Letters From Dan

The rel=author thing is pretty cool. It’s not necessarily new but Google has made it more fun and useful. And since they got rid of the indented listing, the rel=author thing is the next best search results promotion tool.

So what is it? Simply put, rel=author is an html tag you can add to your webpages and posts to link yourself, as the author, to your Google + Profile where more information can be found out about you. But the big benefit is the addition of the Google + profile photo embedded right there on the search results page.It really catches your eye and can make your search results position be the #1 traffic “getter”, even if you’re #4 on the page.

Step 1: Google Plus

You’re going to need a Google+ Profile page. So head on over to Plus.Google.com to get your page and profile set up. Of course the more complete you fill out the more information Google knows about you as an author. So attempt to answer all the questions.

There are so many things to do, isn’t there? Podcasts, Pinterest, Facebook, e-books, email, Flickr, Youtube, Hubpages, Google Places, backlinks, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Cinch, Slideshare, Instagram, Digg, BlogTalkRadio, Kunaki. . . the list goes on and on.

Does the existence of a social network, a social utility or a marketing tool mean you have to use them? Of course it doesn’t, but then why do so many companies maintain presences on all of them? The answer is purpose.

When you begin your marketing efforts, make sure you have a plan and can execute that plan. If you can successfully execute an entire marketing plan on one network, then you can probably expand that to two. A well executed plan means you’ve tested your messaging so that it attracts the right people to your funnel. Then you’ve tested the parts of the funnel so you’ve maximized the number of prospects that make it to your goal.  Finally, you’ve tested the backend and have found surefire ways to monetize them over and over again.

So I got back from the NAMS event in Atlanta on Monday. (If you’re not familar, that’s an event  for people looking to increase revenue from their online efforts). Humbling as it is, I got to share the stage with Carrie Wilkerson, Susanne Meyers, and Jack Born among many others. Can you believe Elsom Eldridge, Daniel Hall and Erin Chase were some of the attendees? That event gets better every year.

As I do for my Weekly Notes subscribers (see sidebar) I thought I’d share a bit of what’s gone on this week:

What I Taught

For the 101 class we talked about prioritization of tasks once they got home. To really get your business moving you need to focus on 2 things:

A well executed banner retargeting marketing strategy is a tremendous way to capitalize on all your other marketing efforts. Banner retargeting is a way to make sure that visitors to your website continue to see ads for your products/services on the web AFTER they leave your site.  Basically – automated outbound follow-up.

Executing it is easy. It is the practice of putting a cookie on the computer of someone who’s been to your website (specific pages that is). Then buying banner ad space that will serve your ads when someone with that cookie on their computer visits that page. That’s the entire program in a nutshell.

If you’ve ever wondered about doing an outbound telemarketing campaign to call past users of your product or perhaps a postcard campaign to your pile of business cards – you’ll like this.

Before I go further most people who don’t understand banner retargeting have the following two concerns. (And because they have these concerns they typically fail to hear the astounding benefits of a banner retargeting marketing strategy.) So let’s address those two questions:

I’m always looking for unbelievable viral marketing examples, and recently came upon what ThePianoGuys are doing with their CelloWars video. You’re going to love it.

There is an enormous differences between viral video examples and viral marketing examples. Tons of videos go viral. Most of them that have done so weren’t because they were planned that way.  And 99% of them are just a flash in the pan with no way to turn that audience into future fans.

In this viral marketing example you’re going to see how ThePianoGuys are using their videos to create fans, generate revenue, grow their list and become pop icons. You don’t see this kind of thing everyday.

They start with YouTube, but these guys aren’t using a Flip Camera in their car on the way to work. Their videos are stunning, done with impeccable editing and amazing musicians. They are so well done, you want to share them. But again – that’s not viral marketing. Great editing, amazing music and stunning video is a hallmark of great movies like Shindler’s List, K2 and Empire of the Sun but that doesn’t make them a viral marketing example.

I was recently working with a client on their site when they asked about the kinds of things we could do to website revenue generation ideas I had and what kind of return we could get from those activities. Revenue is so very tied to the kind of traffic you get to your site. You could use adfly.com to drive thousands and thousands of people to your site, without ever making a sale.  How and why the traffic gets to your site is crucial to its monetization. So I made this short pencast and thought you’d enjoy hearing those as well:

Matt Cutts finally decided to produce another post about using hyphens and underscores in domain names. It’s not often that he does – so I’m always grateful to see him update Google’s position. As you’ll see in this video, it’s still very clear that hyphenated domain names are not penalized over those without hyphens.

I also found it interesting how Google sees underscores. I can only assume that Google treats underscores the same way whether in a domain name or in copy. It seems to all stem from the days when search engines weren’t that savvy.

Internet Marketing in Nashville is just fantastic. Nashville may not be a tech mecca like New York City or home to SXSW like Austin, but businesses as a whole understand the need for internet marketing services – even if that means they’re just trying to bring the role in house.

One of the things I love about our Nashville Internet Marketing clients is the ease by which you can meet in person. In the end they’re trying to appeal to people and I’m trying to appeal to them. I’ve got nothing against Skype, Facebook chats and the phone – but it is nice to get to meet your client.

Speaking of meeting your clients, imagine how arduous that is in Atlanta, Boston,  and Los Angeles? Even folks from Franklin and Hendersonville can find an easy way to meet in East Nashville. What’s great about that is most of nice places to meet like Ugly Muggs, the Frothy Monkey and Crema do a great job with their own internet marketing efforts. It just makes for a great conversation on top of the meeting.

Another thing I love about internet marketing in Nashville are the events. Podcamp, Barcamp, Blissdom, Murmuration, Killer Tribes, TEDX, and eSpaces events are just the start.  The Owen School of Management, CentreSource, Belmont and the Nashville Downtown Partnership put on great events as well. It’s a mecca of information for anyone who wants to learn.

Podcamp and Barcamp are particularly great internet marketing events. While most of the attendees would say the topics are more digital and code in nature – very seldom are these things used primarily for private purposes. It takes good information to put together a great marketing campaign.

Blissdom, Murmuration, Killer Tribes – these are some events that attract a national crowd. In fact last year Carrie Wilkerson, Scott Stratton and the Go-Giver Tour held events here. I’ve seen several of those on the books for this year as well. Being within 500 miles of 1/2 the U.S. Population makes this a great place for hub events.

While I do have some aspirations of moving to Madison, Wisconsin some day. I don’t think I’ll ever mind being an expert in internet marketing in Nashville. It’s just such a great place to be.

I’ve got a friend whose about to get his website underway. He asked me what his first steps should be. Mind you his website name is his name, and he knows his niche. Also we set up WordPress on his domain, so we’re past that as well. Basically he wanted to know what the 1st steps in setting up a website were – in terms of content.

Determining what to write

The first thing I did was make a keyword research video for him to watch  (which I posted at our free forum http://freeweeklymastermind.com/webinars  So I asked him to watch the video and use the information to put together a map of keywords he’s going to go after with his website. Starting with the big picture. . . you really want to figure out what you’re about.  If you’re at this stage, start by asking yourself what you want your “tabs” to be on the website.

Since this is a branding site, in which he’s trying to prove his expert status and get hired, he’s going to have some pretty common tabs. To start he’s going to need something like an “about me” page, a “contact me” page and perhaps a testimonials or past projects page. You don’t have to have these things – but people look for these things. Sometimes it’s good to give them what they’re looking for.