Internet Marketing in NY, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and Olympic Hockey: What your business can learn from 10,000 hours of practice makes perfect
Posted by Salem Global on Mar 2, 2010
SalemGlobal has been in business for over 13 years. We started out very small in an Upper West Side two-Bedroom apartment, moved to a loft in the Garment District on 36th Street West of 8th Avenue and now have an amazing office on 40th Street across from Bryant Park with a view that only a few are privileged to have in a small crowded concrete jungle like New York City. We also have achieved something that I am very proud of and wasn’t even going after. True we have been in the number one position for “Website Marketing NY” and backwards “NY Website Marketing.” And also New York Website Marketing etc. etc. And let’s not forget “Internet Marketing NY and NYC.” But last week we reached the #2 position right behind Wikipedia for “Internet Marketing.” Here is the proof: http://websitestrategymarketing.com/salemglobal-number-2-for-internet-marketing (”Internet Marketing” is searched more often than “website marketing.”)
By the way, you will get the same results if you live in Brooklyn or on the Upper East Side. But what is frustrating is that in Westchester we are no where to be found… So the question is: why does Google show us different results in different locations? Why don’t they have the same results across the board; locally, across the country and all around the world? Is it because part of their algorithm is to show results based on traffic coming from your own IP address? Is it because they want us to see ourselves in a high position so that we can feel good about ourselves? Where do you see us for those keywords? Where do you stand for your own keywords?
Lately I have been writing about “consistency.” Keeping your name consistently in the Internet spotlight. Day after day, week after week, month after month. Each week and month, we create content for ourselves and our clients and then promote it out to the various new media. Corporate websites, press release distribution websites, article distribution websites, blogs, video sharing services, social media like Facebook and LinkedIn and much much more.
In his latest book “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell writes about how some of the most successful people in the world have devoted and invested at least 10,000 hours towards their desired profession or hobby. Some examples: Bill Joy, the programmer behind Sun Microsystems and UNIX. Bill Gates of Microsoft. The Beatles. You might not know this if you didn’t read the book but each of these people (and of course the band), put in thousands and thousands of hours into what they did before they became famous (and of course rich beyond anyone’s dreams). Bill Joy and Bill Gates had access to huge IBM mainframe computers in their schools, neighborhoods and universities in the late 60’s and early 70s before anyone knew what they were. The Beatles actually played in Hamburg Germany for hours and hours and more hours because the musical sets in that particular party scene called on bands to play for 8 hours a night. If you go to downtown NYC or any club in NY or LA, a new band is LUCKY to get a 15 minute set. The Beatles were on stage for so many hours, the needed to learn how to play every single genre of sound, cover every band and artist AND make up their own material in order to stay on stage. They weren’t getting paid a lot but they were absolutely perfecting their skills.
And what do I tell my kids every day (if and when) they have a complaint that “this is too hard” or “I can’t do this!” PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!!! (Of course I have banned the word “can’t” from their vocabulary because I am a positive thinker and think that mostly anything is possible). Nothing is too hard and nothing is out of reach when you are disciplined and motivated. (Which is what I actually worked on in my military service as an organizational behaviorist and advisor. Though I had a BA in Psychology at the time, I still was working with soldiers that didn’t believe in themselves “enough.” And if the military can help change or modify behavior through motivation and/or discipline, a defense force will be that much more effective).
And that is why I believe the Canadians are the best Hockey players in the world. It’s not a matter of fact that they just won the Gold (after edging out the USA in overtime); it is most probably because they have more ice time than anyone else. From an early age, Canadians are on the ice, stay on the ice, continue on the ice and practice practice practice. It’s also colder up in Canada so they have more access to an ice rink. Which also is related to Joy and Gates having access to computers before anyone else. (Of course we can also debate this since according to Gladwell at some point their is a saturation point or “enough” ice time to make a team or a player great - but that is for another time)
So in conclusion for this week, your business can benefit from these lessons of hours and hours makes one perfect. Ok, maybe not “perfect” but certainly higher up on the search engines. We have been in business and writing and blogging and linking and building websites for over 13 years. Day after day, week after week, month after month. We haven’t given up. We do the same thing for our clients. If your business follows in our footsteps or let us create a path for you, you will most probably enjoy the same benefits we do.
Next week we will talk more about branding, identity and what to write for your business. If you want to know more about Gladwell, Hockey or Internet Marketing Manhattan (after all, we are #2 after Wikipedia and you can’t get them on the phone), Give me a call at 212-993-5828, send me an email at raphis@salemglobal.com or visit www.SalemGlobal.com for more information.
SalemGlobal #2 for Internet Marketing
Posted by Aryeh.Landowne on Mar 2, 2010
Right after Wikipedia and right before internetmarketing dot com. Here’s the proof:
Don’t believe us check it out for yourself.
Internet Marketing in NY, SuperBowl XLIV, Poker in Vegas: How Your Business Can Benefit From The Most Watched TV Event In The World
Posted by Salem Global on Feb 2, 2010
Before we get into the whole crazy Super Bowl football mania that will take over the world this Sunday at 6:30PM EST, I just wanted everyone to know that I won a Texas Hold’em poker Tournament in Las Vegas this past weekend. Don’t get sooooo excited… I was not on TV and won’t be entering the World Series of Poker anytime soon. No I didn’t win a million dollars (but I am quite happy with my take If you want to know more details about the 65 year old shark at the table at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, the English guy who looked like Sting and how I still won after my opponents 2-3 diamond suited flush beat out my A-K, please email me, I will be more than happy to brag For those of you who don’t know anything about Hold’em or poker or cards, let me give you a free lesson…
Patience and Consistency. As I mentioned last week; business, website marketing and Texas Hold’em poker tournaments have a lot to do with consistency, together with a degree of math skills, memory skills, psychology skills, interpersonal skills and a whole lot of patience. Consistency is the act of being in it and sticking with it. There are lots of people who, whether they are in business or in a card game, don’t have the patience to see things through. They get cocky and ants in their pants and if they don’t strike it rich pretty quickly, they start to get sloppy and lose their cool. They also don’t achieve the balance of how much money they need to “invest” or “spend” in order to get a good ROI, Return on Investment.
In Hold’em, the 2 people to the left of the dealer have to put up a small blind and a big blind. These are equivalent to your businesses operating expenses. You have to pay for your rent, utilities, employees, technology, phone and internet service in order to have a business. You can’t skimp on the basics. Just like paying taxes these are your “antes.”
However, after the “flop,” the first 3 out of 5 cards that are shown and communally shared, which is sort of like your first 1-3 years in business. With 2 cards in your hand after the flop, you can get a good picture of whether or not you have a good thing going, a bad thing, or potential. This is the place in cards and in business where you can set yourself up to win or drop out. This is also the place where you have enough information to say that you are going to “invest” in additional business expenses such as marketing, or “bet” that your cards are better or going to be better than everyone else’s. And the biggest difference is that in poker you can bluff, but in business you can’t. These are 80% of businesses that fail in their first 3 years. Businesses that have the potential but don’t invest in themselves. They think they can ride it out but they don’t put enough effort (not necessarily money) into it and then they fail. I say “effort” instead of money because there are so many things you can do now in the year 2010 yourself online for free (instead of paying a professional like me to do it for you) to help you “after the flop.”
After 1-3 years, you know whether you have potential or not. But it’s the small company that doesn’t invest the time, money OR effort into the CORRECT marketing that usually kills them. Either they don’t make the cold calls, knock on the doors, send out direct mail or spend a few extra hours a day updating their website, blog, creating a YouTube video or sending out a press release or any number of the 21 things you need to do to be successful on the web. They go home after 5PM or maybe 6PM, have dinner, watch some TV, go to bed and hope for a better tomorrow. But tomorrow will only be better if you change it up and do the things you need to do to get your message out there.
I have been listening to a book called “The Little Red Book of Selling” by Jeffrey Gitomer. If you aren’t familiar with it, you should be. I share with the author the activities of writing and marketing while others are watching TV at home after hours. After the kids, wives and girlfriends all go to bed, he says its real quiet after 11PM and he can get a lot done between then and 1AM. Try it once a month, then once every 2 weeks, then once a week and see how you can turn your business around. And if you don’t like to work late, wake up early. Whatever you do, whenever you do it, just keep on doing it. Have patience, positive attitude and be consistent.
Second lesson comes from Super Bowl XLIV. Since 1967 when the Green Bay Packers beat out the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10, teams have battled for the diamond studded NFL ring. (Next week I will have the link for the video from Dr. John Frank http://www.HairClinicUSA.com where he shows off his two Super Bowl rings from when he was a tight end for the San Francisco 49ers.) This coming Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts (AFC) will go up against the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New Orleans Saints. When I was a young advertising agency media research executive (ok I was just an intern), I was actually running the numbers on how much Super Bowl ads should cost. This year according to the research out there, approximately 90 - 100 million people will watch the Super Bowl. This will cost advertisers approximately $3 million US dollars for :30 seconds of airtime. (Check out these commercials from past Super Bowls: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=superbowl+commercials&search_type=&aq=1&oq=superbowl+co)
So you take a look at the advertisers and you think a few things: a) who are they? b) can they afford it c) is it worth it? So let’s answer one by one.
a) Blue chip, very large, high ad budget companies advertise during the Super Bowl
b) Yes they can afford it
c) Yes it is worth it because they have a product or are launching a product that is relevant to the male dominated watching of the sport.
Cars, beer, pizza, movies, domain names, business, insurance and much more. What you won’t see are tampons, tea, female weight loss and products that women purchase and/or women supposedly buy like baby food.
So the lesson is that you should be advertising to the audience for you. If you are going after the male demographic and can’t afford the Super Bowl’s three million dollar ad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRVRTTMwhK8), maybe tone it down a bit and find a different venue for your product or service. During one of my poker tournaments in Vegas I met a woman from California who claims that women are great poker players because they are so unpredictable. In poker she might be right and then again she might THINK she was right. She was good but she wasn’t experienced. The 65 year old shark and I took her down after the other players sloppily lost their stacks to her. We were patient, consistent and played smart.
As a business owner, you HAVE to market yourself; otherwise your competition will take you down. But don’t guess. Go after your audience. Research them. Find out where they are online and then go after them. One by one or 90 million at a time. Stop being so unpredictable and do the obvious. I don’t know who will win the Super Bowl, but I can guarantee that there will be many many men who will drive to their friends houses in their cars, drink beer, eat pizza and snacks during the game, and then will go to work the next day. (Of course with so many people out of work, I also predict that Monster.com or Yahoo Hot Jobs and or some other job search related website will be airing)
So watch out for the unpredictable wardrobe malfunctions, enjoy the game and half-time show, play some cards, and do obvious things that will help you and your business in the short term AND the long term. Do NOT repeat the golden farcical mistake that Pets.com made a decade ago by spending millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads before they went out of business. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sICSyC9u5iI)
And if you want to know more about Internet marketing New York, poker or what demographics are, give me 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 the Super Bowl winner and how to take fame and branding further after you make it.
Best (and Worst) Christmas Decoration
Posted by Salem Global on Dec 8, 2009
As seen somewhere in America…
After 2 days the person had to take it down because it was causing traffic and people were running up to the house to help 
Marketing For The Upcoming Holidays
Posted by Salem Global on Oct 12, 2009
Well, it’s October again and you all know what that means… That’s right, to you business people, its 4th quarter. To you non-business people, the holidays are right around the corner. That’s right folks. Halloween is at the end of this month, Thanksgiving is in less than two months and Christmas (and Hanukkah) is just another month after that. Black Friday is in 52 days, Hanukkah is in 66 days (starts on Friday December 11) and that all leaves 80 shopping days until Christmas!
But why am I telling you this now? Because NOW is the time to act! NOW is the time to market your products and your services. Some people start planning this stuff over the summer. Some companies start a full year before. But you are a common person that reads my weekly tip of the week. You might know about media planning and organization, but sometimes business and shopping just sort of creep up behind you. So I am giving you some free advice (like I do every week Start marketing your product today!
As the advertising adage goes, it takes at least 5-7 impressions before someone even realizes you are talking to them or selling your product or service to them. Meaning, that if you have a product to sell for the holidays, you need to get your message to them in whatever form you can 5-7 times over the next 2 months. That further means that each week you can run an advertisement in your local newspaper, set up a PPC (pay per click) program on Google, send out 5-7 newsletters (of course to an already opted in email list) or make 5-7 phone calls to each and every person you are trying to sell to.
Of course there is a VERY delicate balance between trying to sell or promote your product or service and spamming. And quite possibly having the complete opposite effect happen to you whereas your potential buyer/customer gets annoyed that you called him/her too much or your ad was in their face too much. (Though, I would be quite surprised to hear if anyone is really not buying GEICO insurance because the gecko spokesmascot is seen too much. Related of course is the fact that GEICO mixes it up with that “bundle of cash with the googly eyes” character and the lovably tormented cavemen. So if you have some humor, sometimes you can get away with overplaying your message.)
If you want to know more about marketing your products and services for the holidays and the upcoming new year, please give me a call at 212-993-5828, send me an email at raphis@salemglobal.com or visit our site, www.SalemGlobal.com. Next week we will talk about email marketing and setting up a newsletter so you can get started on having a great list for the holidays and the beginning of next year.
Website Marketing Basics: Linking From Marketing Websites
Posted by Salem Global on Sep 21, 2009
Last week we had a review of why linking is so important. It declares you the most “popular” website in your industry, field and niche. “Popularity,” coupled with “authority” should yield the highest search engine position for relevance for a keyword search.
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.
Website Marketing Basics: Implementation of Keywords
Posted by Salem Global on Sep 1, 2009
By now, everyone should know that keywords are the basis of all search and website optimization. Keywords, as we learned in last week’s tip, are found by industry experience, knowledge and online software. But now that you have your list and you have prioritized it, what do you do with it?
First thing is place it in your meta data. Considering that your <title> and <description> are the most important places for your keywords, make sure that they are not only in your homepage meta data, but also on internal pages as well. Some people think that they can put in on their home page and maybe even replicate it on the internal pages. But this is not true. You need to prioritize according to each page subject and content.
Keywords should also be placed in the URL string. Obviously your homepage is going to default to index.html, index.php or something of that nature, but in your internal pages you should be naming the URL strings according the keyword topic as well. For example, I named one of my internal pages for my site marketing.php and for two word phrases check out website-marketing.php. Funny thing about keywords is that some people have typos and misspellings. Always be careful to spell correctly.
Content. Content must be aligned with your meta data and URL string. Obviously, whatever you are promoting or selling must be written about. Make sure your keywords are the title of your pages and also in <H1>, <H2> or <H3> tags. Be careful about keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing is the activity where you just repeat the word over and over even though it makes no sense. Believe me, keyword stuffing used to work back in the 90’s and that was called black hat SEO. But search engines are a lot smarter today than ever so you can’t do that anymore. Your content has to be clear and make sense.
Finally, use your keywords outside of your website as well. Use keywords for anchor text when linking from other sites. Use keywords when writing articles and Press releases or when you comment on blogs and forums.
Next week we will talk about linking and how it will help your website become more popular.
Producing a Video For Your Medical Practice or Vlogging for Doctors
Posted by Salem Global on Aug 4, 2009
Doctors not only need to have a specialty, they also need to have a good “bedside manner.” If you had to choose between the doctor that smiled all of the time vs. the doctor who never smiled, obviously you would go with the one with the friendly disposition. Doctors can be know-it-alls and they can be geniuses. They can be the smartest people in the world, the most skilled surgeons and have graduated at the top of their class. But if they don’t market themselves and let the world know how great they are, they might lose out on the great potential of their practice and lose out on helping as many people as possible.
The same holds true for the doctor in front of the camera. Doctors, just like anyone else, need to smile and show their friendly and warm regard through the lens.
Now you might say that some doctors are very skilled in their profession, but they are simply shy and a bit introverted. It’s not that they aren’t friendly, it’s just they don’t love to promote themselves. So today’s tip of the week is for that doctor who needs a bit of a push onto the camera in front of the audience.
In this economy believe it or not, people are actually scaling back on their health. I know it’s crazy, but some people are passing up on their annual checkups. Some insurance companies are charging higher premiums and people basically forget about their health. Recently I spoke with a Dentists office who said that fewer patients were calling up and scheduling appointments so they need to step up their marketing.
There are a few ways to get in front of the camera. First is the monologue. The camera focuses on the doctor and the doctor introduces him/herself to the audience. She/he then introduces his/her practice, office and staff. Then the doctor speaks about the services his/her office offers. Then there is preparation before procedures, and care after the procedures. In addition, to the monologue, there is also the “interview” as well as the “procedure.” With these three types of videos, you can certainly push out 52 videos in a year. Then next year - repeat the process. I guarantee it is all worth it!
There is a logical step to producing videos for anyone in any profession. If you need help thinking about, creating, directing and / or producing a video for your practice or profession, please email me at raphis@salemglobal.com, give me a call at 212-993-5828 or check out our site, www.SalemGlobal.com. Though SalemGlobal will work with any particular practice, we know that we can help dentists, orthodontists, lasik eye doctors, dermatologists, podiatrists and plastic surgeons. Next week we will talk about videos for the legal profession.
Microsoft Bing: A Worthy Google Competitor?
Posted by Aryeh.Landowne on Jun 22, 2009
Microsoft Bing, formerly known as Live Search, Windows Live Search and MSN Search, was launched on June 3rd, 2009. It is Microsoft’s latest attempt to take some marketshare away from Google search. Google has become the gold standard for Internet searching so therefore instead of reviewing Bing on it’s own, I will instead compare Bing to Google.
Bing has a busier but more elegant homepage compared to Google’s simple search bar. Bing rotates a daily picture of something or somewhere extraordinary. But what we really care about is search. I searched “Salemglobal” in each search engine and the first result was obviously SalemGlobal.com. But that’s where the similarities end; almost all the results are different but still relevant.
One feature that Bing has that is unique is when you hover your mouse over a search result a sidebar pops up with a small text preview of the page as well as common links within the page. So for the SalemGlobal search result the first few lines of text from our homepage pops up as well as links to our services page, our clients page, our contact page and a few others.
What I found strange was the little piece of text underneath each result, which is seemingly random. For example, under the link for SalemGlobal.com there is text from a news post from December 2008 that is about halfway down our homepage. Whereas Google takes the Meta description, the one line of html code that the owner of a site composes to describe their site, and uses that instead. In this case Google’s result is much more relevant.
Overall, Bing is a very clean search engine that has some nice new features of its own as well as some borrowed from Google and Yahoo (the number 1 and 2 ranked search engines). What remains to be seen is if people will start using it but that doesn’t seem likely since there isn’t any one thing that sets it apart from Google or Yahoo.
If you have any questions about how to utilize this new search engine please give SalemGlobal a call at 212-993-5828 or check out our website at http://www.SalemGlobal.com.
Article Writing Within Your Industry
Posted by Aryeh.Landowne on Jun 1, 2009
Last week we spoke about article writing as it pertains to the season and the calendar. This week I’d like to focus on some industries that we work with as well as general businesses. First you have to recognize if you are u a “B to B” or a “B to C” company. Obviously a “B to B” is going to have a different message then a “B to C” company. “B to C” companies are dealing mainly with sales or service to one customer at a time. Whereas “B to B” companies are all about lead generation and sales of a usually higher ticket price or higher nature.
If you are in the healthcare/medical industry, your article should be focused on your expertise. SalemGlobal mainly deals with about six types of doctors: dentists, orthodontists, podiatrists, dermatologists, plastic surgeons, and eye doctors/LASIK surgeons. Obviously, your expertise is going to get more defined when you talk about the specific nature of a specific procedure and/or a specific disease, aliment, symptoms, treatment and or cure. One example is a possible article for an orthodontist to write about Invisalign, how the procedure is done, how it compares to traditional braces and what benefits someone would get out of having straighter teeth.
If you are a lawyer, you might be either “B to B”, having individual clients or “B to C”, representing companies and businesses. For example, SalemGobal works with an immigration lawyer; a great article for her would be all about the laws governing immigration, who it applies to, potential costs, as well as ramifications if one does not adhere to the law. There is a movie coming out with Sandra Bullock, where she plays a Canadian citizen whose American visa has expired and at that moment (or at least at that moment of the trailer) she announces her engagement to her assistant. Stay tuned to whether this is a good or bad movie.
Next week we will talk about some more industries and if you have a question or need help writing an article about your business, please get in touch with us, we’d be happy to guide you on your way. Just give us a call at 212-993-5828 or check out our website at http://www.SalemGlobal.com.