Lead Generation & Internet Marketing: How to grow your business in 2011
Posted by Salem Global on Dec 28, 2010
Happy N
ew Year Everyone! What are you doing now? Are you on vacation or are you working? Or as my father used to ask, “are you working hard or hardly working?”
(As you can see according to my pictures I am hardly working as the snow has shut down New York City: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=254976&id=655317826&l=85b7897080)
My conversations with friends, colleagues, business partners, family, fellow networkers and anyone on the street these days usually turns into a reflection of how the year went and how next year looks. Sort of like a State of the Union address. So I guess, while I got my ice skating in Bryant Park NYC out of the way today and while my computer uploads my snow blizzard pictures of Dec 2010 to my facebook account, here is my 2 cents about how things went this year and what’s in store for 2011…
2010 started out on a positive upswing. After 2 miserable years of hemorrhaging business, (2008 and 2009 were particularly terrible years due to the economy) and the fact that organizations usually cut their marketing budgets in bad times… (usually a short term save but long term loss since any competition that continues to market throughout unfavorable market conditions usually recovers faster since they show consistency and continue the momentum of branding while others get left behind in the dust…) 2010 was relatively a decent year. It wasn’t as great as 2007, when the economy was rocking and the Internet marketing industry was hot, but we picked up a few accounts and that added to our bottom line.
So starting out with a positive attitude is always necessary but realistically speaking, companies were still afraid to bite the full marketing bullet and invest in their websites, online marketing and general marketing.
At SalemGlobal, we always learn from our mistakes as well as from the good things we have done. Just like Brian Tracy and Ken Blanchard teach, reward your employees or “catch them doing something RIGHT” (as opposed to something wrong.) You will find that their self-esteem and confidence will rise and so will their productivity which will have a positive effect on your work environment as a whole.
For us, this was the year of “lead generation” as opposed to your plain old SEO-search-engine-optimization-we-can-get-you-to-the-top-of-Google strategy. SO WHAT if someone can get you to the top of Google. And as a matter of fact, in 2010 Google made some design changes to its SERP (search engine results page) so that they can sell more ad space. Now, in addition to the top 3 sponsored ads (now just called “Ads”), they have elevated the local listings so that the organic listings are way way down on the page. Sometimes they don’t just show the top 3 local listings, sometimes depending on the keyword they will show ten!
So where does THAT leave your SEO company? Who cares right? What you really want are leads. And more than that, you really want QUALIFIED leads and even better CLOSED BUSINESS!!!! I started out in the web design business in 1997 and have built hundreds of websites. But did the doctors get more patients from their websites? Did my real estate clients sell more houses and condos? Did my car dealerships sell more cars, parts, and accessories? Did the non-profits get more donations? The truth is that some years they did and some years they didn’t. The Internet has made many twists and turns on the roller coaster of an industry. Now everyone wants to be on twitter. Yesterday everyone wanted to be on linkedin. Before that you NEEDED to be on facebook. And everyone needs a mobile app. Oh and of course you HAD to be on Google. And of course don’t forget Yahoo, AOL, Lycos, Alta vista, excite, Ask, prodigy and CompuServe. What does it all mean? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI)
I will tell you what it all means. Like I said earlier. All businesses need to CLOSE business. Not seek out the latest and greatest trend. What works for one organization might not necessarily work for another. We have changed our business plan a few times over the past 14 years and each time we get closer to getting it right. As the refrigerator magnet says: “It’s all good in the end. And if it’s not all good, it’s not the end…” Business and making money is a journey. It should be fun and frustrating along the way but ultimately you need to live your life. So my message as we close out 2010 is to seek out and find that balance. Figure out what is your best marketing strategy. Keep on monitoring your Google analytics and keep on looking at the numbers. As the economy gets better, we will all benefit. This week however, enjoy the snow 
Want to know more about lead generation for your business. Call Raphi Salem at 212-993-5828 or just email info@salemglobal.com and we can have a great brief to the point chat about how you can benefit from our Internet marketing and lead generation strategies.
Happy New Year!
Raphi Salem
Desperate Pleas For Last Minute Online Shoppers, Reputation Management & Internet Marketing Discounts: What Your Business Should Be Doing Before Christmas and New Years
Posted by Salem Global on Dec 21, 2010
Last week I gave you the updated 21 things your business should be doing online for 2011. But what about RIGHT NOW you ask? Well, lets take a look at Toys R Us, Staples, Priceline, Party City, Kayak and Spirit Airlines…
Get All You Want for Christmas with Fares from $9* Each Way!
$50 Coupon* for Last Minute Holiday Travel!
Last Minute Hotel Deals from $45/night!
Four coupons inside for holiday procrastinators!
Our Lowest Prices Ever! 50% Off!
20% Off Coupon! Save In Stores & Online
Save up to 50% – Last Minute Gift event!
Buy One Get One 50% Off
For the First Time EVER! Stores Open 24 Hours Now Thru Christmas Eve!
There you have it. Huge multi-million dollar companies and corporations are sending out messages like this. So don’t you think its a good idea? Ok, lets face it. I am 40 years old and have been in the advertising and marketing field for 20 years. Online for 14 of them. Don’t you think that the corporate giants who spend millions and millions of dollars on advertising know what they are doing yet? I do. Learn from the best. They have the biggest budgets around. Spend more money on an ad than you make in a lifetime and you should be doing EXACTLY what they are doing.
People want to hear from you. They want to know there is a sale going on. They want to know they can save 50%. They want to know if they buy one they can get one free. They want to know about the last minute deals. They want to know. And you should be telling them in 6 ways:
1) On your website
2) In your blog
3) In a newsletter email
4) In an article
5) In a press release
6) On all of your social media including twitter, facebook and linked in
And if you haven’t noticed, those are the six places where SalemGlobal Internet would be placing your content for up to half off! Seriously SG is running a discount throughout the holiday season into the new year. NOW is the time to talk to Raphi Salem about promoting your business online. That’s right. You too! Hey – I am talking to you.
Let me give you two examples of conversations I had in the past week:
1st – http://www.AngelaCosmai.com – located in Stamford, CT. Local beauty shop, hair and color salon, wants local customers to travel all the way to Greenwich CT. They need to fix their google places, maps and listings and give a 10% off next visit to those that give them a positive review online. And by the way – positive reviews combat negatives and help with reputation management.
2nd – http://www.WorldHyundaiMatteson.com – located in Matteson, IL. Google “World Hyundai” and you will see that they dominate the first search engine results page with their main site, their blog, their marketing sites, review sites, Facebook etc. So that means that they are almost completely in control of their reputation online. Other companies struggle with this but you don’t have to if you go about it correctly.
So in conclusion this week, let me first wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year! Next year is going to be so much better than 2010. I am money back guaranteeing it. (Oh did I mention that SalemGlobal lead generation strategies come with a money back guarantee?) So get out the Hanukkah Christmas and Kwanzaa messages… the discounts, the incentives, the buy one get one free ads. Get them to sign up for your newsletter and enjoy the holiday season. Yes it’s freezing outside and will continue to get colder. (But that’s ok if you like to ski like me.) And if you want any help setting up a campaign for 2011 and getting your business ready for 1st quarter, give me (Raphi Salem) a call at 212-993-5828 or email info@salemglobal.com.
Exclusive Networking This Thursday at AXA Advisors, 21 Things You Need To Know About Internet Marketing in 2011, Cliff Lee Joins SG for $120 Million?
Posted by Salem Global on Dec 14, 2010
Internet Marketing For 2011, Cliff Lee Joins SG for $120 Million? What Your Business Should Be Doing Before Christmas
Well the cat is out of the bag. Cliff Lee is not going to the Yankees for the next five seasons. Instead he has decided to join SalemGlobal and also play baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies for $120 million. (http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/12/14/report-cliff-lee-to-sign-with-phillies/) Lee was reported to have said that “the Phillies are a great team and I am going to bring them to the World Series.” In his spare time he will write tweets, blog posts and content for websites. “You might think it strange that Lee would decide to spend his free time hanging out at the SG offices,” says Raphi Salem, CEO SalemGlobal Internet, “but I happen to know that he spends lots of that time on his blackberry, writing content and making YouTube videos.” “Hey – if I am doing all that stuff anyway – I might as well get paid for it… right?” replied Lee from his linkedin account and Facebook status.
As a reminder, SalemGlobal Internet would like to update you on the 21 things every organization needs to succeed online. It’s not just SEO anymore. Google has basically leveled the playing field between sponsored ads, local listings and organic search. If you aren’t taking advantage of all of the below, then your competition might just take some business away from you. So continue with your SEO efforts and social media. But just remember to be consistent and you will come out on top.
1) Evaluate present website for compatibility with SEO strategies.
2) Research your industry and relevant keywords.
3) Purchase relevant domain names
4) Build marketing websites that are optimized for areas of your industry and business, and use these to help promote your primary corporate website
5) Implement appropriate metadata – page titles, keywords, descriptions and search engine friendly URLs
6) Rewrite and prioritize content & text on site. Develop new content and increase pages
7) Gather, Create and Post testimonials and local reviews – increase number of pages, claim being a trusted authority
Develop and implement a user registration form. Increase Lead Generation.
9) Build and upload sitemap and robots.txt file
10) Submit site to search engines – Google, Yahoo, Bing and the lesser used engines
11) Submit listings to local directories – Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, Merchant Circle etc.
12) Build and maintain business blogs on separate domain names and hosting
13) Social Media/Networks – Identify existing online communities, and build new ones. Utilize Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Yahoo Groups
14) Online video production – distribute your video across shared online video sites; YouTube, Tube Mogul
15) Develop newsletter (We are a Constant Contact Business Partner)
16) Write and promote online press releases for your organization (Interactive PR)
17) Write and promote articles – submit articles to hundreds of free online newspapers and magazines
18) Develop contests – fun & exciting for existing and new visitors
19) Manage Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising (Google/ Yahoo/ Bing)
20) Manage Affiliate Marketing (Linkshare/ Commission Junction/ ShareASale) for ecommerce sites
21) Monitor and Report – Evaluate efforts and results (e.g. Google Analytics and additional 3rd-party tools such as WebCEO.com)
Want to know more about what to do for 2011 and getting your business ready for 1st quarter? Do you need a new marketing strategy for 2011? Call Raphi Salem at 212-993-5828 or email info@salemglobal.com for more information about us, how we work, how much it costs etc. etc.. You will be glad you did!
Website Marketing During The Holiday Season, WikiLeaks, Groupon, New Years Less Than 25 Days, NY Giants, Jets, White Christmas? What Your Business Should Be Doing These Last Days of 2010
Posted by Salem Global on Dec 7, 2010
Now that everything is public on Wikileaks, Groupon has rejected Google’s offer of $6 Billion because they are making around $800 million dollars a year without them. I wanted to publicly announce that if Google wants to acquire SalemGlobal for $6 billion I will sell. True we are not making the $800 million that Groupon is, but we do clear $800 dollars? Is that enough for ya? Ok. How about $5 Billion? $4? Ok – name your price. I can be bought
I love how fickle sports fans are. Personally I am the biggest hypocrite out there. This past Sunday I was a Giants fan all the way. I had texted my trusted sports enthusiast colleague last week when the Giants played and he asked how I even knew they won? I told him I happened to be at another friend’s house when the game was on. Then, this past Sunday, one friend of mine said she was going to the game so that made me root for them as well. Finally, I saw another friend at a birthday party and since she was rooting for Big Blue, so was I. And then to top it all off, I look for the scores of this past weekend’s games and lo and behold, Giants have a whole TWO wins in a row while the New York Jets post their worst game of the season against the New England Patriots. It’s so funny how on Facebook whenever the Jets win, everyone updates their status with a “GO GREEN!” or “J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets!” but when they lose, everyone is silent.
Speaking of silent… one particular organization is NOT being silent. That is WikiLeaks. So there are plenty of jokes going around regarding WikiLeaks and let me share a few with them right now…
What time is it when your wiki leaks? Time to get a new menorah! Ha ha ha LOL! and all that.
Ok – here is a non-Hanukkah version…
Conan: This week’s big story, of course, is WikiLeaks. The website WikiLeaks released more than 250,000 secret government documents –- some of which refer to computer passwords for world leaders. The most shocking revelation? Kofi Annan’s password is Bieberfan9.
Conan: WikiLeaks says the U.S. sees Afghan President Hamid Karzai as….
…paranoid and weak. Karzai replied, I was really afraid of something like this, but there’s nothing I can do.
Leno: WikiLeaks has ALL the classified secrets. They know all the Pentagon’s secrets. But still, no one knows Victoria’s Secret.
Leno: Doesn’t WikiLeaks sound like some kind of drug like Flomax? My doctor had me on Flomax, then decided I really needed to be on WikiLeaks.
And here is the newsworthy version…
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joked Saturday night at the Kennedy Center Honors regarding Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney and others.
She found it extraordinary to greet so many talented people and said: “I am writing a cable about it, which I’m sure you’ll find soon on your closest website.”
It snowed in New York City for the first time this winter and its starting to get cold. Obviously Christmas is around the corner and your business is either having a (hopefully) fantastic 4th quarter or you can’t wait for the year to end so you can start working and making some money again in 2011. The best thing you can do right now is get into social media. Big campaigns might do something for you on a big scale but the way to go right now is word of mouth marketing…
Gary Rome Hyundai is running a contest for anyone to win four tickets to an Usher concert on December 18, 2010 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.
http://www.garyromehyundai.com/Gary_Rome_Hyundai_Giveaway.cfm http://www.facebook.com/GaryRomeHyundai
“Like” the Gary Rome Hyundai Facebook page. Leave a comment on the Facebook Wall post titled “Leave a Facebook comment, enter to win 4 Tickets to Usher”
You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the U.S.
Limit 1 entry per person.
The entry period ends at 3:00PM ET on Wednesday, December 15.
At that time, we’ll select 1 winner from the eligible commenters to receive 4 Tickets to Usher at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.
Make sure your Facebook privacy settings allow for direct messages to receive notification in the event you win.
Winner must be able to pick up tickets in person at the dealership in Holyoke, MA.
Standard giveaway rules apply for everything else.
Want to know more about holiday marketing, 4th quarter, getting ready for 1st quarter and social media for your business? Do you need a new marketing strategy for 2011? Call Raphi Salem at 212-993-5828, email info@salemglobal.com or check out www.SalemGlobal.com for more information about us, how we work, how much it costs etc. etc.. You will be glad you did!