I’ve been watching the show Gold Rush and the similarities between gold mining and Internet marketing are very similar. The work that is put into gold mining requires huge efforts and sometimes produces negative results. The upside is that every once in a while, there is a huge payoff. Their choices of methods are similar in that some just go on a hunch while others invest in scientific methods. The payoffs vary wildly for each different method.

Image by hto2008 via Flickr

The first thing any gold miner learns is that nothing is going to happen without hard work. The only way to get gold is to dig up dirt. If you want someone else to do the work for you, you’ll need to at least invest your resources in a claim and share the profits or losses with others doing the work. If you go the lazy route, it’s going to still take work to find and monitor the efforts of the people you have mining.

Gold mining is a game like internet marketing. The only thing a player can do is attempt to increase their odds by working smart. Sometimes working smart means risking your capital to pay for more scientific methods. The last show I watched, one of the methods was drilling. They payed an operator to come out  and drill holes in different areas. He drilled until he hit bedrock, then they analyzed where gold was found in the dirt that was pulled out of the hole. When they found an area with a heavy concentration of gold, they knew where to direct their efforts for that claim.

I’ve had success using this same method with Internet marketing. Take any area of interest and that would be your claim. For this example only, lets use the ever popular pet category. You’re not going to find gold in the pet category, without luck. It’s just to big of claim. With customers spending huge amounts of money on their pets, you know the gold is there, but you don’t know where you can successfully compete. You’re going  to have to poke a few holes and see what comes up. Don’t start an entire website on one little area that you know nothing about. Use some tools to sniff out areas of pets that might hold gold. Find some terms that have decent traffic and reasonable competition. Then, use some free tools like blogger, HubPages, Squidoo, etc. and invest some time writing articles about it. If they get some traffic and interest, start the big dig by setting up a website about the topic.

Gold miners waste efforts and money in the same way that Internet marketers do. They spend to much time talking to others who haven’t made any money either. They listen to wild claims from other miners that aren’t true. They get discouraged when they don’t hit the mother load in the time that they thought they would. The miners that are successful though, they work hard and learn. When they do listen to other miners, they listen to those who are working hard and have experienced some proven success. I’m convinced the fortunes are still out there for those of us willing to work hard and work smart.

Gold Mining Compared To Internet Marketing is a post from:

I’ve been asked why I give so much information away for free. I’ll tell anyone how the nuts and bolts of SEO and website development work. There’s no secret to it. It would be like a contractor thinking he could keep the steps to building a house secret. Understand web development and Search Engine Optimization  and actually doing it are 2 different things. Most will not do the work required, so there isn’t any danger of the profession being flooded any time soon or in the foreseeable future. The slight technical aspects of creating a website can either be learned for free on the web or hired out for cheap. Those who figure these simple aspects out may be my competitors, but more often I befriend them and we mutually profit by sharing knowledge and experience. 

I would actually prefer for more businesses to understand the process! The better that a client understands the process, the easier it is to work with them. When both parties understand that a website is a long term investment, everything goes smoother. Internet marketing and website development is rarely a get rich quick scheme. Few businesses experience instant magical traffic that changes their lives overnight. It takes hard work. 

For those who are interested, here is a free course that explains the basics of Internet marketing. It is truly a challenge as the name implies. If you would like to learn how to create a website and market it, try The Challenge.

Learn How To Create A Profitable Website For Free is a post from:

Getting noticed through Google searches, advertising, and any other method on the web is simply a matter of beating your competition where your customers are searching. Google is the primary method of searching and mentions on other websites is a close second. Paying a directory to list you is just one small effort and Google pay per click advertising is not nearly enough. Building, maintaining, and promoting a website that you own is the best way help customers find you and become informed.

Web design is a race to beat your competition.Image via Wikipedia

So how does a business beat the competition’s website? You build an informative website that is updated frequently and promote the website by posting about it on forums, social media, blogs, and any other relevant websites. Many other blogs and websites want a business to interact with them in their efforts to discuss their own web content. This takes time and effort, but the actual costs are low. I can do this work for you and show you exactly what the efforts are producing.

When considering how much time and effort you need to beat the competition, look at how much promotion they have done. An old joke comes to mind: When being chased by a lion, you do not need to the fastest runner there is, only faster than the slowest runner in the group. Sure, there are websites that put a outrageous money into promotion, but if they’re not competing for the what you want to compete for, you do not need to match their efforts.

In Newark, Ohio, it doesn’t take much effort to beat your competition. Many websites lie dormant for years. Businesses do not realize that a website is never finished and are content to just let it stay the same. As soon as any competitor realizes the value of a better website with promotion, they take top position and the other websites in the listing lose their effectiveness.

The higher your position in a popular Google search for a term that profits your business, the greater share of that search traffic your website will receive. When a customer is searching for a business, they’ll stop searching as soon as they find the business that meets their needs.

Don’t let your website fall behind the competition. Contact a Newark, Ohio Web Design company and see what can be done to improve your web presence today.

Outperforming Your Competition is a post from:

The Basic Website Setup

Web design that I create is a very simple and effective plan that places your website in the search engines immediately. These websites start to work immediately in a market like Newark, Ohio or any other small location. Accurate results can show you exactly what return a website is getting. I will explain the process to get a basic website designed. If you’ve heard about websites costing thousands of dollars, you will wonder why after this explanation.

Websites can with very little time and communication between the customer and the web designer. The customer does not even need to be located in Newark, Ohio to have their website created. Due to the ease of the WordPress design, the website customer will be able to add all of the information they would like without the help of a Web Designer if they desire.

Could you create a website for free? For the exception of theme software and the domain name, yes. The process would take you a long time and configuration for optimum performance may take time to perfect, but yes. I set up these websites many times daily and I pass this experience on to you for a reasonable price.

Initial Install

The only things required for a basic website are:

• A domain name. I register one with GoDaddy or reroute your existing website.
• A web server host websites. I have you covered here.
• A WordPress Install. I can install your website in just a few minutes time.

After this is done, an empty website is ready for a theme and content.

The Theme

Themes are a collection of graphics and typography that create the look for your website. Artisteer software allows for a quick custom theme. There higher quality themes available, but Artisteer is the most efficient and it far exceeds the majority of websites on a local level.

When I create a theme like this for a basic website, it’s just to get started. You can purchase Artisteer and modify the theme yourself with ease or a premium WordPress theme can replace this once your website is increasing your business revenue.

Themes are important, but they are not the heart of the website. Websites serve information and graphics are only a small and expensive part of the total website.

If you do not have a logo, I can make one for you or you can obtain one.

Create Content For Your New Website.

I create the initial content for you that includes:

• The front page that explains your businesses services or products from a high level view.
• A Google Map Of Your business
• An about page that tells about the business.
• A contact page.

The ability for customers to add comments is inherent to WordPress. My customers have full editing capability to allow or disallow comments or you can turn off the comment feature.

Training

WordPress websites are very simple to update and add content. A short 1 hour training session usually is enough to learn how to create and update pages and posts. I can add all of your content for a fee or you can learn to do it yourself. I am also available for more advanced training for any functions that you would prefer to perform without my help.

Basic Search Engine Optimization

I have software and procedures to get your website indexed in Google. “Indexed” simply means that Google knows the website exists. If there is no competition for the keywords used in the website, it goes straight to the top of that search. If competition exists, we will have to promote the website in order to gain higher positions. Promotion is done through backlinking. You gain backlinks by commenting on forums, asking other websites for links, and using social media websites.

There is a shortcut to get traffic without search engine traffic called Pay-Per-Click. It does cost money and results can be less than effective. It really depends on your business model as to the effectiveness of this type of campaign.

Maintenance And Improvements

After the basic install, I will be there to help with continued improvement of the website, an important concept of web design. The older a website gets, the more of a return that you will get from it if it is maintained. Over time, website quality and promotion efforts improve. If you keep adding to the website, you will see a steady rise in popularity.

Keeping the website running and the software updated is a free with the monthly fees for the website. Everything else that I perform is done on an as-needed basis. Make the improvements as your budget and business needs require.

Basic Web Design Explained. is a post from:

Facebook has become a dominant entity in website development. For the most part, I find it a great resource. Anyone with a few minutes to read a few instructions can have a website. Any business or individual now has the power to get their message out for free. Not only that, they can pick and choose who they want to interact with. It is no doubt a powerful and useful tool, so what could be the problem?

The problem is that you do not own it. You have whatever control Facebook decides you will have and that can change at will. It seems free, but you still put time and effort into it’s maintenance. Facebook should only be used as a tool to communicate and it should be expected to be useless for your business whenever Facebook decides to make it that way or whenever the public decides to go somewhere else.

One way Facebook can actually cost you money is by placing your competitors ads on your business’s Facebook page! It can happen and you have no control for the exception of spending ad dollars to put your ad on other pages. Other businesses do have the ability to look at who is participating on your page and lure them away. On top of all of this, Facebook has the ability to compile data about who is interested in your business and sell that data to other entities.

It’s a trade off, but you can get the edge if you have your own website. If a website is owned and operated by a business, they can use it in conjuction with Facebook to double the effectiveness of Internet advertising efforts. Facebook turns into a utility to gain traffic that is diverted away from Facebook and onto the business website.

The attitude I’m seeing businesses give about Facebook is, “Web developers envy that I can do for free what previously they were charging thousands of dollars for.”. With some web developers, this is absolutely true. They were wowing their customers with beautiful designs but providing little in the way of traffic generation and content development. They were providing beautiful and ineffective websites and using the attraction to the design wonders to collect extraordinary fees.

Facebook has brought about changes that are great for business and web developers.

• Website artistic design is getting more reasonable. Look at Facebook’s artwork. Graphics are minimal, ads are more discreet, and the user interface is reasonable. This is bleeding over into website design.
• Traffic expectations are more reasonable. When customers see the numbers from their own efforts on Facebook pages, they get a more realistic expectation from what a website can deliver. They’re also learning that quality and not quantity is an important factor in traffic.
• Businesses are learning the value of informative content. Facebook thrives on producing content.
• Web developers are bringing their price and attitudes in line with reality. Their systems are being streamlined and standardized.

If you would like to know more about how you can use Facebook and other social media properties to work with your website or if you’d like to explore the possibilities of adding a website to your social media efforts, feel free to contact me. I welcome comments on this article too.

Why Facebook For Business Could Be A Bad Idea is a post from:

Image via CrunchBase

I have websites for flipping that are in many stages of development. The further along they are in the process, the more that a website is worth. A customer can buy one at any stage of the process, and since there is always room for improvment, the website can be improved and sold for more money that it was purchased for(hopefully).

It’s a market like any other and I sell my websites through flippa.com. Trading websites on Flippa is safe for buyers and sellers. It allows you to see all of the facts. With a little due diligence, you can verify:

• How old the website is and how long the content has been on the website.
• The approximate number of backlinks.
• The quality of the backlinks.
• Detect if the traffic is organic(from real searches) or PPC(bought through traffic services).
• Verify that the seller is the real owner.
• Payment protection by using escrow services.
• The seller is available to ask questions.
• Ensure that buyers are trustworthy.

Even though I prefer to sell through Flippa, if I can verify that the buyer is trustworthy, I will sell outside of Flippa’s service.

Why would someone want to buy a website, especially an incomplete or “ugly” website? There are many reasons, but here are the most popular:

• As an investment for non-technical people or those just wanting to save time. It takes work and skill to set up a website correctly. Just the beginning website, if done right, needs many hours of work. If someone can buy this already done, they’ll make the improvements that they do like to perform, like themes or writing, and resell the blog for a profit at a later date.
• Traffic. Traffic cost time and money to get. You either have to buy it through a PPC service like Google Adwords, or create content that is well written and promoted in a way to get traffic. If the website has traffic, or the future potential to get it, that website is worth money.
• Themes, articles, or aged domains are elements of a website. It’s not uncommon for a buy to strip out one piece of the website that they wanted and do nothing with the rest.
• Investment for income. Websites make money with ads from Google Adsense and/or affiliate marketing. When a website shows income, the buyer sees it as a proven income source that can be worked on further to create even more income.
• and more…

There are more reasons, but these are the top. If you are buying my websites, I want you to do your due diligence and I will do everything possible to make sure that you are satisfied buyer.

Flipping Websites is a post from:

I can cover the entire process of website creation and promotion. No other Newark, Ohio web designer offers the same low cost methods that produce results.

• Hosting. I am a Hostgator reseller. This means that I can sell you space on Hostgators servers. This service is nice for a startup website. Until a website gets a massive volume of traffic, there’s no reason to pay for expensive servers. I include hosting with websites that I build and I manage them from this reseller account until the traffic warrants that the customer buys his own account.
• Domains. Domains are a simple process for the experienced, but a confusing hassle for a new website owner. I can help you transfer existing and purchase new.
• WordPress installations. I can do Joomla and Drupal installations for rare instances where those systems perform a customer’s needs better, but currently, WordPress is King. WordPress is wildly popular and it’s easy to find developers that can make any function you need.
• Writing. If you need your website filled with great content, I know how to write articles specifically for the reading on the web. There is a different style of writing and keywords need to be considered. Re-writing your companies offline content is often required to rank well.
• Photography And Video. Uploading videos to websites like YouTube, Vimeo, etc. is a time consuming process. I can also take photos and modify existing photography for your website.
• Theme installs and minor corrections. I create themes with Artisteer, a program that allows for quick and easy theme installation. When Artisteer can create what you need, there is a significant cost savings. I also install premium WordPress themes created by others and add logos and minor modifications.
• Website Promotion, often referred to as SEO. Search engine optimization is a word I don’t like. For the most part, anyone advertising SEO is a scam. SEO usually means that they’re going to try an fool Google with automated processes. SEO in this sense is a sham. What I do is promotion. I write real comments that add to conversations to get backlinks. I also write articles, publish videos, and use social websites to promote your business. Anything less than this will produce marginal short-term results at best.
• Consulting. The majority of clients do not need long periods of consulting. Doing is much more profitable than discussing. I do like to get customers on the right path to turning their websites into assets that produce profits. I won’t lead you down the path of a $5,000 website that could have been done for $500 and yes, this is a real scenario that I see all of the time. I want to be a continued service provider, not a consultant that takes the money, does little if any of the work, and then runs. I treat people like I would want to be treated.

Services Offered is a post from:

Website creation and Virtual Real Estate Management is a very wide field. Finding an individual or company that does it all to the highest level of creativity is not possible. Have you ever heard of a person or company that excavates, builds house, does plumbing, drywall, roofing, landscaping, etc.? Sure, you can find people that can do any of the work involved with real estate, but they cannot perform every duty to the best level. They would spend all of their time buying tools and training and never get any work done. With this in mind, here are a list of services that I do not perform.

• High end artistic designs. I’m not a graphic artist. You can see from my websites that I list here that I do average artistic designs that are not meant to WOW people on their creativeness. Many websites actually increase their effectiveness with simplicity. I’ll write more on this later.
• Business partnerships. I do not want to get involved with your business processes. I don’t want to give suggestions about how to run your business. If you’re doing an e-commerce website, I will show you what needs to be done to get your product online, but I’m do not ship products, make products, or invest time or money into other companies. I work for prompt payment of services rendered.

I feel free to tell you the service I do not perform, because there are so many website services which I excel at. For what I cannot do, I have services and products which I can refer.

Services I Don’t Do is a post from:

Businesses continue to have bad websites with no promotion even though the days of expensive websites and services are over. Everything you need is available for prices lower than ever before. The tools and speed at which a website can be created are very fast. For under $100, I can have a basic website up and running in less than 1 day, including domain name propagation. It will not be the exact look that you want, but it will be acceptable. The only thing left to do will be to add your content and start promoting.

I run a website called Newark, Ohio Links that offers a large directory of every website related to the city of Newark. Many of the business websites are substandard and they could be updated for very little money. They can also be interactive and useful! The problem many local business websites share is that they have not been updated for many years. They relay on old technology that does not bring in customers or spark interest in a business.

If you need an improved business website, contact me! I can create the base website very quickly and we can work within your budget from there. Chances are very high that a basic website I can create in less than a day will far exceed your current website.

Business Websites is a post from:

I do apologize for Market Samurai’s cheesy sales pages. I know, they look like a every other Internet marketing website. I don’t know why they do this other than they are trying to attract the same customers as cheesy scam websites. It’s embarrassing, but I stand behind this product.

If you download the free trial, you can check their data against Google’s data. Everything that Market Samurai does could be done with free tools and Google, the advantage is the time savings and automatic organization of the data. Free training is available on their website.

After you see what Market Samurai does for your market research, you’ll want to purchase your copy to make the most of your website efforts.

Market Research Tool is a post from: