Why so long?

It certainly has been a while since I've made a post. Do you want to know why? Okay...do you want the truth, or an answer that makes it sound as good as possible?

How about both?

The truth is that 2008 was a great year, and that I have been very blessed. Even with a recession slowing down the economy, especially during the last third of the year, Warehouse-Media has stayed busy and continued to help many businesses.

With all of the work, and a great event in my personal life--I got married in September--I just haven't been able to find the time to make a new post.

I want to make up for lost time, though, and give you some quick and useful information that will hopefully help you market your business during a time when it needs it the most.

Now, I realize that what I am about to say can easily be misconstrued as me simply trying to sell my services. However, in reality, what I am about to say is a proven fact. 

When business slows, you need to market your business more.

That's it. I told you it would be quick. It could not be more true, however. Look's look at the facts...

Currently, people are spending less money. Consumers are being pickier, if they are picking anything at all. This means that the products and services your business sells are going to be looked at, possibly, with the greatest scrutiny ever. Price will obviously be a large factor. However, it is not the only factor, and this is where marketing comes into play. 

Sure, marketing costs money, and things are tight right now. But, so is your competition; it is likely tighter than ever. So, you need to do everything possible to attract customers and differentiate yourself from your competition. The tried and proven way to do this is with experienced marketing. Give me a call or drop me a line and tell me about your business. I promise to give you honest, upfront advice about how I can help, if at all. If I don't think any of my services will help your business, I'll tell you and save you money. If I do think, though, that my services can help your business--and they almost always can--I'll work with you to keep costs as low as possible without sacrificing final output.

So, keep working hard and doing what you do best: running your business. Get in touch and let me do what I do best: helping you and your business succeed.

Best of luck in 2009!

Search engine advertising still working!

Having been at the forefront of Internet development since it began gaining popularity and legitimacy in the mid-to-late '90s, even I continue to be amazed at not only the achievements of Internet-related services and companies, but also at the continuous promise and potential that it shows.

Once upon a time, before Google began its world domination, Yahoo was a pretty dominant force. While it still is popular, of course, it just wasn't at the point of being bartered to Microsoft as it is today with many angry shareholders and investors. Anyway, Yahoo had a magazine called "Yahoo Internet Life." It was decent, but I would usually purchase it when I saw a new copy on newsstands. I distinctly remember an article that discussed the future of search engines, and the mention of a new search engine that charged web sites to gain higher rankings. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of this site (not Google!). However, the writer mocked it and said how it would never succeed. 

Well, here we are, with paid search results showing up en masse in every search engine--even on Yahoo. And, as of now (who knows what the future holds?), this is one of the most efficient means of advertising and marketing a business in existence. In case you aren't up to date on how this system works, here is a basic rundown:

1. Companies hire a marketing company to perform research on search tendencies, what keywords and/or phrases are searched for most, etc. and create a plan on targeting these searches for the business.
2. Once a list of the most probable keywords and/or phrases is created, ads are created that are displayed to the "searcher" that market the business in a way that is appealing, based on what he or she is searching for. These ads will only show up when someone searches for a keyword or phrase on the list previously created.
3. The ad for this business is displayed along with ads from other advertisers on the search results page. How is the order and prominence of each ad determined, you say? Well, each advertiser "bids" the maximum amount of money they are willing to pay for their ad to be clicked. Minimum bids are generally $.01. Depending upon your industry and the competitiveness, often bids under $.10 per click will garner a top or very high ad placement.
4. Each time an ad is clicked, the advertiser is billed that amount. But, that is the beauty of it! You only pay when your ad is clicked. Unlike advertising on TV or radio, when you are paying per viewer/listener, whether they are a qualified lead or not, this way you only pay when a qualified lead actually visits your web site! If your ad is never clicked, you are never charged a cent.
5. Daily budgets can be set to prevent the advertiser from spending uncontrolled amounts of money. For example, if you only want to spend $25 per day on clicks, once your $25 is reached, your ads will no longer run, until the next day.

Currently, we have several clients that take advantage of this new marketing capability. We created the plan and manage these campaigns for them; some daily, some weekly. Managing consists of varying services that maximize your investment, such as constantly analyzing competition and other advertisers and determining the ideal bid to get the most visitors (spending more money for the top spot won't always get you the most possible visits with your budget; often, bidding less and getting a lower spot will get you more clicks, as your ads will display longer!), preventing fraud clicks from your competitors, etc.

If this is something you are interested in, get in touch with us for a free consultation. We'll outline the costs involved, and help you decide whether it could help your business. Try it for a week, and if you don't get the results you want, you can stop it at any time.

Thanks for reading!

Zach Jones

Owner

Welcome to our new blog!

Thanks for viewing our new blog! We promise to keep it interesting and beneficial. We will keep you up to date on the latest trends and successes in the world of marketing, as well as new and innovative projects that we are working on.

Be sure to check back often for tips and ideas on getting your company's marketing off of the ground. Be sure to let us know how we are doing with feedback and comments.

Thanks again,

Zach Jones, Owner