Again this is going to be a very short post.  It’s Saturday morning and I just finished reading the Windsor Star and came across an article on Google’s Street View coming which is coming to Windsor shortly.   Now I love Google, frankly because my business focuses directly on helping small businesses dominate the first page of Google.  And I can think of many ways small and medium size businesses could use this technology to make more money but this is not what my post is about today.

It’s about Google being able to peek it’s head into my living room when I’m half naked, well not exactly naked but  you get the point.

This past Wednesday Google launched it’s Street View image service into 11 Canadian cities and Windsor will be coming very soon.  By the way, has anyone noticed the funny looking car driving around Windsor Ontario?  You may have noticed the one with the tall camera connected to the roof, well that’s a Google car.  I should have applied for the job.

Anyways according to Google, more than 28 million Street View images of various locations within Canadian cities were viewed this past Wednesday.  That number is insane!

So after reading the article I was like all others and immediately went on to see what I can find….call it sort-of voyeurism or not…but I think it’s kinda cool!

All I can say is make sure you shut your curtains.

Can you see the woman in the window?

Internet Marketing Windsor Ontario - Google Street View - Kitchener

I’m just joking about the woman in the window, but honestly…it is kinda creepy.

Have a great day!

Mike d

Search engines like Google have changed the way we communicate, collaborate, research, buy and sell, date etc.  We all appreciate Google and welcome any thing that helps us in our lives.

However what I’ve noticed from a lot of people I’ve talked to is that they understand Google and they understand how to search.  But they have no idea that Google has advanced search techniques that would help us to quickly find what we’re searching for.

Below you’ll find some advanced search techniques that should help you streamline your search results and find the things that you’re searching for easier.  For illustrations purposed we used bold and underline for the advanced search techniques.

Enjoy!

• Phrase search (“”)
  Using double quotes around a set of words tells Google to consider the exact words in that exact order without altering them. By insisting on phrase search you might be missing good results accidentally. For example, a search for “Eddie Francis” (with quotes) will miss the pages that refer to Eddie H. Francis.

See example below!

Google Search - Online Marketing

• Search within a specific website (site:)
  Our friend Google allows us to specify that our search results must come from a given website. For example the search mayor site:windsorstar.com will return pages about the mayor but only from windsorstar.com The simpler searches mayor windsorstar.com or mayor Windsor star will usually be just as good, though they might return results from other sites that mention the Windsor Star. You can also specify a whole class of sites, for example mayor site:.gov will return results only from a .gov domain and mayor site:.ca will return results only from Canadian sites.

See example below!

Google Search for Mayor with in windsorstar.com

• Terms you want to exclude (-)
  Attaching a minus sign immediately before a word indicates that you do not want pages that contain this word to appear in your results. The minus sign should appear immediately before the word and should be preceded with a space. For example, in the search anti-virus software, the minus sign is used as a hyphen and will not be interpreted as an exclusion symbol; whereas the search anti-virus -software will search for the words ‘anti-virus’ but exclude references to software. You can exclude as many words as you want by using the - sign in front of all of them, for example mustang -cars –football -ford. The - sign can be used to exclude more than just words. For example, place a hyphen before the ‘site:’ operator (without a space) to exclude a specific site from your search results.

See example below!

Google Search for Online Marketing

• Fill in the blanks (*)
  The *, or wildcard, is a little-known feature that can be very powerful. If you include * within a query, it tells Google to try to treat the star as a placeholder for any unknown term(s) and then find the best matches. For example, the search Google * will give you results about many of Google’s products. The search Eddie Francis voted * on the * strike will give you stories about different votes on human rights. Note that the * operator works only on whole words, not parts of words.

See example below!

Online Marketing Windsor Ontario - Google Search

More advanced Google Search techniques.

• Search exactly as is (+)
  Google employs synonyms automatically, so that it finds pages that mention, for example, childcare for the search child care (with a space), or Ontario history for the search ont history. But sometimes Google helps out a little too much and gives you a synonym when you don’t really want it. By attaching a + immediately before a word (remember, don’t add a space after the +), you are telling Google to match that word precisely as you typed it.

• The OR operator
  Google’s default behavior is to consider all the words in a search. If you want to specifically allow either one of several words, you can use the OR operator (note that you have to type ‘OR’ in ALL CAPS). For example, Detroit Lions 2004 OR 2005 will give you results about either one of these years, whereas Detroit Lions 2004 2005 (without the OR) will show pages that include both years on the same page. The symbol | can be substituted for OR. (The AND operator, by the way, is the default, so it is not needed.)

Well I hope the above examples will help you in your quest to find what you’re searching for in Google quicker and much easier.

If you have any questions or comments please leave them below.

Thanks and good luck!

Mike d

This is going to be very short because all I wanted to do is share with you some actual results on Google from creating a simple Facebook fan page for one of our friends who owns this company.  Now the funny thing is that we haven’t given this page any “marketing love” for the past few months. Surprisingly we’re getting some great first page rankings (well its actually no surprise because that’s what we do and we love it) but the best thing is that it’s actually producing qualified leads.

All we can say is fantastic…that’s what this whole online marketing thing is all about.

Check out some screen captures below!

Facebook and Google

Here’s a screen capture for multiple listings!

Multiple First page listings on Google

If you or someone you know operates a business and think our online marketing strategies might help grow the business then you can contact us here.

Best success to everyone!

Mike d

Business owners are always on the look out for qualified prospects and the best prospects are targeted qualified prospects searching for your products or services with money in hand.

That’s the life blood of any business.  But the question remains, how does a business owner get highly targeted prospects 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and even on holidays?

We have the answer! And it’s somewhat simple…

Focus on local Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategies.

Fact: Local people are searching for products and services from local businesses every single day.   If you’re a local business and haven’t put a thought into getting on Google’s first page then you are definitely missing out on a huge opportunity.  By learning web marketing strategies you can get more customers walking threw your doors which will help you make more money.

Try this: Go to Google and search for your particular niche.  For example if you’re own a store that sells furniture then go to Google and search “furniture windsor ontario” and see if you show up in Google’s organic search results.  Because if you don’t then you’re missing out on 289 potential customers per month in Windsor Ontario.

Now if you see your business listed on the first page of Google and you wonder why you’re not getting any additional foot traffic threw your store you may want to get your website analyzed for maximum website optimization and traffic conversions.

Think of it this way with your website.  It’s just like your brick and mortar store.  If a potential customer walks in and they presume your store is not attractive, messy or your staff seem not to care, then you’ll most likely miss out on a sale.

When People visit a website they automatically make a first impression about your business.  They look around the site and judge how pleasing to the eye your website is, they see how easy they can find information, and they won’t think twice about “bouncing” off going to the next website if they don’t like yours. You could be missing out on opportunities!

Get your website rated for market effectiveness!

Are you competitive?  As a business owner myself, I’m extremely ruthless when it comes to competing for possible business.  And the more inside information I have about my customers the better equipped I am when it comes to beating my competitors.  Imagine dominating the first page of Google for your specific industry.   Think about your site becoming the authority website online, and on the first page of Google.

It’s possible for your website to become the local authority site and remove most of your competitors off the first page of Google !

Watch this video below by clicking on the link.  You’ll be taken to our YouTube station!

Check out local Google domination for one of our customers!

I’ve included some screen shots of some industries in Windsor Ontario and how many monthly searches are performed on Google.

Check out and see if you’re missing out on golden money making opportunities.

Keyword Search Phrase – Furniture Windsor Ontario

Internet Marketing - Furniture Windsor Ontaraio

Keyword Search Phrase – Cars For Sale Windsor Ontario

Internet Marketing - Cars for Sale Windsor Ontario

Keyword Search Phrase – Hair Salon Windsor Ontario

Internet Marketing - Hair Salon Windsor Ontario

Keyword Search Phrase – Dentist Windsor Ontario

Internet Marketing - Dentist Windsor Ontario

If you don’t see your particular industry or niche then click the link below and put in your name and email address.

Download the WINDSOR ONTARIO INDUSTRY SEARCH VOLUME PDF HERE!

I’m not sure if you’re going to like this or not but I had to share this with everyone.

Coming from a newly formed and proud germaphobe many of you know or you may not know that I’ve been a big fan of Dr. Oz ever since he appeared on The Oprah Show as America’s Doctor.  I’m just  fascinated with learning about health tips, illness prevention and just good’ol health information he shares.  I believe the more we know the better our chances of fighting off disease.

OKAY HERE’S THE JUICY STUFF.

Recently Dr. Oz launched his own show called “The Doctor Oz Show” and I’ve been watching ever since.  But this isn’t really about his show but about something he said that changed the way I view my bathroom.

What he said actually shocked me and I thought of all the times I’ve done this.   He said that a few years ago he was watching The Discover Channel and they were showing how your TOOTH BRUSH and everything else in the bathroom was contaminated with feces.  YUCK!  WHAT I SAID?

NOT FOR THE QUEEZY!

This is what Dr. Oz said.

Every time we flush the toilet with the lid up the water particles and everything else in the toilet bowl including pee and poop get’s put into the air and last’s about 20 mins.  And he also said that it could travel up to 20 feet.  I don’t know about you but my bathroom is no where near 20 feet long or wide.

Cool Video to Watch: http://tiny.cc/BathroomExplosion

So the next time you flush the toilet please make sure you do everyone a favor and close your toilet lid. 

I think when it comes to Email Marketing most small business owners shrug it off as one of those…ah would be nice but don’t have the time type deals.

Unfortunately that could be the worse decision a business owner could make especially with the way the economy is. As a small business you need to increase your communication with current and potential customers right now before your competitors take action!  That goes for non-profits as well.

So why Email Marketing?  Here’s the real power. Relationship building!

Imagine communicating with your email subscribers on a predetermined time frame such as once a month or once per quarter. You see people are always on their email and if an email comes in from someone they know, or a place they visited before, chances are they’ll open your email.

As a small business you have a ton of benefits to seize from email marketing. Some of the benefits are apparent like having the ability to create leads directly from your website by adding a sign-up form. Don’t worry about visitors on your site yet, we can help you with that. The important thing to remember is that even if you only have 10 sign-ups a month, that’s 10 possible leads you might not have received before. And now you have permission to send them information on your company. 

Email marketing is great for surveying your current customers. If you make the e-survey easy for your customers, most that have purchased from you before will be courteous and fill out an electronic survey. This is where you can solicit incredible amounts of information. I’ve seen survey’s that have asked customers what price would they be willing to pay for XYZ. And it works! This is where you can become creative and find out what customers are looking for and then develop the solution to sell them.

If you solve a problem, you have a customer-right?

Here are some ideas on using Email Marketing:

• Lead generation

• Relationship building with your customers

• Direct sales

• Survey your customers

• Solicit donations for non-profit organizations

• Cross-selling and up-selling

• Company communication

• Viral Marketing

Emailing Marketing and the ROI

For starters the ROI versus other direct marketing methods pale in comparison. Here are few advantages of Email Marketing:

• Emailing Marketing’s ROI is 43:1 return on the dollar

• Virtually Zero cost for A/B Testing different email campaigns and responses

• Immediate In depth real-time analysis to map successful campaigns

• Segment various email subscribers for targeted campaigns

The above list is truly only a fraction of the advantages and benefits of a well planned Email Marketing Campaign. The benefits outweigh the cost hands down.

As you can see there are a number of ways to take advantage of this amazing marketing medium. It’s simple yet effective. And to have a successful campaign, all you need to do is follow some simple steps of pre-planning and executing.

We can help you put together a killer email campaign and we’ll also give you FREE access to our Email Marketing System.

If you would like to learn more tips on how to use email marketing all you need to do is  sign up for our  “Website Traffic E-Course”.    This course will guide you through steps you can take to drive local traffic to your website.  After signing -up the tips on pre-planning and executing a email marketing campaign will arrive in your in-box. 

cheers,

Mike d

P.S. Remember your marketing doesn’t have to be expensive to produce results. Call us today or send us an email at info@webloungers.com.

I’ve decided to post this video to showcase a small local company getting multiple listing on the first page of Google.  I can’t think of a better way to stay ahead of your competition while serving more customers in this tough economy. 

This video is rather short, only about 2mins.  Watch the video here: Webloungers.com Local Internet Marketing

FYI – It’s true.  More and more potential customers are going online and searching for products and services from local businesses.

If you or someone you know have any questions regarding Local Internet Marketing or if you know someone that needs a web presence and would like multiple first page listings on Google, please pass this video on or email us directly at info@webloungers.com

..have a great day,

Mike d

P.S. Make sure you pass this video on to any local business you enjoy visiting.

Here’s the video again Webloungers.com Internet Marketing