing how many places and sources you can get on Google’s first page. So not just being in one of the top 3 spots on Adwords, it’s also being listed in the News items, Local listings, YouTube videos, organic listing, and social networks - specifically Facebook and Twitter.

For us, being an expert in Adwords, it’s a lot to keep up with all things traffic, so we’ve secured an alliance with a colleague and firm that spends all of their time in the "laboratory" to figure out what Google is doing and how to use new strategies to capture more virtual real estate. We’re seeing tremendous results and DECREASING lead costs by employing more diversity and strategy to our traffic efforts, and utilizing all the technologies to be seen rather than just Google Adwords. The fruits of this alliance will be rewarding for our clients moving forward.

What’s Working, What’s Not Working

Bob Regnerus — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:22:29 +0000

First off, thank you to each one of you who’ve email the office, posted on Facebook, or responded to my first email. It’s amazing that when you reveal something in your life that is painful and potentially embarrasing, others share their experiences. I’ve realized that my challanges health wise have been faced by others and I’m not alone.

Now, let’s talk about some reality in today’s market. It doesn’t matter if you are online or offline. Virtual or have a physical store.

We had the blessing of working in multiple markets, with diverse clients, and diverse product/service offerings.

We also have our personal network of colleagues that we keep in communication with as well (people like Perry Marshall).

You might be exception to the rules we state here. All I am sharing is what I’ve seen and experienced.

What’s working well:
- Businesses that offer tangible solutions to problems, or tangible products with real value
- Products/Services that people are actively searching online for
- Patience in the sales cycle - willing to warm leads from cold visitor to warm lead to hot prospect
- Closing sales using the phone
- Multi-page websites versus landing pages
- Facebook fan pages
- Direct Mail
- Local business promotion using Google (Paid and Organic)
- Appointments

What’s not working well (some things are not working at all, some things are very difficult)
- Selling programs/membership online (we’ve tried inexpensive programs up to high-fee programs) and getting them to stick in brutal. My friend and co-worker Matt has done a ton of research on this and the stick rate by month is about 4 months for these kind of programs.
- Getting people to attend and stay for an entire webinar
- Launching new ideas and getting quick traction
- Traditional squeeze pages
- Point of purchase sales for anything other than inexpensive, common items
- Email deliverability
- Traditional SEO

This is a short list of what we’re personally experiencing. Perhaps you’ve seen the same, or bucked the trend in one of these cases. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Post your comments below.

In the next few emails, I’ll go into some detail on these points as to why they aren’t working.

Stay tuned.

Bob Regnerus.

If You’ve Wondered Where I’ve Been Lately, Here’s The Story

Bob Regnerus — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:06:57 +0000

Hey, Bob Regnerus here,

I know it’s been a while since you’ve had an email from me. You’ll find out why in a moment. First off let me say, yes, I’m alive. But I did have a little scare several weeks back. But more on that in a minute…

The fact is, I’ve had to do what every other business owner in this economy has been trying to do - survive. I know that some of you are in a business that has not been terribly affected by the economy. Be thankful.

Several more of you are in decent shape - well down from your highs, but decent enough to not cause too much concern. But for a lot of you, this has been a time of trials and frustrations as things that once worked well for you suddenly stopped working. Even new things you tried to launch didn’t seem to work at all.

Listen - I hear you. I’ve had some clients remain steady with us due to our ability to keep their funnel full and the type of services they provide. Others have had their businesses dry up - the markets left them and of course, with a market that’s dried up, there’s no need for our services. Still others experienced some setbacks and had to start cutting - staff or vendors. Most choose to cut vendors.

So we’ve experienced the whole spectrum, and I have a lot of empathy for those of you that have struggled through this season.

I learned a lot about my staff, my clients, and myself during this time. We learned a great deal about who we should (and should not) work with. We tested new business models and revenue structures. Some with success, some were failures. But we didn’t stop - and that’s key. We’re learning the skill of resourcefulness, which should prove to be a valuable skill over the next decade and perhaps in the future.

Personally, I learned the value of managing stress and anxiety. I shouldered too many burdens and tried to be superman. I worked too many hours and it affected two things that are absolutely critical - eating right and exercising regularly. I internalized so much stress and anxiety, that I finally found myself laying in a hospital bed overnight with what I thought was a heart attack.

After a barrage of tests, it turns out my lack of exercise and ability to manage stress was the root cause. So I really look at this as a blessing, because I got a great wake-up call and it refocused me on my health, my family, my faith, and my business. I took a month off to heal and have just started back to being a CEO again - working on moving the business forward and zeroing in on what we really offer to the market.

That’s what I want to share with you over the next few days.

I am not going to promote anything like an event or webinar. I’m not going to sell a product.

I promise to share with you what’s working and what’s not working, what’s necessary to get people to respond today, what you need to do to get traffic, and what needs to be done to get clients. Along the way, I am going to share with you what we’ve re-engineered ourselves into, and how for a small number of you, will be a solution to your biggest problem.

I hope you will find this interesting. I promise to not waste your time. I look forward to sharing some things with you.

My prayer is these next 5 emails will bless you incredibly and you’ll discover some real world strategies that are working online. No hype, just the real stuff.
Stay tuned and talk to you soon.

Seeking Clarity for Your Marketing Plan?

Bob Regnerus — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:56:27 +0000

Michael Reese is a financial planner from Traverse City, MI. Michael’s mission is to change the way retirees invest in the markets. He’s pained by the losses of wealth many people over 60 incurred in the 2008 downturn. Michael laid out a plan with us to change the lives of thousands of retirees by training an army of financial planners on a new way to invest for their clients (and earn them a nice living at the same time.) Click on the video to see how Michael found clarity on his full day!

Want to be our next success story?

Get a Free Book from Bob Regnerus at www.FreeBigTicket.com or call the office at 877-349-2615 and book your appointment to speak with one of Bob’s business coaches.

Blast From the Past

Bob Regnerus — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:25:02 +0000

A while back, Bob showed me a rather interesting ad. Although it appears very unusual, there are 5 elements that make it both effective and great. Watch this video to find out.

Blessings,

Matt Gillogly

Did you Bing yourself yet?

Bob Regnerus — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:20:45 +0000

Microsoft’s latest search engine is officially live, although in Beta. So how does it compare to Google? The initial reviews are mixed. Some like the new interface, while other say its the same search engine as Live, just with a different package. Time will tell if it can compete with Google I suppose.

So, go ahead and Bing yourself (not quite the same ring as Google yourself, huh?) What do you get? My results on Bing were slighly different than Googles. There has been some debate on how updated the indexes are for Bing. Matt Cutts of Google tweeted back and forth with Bing’s Betsy about the relevancy of searching for ‘mtv movie awards 2009′. Old results come up in some of the top spots.

Anyway, here are some of the features you can find in Bing. Some are similar to Google’s new Search Options but there are some new choices.

Web - Find what you’re looking for and a whole lot more with enhanced Silverlight Search History.

Web Search Features:

Save your searches locally or online using SkyDrive

Organize using folders

Add Notes

Share your results with friends on Windows Live, Facebook & Email

Images - Find the pictures that you’ve been wanting to see

Select Images by:

Size - small, medium, large, wallpaper

Layout - square, wide, tall

Color - color, black & white

Style - photograph, illustration

People - just faces, head & shoulders, other

Videos - Watch your favorite shows and videos

Select Videos by:

Length - short (< 5 min), medium (5-20 min), long (> 20 min)

Screen Size - standard, widescreen

Resolution - low, medium, high

Source - MSN, AOL, MTV, Hulu, ESPN, YouTube, MySpace, Dailymotion, Metacafe

TV (genre) - Action & Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Reality, SciFi & Fantasy, Talk & Info

Music (genre) - Alternative, Classic, Country, Electronica, Pop, Rap & Hip Hop, Reggae, Rock, Soul, R&B

Most Watched (date) - Today, This week, This month, All time

Shopping - Find, research, and buy the things you want using Bing cashback. Find great deals on the products you want from the stores that you know and trust. Get cashback savings.

What is Bing cashback?

Bing cashback is a great way for you to save money when you shop online. Find great deals on millions of products from hundreds of brand name stores that you know and trust. You’ll earn a percentage of the product price as cashback. The search advertising fees from participating stores are passed on to you. After we wait for potential returns and exchanges, your savings will be rewarded to you by your choice of a deposit to your PayPal account, direct deposit to your bank account, or a check in the mail.

Here’s how Bing cashback works:

Search:

Search for cashback deals using Bing. Click a cashback listing and find great deals on the product you chose.

Your results list the cashback savings you’ll receive off the store price and your bottomline price, too.

Shop:

Compare and sort products by the bottomline price. Click the best deal to go to the store.

Don’t worry if you don’t see the cashback symbol or savings when making a purchase at a store’s website. We’ll email you after your purchase to confirm your cashback.

Your first time using Bing cashback, we’ll ask for your email address so we can tell you how to quickly open your free cashback account.

Save:

Save each time you shop with Bing cashback. Every time you make an eligible purchase, we’ll email you to confirm your Bing cashback savings.

You can request your cashback about 60 days after your purchase (the waiting period varies by store) and with at least $5 in your cashback account. Terms and conditions.

News & Sports - Find out what’s happening in the world today

Select News & Sports by:

NEWS - World, U.S., Local, Business, Politics, Entertainment, Sports, Sci/Tech, Health

Maps - See where it is and how to get there (Bing Maps is “powered” by Microsoft Virtual Earth)

xRank - See who and what everyone’s searching for most (movers, celebrities, musicians, politicians, bloggers)

Use xRank to:

Search - Tell us a name and we’ll tell you who they are and how they rate.

Learn - Browse a bio or get the latest news headlines about the person you’re interested in.

Explore - Explore a celebrity’s latest videos, images, movies, albums, and more.

Relate - Discover relationships among notable people. Thumbnail photos at the bottom of xRank show you the associates, friends, enemies, and romances, of the person you’re interested in.

Scan - Look over the rankings for names that interest you. Arrow icons show how their movement is trending. Movement at the top of the list means more than it does near the bottom.

Track - View a person’s popularity over the past six months on the xRank History chart. Under the xRank History chart, find the top-moving searches. These are real searches from users on the day the person peaked in popularity on xRank.

Local - Look up businesses and see where to find them

Local Business Selections:

Arts & Entertainment - Movie Theaters , Adult Entertainment , Amusement …

Automotive & Vehicles - New & Used Car Dealers , Aircraft , Auto Care & Accessories …

Business to Business - Agriculture & Food , B2B Communications & Advertising , B2B Computers & Electronics …

Computers & Technology - Cable Television & Satellite , Cellular & Wireless , Computer & Web Publishing …

Education - Adult Education , Alternative Schools & Home Schooling , Charter Schools …

Food & Dining - Restaurants , Taverns, Bars & Cocktail Lounges , Bakeries …

Government & Community - Animal Shelters & Humane Societies , Associations , Cemeteries & Memorial Parks …

Health & Beauty - Abuse & Addiction Treatment , Alternative Medicine , Assisted Living & Care Services …

Home & Family - Child Care Services , Appliances , Bathrooms …

Legal & Finance - Banks , Accounting & Bookkeeping , Appraisers …

Professionals & Services - Apparel Services , Audio-Visual Equipment Services , Copying Services …

Real Estate & Construction - Apartments , Building & Construction Services , Buildings …

Shopping - Florists , Malls & Shopping Centers , Antiques …

Sports & Recreation - Archery & Shooting , Bicycles , Bowling …

Travel - Hotels & Motels , Lodging , Aircraft Charter & Rental Companies …

Travel - Use hotel and fare predictions to decide when to book (Bing Travel section is “powered” by Orbitz)

(thanks to http://scooopy.net/blog/review-bing/ for this summary of features!)

So, what do you think of Bing?

Preventing Bright Shiny Objectitis

Bob Regnerus — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:35:46 +0000

Hello fellow entrepreneurs-If you have stacks of unread manuals or unwatched DVD’s, more CD’s than you could ever listen to, or are constantly looking for the end-all be-all solution to your business problem, then you suffer from “Bright Shiny Objectitis.”

I can explain how you can prevent this from happening to you. To learn more, watch this video.

Matt Gillogly

Have you tried the new Google Search Options?

Bob Regnerus — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:25:33 +0000

Google announced some new search options recently. Have you tried them yet?

New options included:

Video Only

OK, so this isn’t totally new but its now available with all the new tools. The search results that are pulled are different from those on video.google.com and you have more power on narrowing your search. Want new videos? Want short or long ones? You now have the option to tell Google what you are looking for.

So, do you have videos to attract clients? You need to! And you need to have them tagged with keywords that will get the attention they deserve. And don’t settle for a single video posting. You need to keep new videos rolling so you are in the recent postings listing.

Forums Only

You can now pull results from various forums only. In some cases, it shows the number of posts from an author and when they posted last so you can see how active the posts were.

Do you have an SEO team that is posting your info to relevant forums with return links to your site? Looks like those backlinks are going to be worth more than just increasing page rank… Once again, post with relevant keywords and post often.

Reviews

This is a big one for those businesses with product reviews available. A person can now search for an item they want to buy and instantly see all the reviews available for that product.

We have always advocated adding product reviews to a retail site. Now, its more important than ever. Google is handing you an easy way to get traffic to your site for people who are searching to buy the product being reviewed. It doesn’t come much more highly targeted than that!

Timeline

This search option has some flaws. It has pulled data from the 1700’s on certain searches. But for an overall view of how traffic trends have been for a certain keyword, it does a fairly good job.

Have you experienced a sudden drop in traffic? Do certain months seem to do poorly for you? Check out the timeline feature to see if its more than just your imagination. Traffic can ebb and flow with the seasons or with other market trends.

Wonder Wheel

I think this is fast becoming a favorite tool. Its not a new idea but the presentation of data is appealing for users. For every keyword entered, you can click on related keywords, which brings you to more related keywords, and on and on. Everytime a new keyword is clicked, the search results on the right change to reflect the new keyword.

This is great if you have keywords with lots of impressions or clicks but no conversions. Sometimes keywords have many meanings that we don’t realize. Seeing what Google deems as related in search can show you where your keyword is or isn’t relevant. This is also a great tool for long tail keyword research. Start with what you think a user would type in as a basic search and keep drilling down to see what other things they are looking for related to their original search. Remember that the important keywords you are finding need to be optimized on your site so you show up on the new results screen.

So, go and play with the new options. Its very cool and powerful for getting the exact information you want (both doing searches and collecting data on your potential leads!).

Google’s Small Business Network

Bob Regnerus — Mon, 04 May 2009 21:41:37 +0000

Google is introducing a new initiative to help small business owners. If you haven’t seen this post yet, its worth checking out!

"The success of your business both online and offline is very important to us, which is why today we’d like to share a message from David Fischer, our VP of Global Online Sales and Operations:

It’s no secret that small businesses play a key role in Google’s success as a company and drive the economy as a whole. AdWords, AdSense, Apps – you name it – have all grown because small businesses use them. Because of that, increasing their bottom line is very important to us.

In Washington, D.C. and state capitols across the country, we often witness policy debates, legislative initiatives, and regulatory changes that significantly affect the small business constituency – the same constituency that has helped make Google what it is today. But the recent economic downturn has turned entrepreneurship into an uphill battle. So we asked ourselves a simple question: What can we do to help broaden the collective voice of small business both on Capitol Hill and in the states? We want to know about the issues that are important to our small business partners so that we can better invest in their goals and objectives and ultimately, their success.

Today we’re launching a new initiative called the Small Business Network. It’s designed to promote business-friendly policies at the federal and state levels. We plan to tackle a number of important technology policy issues - the first two of which are increasing broadband access and preserving an open Internet. And we also want to have a dialogue with small business owners about other issues that affect their online business.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President Obama in February, sets aside $7 billion to increase access to high-speed Internet or broadband for the 20 million Americans who live in underserved areas. By expanding broadband access and preserving an open platform, small businesses in America have the ability to reach all consumers at an affordable cost and compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world. We hope that the Small Business Network will encourage lawmakers to grant those funds to the right providers and create broadband access for all small businesses across the country.

If you are a small business owner who is interested in learning more this initiative, visit Google’s S mall Business Network site to find out how you can be a part of it."