Don't Shoot the Messenger OK

When you employ me to help fix your business, its an indication you know something is wrong. If you know something is wrong why do you get so upset when I tell you what it is. Oh maybe it is because I charge a premium to fix mistakes that have already costyou a lot. My premium rate exists because it is harder to fix than do right the first time.

I know sometimes it is because you have already invested many thousands of dollars to create a dud. But, that goes to show how much you need to learn. In no other aspect of business would you place yourself in the hands of complete strangers with absolutely no understanding of what they do.

You may use a bookkeeper but if you have any sense you know enough to make sense of your accounts. You may run print ads but hopefully you know enough to proof and monitor sales. You may use a recruitment agency but in most cases you know what you want in staff and have some control over the process. So why do so many hand complete control of their online business over without having a clue what they are getting, what is being done or what they can hope to achieve.

When I put it like that it makes you feel silly. If you don't understand what a consultant or expert is telling you ASK! Get an easy English explanation. If they try again and you still don't understand get them to keep trying or give up and find someone else you can work with and communicate effectively with.

You see the processes involved in ranking well, getting traffic and conversions are not rocket science. They are simply a process, a formula. It is easy to learn enough to understand the process and to learn enough to be in control of your strategy.

The you won't need people like me. Most people don't call me in until they have already done everything and it is still not working. When they have spent money for no result. In fact you should have called me first but didn't know.

Keep reading to find out how to stay in control, or questions to ask, to get a broad understanding so you neither need to call, nor shoot the messenger.

The key to success is to have a strategy, a plan you are going to follow. Know what you want to achieve.

Firstly - know your market. Know your customers, what they buy, what they search for and what motivates them to buy. Know your competitors. There are free toolbars like SEO quake that you can use to get information on your competitor's high ranking sites. Have you ever surveyed your customers. They are your best source of information on what you are doing well and not doing well. Know what your customers are saying about you. It still amazes me how many businesses have not set up a Google alert about their business. After all your customers are out there talking about you online, you just need to listen.

Secondly - find the keywords your customers are searching for. You need to know what keywords to rank for and have content relevant to. You need to rank for your business name so existing customers can find you easily but so few businesses do a good job of ranking for searches potential new customers do. New customers don't know your name. New customers need your page to jump out in the top listing for the searches they do and be dropped onto a page with content relevant to their search.

Third - learn the processes. Even if you just get an overview. Get knowledge. Knowledge is power. Without knowledge you don't understand the processes in ranking. Without knowledge you don't understand whether a consultant is offering you a solution to get the result you want.

Fourth - don't give your money away. Ask about results. Ask about techniques, Ask an expert some questions to ask. Get difficult and ask your potential consultant to tell you exactly how they are going to achieve your strategy, not generalizations of what they do but specifics on how they are going to get you exactly the results you want.

Fifth - build a list and build a relationship. If you don't have a way to catch people's details they are essentially lost to you. Some surveys have shown as many as 67% of customers fail to return to a business just because they forgot. A list allows you to build a relationship. You don't have to spam. You don't have to continually send offers. You can send helpful maintenance tips, set-up advice, checkup reminders and the like as well as specials.

So in summary do a basic course in internet marketing that you are confident will teach you the entire process. Why internet marketing because these people are not making money with one business or business model. They are up-to-date with search engine ranking logarithms, they keep up-to-date with what works. They have to have the best knowledge because that is what they do to make money often using different business models and many different websites.

Remember knowledge is power and can help you save yourself a lot of money and make sound business decision. It will give you a filter to know whether every step fits within your overall strategy and is a step forward to get you where you want to go.