KenHood.info

In my part of the country, we have a convenience store/gas station called Quick Trip.  We also have a competing chain named Circle K.  It used to be that Circle K was the dominant player followed distantly by 7-11.  When Quick Trip burst on the scene, people didn’t know what to make of this upstart company. 

The new player was doing things differently.  They kept the new stores clean-Oh my gosh, what a concept!  They had each associate working the registers acknowledge each customer when they entered the store.  They hired clean cut men and women to serve the clientele.  They made sure each associate was skilled at the register to ensure a fast pace at checkout.

The most astonishing thing is that this is not just at one isolated store.  It is at every store.   This is quite a departure from what we in Phoenix were used to.  The formerly dominant Circle K has many stores that are dingy and cluttered.   The associates are not eager to please the patrons and are usually under staffed.  This of course causes atttitude problems and those are usually directed at the clientelle.  7-11 is almost an after thought in the Phoenix market.  It is in it’s death throes.

What does this little tale have to do with internet marketing?  Everything!  If you want to succeed in business, you have to get down to basics, make a plan,  and execute that plan on a daily basis.  Now, extrapolate that to your internet marketing.  Are you blogging on a regular basis with fresh (i.e original) content?  Are you utilizing Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and the other social networking sites to spread the word of your glorious enterprise?  It boils down to having a game plan and executing the plan regularly.

I truly feel that each of us can succeed if we do what needs to be done and look at our internet presence as an extension (which it is) of our primary business.  We may have been a major player in our time, but the economy or other competitors are eroding our client base.  Do we want to be Circle K or do we adopt the ways of Quick Trip and earn back our market share.  You and I both know the answer.

It’s Simple When You Think About It.

A few weeks ago, I decided to add a new phrase  to my Google Alerts.   I added my name “Tim Hawley”.  Any time my name is posted on the net, I know about it.  Well, each time I have posted on my business blog, I see it on my alerts.  So, imagine my surprise when I saw my name in a post on a website that I have never heard of.

Apparently, somebody saw a posting I made on a bulletin board and used it on his site to add new  Icontent.  I suppose that his copying of my content is flattering, but he didn’t even change my name or website info.  Pretty lazy if you ask me.  But, this does emphasize my point that the more you post the more your name gets out.  The more your name gets out the better your ranking on the search engines.

Think of this process as a spider spinning a web.  It starts out in the center and radiates out touching more and more spots in order to be able to catch as many flies as possible.  Only in our case, the flies are customers.  I was in a district sales meeting last week.  One of the topics was setting up a Facebook account to increase sales.  After the meeting I called the person giving the talk and had him Google me.  He saw that my site is #2 on the Google search engine.  My Facebook is #3.  I am #’s2,3,4,&5 on Yahoo.com.  I am #2 &3 on AOL, but who really uses AOL anyway.

It works, people.    Listen to Ken Hood.  Better yet get his Webcard360.  It links all of your sites on a professional web business card.  Yes, it is another web presence to get trap the flies.

If you want to contact me, got to my website www.timhawley.net and click the contact me tab.

Ok- your website is perfect.  It does everything you and your clients want.  It makes your client’s experience with your company  convenient and easy.  So what?  Who cares?  How do you get people to come to your site?

A website is nothing unless traffic is engaged and coming to it.  In my case, I want to get local people that are in the market for personal lines insurance to come to my site and request my services.  I really don’t care if a woman in Germany is looking at my site, or if a man in Florida sees my blog and agrees with me on my view of traffic cameras and their impact on crash statistics.  I am only licensed to do business in the state of Arizona.  So, Arizona is my market.

Now is the time for me to funnel people to my site and market the heck out of them.  I need PR.  Public Relations, a mouth piece, some way to trumpet my Internet savvy and insurance acumen.

I have done all the necessary things to enhance my web presence:

1. Developed a web page
2. Developed and maintained auxiliary web pages to direct traffic to  my site.
3. Created a web presence on social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.
4. Most important – hired Ken Hood to help me navigate the morass that is the world wide web.

I am  inspired to look for free PR opportunities, and ready for some practical tips that my research has uncovered.

My message and business image should be consistent both in the real world and online. Used effectively, public relations activities in the traditional media can draw traffic to my site.

My articles are  on a separate page of my Web site. This has several advantages:

• It plays to the Web philosophy that “content is king”, and showcases my expertise and the breadth of my knowledge.
• I can construct keywords and descriptions specifically for each article, and promote them individually in the search engines. This allows me to further differentiate myself, and significantly improves my chances of being found online.

There are ever expanding numbers of newspapers, newsletters, and e-zines (electronic magazines) online, and also reporters looking for stories. Since Web sites have to be constantly updated (even more than in the real world), they are hungry for my news!

A great resource for finding appropriate places to send press releases is Mediafinder. This site can be searched under numerous different subject areas, geographic locations, etc. It provides Web site addresses, e-mail contacts and media kit details.

In addition to “print” publications, there is an increasing number of “online radio shows”. In fact, Yahoo! has a whole category devoted to them. The shows are generally broadcast in “Real Audio”, or a similar program. This is software that is free to download and easy to install on your computer. The “streaming audio” is heard as it comes to your machine, so you don’t have to wait for the whole clip to download before you can hear it.

Again, these shows are looking for content and guests. The Yahoo! listing often includes each one’s subject matter or focus, so you can identify appropriate targets for your message.

Baby steps.   But without the first step – contacting Ken Hood @ kenhood.net, you have no page to represent.

I have used MyOffice.net for 3 years and I love it. Think of it as a “virtual Microsoft Office meets ACT or Goldmine.” Here’s what’s cool:

• All emails to and from clients are gathered into ONE file card.
• All emails, contact cards and files are accessible from multiple locations simultaneously.
• All data is backed up on my own computer, my staff’s computer and the servers at MyOffice.net
• The program runs locally on my own computer (great for speed) and yet is backed up in the background on the central servers offline. Speed plus safety.

Here’s how it works: you send me an email. It is automatically tagged to your contact card. Later, you call my support staff (who is in a different state), and she can pull up your contact card and read the email that you sent me. Then she sends you an email to confirm your phone call, and it is also tagged to your card. So when you call me the next day, I can easily see (by pulling up your contact card) that you spoke with my staff, and I can read the email she sent you. Cool.

Try it free for 30 days. (This is my affiliate link.)

Thanks to Lisa Fuller, Erie Insurance, for bringing ChatToText.com to our attention. Related links:

• ChatterText.org
• WebWire.com
• SiteProNews.com

This looks like it has more relevance to MLM than Social Networking, but I’ll keep an eye on it just the same.

My webmaster told me to get a face book page, along with twitter, a blog or blogs, and any other method of getting my name on the web.  I realize the need to get the word out.  I know that the way for the search engines to work in your favor is to have a spider web of connections to your website.  Not only that, but new content needs to be added on a regular basis.  But, Facebook drives me nuts.

Facebook is a free-access social networking website that is operated  by Facebook, Inc.  Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.

That is the part that drives me crazy.  I don’t want to know when your poodle did a doodoo.  I don’t want to participate in a food fight.  Why do you want me to write on your wall?  By the way, how much extra time do you have to post inane entries on a website devoted to yourself.

I do not have the time or the inclination to face book (verb).  Yes, the word is not only the name of a website, it is also a verb.  As in, “Did you facebook today?”  Holy God save me fom myself and the grownups that want to be like their teen children with the grownup version of MySpace.

That was how this site was presented to me. ”…Tim, start a Facebook page.  It is the professional equivelant of MySpace….”  And I believed it!!!  I’m sorry, but I don’t have time for every 25 question personal survey that comes out, nor do I want to participate is a virtual food fight.    I do, however, want to have contact with other people that share my interests.  I do wish to correspond with SOME persons from my past.  I do wish to develop professional relationships.  I do want to market myself to the world.

I am not a stick in the mud.  I like to have fun.  I am good with people.  I have friends.  Ok, maybe my dog doesn’t count as a friend, and maybe my idea of fun isn’t the world’s, and maybe I AM a stick in the mud.

That being said,  where should I go to get the type of satisfaction that will allow me to market myself and keep in contact with my peers.  What forum will serve my professional and stilted social needs.  I know.  I will start a new networking website.  It will called : www. letsnotgettoopersonalwhilewequasisociallyinteract.com

Thank you for listening to my rant.  Please reply to the link above to let me know your feelings on this matter.

Do you wonder how you would get started blogging? Here are 31 topics to get you started.

And if you think “how will I make money from my blog?” Think again. The correct view of business blogging is provide by small business owner and blogger, Shana Albert:

I don’t make money from my blog, but I make money because of my blog

Read Point 9 in her article here. Also read this great article about business blogging.

I am on a mission.  A mission to attract and retain more business to my agency.  I  have been in business 20 yrs.  I know what I am doing.  I have a professional, easy to use web site, and my clients use it.  But,  I need to attract more people to my site.  Not just any people mind you, but people in my community.  People that want and need my product.  People that know I can help them.   People that seek ME out.  Oh, and I don’t want to spend a lot of money.  Free would be good.  Is this a dream or a possibility?

I believe it is a possibility, and I think I have found the right path.  The road I choose is less travelled.  The front end work appears to0 be great, but the reward will be so sweet when the fruit of my labor is harvested.  I am talking about using forums as marketing tools.

What do I mean?  Message Boards.  Information Exchange Forums.  Creating a forum whereby people sign up to learn and/or share information with each other.  But, the beauty is the fact that you are the moderator.  You get to allow or decline membership.  You get to have each members E-MAIL.  You are the main contributor and if you can impart some intelligent thoughts about your niche market, you will get people to understand that you really do know what you are doing, and they will seek your counsel and expertise when they need it.

The key to marketing with forums is to become an active participant by answering questions and asking questions and building relationships with the other forum participants.  Also, forums allow what is known as a Signature within which you can put your website URLs. Whenever you put up a post, your signature shows at the bottom as clickable links and people following that post can click through to visit your website.

Setting up a forum is very easy.  I used Proboards.com.  The control panel is very easy to use, so I could customize my forum.  ( It is a new forum, so please bear with me).  I set the controls so that if people want to view my forum, they have to register.  This gets me their e-mail.  It also allows me to find out more about them.  Their demographics.

I realize that I am going to have to do a little more work to keep up with having new content, answering participant requests, and moderating posts, but I am hopeful the effort will be worth it.  The potential upside is great.

I am going to join each insurance forum I can, and place a  thread showing my forum is in action.  This is a direct form of forum marketing, kind of like spamming, but really not because I am pointing people to another more worthwhile forum.

I have google searched insurance forums, and there aren’t that may forums that are very good, moderated well, if at all, or truly on topic.  So, I know my forum is needed and timely. 

I will be updating this post as events warrant.  I know this is a different method, but I am resolved to see it through.

Hi everyone. I want to show you how easy it is to blog. Tim Hawley is blogging in the following blogs, and trust me, his search engine position is being raised as I write this because of the Fresh Content and Cross Links back to his website. If you google “tim hawley insurance” you will see the rewards for blogging, by finding him listed numerous times in the first 3 pages of Google.

• http://timhawley.blogspot.com/
• http://timhawley.wordpress.com/
• http://hawleyinsurance.wordpress.com/
• http://phoenixbusinessguide.wordpress.com/

Post a comment and let’s start the discussion!

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