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Leslie Carothers

A new series--A logical sequence for making money with your internet strategy

Many retailers and manufacturers are seeking clarification in understanding a logical sequence for developing their internet strategies for 2009. In response, I am beginning a series to educate our industry starting with this post. After writing my last post, I realized that I needed to do this in order to help EVERYONE in our industry develop the knowledge-in context-so we can help our industry survive and thrive. No one else is doing it. PLEASE, pass this blog around to everyone you know who would benefit. EVERYONE-all CEO’s, IT managers, Sr. VP’s of Mktg., etc. Anyone who has a bottom line responsibility for their companies-retailers and manufacturers alike.

And, before I begin to give away all of this free information, here is what my company, The Kaleidoscope Partnership does and doesn’t do - internet strategist doesn’t explain it! We DON’T:  design websites, do email marketing, or AdWords campaigns. Here is what we DO do: online reputation management, data mining of website analytics for strategic insights to drive revenue, keyword enriched content writing, development of and moderating of online social networking communities, training of your staff in converting e-based inquiries into sales and special projects. If I can help your company in any of these areas-please call me. I would appreciate your support as I hope you are also helped through this in-depth look at what it takes to make money with your websites and internet strategies..

Ok, thank you for reading through that and now, here is information that will, if followed and understood,  be extremely valuable to you in helping you make money with your websites:

I am going to assume you have a website already. If you don’t, and need help with sequencing that, please feel free to email me at leslie@tkpartnership.com.

For those of you who do, and are now ready to move forward into making more money from your web presence in 2009 and beyond, here is post 1 in helping you with a step by step IN DEPTH guide:

1. The MOST important thing you can do, if you have not already done so, is to have your site search engine optimized(SEO’d) Why? Because the number one key to making money with your website is to make sure consumers who are searching for what you sell can find you vs. your competitor. To test how well or poorly your site is SEO’d(in industry parlance) just type a few “keywords” into Google. For instance, if you are in Knoxville, Tennessee, type in “traditional sofas Knoxville” or “mattresses Knoxville” or “entertainment centers wood Knoxville”. This is exactly how consumers are searching for furniture these days. They are typing in the “keywords” for the items they are looking for in addition to the city they are in so they can find out who is carrying the items they are interested in researching and/or purchasing in their local market.

If your store or your company (if you are a mfg.-this applies equally to you as you need to have your sites seo’d for your dealers’s sakes since you more than likely have a dealer locator on your site by now) does NOT appear in the top ten ORGANIC or NATURAL (this means the results that are on the LEFT side of the screen as opposed to the right side or very top which are SPONSORED links-which means that companies are paying for this positioning) search results that are returned by Google, then your site is NOT BEING FOUND BY YOUR POTENTIAL CONSUMERS.

Also, in case some of you don’t know this, if Google is returning your store on its map, this is NOT the same thing as your store or your company being SEO’d well. Your site can fall off of Google’s own map minute to minute. YOU must take control of SEO. And, one more thing, for those of you who are not as internet saavy as others(and please forgive me if this seems too basic to some of you) but, when you are looking at the organic search rankings, it is the LAST line -where it says: www. mystore.com that is YOUR search ranking. So, even if you see your company’s name in the  title or body of text accompanying the returned search, it is NOT necessarily your site.

For example:

When you type in “RoomsToGo houston” the result below is NOT RoomsToGo’s website yet is the FIRST organic search result-not their own site! Not good. This means that the customer searching for RoomsToGo in Houston is not getting the store information where they should-at the top of organic search rankings. Now, with this being the number one result on Google, customers DO know that RTG is now in Houston,but they are also being told there was a failed attempt earlier. If you were RTG just opening a new store, would you want that to be the first thing your customers see in Google? ( By the way,this is one of the problems that a good online reputation management strategy helps to eliminate or control).

Rooms to Go finally arrives - Houston Business Journal:
Rooms To Go is finally entering the Houston market after a failed attempt (see ” Rooms To Go may open door to Houston,” April 20, 2007). …
houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2007/12/10/story1.html - 81k -

Now, when you type in “RoomToGo texas” vs. houston, their site IS number one-, BUT number two is this:

Rooms to go Texas / Delivery, customer service, and stockroom problems
Rooms to go Texas / Delivery, customer service, and stockroom problems. … Rooms to Go, Austin, Texas. Right after Christmas, My wife and I went to Rooms …
browse.complaints.com/prev.php?original_id=127044 -

This is certain death to your sales. Because the number two organic search result is for www.browsecomplaints.com which takes you to a very powerful online consumer opinion site that has tons of negative remarks about RTG and many other furniture retailers, by the way.

I have highlighted all of  the previous words in the previous paragraphs because they are ESSENTIAL to understanding what will make you money. Number one-your customers have to find you and they have to find the RIGHT information about you.

That’s what SEO is all about.

Stay tuned for the next step..and please email with all of your comments and questions at leslie@tkpartnerhship.com. If you’d like to call me, please do so at 713.705.2482.