Author: Nate Moller

Categories
Customer Engagement & Retention

Which Social Media Network is the Best for Conversion Marketing?

At Moller Marketing, we care most about one thing – CONVERSION! That’s right – sales. We want our online marketing clients to get sales with their online marketing dollars.

Sure, it’s great to be at the top of Google for a ton of different phrases, but our main question is always, “How many sales have you driven because of that phrase?”

A sale can be created in a couple different ways via a website:

  • A purchase through the website
  • A lead generated that turns into a sale via a phone call or face to face meeting

For clients that offer a service like car care or gymnastics training, making a sale directly no the website may not be very likely. But generating qualified leads via an online form can turn into a sale that has a great lifetime value.

One of the most common questions we get from clients is “Which of all the social networks is the most effective for my industry?”

Sometimes that question is a hard one to answer depending on the industry the client is in. However, we found a great infographic recently from our friends at QuickSprout that shares some great insight about the best CTR (Click Through Ratio) social network. Check this out:

From the post:

Did you know that Pinterest will generate you four times more money per click than Twitter? And 27% more than Facebook?

…there is a 36% increase in likes for pins that contain prices, and there is an 80% increase in engagement for pins that contain a call to action. And if you are able to leverage trending topics, you can get a 94% increase in clicks as well.

Thanks to QuickSprout and Neil Patel for always sharing great content that’s applicable!

How has Pinterest worked for you?

Categories
Website How To's

Can You Get Rich with an Online Business?

What’s your thought on the question?

Can you really get rich with an online business?

I’m sure most of you have heard of someone who got rich with an online business.

You may have seen someone do it on TV.

You may have even read about a “turn key” system to make money overnight.

But does it really happen?

And if it does, what’s held you back from jumping on that band-wagon?

I guess the first question I’d have for clients that want to “get rich” with an online business is this:

What does “rich” mean to you?

I recently came across an article that talked about wealth. Now, to me, wealth and rich are similar, but they’re not the same. I’d say professional athletes are pretty rich. But if you haven’t heard, some of them go bankrupt or back to the paycheck to paycheck status once they retire because they’ve never been taught how to handle their money effectively.

According to Thomas Corley, here’s how wealth is defined:

In my five year study on the daily habits of the wealthy and the poor I set the bar for the wealthy to include two things:

  1. An annual income of $160,000 and
  2. Net Liquid Assets of $3.2 million

So wealth is a little more than just getting paid a lot of money – it’s about net worth too.

My hope for people looking to “get rich” is that they take time to understand and define for themselves what “rich” and “wealth” really mean; then they need to map out a plan on how they are going to get there.

I used to work with clients all the time that were looking for the “get rich quick” online business. Luckily, I’d had quite a bit of experience working with truly successful online marketers and was able to direct them down paths that helped them succeed in different ways.

So my answer to the question: “Can you get rich with an online business?”

YES!

ABSOLUTELY!

But it’s more than just the online business that will make you rich/wealthy. It’s the mindset. It’s the day to day habits.

This list is something you should print out and review daily to see if you’re on the right path:

getting-rich-with-online-businessThe Ten Keystone Rich Habits That Will Make Your Rich:

  1. Wealthy individuals have eliminated most of their bad daily failure habits and replaced them with good daily success habits
  2. Wealthy individuals set daily, monthly, annual and long-term goals. They understand the difference between a wish and a goal. See my Free Goals Report
  3. Wealthy individuals engage in 30 minutes a day of daily career-related reading.
  4. Wealthy people are healthy people. They exercise aerobically 30 minutes a day, four days a week and stay below their “caloric threshold” (This is the number of calories consumed each day that will neither make you gain weight nor lose weight). For men this ranges from 2,000 calories a day to 2,600 calories a day. For women this ranges from 1,500 calories a day to 2,100 calories a day.
  5. Wealthy individuals manage their relationships every day. Strong relationships are the currency of the wealthy. They employ certain strategies to grow their relationships such as: “The Hello Call”, “The Happy Birthday Call” and “The Life Event Call”. They use a specific strategy to help them increase their Rich Relationships and eliminate their Poverty Relationships.
  6. Wealthy individuals live each day in moderation.They eat in moderation, spend in moderation, work in moderation and play in moderation.
  7. Wealthy individuals complete at least 70% of the tasks on their daily “to do” list.
  8. Wealthy individuals engage in “Rich Thinking”. They are upbeat, positive and focused on achievement.
  9. Wealthy individuals save a minimum of 10-20% of their income and live off of the remaining 80-90%.
  10. Wealthy individuals control their thoughts and emotions, every day.

Poverty Habits That Are Keeping You Poor

  • You watch more than one hour of T.V. a day.
  • You spend more than an hour a day on recreational Internet use (Facebook, Twitter etc.)
  • You eat more than 300 junk food calories a day.
  • You drink more than two glasses of beer, wine or hard alcohol a night.
  • You drink more than 12 ounces of non-diet soda a day.
  • You don’t exercise aerobically a minimum of 30 minutes a day, four days a week.
  • Your relationships are on an “as needed” basis. You only reach out to your friends to socialize or when you have problems and need their help. You don’t call them just to say hello, happy birthday or to congratulate them or console them when something happens in their lives. In other words, you ignore them unless you need them for something.
  • Procrastination is the rule rather than the exception. You don’t maintain a daily “to do” list, or if you do, you don’t accomplish 70% or more of your daily “to do” list each.
  • You devote very little time to your career beyond working. You do not read a minimum of 30 minutes a day of career-related reading material.
  • You do not network or volunteer a minimum of 5 hours a month.
  • You do the bare minimum at work. You have “it’s not in my job description” syndrome.
  • You talk too much and don’t listen enough. You violate the ”5 to 1 Rule” (Listening for 5 minutes for every 1 minute of talking).
  • Oftentimes, you are putting your foot in your mouth and saying inappropriate things.
  • You are not generous with your time or money with respect to your relationships.
  • You are a spender and not a saver. You don’t save 10% of your net income every month. You violate the “90 % Rule” (Pay yourself first 10% of your net pay and live off of the remaining 90% of your net pay).
  • You spend more than you earn and your debt is overwhelming you.
  • You don’t control your thoughts and emotions on a daily basis. You lose your temper too often and belittle others too much.
  • You think a wish is a goal. Goals require a specific physical activity, otherwise they are just wishes and wishes don’t come true.

How are you doing on this list?

What do these tips make you think about?

Are you ready to commit to a more healthy and wealthy life?

Comments are welcome!

Categories
Website Performance & Design

INFOGRAPHIC: The Basics of Website Design

As many of you know, Moller Marketing has been offering WordPress Website Design in Utah for over five years.

In order to stay at the top of our game, we’re always looking for the most up-to-date ways to create new websites.

A few things we WON’T do:

  • Flash Programming

Flash has its place but in a world where we want information right away, Flash should be used sparingly for 2013 web design…There’s nothing more annoying than Flash animation, video or pop-up that you can’t skip.

  • Automatic Music or Video play when site opens (aka ANNOYING!)
  • Complete iFrame Coding (aka “you’ll never find this site on Google Search Results)

This infographic will give all of our clients (and potential clients) an idea about why we design the way we do.

Would love your comments.

Categories
Website Performance & Design

VIDEO: How to Edit an Image Size with Pixlr.com

This is a common question we deal with (and had ourselves when we first started designing WordPress websites for clients).

We created this video tutorial so clients and readers can see the step-by-steps of editing an image size plus we threw in one more simple tip that will help you with your website images.

Enjoy!

Categories
Customer Engagement & Retention

INFOGRAPHIC: Should Your Consulting Company Do Work for Free?

I’m approaching two full years of self-employment.

It’s been real.

It’s been fun.

And many days it’s been real fun.

However, some days it can be a bit stressful, especially if you have “friends” or “contacts” that have a great offer for you, an opportunity to get in at the ground level, or however else they may pitch it.

At times it’s hard to tell them no.

At times I’ve been on the brink of saying “Sure, why not…” But luckily I’ve only had two experiences where I feel I’ve dropped the ball and gave clients a good product priced WAY below market value, only to have them expect way more than they paid for and ultimately be upset.

(I wish I would have found the infographic I shared the other day about website design warnings… 🙂 )

In an effort to know how to best tell a potential business partnership that my company doesn’t do work for free, I ran across an article that was titled, “Should I work for free?” It was actually a big flow chart that made me chuckle on a couple different levels.

I cut it up a bit, focusing primarily on the business to business “work for free” proposition, since that’s the one I’ve dealt with most in my two years of business bliss. The infographic sums it up pretty clearly.

Do you agree?

Should I Do Business to Business Consulting for Free?

What are your thoughts? See the entire infographic here.

How do you respond to the AWESOME OPPORTUNITY to get a lot of business exposure?

Share this!

Categories
Website Performance & Design

INFOGRAPHIC: What Should You Look for in Website Design?

I’m going to make this post short, sweet, and to the point.

If you want a really nice website that is going to work for your business, outsourcing it to India is NOT the best idea.

We’ve all heard the cliche, “You get what you pay for.” This couldn’t be MORE TRUE when it comes to quality website design.

I’ve been working in the industry of website design, programming, and online marketing now for over 7 years. I’ve seen a wide variety of website ideas. And this infographic pretty much sums it all up…

 

So, my challenge to you, before you decide on a website design firm to work with, is to really ask yourself what you really want MOST from your website.

If Cheap or Free is what you want, make sure you evaluate what you’re going to get based on this “oh-so-true” infographic 🙂 and best of luck to you.

If Great, Fast AND Cheap is what you’re desiring – welcome to the Impossible Utopia.

And by the way, your friend/neighbor/cousin/nephew/whatever isn’t always the best choice – trust me.

Thoughts?

Categories
Website How To's

Why Should I Even Think About Starting an Online Business?

I’m not a politician.

In fact, I think it’s one of the shadiest businesses out there.

I have stayed up-to-date a bit more this year with the presidential election, however. I’m not sure if it’s because of the social media presence the election has, or if it’s because I worked (indirectly) with Mitt Romney in the 2002 Winter Olympics.

The question that keeps coming up, though, after listening to all the media coverage, is this:

Is starting an online business going to be a good decision in the future?

I started my first online business in 2004 and it’s still running today.

I started it as a way to monetize a hobby, and it’s turned in to a decent residual income for our family.

Since it was my first business ever, I didn’t really know what to expect; therefore, I made some new business mistakes.

The Small Business Mistakes I’ve Made

  • I set up an LLP instead of an LLC because it was cheaper.
  • I started with one accountant, didn’t like them, moved to another, didn’t like them either, then another, then another, and ultimately I’m back at the original accountant I’d started with.
  • I didn’t have a way to keep track of income and expenses.
  • I didn’t get a business license. I was told by one accountant that I didn’t need one as an online retailer.
  • I didn’t understand all the tax right offs that were available (not sure if I do now either but I do keep all business receipts and write who I was with and what I was doing on the receipt).
  • I didn’t have a bookkeeper.
  • I didn’t understand the benefits of setting up DBAs (not sure I do now either).
  • I learned this year that doing payroll is a pain in the A@#.
  • I learned this year that there are a lot of forms and paperwork the government requires if you are a full-time self employed person.

As you can see, there are a lot of things I didn’t know and still may not know as well as I should/could.

I recently read the infamous small business quote Obama shared with some of his followers. In my opinion, this quote could and SHOULD cost him the presidency. Here’s the quote:

The Barak Obama Stupid Business Quote of the Year

“You didn’t get there on your own,” Obama said. “I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.”

Really?

Did he just say all that?

Does he not realize that America is the land of opportunity?

Did he forget the concept of living the “American Dream”?

Granted, some of what he said is correct – none of us did everything on our own.

People Who Have Helped Me as a Small Business Owner

I would never be where I am today as a small business owner if it wasn’t for a variety of people and organizations. My mentor taught me a great deal of what I know about online marketing. My parents were AWESOME at keeping me committed to something once I started. My baseball coaches helped foster the persistence in me to push harder when things were tough. My wife reminds me all the time (without saying a word) that if I’m going to be a small business owner, I better bust my butt and provide for our family. I’ve worked at companies that have given me lots of hands-on experience of how to run a business (and how not to).

ALL of these experiences have helped me be able to run my own small business.

HOWEVER, ultimately I had to do the work and take the risks.

Ultimately, I had to make the phone calls and create the proposals.

The government had NOTHING to do with this.

The government is generally a thorn in my side when it comes to small business.

Here’s what one of my fellow online marketing entrepreneurs, James Zolman, has to say about the whole thing:

I didn’t want to join the whole “You didn’t build it” Obama debate…but, as an Entrepreneur and HEFTY tax payer, I say that MY tax contribution is MY money. Taxes are the money of the people, not the money of the government.

If taxes are the money of the people, how do we contribute to that “pool” of money that builds our infrastructure? By working. Where are the jobs? At a business of some type…that somebody started, probably got into debt for, risked everything for…and still contributed money into the pool of cash allocated to our government to responsibly (cough) spend on our behalf.

We control the government. The government should never control us. It’s our money in there. It’s hard earned money. Blood sweat and tears went into earning it and contributing it.

I understand the whole context of the quote by Obama too. He was saying “You didn’t build that infrastructure – the roads, etc.” Re-read my argument – the government didn’t do crap, WE did it. The PEOPLE did it. The ENTREPRENEURS and hard workers/employees of businesses everywhere contributed funds in the form of taxes to create jobs – the job for other people to build our roads and infrastructure. It all comes back to who earned that money or took that risk. It’s the people.

WE are the ones that build this country. Not our government. Government is not people, it is a strategy run by the people for the people. The strategy of government does not “own” me or anybody else. The government did not build my business. I did. You did.

Thank you.

So, I repeat my question from before:

Is starting an online business a good idea?

Will the benefits of running your own successful company still exist 4, 8, 12 years from now?

Who is going to give me a better chance to maintain my drive to be a small business owner – Obama or Romney?

I look forward to your thoughts on this topic.

If you have recommendations on things I can read about the mistakes I’ve made as a small business owner, share those too.

Categories
Digital Presence & Marketing Strategy

Basic On-Site SEO Strategy You Have to Know

I had a client the other day send me this email:

(Message from client’s boss)

We were looking for trinkets and trash ideas for our new special order laser machine and first search result was from http://www.collegegear.com/

Look at their meta tag below, no wonder…

COPYRIGHT © 1997-2010 COLLEGEGEAR.COM, INC.. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COLLEGE APPAREL | UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE | COLLEGE BOOKSTORE | UNIVERSITY APPAREL | STATE APPAREL | CAMPUS RETAILERS ARE ALL ON COLLEGEGEAR.COM AS THE LARGEST PROVIDER OF OFFICIALLY LICENSED COLLEGIATE PRODUCTS TO STUDENTS, FANS AND ALUMNI. COLLEGEGEAR.COM OFFERS COLLEGE APPAREL FROM UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORES – COLLEGE BOOKSTORES – ONLINE BOOKSTORES – CAMPUS RETAILERS – AND COLLEGE GEAR FROM OUR EXCLUSIVE SUPPLIERS. COLLEGE MERCHANDISE INCLUDES COLLEGE BEDDING – COLLEGE APPAREL – STATE APPAREL – COLLEGE JERSEYS – COLLEGE SHIRTS – STATE SWEATSHIRTS – UNIVERSITY SWEATSHIRTS – COLLEGE GIFTS – COLLEGE CLOTHING – COLLEGE SWEATSHIRTS. COLLEGEGEAR.COM SUPPORTS ALL CAMPUS STORES AND COLLEGE BOOK STORE WHO SELL THEIR PRODUCTS IN THIS SECTION SO ALL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, FANS AND ALUMNI FIND THE LARGEST SELECTION OF COLLEGE APPAREL ON THE PLANET. WE LOVE COLLEGE FANS!

The SEO Question

Hey Nate,

I just received this info on another store. The meta tag. Is this something I should be doing?

This is a good question, one that I’m sure many online businesses don’t know how to answer so they do one of two things:

  1. They imitate the “SEO strategy”
  2. They ignore it and continue to do what they’ve always done

I’ve worked with thousands of online business owners and my motto has always been, “The only dumb question you’ll ever ask is the one you DON’T ask!”

I’m glad my client was comfortable enough to ask this question.

My SEO Answer

This is how I explained the “old-school SEO Strategy” to the client (by “old-school” I mean this doesn’t really work any more – it’s a version of “keyword stuffing” and won’t get the site very far if they have some competitors who know what they’re doing when it comes to SEO:

First off, the section you shared has nothing to do with a “Meta Tag” – it’s called a “Global Footer”. Yes, Google looks at that content, but it doesn’t give that section much credibility, especially if there is a tendency within the content to be “stuffed” with keyword phrases – which there is here.

Second, here is what Google really looks for when it comes to search engine placement:

1. Search Engine Friendly Pages that include the following things:

On-site optimization – what we do ON our site to make it search engine friendly. Although on-site SEO is only a part of getting the right traffic to your site, if you do it correctly, it can really help you get out of the Google “sand box”.

Here are the basics of on-site SEO:

Meta Tag Titles

  • 6-10 words maximum
  • Minimal keyword repetition
  • No domain name
  • Use keyword phrases that you want people to use to find you in a search engine
  • Use “buyer phrases” instead of “browser phrases”
  • Every page of a website can have its own unique meta tags

The title shows up in two places:

1. Above the address bar in your internet browser when you’re on the page

2. In Search Engine Results when you type in a specific keyword phrase:

Of all the things Google looks for ON a website, the Title tag on each page is probably the most important one: it tells search engines (and visitors) what the page is about, or at least it SHOULD.

If a search engine goes to a page that is using specific keyword phrases in the title tag but then, when they see the content on the page, it has nothing to do with those phrases, that page loses it’s credibility and can become “black listed” by search engines like Google.

So, to summarize, the content you sent me is simply part of the internal content of a page but doesn’t have as much weight to a search engine as a title tag does.

Having good, quality, and UNIQUE content on every page of your site is also very helpful. This is one of the reasons I’m hoping that we can “customize” the category pages more so that it’s not just a list of products but that it better tells the visitor and the search engine what the page is all about.

Here’s a bit more information about other meta information, which we can discuss when we meet next:

Meta Tag Descriptions

  • 1-3 Sentences
  • Keyword repetition recommended
  • Explain what the page is about
  • Is found in search engine results below the title tag

Meta Tag Keywords

  • 5-10 words/phrases separated by commas
  • keyword repetition is okay
  • make sure the words relate to the page you’re marketing
  • not seen by regular visitors – found in the source code
  • these are not as important any more to search engines like Google but it doesn’t hurt to have them

Hope this helps clarify.

Talk soon and keep the questions coming!

Starting an effective online business is not a “turn-key” or “get rich quick” project.

If you really want to see results and move up in search engine rankings for the best keyword phrases, you have to not be afraid to ask questions, test, and implement strategies that are proven to work.

Thanks to this client for her willingness to ask the right questions and then implement what we discussed.

Did this make sense to you?

Categories
Digital Presence & Marketing Strategy

VIDEO: How to Monetize Your Website

I talk to a lot of clients about starting an online business.

Many of them have some decent ideas. Some of them have some AMAZING ideas.

However, especially when it comes to a “service based” website business, some of them have completely overlooked an important question:

How are you going to make money with that concept?

I know. You’d think this would be the FIRST question a new business owner would want to answer. But some get so caught up in the functionality, the “wow” factor of their idea, that they fail to answer that simple yet ESSENTIAL question.

After they’ve run the idea by me and ask what I think, my first question is always that one.

I love it when I hear…”Oh, I’m going to sell advertising.”

People, selling ad space on a new website can be done, but it’s NOT as easy as you think, especially now days where people understand the internet, they know what Google Analytics is, and they’ve probably been bombarded by a bunch of other “newbie” website owners trying to do the same thing (or they’re already advertising on legit sites that get TONS of targeted quality traffic).

One of my favorite speakers, Gary Vaynerchuk, talks about monetizing a website via advertisers in this video. Take a look:

Some of the keys points:

  • How do I monetize my blog?
  • Monetizing is where it’s at.
  • Think about it in a very simple and concise way.
  • They way you’re going to make money is by GRABBING IT!
  • Go to Google. Type in a keyword phrase. Look for the paid advertisers in the Google Adwords sections.
  • See what the site has and if it coincides with what you’re talking about or what you do on your site.
  • Find the phone number of the website. Call the website owner.
  • Ask them about advertising on your site. “Who would I speak to about advertising on my [whatever] blog?”
  • “If I was able to bring up my traffic to 2,000 or so visitors daily, would you be willing to advertisers with us?”
  • “If I have 500 – 2,000 people watching a beer show every single day, that will be very targeted traffic…”
  • “Maybe we could do some sort of affiliate deal where any lead I help you generate you pay me on…”
  • You have to CONVINCE the people that you can help them!
  • There are a ton of different options.
  • Look for the little groups, not necessarily the big players.
  • Spend 5 to 10 times the time looking for sponsors and you’ll get some traffic.
  • You have to go out there an HUSTLE!

What did you get from this video?

How are you going to implement this on your website?

At the end of the day it’s all about this question:

How bad do you want it?

Categories
Digital Presence & Marketing Strategy

PODCAST: Is Keyword Research Still Important?

I had a Facebook friend ask me recently if keyword research was still important for online marketing.

Uh…

I wasn’t sure if they were being sarcastic or not so I just didn’t respond.

They followed up with this statement:

We’ve heard that SEO doesn’t really matter that much so we thought keyword research wouldn’t matter either.

That question and comment inspired me to dig into early blog posts. In 2008 I did a podcast interview with Mat Siltala of DreamSystemsMedia.com. Mat taught me most of what I know about keyword research and why its vital when starting an online business.

Here’s the podcast again. Some of the tools he mentions may not be the latest and greatest, but the gist of the interview remains true to this day.

[powerpress url=”http://mollermarketing.com/podcast/Mat%20Siltala%20Interview.mp3″]

Why is keyword research so important when it comes to marketing online?

  • It helps separate you from your competitors
  • It helps you learn what your competitors are doing
  • It helps you determine who your target audience is

How do you determine which keywords are the quality ones?

Research your competition. Which keywords are they going after? Look at their title tags, content, links, etc. to see what they are using. Find variations of those words. Spend time on keywords that are targeted (niche), not the general phrases that everyone is going after. Targeted keywords tend to convert better too.

How do you use keywords to market your website online?

Keyword research is a key part of my marketing campaign. There are many different tools out there to use. Aaron Wall has a great keyword research too. Keyword Discovery has one. SEOMoz is pretty good. Wordtracker too. Using your competition can help you so much – you can develop more of a targeted niche, something to build the content around.

Once clients have done the keyword research, where do they put those keyword phrases?

  • Anchor Text in Off-site marketing – links pointing people back to your site (ie. writing articles, press releases, blog comments, submitting to free and paid directories, and link sharing with related websites)
  • Inside the content of your site
  • If your site has 500 words of content, need to use specific keywords at least 5 times to show search engines what you are about.
  • Blog posts
  • Navigation
  • Title Tags
  • Header Tags
  • Friendly URLs
  • Alt Tags in pictures and links
  • Meta tag title, description and keywords

Why is keyword research an ongoing process?

You never want to stop figuring out what are the best converting keywords. Just because you’re being found for one word doesn’t mean its the best one.
What analytics software do you recommend?

  • Google Analytics

What are your websites?

RockyMountainMattress.com sells memory foam mattresses and custom mattresses.

Any other recommendations?

Understand that you’re competing with people that have been doing this for years. It won’t happen overnight. Take it slow, build quality content and links, figure out the right keywords and build trust and credibility.