Welcome to the page where we see if I can be just the person you’ve been looking for to solve some or all of your website, Internet marketing, and new media needs.
I understand how confusing and intimidating this whole process of having a successful web presence can be (I’ve been just where you are now). Hopefully, I can help you in one way or another through the process.
Although having a successful web presence is now a necessary marketing tool (and should be your most profitable), the industry continues to rapidly change and is still in its infancy (remember the good ole’ days when all of this stuff was a luxury and not a necessity?).
First off, I’m flying a bit blind here, because I have no idea where you are in the process of your website or online strategy (or if you even have one). The best thing you can do after you review this page is to reach out and contact me so we can get specific about exactly where and how I might be able to help you.
Just like you, I only have so many hours in the day (and we both work way too much as it is). I bring this up only because this means I can only take on a limited number of clients to work with…and I want those relationships to be strong, steady, and mutually beneficial. Yes, there are people that just want to hire me for a website review, website development, or consulting services. If you fit into that role, that’s cool. I’m here to help.
However, I can help you most if you want and need someone like me to become part of your team. This is how I like to work for clients. Not because I need the steady income (I’ve already got that, thank heavens), but because being part of a team is what fulfills me most in my business life.
OK…how can I help?
Here is what each and every business must have these days to be successful online:
- Website
- Blog (if you don’t have one, you need one…read this on business blogging)
- SEO (search engine optimization) to be found on Google and search engines
- Social Media (some presence on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn)
- Email Marketing
- …and 3rd-party services that make your web presence successful (more below)
Let me play out a scenario of what I recommend for you. Keep in mind that your situation may vary, but this is the big picture of what I like to do so I can maximize the web presence of nearly every company I work with.
Phase 1 – “Setup and Catch Up”
Let’s assume that you already have a website and a blog (if not, we need to talk to fix that). Once these two essential pieces of the puzzle are in place, we need to do the following:
- Setup an email marketing account for you and get email marketing “opt-in” forms on your website/blog so you can get current customers and website/blog visitors into your “sales funnel.”
- Setup at least one social media platform for you. This could be a Facebook business page, Twitter account, or LinkedIn profile. Which ones are needed are dependent on what type of business you have.
- Google Local Business listing – There are a handful of ways to be found on Google, this is just one of them.
- Google Webmaster Tools – A service from Google that makes your website/blog much more visible so Google can find you.
- Organization – Once you get serious about your web presence, there a lots of user names, passwords, and websites we’ll have to access. We need to have all of this info super-organized and in multiple places.
- Backup, Backup, Backup – Everything we do needs to be backed up in-house and online. Losing what you’ve built can be devastating.
- Google Analytics (Web Stats) – If we can’t measure what visitors are doing on your website and how they’re finding you, we can’t make improvements for the future.
- Google Alerts – This is where we have Google automatically email us (weekly) topics of interest that we can later redistribute to your website visitors and customers.
- SEO (search engine optimization) – This is a big job that is part art and part science. Bottom line is that we need to maximize the most important and content rich pages of your website/blog so people can find you when they’re searching for the services that you provide.
- Usability – Your website/blog may be a masterpiece or it may really suck. Either way or in between, you need a professional outside eye to review it and make the necessary adjustments so it looks perfect, is easy to navigate, and the content is written properly for both visitors and search engines.
That’s a big picture of the “Setup and Catch Up” phase of what your website/blog must have to become a profitable web presence. I don’t know what pieces of this puzzle you already have in place. But I do know that these are essential ingredients we need to have for you.
How much do I charge for “Setup and Catch Up?” Well it depends on how much of the puzzle you already have done. But if you want me to give you an estimate, I would say somewhere between $500-$2,500. It all depends on what’s in place already.
If you want to discuss me handling the Setup & Catch Up phase of your online strategy, contact me so we can decide how and where to get started.
Phase 2 – New Media Maintenance
Once you’re all setup to be an online player by having the elements above in place, let’s run through the scenario of what needs to take place so your new online marketing machine continues to fire on all cylinders for the future.
The bottom line is that your web presence can not be static. It must attract, persuade, and connect by taking care of the Setup & Catch Up elements, but we need to consistently keep your website fresh and stay in front of prospects and customers in order to stay top-of-mind and keep reminding folks that you’re open for business.
Here is the ideal scenario in which we can make this happen:
- By setting up your “Google Alerts” in the Setup & Catch Up phase, every week an email will arrive in your inbox with news and information that we’ve indicated (by using keywords) are of interest to you and your customers/prospects.
- Each week, you’ll take 15-minutes to review these links and find the one that you want to share with your audience.
- You’ll forward this link to me.
- I’ll take that piece of information (it will most often be a news article or blog post from an industry expert), tweak it, and redistribute it to your audience.
- Every week I’ll put this new content on your blog, maximize the SEO effectiveness of the information, and distribute it through the social media channels we’ve decided are best for you.
- Every two weeks, we’ll select one of your recent blog posts we’ve created and email that information to your email list (so you’re never out-of-sight and out-of-mind).
- Every month, you’ll receive an update of your web stats via email to review your website/blog audience growth and activities.
- Every month, you and I will get together for a 60-minute phone/online conference call to review what we’ve done, make sure any website changes you’ve made are on target, and make necessary adjustments to be sure your web presence continues to fire on all cylinders.
This is the New Media Maintenance that is necessary to maximize your online marketing machine. How much does this cost? My best estimate if we stick exactly to the plan would be $880 a month.
So, what should you do now?
First is to consider if you really want to make your web presence part of your marketing arsenal. If it is, then you’ll want to consider if you have time to do it yourself or if you want to take the chance of trying to pay someone in-house (or your nephew or some guy in town who kinda’ knows this stuff) to do it for you.
Consider what you’re going to have to pay them. Can they do it right? Is this what they do well? The fact is that more people will visit you online than will ever visit you personally. Do you want to trust that type of visibility to anyone to save a few bucks or do you want to hire someone who does this for a living as a virtual employee for you? That is a question you can only answer yourself.
If you decide that you want my help, I’m here for you (as long as I still have the time available).
Let’s talk about it. Click here to contact me.
