I need marketing assistance

[Blownlc]

Gday all!

Calling all marketing consultants and IT guru's.

I am hoping that someone can offer me some assistance with the advertising of my fathers business. I'll start off with a little background of the situation.

March this year I was made redundant after returning from my long service leave, not wanting to return to my trade or industry, I sat down with my father a discussed jumping on board with him to build his business, with the intention of getting him of the tools (as this kind of work is hard on the body) and creating a profitable future.

Since march I have been working for free, I'v been keeping the mortgage paid and the kids fed through the spending our our savings. But come september 1st the savings will be gone.

We have had a steady stream of work through existing customers to date. However it is not enough to sustain both of us or an expansion.

Part of my role within the business is to promote and create awareness of what we specialise in and the services we offer with the very limited budget we have, along with working on the tools.
I built or website myself to save money http://www.amtindustries.net/ however I am having trouble adding search terms that link to our website so that we can be found.

I have paid a company $500(for 6 months) to set up a google places page which comes up when users type "underground boring" in the google search bar. However they were suppose to have added another 8 key words but haven't. It is also linked to a google+ page where they have written the business description wrong. Now that I am an 'existing customer' I am having a great deal of difficulty in making contact with them.

I have since found out that I could have done this all myself and for free! However I am unsure how.

Would anyone be willing to offer me their assistance in setting this up so that we can get as much exposure through search engines as possible.

Many Many Many Many Thanks

Stu

[AB]

I'll get back to you on this tonight with the basics and hopefully other members can use this information to better their exposure online as well.

[MEGOMONSTER]

I'll get back to you on this tonight with the basics and hopefully other members can use this information to better their exposure online as well.

Forum owner and community support service, aren't you piece of work. Lol

[AB]

Ok...

First off by "Search Engines" I'm just talking about Google because majority of users will be searching for your business through Google so best to focus your energy using their services rather than Bing, Yahoo, etc....However, your efforts will follow with them anyway so all good.

I don't understand why they charged you $500 for 6 months as It's a free listing not a monthly directory charge or anything and a lot of the times Google pulls the data from YellowPages.

Step 1 = Get a Google Account (https://accounts.google.com/SignUp)
Step 2 = Try and add your business to Google local (http://www.google.com.au/business/placesforbusiness/) like that business has done for you. However you may struggle as they have already done this but see how you go first and if your local listing does not get accepted for some reason then you may need to contact Google and tell them what happened and how you "want to link the Google local business listing with your Google Account so you can update it, etc.

Google is becoming very localised on certain keywords with search results these days and it applies with your keywords you want to target consumers with "Underground Boring" as you can see by typing that into Google.com.au it does show local businesses based on their IP address location. It does have 3 x organic listings above the localised Google Places results which is where you want to be eventually....AKA "Above the fold"

Once that is all done....

You need to decide on what Keywords you think your potential customers will type into Google to find your services and optimize your website to rank for those certain keywords.

Maybe keywords like...

"Underground Boring"
"Underground Boring Melbourne"
"Concrete Cutting Melbourne"
ETC

Each page of your website has individual potential to rank for those keywords above. I would aim individual pages to rank for individual keywords...

Google's algorithm is a very complex system to determine what websites are relevant for the user who searches for certain keywords.

CREATE AS MUCH RELEVANT CONTENT ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY AS POSSIBLE - But do not steal the content off someone else. Google will find plagiarism and penalize you!

As a basic rule of thumb the more "UNIQUE" content you have on your website with content within that site that has those certain keywords throughout the website/pages then the more chances you are going to rank higher in Google for those certain terms.

Example: If I had two websites about "How to drive a 4wd".

Site 1 has just pictures of 4wd's and little content about actually "how to 4wd".

Site 2 has a full instruction manual and shiploads of content about how to 4wd. It has pages and pages of certain types of terrain and what gears to select based on the terrain, etc.

As a basic rule of thumb the end user would much prefer to visit Site 2 because it is an informative website with shiploads of content about "how to 4wd" and in Googles algorithm it would most likely see that site 2 is more relevant to the user so will display that website above site 1.

You and your old man know your business....Build as much content as possible around your business...

Talk about what the machinery you have and what it does
Talk about your services in great depth
Talk about the danger of underground services
Talk about how you lay the fiber optics
Talk about everything relating to your business...

I would create a dedicated page about "Underground Boring"....Talk about what you do within that page with strong emphasis on the keywords "underground boring" without being too spammy though. I would probably mention the words "Underground Boring" once maybe twice in each paragraph. When you have a dedicated page named "Underground Boring" with those keywords all throughout that page then Google will know what that page is about and rank you accordingly....Again.....Don't spam it, once maybe twice in each paragraph should be sufficient.

I would also create another page called "Underground boring Melbourne". A lot of people will localize their search adding "Melbourne" afterwards.

Same rule as above but use the word Melbourne a lot too.

Example....AMT Industries are located in Melbourne and we service all suburbs within Victoria. Underground boring in Melbourne is a complex task due to our sub clay and volcanic environment so you must use only professional underground boring specialist's.

Underground services are a serious concern within our industry which is why AMT are committed to obtaining Underground service checks prior to our drilling to ensure safety is our main concern....bla bla bla

The above was a little bit over the top and I wouldn't recommend doing that through 12 paragraphs but I think you get the gist.

Once that is all done then I would get some links to your pages with the anchor text being what that particular page you are linking to is about.

You should get links from relevant websites though as Google is cracking down on directory sites and non relevant sites so bare that in mind.

A link from site to another is a vote of confidence from that site to the other site and it does help your site rank but again....Try and stick with relevant sites within your industry.

Having saying that though any education or government sites are very trusted by Google so if you can get links from those industries then thats a winner!!!

Example.....edu.au or .gov.au sites....Average Joe cannot get those domain names and they are reserved for those industries so they are more authority than normal names and links from them help a lot!

Yahoo directory (https://ecom.yahoo.com/dir/submit/intro/) is a good site to get a link from but it costs $300 a year

You can pay people to get you links which is what I do....I hate trying to get links and there are professional people who can do this for you.

I use a chick who is very trustworthy and gets good backlinks on good PR sites and trys her best to make them relevant within your industry.

Here is her site = http://guestpostgirl.com/

So much more to explain mate but I need a beer....Any questions though just ask....Anyone has any questions just ask.

I don't mind helping the members in building their online business...

P.S I just sat down and typed all that out and I can't be bothered proof reading...lol.....ENJOY!!!!

[AB]

Do some videos on underground boring, name it underground boring Melbourne and embed those in your site too using YouTube.

It's owned by google and will help you and also help user experience.


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[BigRAWesty]

Bloody good info mate. Will help heaps of people. Me included..

[AB]

I also forgot to mention you can just pay to be at the top of Google using Google Adsense (http://www.google.com.au/aclk?sa=l&ai=C6uax1yblUa-RDOWJiAeVuoD4A9_vueAC156g9ByF5_F2CAAQAVD7oYCx-_____8BYKXAo4CkAaABrfvV_APIAQGqBBlP0KAJcIjmkIqJ3LS Qb2umQ_r430zUV1xYugUTCK7Zop_ts7gCFWcP4god5jgABsoFA LgGAYAHu4SqAw&ei=1yblUe6RCueeiAfm8YAw&sig=AOD64_0M252Ckp3VCXhywOGSXBo4HpI_zw&rct=j&q=google+adsense&sqi=2&ved=0CDEQ0Qw&adurl=http://www.google.com/adsense%3Fhl%3Den_au%26sourceid%3Daso%26subid%3Dap-en_au-ha-bk%26medium%3Dha%26utm_medium%3Dha%26utm_term%3Dgo ogle%2520adsense).

Basically, you pay a price every time someone clicks your advert which is displayed either at the top of the search results based on whatever keywords you choose or on the side bar if your bid amount per click for those keywords is less than your competitors.

Your industry may be slightly competitive as there are a few of your competitors doing it but if i was you, when you get your Google Account just throw $20 at it and see what the average bid is and what placement that gets you in the search results and see if It's viable.

You could also run a $100 test to see if you get any decent leads off the $100 and work out the pros and cons.

I pay $2 per click in the company I work for but we are also in the top 3 organic results in Google for our keywords....We are in a high margin, low volume competitive industry so it probably won't be as much for you per click but very worth while to experiment and see what your competitors are doing and how much they are paying.

If you want to seriously head down the online marketing path then I suggest purchasing a program called Seo Spyglass (http://www.seo-spyglass.com/).

You can check out your competitors backlinks, website structure, do audits on your own site which gives you reports on things you need to approve on, etc.

I use it every day and it keeps you in touch with what your competitors are doing. If you want to beat them, find out what they are doing, copy it and then make it better!!!

One of my favourite free programs is called Xenu Link Checker (http://xenus-link-sleuth.en.softonic.com/). It's a freeware program where you can check your own site for any broken links and fix accordingly.

Also, once your Google account is set up don't forget to sign up to Google Webmaster Tools (http://xenus-link-sleuth.en.softonic.com/) to get a lot of information about your site, how It's performing, etc...You can also add your sitemap (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+a+sitemap)to help Google index your site better. YOu can generate a Sitemap off your Xenu program too.

Don't forget to get Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/) as well so you can see how people are finding you, what your landing pages are, bounce rate (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+a+bounce+rate) and a million other analytical data to help understand where you are, how engaged your users how and how to convert leads to sales!!! With GA you just need to paste certain code in the header of your site which allows Google to collect data on your visitors, etc.

Remember to use Youtube for anything you are stuck on. Shiploads of informative how to videos for anything I have mentioned above.

[TheLocksmith]

I got positions 1,2 and 5 in google. Don't ask me how.

Got this site into the 5 spot :)

[AB]

I got positions 1,2 and 5 in google. Don't ask me how.

Got this site into the 5 spot :)

Different industries have different competitiveness of ranking factors. I will personally give anyone a million dollars if they can organically rank a new website in number one of googles search results for keywords "credit cards" or "home loans".

[NissanGQ4.2]

Different industries have different competitiveness of ranking factors. I will personally give anyone a million dollars if they can organically rank a new website in number one of googles search results for keywords "credit cards" or "home loans".

We have about 900 members on here that might take you up on that offer Andy *LMAO*

[MudRunnerTD]

We have about 900 members on here that might take you up on that offer Andy *LMAO*

Good luck I say! The boss knows Stuff! And has been very very generous tonight people.

Very wise words have been shared with our group tonight.

Thanks AB, I expect many members will have a think about what you have written and look at the links you have provided in this thread. Cheers mate.

[oncedisturbed]

I used to have a PHP based program that did website submissions (approx 80) as it was an older program. Will see if I can find it on my days off. Couldn't hurt giving it a crack.

[cgm]

... The boss knows Stuff! And has been very very generous tonight people. ...

Yep, I agree. Thanks AB for being so up front with info that only comes from real experience.

[Ironman 4x4]

So what you are trying to achieve is SEO rankings. I'd be doing some initial research of what people are actually searching online before you start optimising a website.

Start by using Google Adwords Keyword Tool, with your searches in exact match and location selected to Australia. Also do some research using Google Insights/Google Trends.

From there you'll get an idea of what the most popular searches are. Then you need to look at what the low hanging fruit is. Are there high volume words that are relevent with low levels of competition? These are the ones you should be targeting first.
Don't forget that search is very demand driven. Just saying you want to rank for so-and-so isn't necessarily going to provide you value unless someone is searching for it. This becomes even more of an issue if there are high levels of competition.

For example, rather than trying to rank for 'Business' when you are advertising for a business degree, you might instead try and rank for 'bachelor of business' or 'business degree in melbourne' as these might have less competition and will provide higher value leads.

I won't go on, as there is plenty you can cover but I'd suggest having a read of the Google SEO guide: http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

I'd also suggest checking out SEOmoz (now known as moz.com). These guys are the authority on inbound online marketing.

You can also have a read of some blogs that cover areas like this.

Mine is http://www.emarketingfrommatt.com
I'd also suggest reading http://ciims.net

Feel free to PM me if you'd like. It's what I do for a living :D

[AB]

I was just reading your blogs on your site Matt. It must be tough for you blokes trying to run social media?


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[Ironman 4x4]

@AB, it's not easy, but then again if it was easy they wouldn't need me for it :D

I see it as a great challenge and an opportunity to have others get a better understanding and relationship with the brand. Less hearsay and more legitimate responses.

And for those who genuinely need help, we're a second support line in case one of our distributors isn't doing right by Ironman 4x4, those who slip through the cracks we can catch when they report their issues on forums, YouTube and other social outlets.

It's something I'm very passionate about, and was why I moved from working at a Marketing Agency, across to client side.

[4by]

Thanks for the great info. I also run a small business for over 12 years without a website and any social media. I've never known how to do any of this or even where to look or to ask for help. I not familiar with the terminology or their meanings. Perhaps I should do a training course......

I've been toying with building a website for over 12 months and avoiding it cause I'm not really sure how to go about it. I've been referred to try http://www.weebly.com I'm pretty clueless with this stuff so I need to use the kiss system. Anyone else you guys can recommend??

I believe I also need to find someone to "host" my site. I found godaddy competitive on price. Is there anyone else you would recommend??

After reading the help you guys have provided I'll know a bit more on how to start to set myself up. It sounds a little double dutch to me but I'm now prepared to give it a crack.
Thanks again, I owe you a coldie :cheers:

[Blownlc]

Thank you AB and Ironman!

I have been been playing around with webmaster tools and working on getting me head around a lot of the lingo. One of the difficulties I have is the inability to include HTML code to my website, as it is not an available feature of the website builder (webs.com).

To work around this google have 'data highlighter' which makes it very easy for users like myself (or so it is said). The problem I am having there is that my website content is simply not loading, so that it can be highlighted.

I'll add a bit more as to what I have done this evening when I get home.

But again thank you very much!

Stu



LESS YAP YAP, MORE TAP TAP!!

[Ironman 4x4]

Thanks for the great info. I also run a small business for over 12 years without a website and any social media. I've never known how to do any of this or even where to look or to ask for help. I not familiar with the terminology or their meanings. Perhaps I should do a training course......

I've been toying with building a website for over 12 months and avoiding it cause I'm not really sure how to go about it. I've been referred to try http://www.weebly.com I'm pretty clueless with this stuff so I need to use the kiss system. Anyone else you guys can recommend??

I believe I also need to find someone to "host" my site. I found godaddy competitive on price. Is there anyone else you would recommend??

After reading the help you guys have provided I'll know a bit more on how to start to set myself up. It sounds a little double dutch to me but I'm now prepared to give it a crack.
Thanks again, I owe you a coldie :cheers:

I'd suggest just doing a lot of reading and playing around. You'll learn far quicker this way. Courses can be good though. I know an intern of mine found a good site for learning basic HTML and CSS, I'll see if he can remember what it was.

As for building a website. I always recommend building them in an open source CMS with good community support. For those who aren't very adept I find Wordpress a good CMS to learn it. It has plenty of templates to change the look, but is relatively easy and functional to use thanks to it's WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor.


Thank you AB and Ironman!

I have been been playing around with webmaster tools and working on getting me head around a lot of the lingo. One of the difficulties I have is the inability to include HTML code to my website, as it is not an available feature of the website builder (webs.com).

To work around this google have 'data highlighter' which makes it very easy for users like myself (or so it is said). The problem I am having there is that my website content is simply not loading, so that it can be highlighted.

I'll add a bit more as to what I have done this evening when I get home.

But again thank you very much!

Stu



LESS YAP YAP, MORE TAP TAP!!

No problem Stu,

It's a steep learning curve, even for those of us who are tech savvy :D. Persistance is key, and asking losts of questions on Forums definately helps!

[oncedisturbed]

A good CMS is php-nuke, can build the whole lot from the back end admin panel and tweak using an FTP program like cute FTP. Heaps of mods, addons, styles etc with a massive user base with multiple forums available. Has pretty much everything available like forums, auction carts, display galleries, news articles and the list goes on. A more in depth CMS is php-nuke platinum which is awesome and a lot more stable but has a lot more included and does take a bit more time to jig the site.


Tap, Tap, Taparoo

[yeah_m8]

This is a good thread and I've looked at some of the links given and still have no idea on how things work, but I do like the idea of "Courses" and wouldn't mind giving that a go to see how to market my brand or whom shall I pick to market my product.
I've got a product that's ready and are halfway through stages in having a professionally made 90second video that will display my product in it's uses but once I have that, it comes down to marketing in which I have no idea on how to tackle other than pay someone to do it for me, but I myself would like to have some insight on an learn a bit about marketing first.
Again, good thread:)

[Blownlc]

Creating a marketing strategy is the easy part. After all who knows you product and business better you?

The difficult part is the implementation and execution of your marketing strategy and research. This is the area where people such as myself are confronted with difficulties. It can be frustrating but often learning new things is. It is however really nice when experienced people such as those who have given advise in this thread, put their hand up and offer some help.

Thanks again lads!


LESS YAP YAP, MORE TAP TAP!!

[AB]

Just thinking about this thread as you do at midnight...lol

If one was to create a semi professional promo video to upload to you tube to run for 60 seconds what program would one use....lol

Is there anyone half decent on video software, what do you use?

I have access to the full Adobe cs package or is there a freeware something?

[Kast]

For what its worth...a marketing strategy is about asking the question of how do I reach my target market most effectively?

I think we tend to get wrapped up in the social and digital media trend and lose sight of the goal - our target clientelle.

I prefer a top down approach as the work you do in defining the various elements will stand you in good stead for a long time....

Typically I'd start with what's the market and how big is it? This is an inexact science but through data sources like building starts, govt / council budgets etc you can get a very rough idea. This is about top of chain stuff.

From here you can work down the chain of who's the 'client', who's the head provider, how many links in the chain until finally who will engage your company?

I'm thinking in your space there'd be a mix of head contractors and asset owners (govt, private sector, utilities etc). So in you're geographic reach specifically who are these companies and organisations? In answering that you'll create a list of both groups (eg local councils) and specific entities (eg service stream, negri contractors etc).

Now! Once you've done that you can get further down the funnel and ask how to best connect with them.

Digital media may not be the answer when you best consider how to connect with the identified targets. But it may be. Govts tend not to use digital as the first port of call. You may need to preregister as a provider or walk in and say Gday to the works manager! But they will checkout your website once they know you exist.

The point I make is be wary of jumping to media unless you're sure your target clients use it.

I'm not for one moment suggesting you don't need an online presence. I think 99% of business does. But how deep you go down that path productively will depend on how your target clients id their underground boring providers.

Finally a few core points:
1. Pareto principle is key. 80% of your potential revenue will come from 20% of your clients. This is less so in the selling of goods market (like 4x4 accessories! ) but hugely important in yours. I'm not having a go at the good work that ironman4x4 do - just highlighting that their market has different dynamics to yours. They really do know their market backwards and hence the great intell they offered on the online front

2. In your sector don't rule out or under estimate the power of direct approach and relationships with either the purchasing officer or the decision maker ( usually the guy on site)

3. Once you make a 'connection' - who loves your work be sure to trade / leverage it. The best customer is the repeat customer and the best form of marketing is customer referral

4. In finalising your marketing strategy make sure it truly reflects your understanding of your target clients but also accept it will most probably require a mix of media / selling channels (not much point being online if your clients are technophobes or choosing direct approach if your market is high volume low value clients spread around the world).

5. Check out your competitors sites. I'm not suggesting you copy them because the key is to differentiate yourself from them in being more client focused/understanding, but you'd be surprised how much you can glean from what they put out there

6. Reputation is everything. Protect it with everything you have. I'm not saying every job will be perfectly executed, we're humans after all! But make sure you do the right thing when things go wrong. You can make huge mileage out of a poor situation by responding well.

7. This won't be so applicable first up but once you get going try and choose your clients. It may be worthwhile working for govt (reliable payers) rather than high value private companies (love to string payments out or avoid altogether if possible! ). There are exceptions of course but be aware...

8. Remember cash is king and the job aint over until you've been paid. Aiming for huge revenues is a mugs game (just look at the share market listed contractors), profit with good cash flow is what makes success.

Sorry for the length of this. Hope it helps in some small way. From someone who operates in your broad sector - I'm happy to help in any way I can. It's a hard slog but the smart players can be well rewarded for their effort and persistence.


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