And more importantly… to produce actual *revenue* from them!

Side note:

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard fly-by-night, so called, “web experts” saying the silliest, most untrue things about Search Engines!

Just keep one thing in mind when anyone talks to you about them: Ignore the hype. Search Engines are only worth pursuing if you can make a good return on investment!

Anyways– one client we’ve done very well for (as in hundreds of thousands of dollars!) is Gary’s Wildlife. They’re the nice guys you call when you have animals - bats, raccoons, moles, mice, etc. - in your home or property. (Don’t worry, they’re completely humane and treat every animal with respect– even snakes!)

So, today we were doing some search engine work for Gary’s animal removal service and came across a phrase they were ranking very well for.

The phrase was: “mole removal”. (I am reminded of that cute, fuzzy, little animal from the movie Caddyshack!)

Now, even though we were getting plenty of visits for the term “mole removal”, none of those visits were becoming paying customers– Not even one!

I thought this was odd, so I dug a little deeper and did a Google search of my own for “mole removal”.

The results came up and here’s what I saw:

“Our product is the most complete answer to safe all-natural mole removal. After your moles fall off, use Ointment or another ….”

…

After a brief moment of confusion, I realized why so many people were coming to the site without making *any* purchases… THEY WERE LOOKING FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO REMOVE FACIAL MOLES!

(By the way, here’s the point where we laughed out loud - talk about having “blinders” for just your industry!)

Now For The Million Dollar Question: What If We Never Dug Deep Enough To Find That Out?

What if we didn’t go out of our way to monitor Gary’s web site and take time to think about it?

No one would ever have noticed!

As a result:

• He would be wasting money.
  (Paying for web site traffic that will never turn into revenue.)
• We might falsely assume something is wrong with his site.
  (Since so many people are visiting without purchasing.)
• He might decide to sell facial mole removal cream over the Internet.
  (OK so this was just a joke to see if you read this far…. but maybe not a bad idea? hmm…)

The ultimate lesson here is to take responsibility for your website! Look closely at your traffic reports and only make decisions that equate to more money for your business.

-Costas

Warning: It may not seem like it but this post has everything to do with you and your business - I promise! Just follow it through.

We do a bit of volunteer work for a local non-profit.

It’s run by a great group of people with a worthy cause: helping teens to avoid self-destructive behavior and reach their potential.

As part of an anonymous survey, high school students were asked two questions about the past 30 days:

• Have you used alcohol?

44% said ‘yes’.

• What percentage of your classmates do you think have used alcohol?

The answer here was an overwhelming 99%. In other words, every student assumed (falsely) that every other student was using alcohol.

…

(Bear with me here - we’re almost to the point!)

…

Some time passed - enough for the community to make important changes - and students were given the same survey again.

This time the numbers were much better: 33% said ‘yes’ to drinking and 60% assumed that their classmates were. (That’s a 40% decrease from before!)

Researchers looked at the results and attributed improvement to *one* factor. Do you know what it was?

Their perception of each other.

You see, students were more likely to drink when they assumed everyone *else* was doing it!

This Survey Illustrates An Important Truth For Us As Business Owners

Your perception of yourself has a huge impact on whether or not you succeed.

At a time of year when setting goals is especially common - whether it’s losing weight, doubling sales from last quarter, spending more time with family, increasing client retention - the key to seeing them through and succeeding is first believing you will achieve them.

You see, that’s the problem with most goals/resolutions – they may be well intentioned but the person never truly believes they will happen in the first place!

So, at the risk of sounding “hokey”… if you can’t visualize your goal happening, it won’t!

-Costas

Today I want you to consider a critical element that’s important to the growth and survival of every business…

MORE LEADS!

The more leads you have coming in, the more business you will generate.

Even with an awful sales process you will *still* do well provided your business experiences a steady stream of qualified leads.

More often than not a competitor with inferior product and sub par service will have more work - not because they’re better than you - but because they know how to make the phone ring!

It’s not fair for the better candidate to come out last, but then again, marketing has nothing to do with being fair.

So that brings us to the million dollar question:

What steps can you take to generate the awareness and interest that your skills deserve?

In other words: how do you make your phone ring first?!

-Costas

Well– I took my car to the shop this week because it was making funny sounds. The mechanic diagnosed the problem, told me which part needed replacing and gave me a quote. Nothing unusual yet… until he said something no mechanic has ever told me before…

“Would you like me to explain how we’re different from these other shops and dealerships?”

He started explaining how he’d fix my car– that he could skillfully cut a part that most dealerships would only install whole, and be able to charge me $300 less on that part as a result.

Key 1: He told me what made his solution different and unique

He seemed like a nice guy on top of the great deal I “felt” I was getting, so I left my car. He told me the car would be ready for pickup the following day at 3:00pm.

So what do you think happened when I showed up the next day (15 minutes early) at 2:45?

Not only was the work finished on time– but my car looked brand new! He went out of his way to make sure my car was washed, even though his work had nothing to do with the exterior.

Key 2: He didn’t just keep his promise… he OVER-DELIVERED

He then asked if I wanted to inspect the car before paying. I said it was fine as I trusted his work at this point– but he still insisted on showing me, just to make sure I was completely happy.

The result?

He earned my trust and I won’t go anywhere else (Why would I?!) I’ve already recommended him to 2 friends.

So what’s the lesson here?

The truths are simple:

• Demonstrate value up front.
• Deliver when you say you will– Overdeliver if you can.
• Follow up to make absolutely sure the customer is happy.

What steps can you take in your sales process to build trust and credibility?

-Costas

Here are the resources I mentioned:

• Google Analytics - A great statistics tool that tracks people who visit your site. (Very pretty reporting and it’s free!)
• Aweber - Keep in touch regularly with customers by sending out automatic, personalized e-mails. Also check out 1ShoppingCart as an alternative. (Both offer Free trials!)
• Keyword Selector Tool - A great start to find what words people are *actually* searching for. (Remember: jar candle!)
• Google AdWords - Start getting people to your website by “bidding” on keywords. (It’s free to create an account!)

If there’s interest I’ll create some tutorials for you guys. Just let me know!

-Costas

P.S. Just so you don’t think we kept the iPod Nano for ourselves — and believe me, I *wanted* to — the winner was Steve May from Quality Connections. Congratulations Steve!

You’re one of the first people to experience the fresh new redesign of our site.

I know, I know- you’re *tingling* with excitement right now. (I’ll go ahead and pause so you can breathe into a paper bag.)

We’ve added lots of new features this time around. The most obvious is probably this blog! Why a blog, you ask? Well, it’s my business to spend quite a bit of time working on the internet- some might even say unhealthy amounts of time (But what do they know!)

Truth is, I’m great at making web sites that *successfully* sell your product, market your services, and represent your business.

I’m also real honest- I’ll tell you things here that other web companies don’t want you to know!

Check back often if you’re interested in:

- Improving your website with techniques that *dramatically* increase your sales.

- Learning about Search Engines, and how you can use them to drive lots of traffic to your website.

- Keeping up with the Web Industry, and learning new ways you can use it to profit your business.

I’ll be posting here frequently, so please be sure to check back often!

-Costas