And just for the record, for the following keywords we dominate the first page of Google results in the 1st, 8th and 9th position: “website marketing ny”

“ny website marketing” 1,6 and 9

“internet marketing ny” #1

“ny internet marketing” #1

There are five things that will determine your search engine ranking. And guess what? You don’t have to be the Chief scientist or engineer at Google to know them. They are:

- Your keywords in your domain name (Though SalemGlobal.com doesn’t say “website” or “internet” or “marketing” or “NY,” I have other domain names that do

- How many pages you have indexed by Google: Search “site: www.salemglobal.com” in google. You should see 637 results.

- How many links are recognized by Google: Search “link: www.salemglobal.com ” in google. You should see 62 results.

- The history of your domain name: We started using our domain name in 1997

- Meta data properly optimized with keywords: Here is our title:

Bonus: The location from where you are searching will also be a factor. We are in New York, NY and that is where we rank highest.

But we also add content weekly to our website. This shows google we are alive and kicking.

But enough about me and Google. Let’s talk about our latest client: http://www.QueensFamilyDental.com/ . Not only are they in Queens (see, http://QueensDentist.net/ ) but they have two locations: http://AstoriaDentist.net/ and http://FlushingDentist.us/ . Now they will get more leads due to our strategies. So what business or profession are you in?

I know Charlie Sheen is still trending and still being talked about. You would think that he alone is participating in March Madness…. but he isn’t. I am not a huge basketball fan but I know you are. What interests me more is the fastest tennis serve ever… 157 miles per hour. Do you realize how fast that is? Oh – you do? Well – try driving that speed and see if you get caught. Just don’t get hurt and tell the cops I told you to try it. Better to go on the discovery channel or one of those reality shows and do it in a safe environment with a crash test dummy. Anyway – congratulations to the 6’10″ Croat Ivo Karlovic for setting the new world record. But as this blog states, its not the speed that counts, its the placement that will ace your opponent: http://www.sportsgrid.com/media/ivo-karlovic-fastest-serve-in-tennis-history-video/

And that’s what I have been trying to tell you all along. Consistency and placement win the search engine optimization and Internet marketing game. It’s a slow brew over a long time that gets you results. You have to work at it but if your competitors don’t stick with it you will get there…

Want to know more about my tennis serve and lead generation techniques and strategies? Call Raphi Salem today at 888-578-6732 or email info@salemglobal.com and we can talk about it.

After all of last season’s talk about team improvement, player trades, free agent signings and even with a new stadium, the Giants were able to pull out a win off but it seems like the Jets were not (after trash talking all season on HBO’s Hard Knocks they couldn’t even manage a measly touchdown). One thing the Jets did do is use the new stadium and its luxurious locker room to sexually harass a very attractive former supermodel reporter for Mexican television. (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Jets-looking-to-address-alleged-harassment-of-fe?urn=nfl-269361) Inés Sainz dropped the charges but regardless the Jets still lost, both the on field and in the locker room.

Now if you are the Tennessee Titans, they don’t sexually harass anyone, regardless of whether they win or lose they swallow their women whole (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Video-Tennessee-Titan-s-mascot-eats-cheerlead?urn=nfl-269355).

So many companies and businesses try to bite off more than they can chew (just like the Titans) and as every parent will tell you, you need to chew your food and not swallow it whole, otherwise you might hurt yourself. Meaning internet marketing is a slow and steady process. As we are at the beginning of a new academic and financial year we like to get back to basics. At SalemGlobal the basics are keyword research and intelligent domain name purchasing. Keyword research is the activity of finding out what your customers are literally searching for in the search engines. SalemGlobal uses many tools to find out this information and we would love the opportunity to share this with you. One such tool is the Google Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal). Also, if you are looking for cheap domain names check out www.1and1.com.

If you would like to know more about keyword research and how it’s related to domain name purchasing give us a call at 212-993-5829, send me an email at raphis@salemglobal.com or check out www.SalemGlobal.com for more information.

As I was saying, last week’s post got more feedback not because of my Internet marketing guru-ness, but because I finally gave the people what they wanted… Football! (Yes my friends. Football was more captivating than poker. Sad for me – but true)

And that leads me to write about getting back to basics. Think Rocky. (Gonna Fly Now – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8ABifVq0pA – Eye of the Tiger – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4kLlL6c2Pk) Think about how here was this street kid fighter from Philadelphia who was a nobody but he worked his butt off in the gym, ran up the steps to the liberty bell, lifted up his hands in victory and beat up Apollo Creed. But that’s not the real story. For those of you who don’t know this, I am proud to share with you the REAL Rocky story. The story of a writer, director and actor named Sylvester Stallone who walked into Hollywood, got pushed around and beaten up, but kept coming back for more. You see, Stallone WROTE the actual story and told Hollywood that he wanted to act and direct in it. They said they liked the screenplay but that they would get someone “famous” to play the part. Oh, and there would need to be some editing. Stallone said no way and walked out. They then walked back and said, “ok, here have some more money,” but he still said no. And he kept on saying no until he got his price and name in the credits. Well, as you know, Stallone went on to be one of the biggest action actors in Hollywood in his time. Imagine if he didn’t hold his ground and sold his book screenplay for a measly few thousand dollars. Where would he be today? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075148/trivia

So who saw the ball drop in Times Square Thursday night? Who watched it on TV? I didn’t. I actually don’t own a television. But I do have a computer with Internet access. And guess what? Some creative geniuses started to broadcast the Times Square NYC ball dropping a number of years ago and now they get MILLIONS of viewers to watch. But wait – there’s more. Some dude I met at a comedy club (Comix NYC) actually was one of the hosts interviewing people in Times Square. Harrison Greenbaum went from emceeing an open mic night to being broadcast into millions of home computers all over the world by being creative. True he wasn’t on TV. He isn’t in LA where thousands of comedians and actors are waiting tables until their lucky break comes. He got his face on the Internet and now he is on his way to stardom. Good going Harrison.

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Well, that is why a lot of organizations went out of business over the past 2 years. Sure, you can blame everything on the economy, on Madoff, on the president, on your personal troubles, whatever. That is what truly sets the winners apart from the losers. Simply put, losers give up. Winners adapt. Winners stay at it. Winners stay in the game and modify their strategy. And that is what you need to do in today’s cut-throat, dog-eat-dog world of business. It’s a war out there and many companies are dying. Business is slow. No one is buying. Everyone is cutting back.

Well guess what? That only means that truly the strong will survive. The endurance runners. The Shackeltons. The Rockys and the Harrisons.

So this year, as your competition prepares for another bad year of business, you need to get creative. You need to think about what you have been doing over and over again and what isn’t working and stop your insane behavior. You need to change it up. Yes its cliché but you still need to think out of the box. But this comes with a warning label. Don’t throw away what you have already done. Use it to your advantage and beat out your competition.

As an example, I know the value of a good domain name when I see one. Over the past year I have picked up some excellent domain names that have been around for years that were let go by businesses that didn’t see the value of a good DOTcom and let it go for peanuts. I can buy a domain name for $30 and turn it into $300, $3,000 and eventually (hopefully) $30,000. With each passing year, the value of a domain name goes up. Not just in price, but also in search engine value. That’s why perhaps I am somewhat of a packrat.

In addition to buying up domain names in the graveyard (you can get good rates on domain names at 1and1), SalemGlobal will be resurrecting 2 particular projects and starting up 2 new ventures in 2010.

First, we will be re-launching our MarketingDirectories.com directory and lead generation project.
Second, we will be re-launching our NYC Internet marketing seminars at TheSeminarSeries.com
Third, we will be opening up our offices to one to one private instruction for companies that can’t afford to hire a website marketing firm but can afford to train someone on staff to do some of the things that we do. Why not learn from the experts at a fraction of the price?

And finally, for now, I am proud to announce a new concept in business networking: Poker Networking. That’s right boys and girls. I am finally marrying 2 things I enjoy very much. Business networking and poker. Details available at www.PokerNetworking.us. Basically, we are starting up an exclusive group that wants to tell everyone who they are, what they do and get leads and referrals, but are tired of the mixers and minglers and breakfasts and lunches. Hey – we have all been networking and running around in the same circles for YEARS. Let’s have a little fun now shall we?

So this week’s message is simple yet you are still going to have to exercise that left-side of your brain. Get out of the box. Be creative. Don’t throw away the marketing you have done to date. Work with it. Review it. Modify it. Apply it and beat out your competition. After all, people and companies are ALWAYS going to need your businesses services. And if you are one small step ahead of your competition, you will win the race.

Want to know more about Internet marketing, football, poker, Rocky, domain names or private website marketing instruction? Give me a call at 212-993-5828, send me an email at raphis@salemglobal.com or check out www.SalemGlobal.com. Next week we get back to the 21 basics of Internet marketing; Evaluating your website for improvement. Oh. And Ice Skating, Freakonomics, Team America, Zack and Miri.

Happy 1st Quarter 2010 Everyone!
Raphi Salem

First – Do not expect your phone to ring off the hook. It still takes time for people to recognize you, trust you, and then have your ad show up at the right place at the right time. Mind you, Google, PPC (pay per click) and online advertising is the most targeted advertising you can participate in so you are in good shape.

Second – Put your phone number in your ad. So many people create ads that are really creative… and don’t say a thing or have any call to action. True, some people believe the call to action IS the ad but even before that people are thinking about you. And if you are lucky, or smart, they will call you from your ad and won’t waste your $10 to click on you.

Third – Use good marketing language in addition to telling people what they want to know. Use your keywords, your location, tell people how smart you are, you have great prices and that you are reliable. Depending on your industry you need to be able to compete. See what the competition is saying. Can you beat them? Match them?

Fourth – Make sure you activate your Google local business center and link this and your location to your ad. You will receive an extra line of exposure with your address showing that you truly are a local merchant.

Fifth – Make sure click through visitors go to a landing page relevant to what they clicked on and make sure there is a call to action on that page. Do not always direct to the home page.

Sixth – Connect your ad with a URL that reinforces what keyword people are searching for. Four Star Cleaning owns http://www.OfficeCleaningNY.com and http://www.CleaningServiceNY.com. So when people look for their keywords in NY they are perceived as smart and visionary to own the domain name + keywords.

Seventh – Test, test, test. Did I mention to test? No one, not even Google can tell you how much to budget for your ad. They can give you a mathematical, scientific and algorithmic number to plug in but as a human behavior expert, I will tell you that that all doesn’t matter. Google will take your money regardless. So what you need to do is start out with $100 per day and bid your CPC (cost per click) at $10 and see where that takes you. Basically, my rule is that if Google is eating up your whole budget and you haven’t received any phone calls or contact request forms you need to see what would happen if you increased the CPC to $15 and also decreased to $5.00. And then you have to account for the time of day, week, month and year as well as your industry to really determine what the best budget is for you. Don’t give up but also budget for this. Make sure you go into this knowing that click fraud exists and you will spend before you make. And of course if you are getting phone calls and closing deals don’t stop there. Keep going and be consistent.

Examples of the perfect ads: (IMHO )
* Office Cleaning NYC
* Low Rates, Free Est. 212-741-9400
* Environment Friendly Insured Bonded
* www.OfficeCleaningNY.com

LASIK Midtown NYC
* 212-764-2020, Ilan Cohen, MD.
* Free Consultation, 0% Financing
* www.WorldClassLasik.com

If you would like more information about PPC or any other aspect of website marketing, please give us a call at 212-993-5828, send me an email at raphis@salemglobal.com or visit www.SalemGlobal.com. Next week we will talk about Social Media, how it has really taken off and what you can do about it to get some business from it.

According to Alexa.com, the top 5 sites in the world are: Google, Facebook , Yahoo, YouTube, and Windows Live. Certainly you have all heard of those top 5 sites. But check out how many links they each have: (type link:www.DOMAINNAME.com into search window)
Google (565,000 links according to Google, 255 million according to Yahoo)
Facebook (176,000 G links, 55mil Y)
Yahoo (5,610 G links, 147mil Y)
YouTube (1,680 G links, 46mil Y)
Windows Live (37,800 G links, 1.6mil Y)

Now you and I will most probably never achieve these statistics. (Unless you are a budding Internet entrepreneur and you read my tips of the week LOL!) But one strategy that has been working for us is Interactive Public Relations. Writing press releases announces to the world what you are announcing and what you are working on. But writing your piece is not a battle at all; distributing it is. We happen to use PRWeb but there are plenty of other PR distribution companies out there at different price points so do your research.

Our best example of Interactive PR is a campaign we are working on for Eva’s Village (http://www.EvasVillage.org, 48 Google links, 3,238 Yahoo links). The fact that our press releases have reached hundreds of media outlets is great. But even better is when it is picked up by local and national media as in the case when it was picked up by the Weather Channel and MSNBC. The links from any old website are good. Links from a popular and relevant website are better. But links from a local and/or national news media outlet is the best. So always strive to write something interesting about your organization and announce it to the world. You will be glad you did.

Next week we will talk about how to write a press release. If you would like to know more, please contact me for a free, no obligation website marketing evaluation, consult and assessment. Call 212-993-5828, email raphis@salemglobal.com or visit our site, www.SalemGlobal.com.

Since the 90′s I always wondered why people didn’t have their own in-house marketing person or department. It seemed too natural to me to just “do it myself.” But then I matured and realized that not everyone has the skill set that one needs to drive business and fresh leads into the door. And on top of that, while some people might have those skills, they might not necessarily have the time. And a final perspective is that maybe they have the time but they are investing in product and service and not necessarily marketing.

Regardless of the above, all businesses and organizations should have a “corporate” website as well as a “marketing” website. I like to call it the webs answer to franchising. In other words, every retail store and operation started out with 1 store. Nathan’s. McDonalds. Burger King. Dunkin Donuts. And yes, even Starbucks and Duane Reade. My point is that you need to have more than one location on the web as well. And just as each Kentucky Fried Chicken and Subway has to prepare its own food, serve it and clean up after themselves in the evening, the same principle applies to websites. Yes the old “location, location, location” absolutely is important, but on the web its also about Branding branding branding!

So if you are in the healthcare industry, you will want the corporate name of http://www.DrJackieSmiles.com. But at the same time, you will also want http://www.OrthodontistNYC.com. Because people will find you and hear about you and will go to your main website. But then there will be people who will search the Internet in many different ways via different popular keyword searches and you will want to be found as well. So the lesson for today is that it’s not only about relevant content, it’s also about strategic domain name with strategic keywords, as well as marketing yourself in as many places as possible. And the link juice from these marketing sites is going to be very potent as well if you build them up.

Next week we will discuss linking strategies and interactive PR. If you would like to know more, please contact me for a free, no obligation website marketing evaluation, consult and assessment. Call 212-993-5828, email raphis@salemglobal.com or visit our site, www.SalemGlobal.com.

Raphi’s seminar was a terrific success.  A full house turned out to listen to him speak about how to “Make More Money this Year with Online Marketing.” His seminar was so successful, in fact, that he was bombarded with requests to make his PowerPoint slideshow available online, which he is, of course, happy to do. Just click here to redirect to the SalemGlobal homepage, where you can download the presentation as a pdf. You can also watch the video below and listen to Raphi dish some wisdom on SEO and optimizing your website.

Finally, congratulations are in order as well: they go out to Frank Manus of www.naa.cc; Valerie Mahoney of Live Your Life Travel; Gavin Sloane of Geneva Worldwide; Matthew Kiger of WCBS Radio; Ashraf Ezzeldin of the Egyptian General Consulate; and Valerie Delaportas of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. These are the lucky winners of the numerous raffles SalemGlobal held throughout the day. Enjoy your brand new 512 mb memory sticks — you earned it!

DJJ Technologies, is committed to guiding businesses through today’s rapidly changing world of communications technology.  They specialize in IP Telephony,  Video Surveillance, Access Control and Lan/Wan Services.  Whatever your technology objectives are, you can count on the experts at DJJ Technologies to deliver the most efficient, cost effective solution.

They provide:

• Maximum reliability, backed by Avaya, arguably the most trusted manufacturer in the telephone industry
• Easy, affordable, manageable growth with our phone systems
• Sales expertise you can count on to meet your ongoing communications needs
• The latest technologies, when you need them, dedicated superior service and support.

It is usually the one day we have to reflect on how much work we didn’t get done in the office the other 4 days.  But Raphi Salem, Dov Weinstock and I all had a great confrence call today.  It started at 2:45, and as always we said “JUST 15 minutes NO more, NO less” – I hung up the phone at 3:20, ah well, but we were productive! Lastly, I want to thank Oren Heiman of Shiboleth, www.shiboleth.com, for having myself and Raphi last night for an amazing event to raise money for a great cause, Elem, www.elem.org.  I was actually the photographer, you can see the pictures here: http://foto.michaelfindling.com/thumbnails.php?album=54. 

There were some great people there, including Benjamin Krasner from the Israeli Consulate, see below for a great shot of some great lookin guys!