When I first started with Twitter, I didn’t have a clue.  I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Sure, I watched the cheesy Twitter video explaining stuff, I google searched, I read other’s wisdomful nuggets, but I’ll admit, the Internet Marketing guy didn’t have a clue. In fact, one of my own clients (A Life Coach) pointed out to me after I was posting tweets to no one that I was speaking to absolutely NO ONE. I’ve come a long way, but still have  much to learn. I think Social media can be a great tool, I think social media can help strengthen and reinforce a brand, I think social media can help us enhance customer service initiatives, etc. Here’s the biggest lesson I learned:

BE SOCIAL.

It seems so elementary, but people need people. The second you start making everything about you and your company, you’re doing it wrong.  Use social media to share your wisdom with your tribe, use social media to reinforce your brand, use social media to constantly improve your company and your level of customer service.  Social media is about talking and listening, it’s about contributing and building, it’s about transparency and being human.  The second you start using social media to SELL, SELL, SELL, you’re done.  People leave you, they move on to another tribe to learn and grow. Game over.

Need some help getting your social media campaign up and running? Give me a call: 407-830-4550.

I was clicking around an alleged Internet marketing expert web site to check out the competition when I went to go read their testimonials, this is what I saw:

Coming Soon!

So, the testimonials are coming soon? Or is it that their are no testimonials yet so you don’t have content for them? Or maybe, the testimonials are on back order? Either way, the web site user’s perception is the user’s reality. I would say that Coming Soon DOES please me more than the dreaded ‘UNDER CONSTRUCTION’ with the cheesy shovel icon.

We’ve all used the Coming Soon label on an empty page, but I think it’s pretty important to CAREFULLY choose what page you put that coming soon on or don’t link the page at all until it is completed.  By having a coming soon on the testimonials page, you are sending some mixed messages to your potential prospects.

You have all indeed heard of Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. Many companies are now trying to figure out how to ‘harness’ the power of the social networking phenomena and several have asked us how they can use facebook, twitter, etc. to grow their business and increase leads, etc.  Here’s the simple answer…. If you have a facebook account, how many of those ‘friends’ do you have that you actually care about, or have thought about in the past fifteen years?  I found myself the other day noting that I had over 102 friends: how many of those are actually true GENUINE friends? Friends that would take a bullet for me? Three of them, tops.

People are keeping score of how many friends they have, they don’t want to be rude and DENY facebook friendship, so they hit accept. Then it becomes a challenge to see how many friends you have.  How can you close business with people who you have not seen in over 17 years? Do you have REAL relationships with these folks? Here’s my point, you can’t expect to close a $10,000 website through facebook or through your popular twitter page. You may alert some of your friends who HAPPEN to own a business that you create websites for a living, etc. and they MAY think of you IF they ever need you, but other than that? No REAL relationship, no closing, no business, no dice, no soup for you.

Networking does in fact work, BUT, networking works when there is a REAL GENUINE relationship involved.

Check out Seth Godin’s Video on this topic here>

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about permission marketing. We have a client who firmly believes in email marketing, only, it’s not really email marketing, it’s more, email spamming.  I can’t stand spam.  I’ve argued with this gentleman so many times, he is actually going out, scraping email addresses from the web (govt. agencies mind you) and sending out thousands of unsolicited emails. He was annoyed one day when nearly half of his outbound spam messages got sent back due to our server settings.  Needless to say, I don’t think he’ll be PUSHING his wares via email any longer.

But spam comes in many different shapes other than email:

* The stupid unsolicited telemarketers calling and asking me if I have a cracked windshield.

* The realtor postcards that I enjoy so very much in my home mailbox.

* The crappy hideous flyer’s that some putz always manages to get on my car’s windshield wiper.

* The Stupid pizza flyers placed on my home front door.

* The fliers gently shoved underneath my office door.

* The putz who comes into our office, despite all of the signs that prohibit soliciting and tries to sell us oil changes for the next 22 years.

* The PHONE Book stacked 4 books high in my driveway.

Notice the common thread with all of these intrusions? They are all just that.  I gave none of these people to give me anything, or to solicit me, or to touch my car, or to come onto my property and leave fliers on it.  Permission marketing however, gets my permission before and is NOT intrusive, and in fact, is even welcomed.  Here’s an example:  I recently purchased a MacBookPro.  Apple asked me if I’d like to learn more about how to use the machine via emailed tips: my response, absolutely.  It was a new machine, I don’t have a clue how to use one, and now BAM. I get tips from Apple WITH advertisements for the latest products.  It doesn’t phase me in the least, and I welcome it.

When it comes to marketing, are you getting your prospects permission to engage them? Or are you violating their personal space?

Yes, it’s still 98 degrees and humidity is about 83% today in Orlando, Florida, there is a tropical storm / possible hurricane knocking on Florida’s door, BUT, Christmas is still coming.  I posted something similar to this last year, but NOW is the time to start promoting your Christmas products and services online.

We see it every year, a panicked retailer calling us on December 1 because online sales aren’t up to snuff yet. People, including retailers wait till the last minute to put their products online for the Christmas shopping season.

By adding your products to your web site today and promoting those products to the search engines starting NOW, it is much more probable that your organic search engine rankings for your specific hot Christmas products will indexed and climbing the rankings by the time the buying season is upon us.

Got a great product to sell online? Call On Target Web Solutions at 407-830-4550 today. 

I was clicking around today looking at some of our ‘competitor’ web sites and noticed a clear similarity between many so called SEO firms: They insist on having UGLY web sites! Maybe it’s a passion, maybe it’s a mission to be ranked or labeled as having one of the ugliest web sites ever, God only knows, but here’s the point:

SEO types trying to sell their services should also be cognizant of basic Internet marketing as well: just because you can get a web site found in the SERPS (search engines) doesn’t mean that the web site will sell once you land upon it!  A site still needs to convert once you get traffic to it.  One of the first things we do with a new prospect is a quick critique of the existing web site (if that’s the case) and identify areas needed for improvement before we send the first organic click through to it.  Why would you shell out cash to us to drive traffic to something that’s not going to make you a dime?

Call us today for a free NO obligation 30 minute consultation on either your existing web site or discuss with us a new SEO friendly web design… Call us at 407-830-4550.

Feeburner.com has some great blog tools to help you maximize blog visibility and allow your blog readers to subsribe easily.  One really cool feature is the subscribe by email feature: here’s how to set it up:

Step 1.: Go To Feedburner.com and create an account. Verify it’s you, etc.

Step 2: Enter Your blog RSS feed information: (Hint, you can find this in your word press blog by clicking the posts rss feed link)

Step 3: Once you have filled out the necessary information including your blog title, etc., you can click your blog feed title and open the ‘utility’ screen.

Step 4: Click the publicize tab up top

Step 5: Click the email subscriptions link on the left side of the screen:  once clicked you will see some code that will need to be pasted into your blog.

Step 6: Customize: you can customize your blog feed emails by clicking the Email Branding link on the left: drop in your logo, change your font, etc. Cool stuff!

Step 7: Once you have installed your ‘subscribe code’ you can sign up to see how it works.

Your subscriber’s will now receive a customized email with your latest blog post!

A personal rant: our office got a call from an Orlando web design firm telemarketing us for a web site…. I of course had fun with them for a while but then had to break the bad news to them: We are an Orlando web design firm….. And no, we don’t need a new web design from you, but thanks so much for thinking of us.

Why don’t these people do their homework prior to COLD calling a company?  Not only do I feel that telemarketing a company for a web site is crappy marketing and a poor business practice, but why not set your web site up to attract customers to you rather than getting desperate for business and wasting other people’s time?

Here’s the bottom line: PUSHING your goods and services on other’s simply wastes their time.  The Internet is now owned by the people.  The people who wish to find information on their own.  If they (people) are seeking a web designer, or a candle stick maker, they will find you : if they can.  The new web, or web 2.0 is all about pulling people to you.

Need some help pulling in your prospects? Call us today at 407-830-4550 or visit us online and learn more about our web design or search engine marketing services.

One of the biggest mistakes that we see companies make is signing up for a blog that is not affixed to their domain name.  There are plenty of free blogging related sites out there that makes this simple, but the the truth of the matter is: your blog should be attached to your domain.  Most web hosting companies now offer Word Press or other blogging software as part of the hosting package.

If you are going to spend the time to write content rich articles for your prospects and consumers, use it as an opportunity to solidify the content on your existing web site.  The blog articles serve as rich ‘food’ for search engine spiders and can help enhance the existing content on your web site.

Need some internet marketing pointers? Visit On Target Web Solutions or call 407-830-4550 today.

So many times people forget the big picture, I do it, my dog does it, my 4 year DEFINETLY does it…. When people go out and seek a web site, they often too forget the big picture.  They now they want a web site, they may not know why, they just know that they want a web site.  They contact several web design firms, gather quotes, put some LARGE numbers together and sit and wait for the clients to roll into them.  The largest thing overlooked: Marketing.  Yes, a web site is a form of marketing, but NO, not everyone get’s that.  You’ll see web sites with NO call to action, NO phone number, NO Clear directive, basically, no purpose.  Don’t be that guy. Know that a web site can enhance your sales, it can educate your consumers, it can take some of the strain off of your office phone lines by providing clear concise information to your TARGET MARKET. 

Set your web site up for success from the beginning and call a web design / marketing firm.  On Target Web Solutions, Inc. understands the web and understands marketing.  Marry those components together and set your site and corporate look up for success.  Call On Target Web Solutions today at 407-830-4550 and start growing online today.

Since I dumped my top ten things I hate about the Internet, I found it appropriate to illustrate the top ten things I love about the Internet:

1.) Success stories are made daily.  People hit the right formula with their web site and create a niche following.
2.) Inspiration: You can always find people and sites out there that inspire and have been where you are.
3.) Creating : with the Internet, you can create something beautiful and help it grow.
4.) Publishing: where else can you freely publish your thoughts, ideas etc. and exchange with others?
5.) Instant communication: anything I can do to get my local phone company out of my life brings a great sense of joy to my life.
6.) Friendships: with the net, I can stay in touch with college friends without having to use that same local telephone company.
7.) Google Pop Up Blocker: block the evil smiley icons, the congratulations you just won a million dollars, etc. Makes me happy.
8.) Steering your market: you can change your Internet marketing instantly with the net, attract new undiscovered markets rapidly.
9.) I’m able to buy my lovely wife shoes. (she does read this…..)
10.) Helping people grow their company online each and every day.

Need to feel the love? Call On Target Web Solutions today at 407-830-4550 or visit our web site here: start growing your company online today and start feeling the love.  Women’s shoes not included with this offer.

The ‘Business’ blog is becoming much more common in the realm of Internet marketing: here are a few tips and pointers to get you started with your own blog:

1.) Are you ready for a blog? A Blog needs to be fed: your audience expects new articles, that’s the point.  Keep feeding your readers, they will come back for more.  Build a following.

2.) Have multiple blog posters: keep the variety fresh: different personalities equal different styles of writing, etc.  Assign a weekly blog article to a different employee each week.

3.) Keep them fun, keep them real.  The beauty of a blog is that it is or should be REAL.  People aren’t looking for sales pitches, they are seeking new, fresh and relevant information about you and your company and products.

4.) Remember Google, MSN & Yahoo: They love blogs too: keep them coming back by optimizing your blog for the search engines: relevant keywords, etc.

5.) Give folks easy access to your RSS feed. Make it easy for them to subscribe so that they come back often.

6.) Customize your blog: don’t just settle for the default wordpress theme. Make it your own.

7.) Add some functionality: there are many widgets and applications built for various blogs: explore them all and see which one could benefit your blog the most. They are truthfully a breeze to install.

8.) Don’t Let It Die! Keep it up: with blogging, patience and hard work does pay off.

9.) Front End Of Your Site: Remember to inform your web site audience that you have a blog and provide them a quick easy link to get there.

10.) One of the most important: Install the Blog on YOUR domain.  Far less confusing: easier to manage and much more of a benefit to your existing web site and content.

We’re always preaching about adding content to your site to make it more relevant in your industry, educating your prospects and consumers and we realize that not everyone has so much free time that they crank out an article or two a day.  Consider pulling in an RSS feed to your website.  With some relatively simple programming you can select feeds from a multitude of sources and display them on your site.  With the feed, the articles will change out (creating that dynamic effect) and keeping your web site fluid and not stagnant. 

Helpful pointer: make certain that the RSS feed that you parse is from a trustworthy source and is seated on a reliable hosting platform.  If the site generating the RSS feed goes down, that portion on your website will not be able to display the feed which could cause all sorts of issues.

Need help with your Internet marketing? Contact the search engine marketing and web design experts at On Target Web Solutions. 407-830-4550.

I spent some talking to one of our newest employees today regarding internet marketing and what truly makes for a great internet marketing campaign.  He came to the realization that it’s not all about keywords, meta tags, copy optimization, seo, etc.  He said to me “So, if users have a great web experience on the site, they will come back and / or tell their friends…..” The words web experience rang out in my head, that is truly what it is all about.

When people get to your web site, are they engaged? Do they feel compelled to follow the path you have methodically laid out for them? Or are they just hap hazardly bouncing around?  That’s the key: lead them, guide them and take them to the trigger.  Do you educate your web site visitors, and further…. do you educate them with UNIQUE content?  A great example: let’s say you owned a motorcycle related web site, you display your bikes, accessories, etc.  You have pretty fair prices and a great shipping policy….what’s different? You decide to create fresh content about proper motorcycle maintenance, or how to change a tire, or what tire to choose for which application.  You provide fresh and relevant content on your site.  That’s a web experience. People are eager to learn, you just need to give them the nourishment and they will do the rest. Videos, articles, blogs, that’s the NEW web, that’s the web experience.

With the onset of social internet marketing it is crucial to be forward thinking about your 2008 marketing budget and marketing strategy.  Some things to consider adding to your marketing budget:

1.) Search Engine Marketing : get found in the search engines in 2008
2.) Viral marketing campaign: consider a viral video or other vehicle to brand your company (great example of 2007: http://www.elfyourself.com/)
3.) Pay per click: done correctly, google adwords and Yahoo pay per click can enhance your targeted web traffic.
4.) Fresh web design: Gone are the days of noisy information overloaded web sites: embrace the new web 2.0 design utilizing clean and simple design to convey your message.
5.) Corporate Blog: make a firm commitment to educate your prospects and customers: a blog is a terrific tool to keep people coming back.

On Target Web Solutions is here to partner with your business for 2008 online success.  Give us a call today for high quality clean web design, professional and effective internet marketing and a dedication to help your company succeed online.  Call us at 407-830-4550 or visit our web site for more information.

A lot of people truly see a website as a necessary evil, they build one simply because everyone else is doing it.  We see this frequently and do our best to ‘convert’ non believers into true believers.  The internet can do great things for a company, the internet can also do very bad things to a company.  Keeping your website alive and fresh with relevant content and compelling your visitors to take an action is no small task….

Here are some challenges for 2008:
1.) Web Site Design : Is yours clean, simple, fresh and relevant?
2.) Does your web site LEAD visitors to a sale or desired goal?
3.) Are you adding content and PULLING in visitors?
4.) Are you educating your clients, prospects, etc.?
5.) Is your site found in search engines?

On Target Web Solutions is committed to helping your business grow and succeed online.  The web is an amazing tool to help you thrive if utilized properly.  Make it a great 2008 and call us today at 407-830-4550 or visit our web site for more information.

Stumbled upon this great article this morning on Time.com:  . Jamie Wilkinson, a teacher at Parsons The New School for Design in New York has challenged students to become famous (or as the students call it famo) utilizing the internet. The students are judged by how popular or famous they are at terms end utilizing the internet. Students have created blogs, videos, etc. to ultimately become internet famous. Jamie Wilkinson realized that the online virtual world is becoming saturated and students need the skills and the marketing prowess to ultimately succeed online utilizing social and viral internet marketing methods.

Wilkinson was astounded at how the students adapted to drive more traffic to their class blog: even using scantily clad women in videos to drive more traffic to the site. A fascinating experiment.

Internet marketing has truly become a test of thinking way outside the box to attract targeted traffic and in this case, not so targeted traffic. Getting people’s attention and pulling traffic to your site has never been more difficult. If your website is not building a buzz or attracting visitors, we need to talk. Call us at 407-830-4550 or visit us online.

People tend to get quite philosophical around the end of the year, but what about corporations?  Are employees at your company more interested in what Jones’ did last night with that banana and the punch bowl at the Christmas Party or how your company will thrive and grow in 2008?  I’m pretty sure we all know the answer to that question already unfortunately.

The new year is a tremendous opportunity to review your corporate image, what worked last year, how successful was your marketing plan? How much traffic did your web site pull and convert to leads or sales, how many new educational articles were posted on the company web site? If you have no idea, we need to talk.  If you’ve spent thousands upon thousands of dollars in that big yellow book of phone numbers and have not invested time or effort into your web site, we need to talk.  How can your company increase sales next year?  Call us. 407-830-4550.  And hey, you should probably talk to Jones’ about his behavior at the Christmas party…..

With so much talk about web 2.0 and how to most effectively market your website online, I had this vision in my head of the woodstock days back in the 60′s: where peace, love and happiness (and mushrooms, hash, pot, etc….) ran rampant.  The revolution against the system translated to a movement where people used music and love to express their feelings publicly.

The internet has certainly evolved, from the first email sent out by a military contractor, to hotbot, snap, yahoo, google and now the social internet marketing scene.  Rather than people conveying their ideas and beliefs through their song, they convey through their blogs, through their carefully or hap hazzardly thought out you tube videos: Yes, there are internet hippies.  But what message are they spreading?  They spread the message of freedom, freedom from banner ads, freedom from ads and ideas being pushed in their face: they now, publish those ideas, they publish the reviews on products, services, companies, you name it.  Internet hippies spread their words and thoughts more rapidly than anyone could have done even two years ago.

So, how does a web marketer get through to the internet hippie? How does one get their products and services in their faces?  By attracting them, pulling them in and not pushing: enticing them to write product reviews on your books, services or other products, by giving them the outlet to voice their opinion, to educate themselves with your fresh content, to brag about you to other internet hippies: the key is to let the PEOPLE spread the word.  Build your own woodstock and let freedom reign on the internet.