How to succeed online with a website

February 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment

I hope you’re having a great year so far. It’s been an exciting and challenging year for us as we’ve continued to help our clients move to, and succeed on the internet.

On that note, I wanted to reach out and let you know about a few new things, remind you that we’re here to help you in any way we can, and to give you a few tidbits of advice. Read more


Posted by chris.auman | Filed Under Blog 

Small business will lead the U.S. to a better future

February 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment

“The old order changeth, yielding place to new.” – King Arthur

I was in Akron Ohio the other day talking to a client about online marketing, SEO, the current economic situation, the bailout bill and business in general and I realized that we’re pretty much in this alone as small business owners. It’s a scary thought to think that as small business owners it’s really up to us. We’re not going to get any bailout money or support from the government if we go into debt or have troubles. Nobody will hold our hands – they won’t even look back when we hit the ground. We simply have to make good decisions or die. Read more


Posted by chris.auman | Filed Under Blog 

The perils of Search Engine Optimization

February 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Here’s a quick lesson for you.

If you’re in charge of your search engine optimization campaign, be careful when you’re doing your job. SEO tactics and mistakes (either malicious or innocent)  can affect your current rankings across the board – not just with the page you’re working on. I always tell my clients that contribute to, or handle all of their online marketing, that what you don’t know can definitely hurt you.

Here’s an example where you can learn from my mistakes.

I once had the bright idea to write up an informative article about keyword research for SEO. I tried to give examples and educate people on the basics – it was in my opinion, a well written and informative piece. Well, the Googlebot didn’t think so. Read more


Posted by chris.auman | Filed Under Blog 

Focus your SEO Efforts on Google

February 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment

I’m sure that you’ve seen companies advertise services where they’ll “submit your website to thousands of search engines and directories” for $5. (Ok, I’m being facetious about that price, but you know what I mean)

The problem with this practice is that it’s not necessary. First, you must be careful about which sites you actually get listed on because not all sites are valueable – some could actually hurt your ranking if it has a very low quality, “spammy” reputation. Second, most search engines have very little traffic compared to the big boys. Even the the big boys now have very little traffic compared to THE biggest boy of them all; Google. Read more


Posted by chris.auman | Filed Under Blog 

Keyword research for SEO and online marketing

February 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment

We were meeting with a client today and the subject was SEO and keyword research for a lot of the meeting. During the meeting I realized, again, that a lot of businesses still don’t understand how to properly rank their business in the search engines. Most guess and dabble and completely miss the mark. Actually, I’ve known this for a long time but today was just another episode in a long line of meetings that cemented my belief. So, I thought I would write about it and try to help point you in the right direction if you decide to market your own website. Read more


Posted by chris.auman | Filed Under Blog 

Becoming a trailblazer

February 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment

leadership-risesmartI’m sure that you’ve all read a book on leadership or committed to a leadership training course. We all must learn to be great leaders in our business and personal lives to be successful. In my life I need to be a leader to my employees and clients which involves encouraging, managing and educating. In my personal life I’m a father – and let me tell you, that is the toughest leadership role there is.

But, leadership in this context is more focused around management. What I’d like to remind you now is to focus on true leadership. By that I mean leading – be the first, be a trailblazer, pacesetter – a true pioneer.

In the online world we sometimes forget to be a leader because the internet world moves so quickly and the landscape changes daily. It’s sometimes impossible just to keep up, let alone be the first. This is where I’d like to help and tell you that it’s “ok” to stop being a follower and start being a leader – a trailblazer.

Be the first to try new things. Don’t be afraid that the idea or technology is not proven. Empower your employees and assign them different things to try. Experiment with new technologies. But remember, you’ll get out of it what you put into it. You need to stay committed if you ever expect it to pay off. Read more


Posted by chris.auman | Filed Under Blog 

10 Reasons why you should start a blog

February 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Blogging is indeed just a tool, a mere dot… on a longer continuum. But it is a revolutionary tool, and those who just keep hacking along in the undergrowth will remain blind to the big picture until it is too late.” – Robert Scoble

The blog has finally hit prime time; it’s now the engine for announcing news, providing information, expanding marketing and increasing sales for many individuals, businesses and even large corporations through their website. For most people, their blog is their public face on the web because it’s easy for anyone to publish content and because of the smooth flow of information in and out of the website. A blog is simply a great, web-based marketing and communication tool.

If you’re not blogging, below are ten reasons why you should consider getting started: Read more


Posted by chris.auman | Filed Under Blog 

How Search Engine Optimization has changed

February 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment

I was sitting here yesterday, eating my cheerios thinking how much online marketing has changed since I first started back in in 1996. Actually, I didn’t know much of anything at that point. But, over the years I spent a lot of time learning what I could about making my sites rank well in the search engines.

Back in the day, things were different. It’s funny to hear people talk now because they don’t realize that so many things have changed. You used to be able to put some hidden words on the page, cram your copy with your important keywords and “submit” your site to your favorite search engines (there was more than 3 big ones back then) and normally had some good returns.

Today, Google and the remaining two search engines that are worth anything (Yahoo and MSN) are smart. There are very few tricks left to get rankings if you don’t deserve it and unfortunately that means work for us online marketers. Even then, it may be almost impossible to get top rankings for your sites because Google increasingly puts a lot of weight on things like site age and inbound links from trusted sites – things that can’t be manipulated or will be very hard to cheat. Read more


Posted by chris.auman | Filed Under Blog 

Using Twitter

February 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment

I’ve said “no” for a long time. I’ve seriously resisted. But, about a month ago I finally gave in and have been drug, nails clawing in the sand… to Twitter.

For those of you who don’t know, twitter is the latest and greatest social networking tool that’s been developed to “get connected” to the world at large.

I’ve resisted because I simply want to simplify my life. I don’t need anymore static in my work day, and I don’t need anymore “status updates” from hundreds of people – I already have Facebook for that.

But I gave in, and so far, I’m fairly glad that I did. Really. Read more


Posted by chris.auman | Filed Under Blog