Mar
21
2008
Since I don’t often rant here much, I thought I’d throw one in today.
We submitted payment for two links last weekend on The Social Millionaire (www.thesocialmillionaire.com) and still have not gotten directions on how to submit our links. I know that each link is only $1 but hey, we were doing the guy a favor and we’re trying to help him out on his journey to $1 million.
The funds have cleared our PayPal account and it’s showing fully paid to Hankinson Enterprises. If you check our their website, does this seem like something you can trust? I’d say NO! Click here for screen shot of payment to Hankinson Enterprises and Pat Hankinson. Funds cleared on March 15, 2008 and it’s now March 21, 2008 and haven’t heard a thing.
We have also sent two emails through his contact form regarding our payment and how we can submit our links on The Social Millionaire website and once again, no response! Either the form isn’t working properly and he’s not getting the emails or Pat Hankinson is just ignoring our emails.
Initially I was rooting for this guy but now I’m calling it a quick way to make a buck and ultimately a SCAM! Please let me know if I am wrong. If you are one of the lucky ones who got a link on the site, are you even getting any traffic? I don’t see a blob of words driving much targeted traffic.
Hey Pat Hankinson, where the hell are our links? Anyway, I guess that’s it.
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Mar
11
2008
There are several ways to approach the question of “Is Internet Marketing a “Real” Profession?”…First , you must be able to define what the concept of a “real profession” is. We can probably all agree that good examples of “real professions” would be doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. These are considered “real professions” because they involve a high level of expertise, training, and experience. What if I told you that a good web marketer needs to possess those same traits? Would you then consider it a real profession? However you define this term, I think it is fair to say that a crossroads is right around the corner for this industry, that will either further increase our credibility or further reduce it. From what I am hearing at seminars, and reading on blogs the future is taking shape very quickly for web marketers. It seems like everyday something happens to somehow change the dymanics of the Internet, and how we are able to use it.
I don’t think we are very far from knowing how the field of Internet marketing will transform for the long term. Major search engines such as Google can easily make or break this entire industry by deciding how they want their services to work for small/medium size clients. For instance, Google can easily create different portals and services available to business owners, so that Google can do everything themselves. If this is how Google sees the future of Internet marketing, this will dictate web marketing careers, and if they expand of or shrink. If Google feels that they can make more advertising money by having your adwords campaigns run by their employees, you better believe that decision will be made soon. The same thing goes with website creation and SEO. Google might say they can do this all themselves, with the help of more account representatives, therefore sticking a huge thorn in the side of the web marketing industry all together.
Another way to judge if Internet Marketing is a “real” Profession, and to see where the field is going in the future, is by waiting to see how many colleges create a web based marketing program. At this point there are very few programs that cater to the online marketplace, but we might see this start to change over the next few years. The statistics show that graduates who enter this field can make a very nice entry level living. An entry level salary in the web marketing area can be substantially higher than an entry level Public Relations or Sales job. Yet, colleges cater to those types of career training, and not web related marketing. Well respected studies have been compiled showing entry level income for web marketers. This might help to pop up new programs across the country. If this happens, expect for the general public to better respect the industry, and parents to push their kids into this field. When major universities recognize the efforts of web marketers, you can expect more credibility across the board, and lots of new people applying for SEO/SEM jobs in the next 4-5 years.
Where the industry is going, and how much respect the industry is given down the road, we will have to wait and see. Thoughts?
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Mar
07
2008
We see so many people try to jump in markets that are so over-saturated. They think that the money will be there when they create their website and visitors will magically use them instead of the other millions of competitors in the same industry. While this can happen and is not unheard of (much hard work is needed), it’s so much easier to break into an industry with less competition.
We do understand that some people have passion for certain things and these certain passions might already be overdone in the marketplace and that’s fine. If you truly have a passion in a highly competitive market, then make sure you do it better than your competitors or you will be one little fish in that big sea of competition. Do something different that provides value. Think out of the box. Be the leader in that industry. Build an authoritative website that people will come back to over and over again to learn the latest and greatest from you.
Now, if you are just starting out and trying to figure out which business or website to start, then you need to be very careful. You ideally want to do something that you greatly enjoy. If you don’t, you will find yourself fade at a certain point due to the lack of interest. Find something you love. Find a hobby that you’ve enjoyed your entire life and create a business out of it.
This is not the most factual article but we just want to warm people before they jump into a business or new website and let them know that half the battle (or the full battle) with new businesses is competition and making a name for yourself. Create something new and you will already be ahead of most and you WILL get noticed much quicker than if you start a highly competitive website.
Best of luck!
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Feb
07
2008
Does your website have a click to call (CTC) feature? If you are in an industry that requires quick customer support, you should look into this option. Basically what click to call does is give your web viewers a chance to input their phone number into a form, and request a call back immediately or within a short time frame. Click to call buttons are growing in popularity because our culture has grown tired of sitting on hold for 20 minutes listening to elevator music being told we are the next call in line. When you input your number into a click to call box, you can guarantee a live person is going to call you back shortly after to help relieve your problem.
Another benefit of click to call is that your web surfers will not have to pay any long distance charges. I know nowadays many people have national cell phone plans, but this also relieves them of using their cell phone minutes, while sitting on hold. Another great benefit of click to call is that your phone operators can be prepared for the phone call, before they even make it. In the past, incoming calls must be worked on the fly to help solve their customers problems. When operators don’t know what problem they are about to hear, their jobs become much more difficult. Many click to call services offer their websurfers the ability to type out a summary of their problem before placing the call order. This helps reduce time spent on the phone trouble shooting issues and maximizes your staff’s time. You can expect to see increased productivity from your staff with a click to call feature.
Click to call has helped bridge the gap in old technologies to new web technolgy. Many of your customers are still more comfortable getting support over the phone, so you should not assume your clients are doing 100% of their interaction over the web yet. Click to call features can make all your web viewers comfortable, but also will streamline your customer support processes.
I have not been able to find many negatives with click to call services. Just make sure you have the staff available to handle your new increased productivity.
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Feb
03
2008
This really does not have to do anything with web marketing, but I figured since everybody is talking about the Super Bowl, I would join the pack. Super Bowl Sunday has become an important National Holiday. People of all ages, genders, and races tune in even if they have not watched a single football game all season. This goes to prove how powerful the NFL is. The country basically comes to a standstill the first Sunday of February. You can’t say that about the World Series, BCS National Championship, NBA Championship, etc. Why is the NFL a notch above the other sports leagues…. AMAZING MARKETING.
The NFL markets themself better than almost any company in the world. They market their players, their teams, and their history. They are not affraid to have blemishes on their record, and reward their stars with press when they turn their life around. When a player (or team… PATRIOTS) add a blemish to the NFL record, the league as a whole punishes swiftly, fairly, and intelligently. There have been many scandals, crimes, and embarrassments caused by many of their players, yet non of them could break their stride. Some of the best companies and organizations in the world have made some of the biggest mistakes in the world, but they publicly speak on the issue and take responsibility.
People watch the NFL for the same reasons they shop in certain stores, and eat at certain restaurants. That is trust. We as fans trust the integrity of the game. We trust that the players will give their best efforts, and respect the history of the game. We as fans trust that when we sit down on a Super Bowl Sunday you will be entertained from start to finish. We expect top notch entertainment, commercials, commentary, and most of all…a top notch game.
Enjoy watching the game tonight, but maybe also take note of the successes of the NFL. Think of how they built their brand name over the years to get where they are today. They are an amazing organization to model your company after.
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