Genesee Crest Ltd.

How To Create A Link

2009-03-25T08:09:00.004-04:00

I have gotten a few emails over the last month from people that do not understand how to make links. In the tool bar of most word processing and publishing programs, is a button with a symbol that looks like two pieces of chain link hooked together. The two links are usually on a round circle. For publishing in blogger the round circle is green.

To create a link, simply highlight the word you want to make the link on and click on that button. A box will pop up. Copy and paste the url of the web page you want linked to in that box and hit enter. You are done. Some programs give you a few more options but it is basically that simple.

Linking on a specific word creates what is called an anchor text link. This not only directs your reader to relevant information, but directs the search engines also. So if you website or blog is mostly about a particular subject, link on the your most important keyword with a link to your main page. This will tell the search engines that the main page is most relevant to that keyword. For example this blog is mostly about blog marketing. I linked to the main url and now I have "link juice" with that word. Sites that end up on the first page of a search tend to have a lot of link juice.

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The Secret Behind Web 2.0 Marketing

2009-02-21T08:58:00.004-05:00

A lot of marketing people understand the mechanics of marketing, but many are really missing out on Web 2.0 Marketing. Web 2.0 marketing is the ability to interact with the prospective client on the Internet. To not just lecture or sell, but to present the company in such a way as to make your client feel like they are part of the process. Whatever the venue from news to gossip, the people that use Digg get to feel like they are part of the process. By becoming part of the blogs community, the community grows, the business of the blog grows and makes money.

It is really not much more difficult than that. What amazes me is that I continually come across corporate websites that are nothing more than landing pages. No original content, no ability for the target audience to interact with the company other than a contact us page. Clearly a company with a website like this is not expecting to get business off of the Internet. Vanity websites that stroke the ego, "I am on the Internet." A waste of time and money in my opinion.

Web 2.0 Marketing takes that landing page to the next level. By associating the website with a blog or forum we now have the ability to interact with our customers.

In an attempt to practice what I preach I am opening up all of my blogs to other marketers and writers. The primary subjects of this blog are marketing, social networking and web 2.0. Since my primary methods of social networking are Linkedin and Twitter I am opening this blog up to writers that are connected to me on both social sites.

Due to technical issues I can only let 100 people participate as a writer on this blog. Given that, if you are a writer and would like to publish articles about marketing, social networking and web 2.0 you may become part of this blogs writing community. Simply email me jmichaelwarner(at)yahoo(dot)com, with a sample of your writing. If acceptable I will give you access to start publishing articles on this blog.

Articles submitted must be at least 400 words in length and may have up to three links to whatever you want. No plagiarism. Once we have 100 writers, preference will be given to those that publish an article at least once each week. So if a new person comes aboard, the person that publishes the least will get booted out of the community. Of course whatever you have published, along with the links will remain intact.

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Internal Links

2009-02-19T06:47:00.004-05:00

Links and internal links. The more links and internal links the better. The problem most people have is how to get the links. Two things drive traffic on the Internet, quality content and links. Without both, your online business and internet marketing campaign will fail. Building an online business is time consuming. Many people start an online business thinking that everything can be automated. I like to tell people "there is a reason they call it work." Automate what you can, but sooner or later if you want to succeed, work will be involved.

The first type of links you can easily get are internal links. In each article you publish on the internet include anchor text links. I like to study what other people do, not so much what they say. For example if you read an article on how to get links and backlinks, most will spend a lot of time rehashing that you should go to sites and ask for a link. The real score is to get a major site, such as a major university to include a link on their site back to you. Easier said than done. You could spend an enormous amount of time trying this and get no where.

Start out with internal links. In each article you write, make a link to another article or two or three, etc. I like to think of everything I do as spinning a web. The world wide web is just that, a spider web. Nothing linear here! Your main website is the center of the universe, everything else should connect to it in multiple ways. When the search engines "crawl" your site they don't stop when they get to a link. The "spiders" follow the links to see where they go. Even if the coding for your web page tells the spiders not to follow the link, sometimes they do.

As the spiders follow your links, they are indexing your site. The spiders keep track of the quality of your content, the quality of the content you link to and the quality of the content linking back to you. This is what causes your site and individual pages on your site to have different rankings on the web.

I have found it to be very effective to not only include links on various anchor text, but at the end of an article make a "best of" list. Your best of list can be a few articles that you really want people to read. You simply type the title to the article and link back to it. The idea is to simply create as many links as possible so that people reading your article will want to read more of your quality content. Of course, the spiders will also follow.

Popular Article by J. Michael Warner

Providing Value and Quality Content
Linkedin Connections
How To Build A High Traffic Website
Deep Branding On The Internet

Linkedin Connections

2009-02-18T08:00:00.003-05:00

I, J. Michael Warner, earn my living as a Professional Blogger and Social Networker. I use sites like Linkedin to build connections, market my business and make money. Since the founding of the Internet there have been many people that get offended by people trying to make money on the Internet. I am a capitalist, no apologies. It is my belief that social networking and sites like Linkedin are going to become very valuable in the next few years for companies that want to increase their presence, market, on the Internet and entrepreneurs that want to make money.

A while back I was talking to a Linkedin connection, Andrew Stephens, a SEO expert out of Cincinnati Ohio. Andrew indicated that he believes Google will be changing the way their search engine operates in the next few years. He believes that in order to get your website ranked on page one, instead of hiring a SEO expert you will need votes. Kind of like Digg. With that in mind, building a powerful network of connections on a site like Linkedin could be not only a good idea, but a great one.

In a previous article I published called "Linkedin" I explained how I got started on Linkedin and started building connections. If you are new to Linkedin and social networking that would be a good place to start.

I believe that in life, you are either the chess player or a chess piece. Google owns their search engine and can do whatever they want. We as business people, can not be mere pawns in the game of Google. To become a Grandmaster in the game of capitalism, we must be a chess player, not a chess piece. We must adapt and overcome Today that means we must become adept at marketing by means of social networking.

How involved in social networking should a business person be? How many social networking sites should one person or business be on? As for the first question I say, budget your time. Set up a specific amount of time to devote to social networking and stick to it. As for the second question, I am on a few social networking sites, but primarily like to work with my Linkedin Connections. If you have a team of individuals within a company that you can have to start social networking, I would split them between different social networking sites. Find social networks that are relevant to your industry and market, and start making connections.

Whether you are dealing with Linkedin connections or connections on another social networking site, I am in favor of doing business. Some people seem to be insulted if you offer a special promotion to them or blatantly ask for their business. My opinion is simple, delete them as a connection. Stop pussy footing around! No one joins a social network like Linkedin with the expectation that they will not be solicited. Now I am not saying that you should spam your connections with an new email offer every day. But let's get serious, you are here to do business. I am sure there are a few people that have no friends and thought they could make a few with Linkedin, but most people are on Linkedin for professional contacts. Professional contacts do business with each other.

Build connections on Linkedin that want to do business. If you end up with 3,000 connections, obviously not everyone will need you, your service or product everyday, but sooner or later they will. Otherwise who needs them? You do not become a Grandmaster in the game of capitalism by moving checkers pieces on a chess board.

Make yourself available to your Linkedin connections. I have had a few people that when I send them an email I get a message from their autoresponder that tells me how to become connected to them. We are already connected! Or at least I am connected with their autoresponder. Autoresponders have their purpose, but doing business has a two way connotation. It is not a one way street. If anyone I am connected to asks me for help, I try to help. I would be embarrassed to ask for someones business if I could not honor the "social" aspect of networking.

It is my belief that building a social network on Linkedin or some of the other social networking sites will not only be a valuable tool, but a necessary one in the next few years. Those that learn, will earn! Live long, prosper and get LINKEDIN!

Popular Article by J. Michael Warner

Providing Value and Quality Content
Linkedin Connections
How To Build A High Traffic Website
Deep Branding On The Internet

How To Build A High Traffic Website

2009-02-16T07:07:00.014-05:00

Many businesses have vanity websites. It strokes the ego to "be on the web" but does not do anything for your revenue stream. In order to improve your bottom line you must build a high traffic website. What is high traffic? That answer will be different for all of us. I am in the business of Internet Marketing. I help companies build traffic to their websites with Blog Marketing and Social Networking. How much traffic and revenue you need will be determined by the price of your products, the size of your business and your expenses.

Once you have determined that your business needs a high traffic website the next question is: How do I build a high traffic website? This is a very complex question, one that is not easily answered in a few paragraphs.

Build A High Traffic Website - Establish Your Keywords

I write and market for other businesses. The advantage being that you already have products and know what you are selling. You just need someone to do the marketing for you. Some people reading this may wonder why I am writing about how I run my business. If I tell everyone how to do what I do, some think that I will not be able to get any business. Not true. We are all CEO's of our own life. You do what you do best and hopefully have a passion for, I am the same. Not everyone reading this article can afford my services, those that can understand the need to delegate and have a budget for marketing, can hire me. Those that can not afford my services can use these techniques, build their business and everyone wins.

I recently did a little market research for a company in Michigan. The company is a marketing and sales consulting firm. Out of 19 keywords that this company focused in on, they did not rank in the top 100 searches on Google or Yahoo. So basically if they are getting any traffic from the search engines at all, it is minimal. Main competitors that are on page one of Google and Yahoo, are getting over 100,000 visits to their websites each month. Do you think you can improve your bottom line with an extra 100,000 visits to your website each month? Before you get to excited, realize that building a high traffic website is not something that can be done overnight.

So how do you establish what your keywords are? Do keyword research. Webconfs has an excellent tool that will help you figure out what keywords will be the most useful for your business. Simply type a word in that is the most relevant to your business and it will tell you what keywords are the most relevant and how many searches are done each month on those keywords. For example if we type the word marketing, it tells us that marketing has received 52,680 searches in the last month, Internet marketing has received 20,730, search engine marketing 20,730. These numbers change on a regular basis as it is a reflection of the previous month. The list for marketing gives us about 20 keywords. Depending on your market, it may only show a few keywords or none at all. Some subjects simply do not have very many searches conducted for them. If that is the case, you are at the mercy of advertising in order to generate traffic to your website.

Assuming that you have a business with products or services that are searchable, what do you do with your keywords? The first thing is to ensure that the keywords are used in the meta tags and keyword description in the coding of your website. Your webmaster can take care of that, just tell them what keywords you want in your meta keywords and come up with a meta description of your website. The meta description is a couple of sentences that best describes your company. When someone does a search and your company shows up in the results, your meta description is what they will read. So make your meta description interesting.

Building A High Traffic Website - Utilizing Your Keywords

Now that you have established your keywords you must use them. If an important keyword for you is marketing, you must insure that the word marketing is used as much as possible on your website. Use the word marketing enough so that it is obvious your website is about marketing. The best way to do this is to not only use the word marketing on your web pages but write or have someone write quality content for your website. Quality informative articles on your website will go a long way towards helping your website rank high with the search engines.

The next step is to start a blog for your website with quality content added on a regular basis. How regular? How much traffic do you want? If you are operating with a low budget you may have to do everything yourself and just budget your time accordingly. If your business is going well and you can afford to outsource your marketing, you can hire me. Either way, if you do nothing, your website will never be a high traffic website.

When writing articles for your blog make the articles at least 400 words. Sometimes I write long articles, like this one. The theory behind shorter articles is that most people are busy and do not have time for long articles. The theory behind longer articles is that if the content is important and well written, it will be bookmarked and people will return to read it. Having said that, do not write articles or have articles written, that sound like advertising. People do not go to blogs to read about Bobby May's newest exciting discovery that only costs $19.95 and is guaranteed to save the world, blah, blah, blah. You get the idea. Think about what people in the market for your products or services would be interested in reading. If you are in a network marketing company, write about personal experiences of those involved in the business. If you sell bicycle parts, write about bike trips, learning to ride and how to articles, anything that your respective market will find interesting.

The next step is article frequency. Publish articles on a regular basis. The best way to build traffic to the blog is to publish 3-4 articles every day. No easy feat unless you have nothing else to do or deep pockets. I would recommend that you decide on a schedule and stick to it. Publish at least two articles each week to your blog. Once the search engines get used to the frequency you are publishing they will index your site on a regular basis. People that publish 3-4 times each day can end up being indexed within five minutes of publishing an article. Less frequent publishing will cause your site to be indexed usually within a few hours.

Build A High Traffic Websites - Link Campaigns

The search engines look at a multitude of things to determine how high your website ranks. The two most important are quality content and links. No website will ever reach the first page of a popular search if they do not have a lot of links coming into that website. For example the sites that end up on the first page of the popular search terms marketing or Internet marketing have anywhere from tens of thousands of links, to millions.

The first type of links we are concerned with are internal links. As you write articles, link them to each other using anchor text links. Take the one main keyword or keyword phrase and at least once every article, link that word or phrase to the main page of your website. From there the best way to utilize internal links is to link relevant pages to each other. For example if you write an article and mention Linkedin, link the word Linkdedin to an article you wrote about Linkedin. If you write an article about credit, install a link on the word credit to your article about credit. Anchor text links tell the search engines that the page being linked to, has importance in the subject of the word or phrase used for the link.

Anchor text links can also be used in the second type of link, external links. External links are the links found on other websites that link back to your website. These are also called backlinks. This is the type of linking that causes failure among most people that want to market on the Internet. This is work. The easy way to place links on other websites is to write such compelling, timely, quality articles that other people will read them and write about the article on their website, linking back to your original article. Actually, this is easier said than done, but if you can pull it off more than a few times, your website can really explode with traffic.

The real time consuming work is in placing links yourself on other peoples websites. I have read a lot of articles saying you should ask for links on the sites you want to be on. This is a waste of time! If I write Darren Rowse of Problogger and ask him for a link, he will just delete the message. Now if I am an interesting writer, Darren may ask me to do a guest post, which will then link back to my site. Excellent idea since he is very popular and if the regular readers at Problogger like what I have to say, they may start reading my blog.

The other method I use to gain links is to leave comments on any and all blogs relevant to what I am writing about, linking back to me. I have been told that this is a waste of time because most comment sections are encoded with no follow instructions for the search engine spiders. Well my friend, the spiders don't seem to listen to instructions. Ever since I started building links in the comment sections, the spiders have been following them. Not all, but enough to make it worthwhile.

In order to check the status of the links to a website go to Google dot com and type the word links:www.yoursite(dot)com, using an actual dot of course. Type this into the search box. Hit enter and it will tell you how many links your site has and what the links are.

Building A High Traffic Website - Get Started

The information in this article is enough to help you get started building a high traffic website. It is not meant as a be all, end all product. The nature of the Internet is that what works today may not work next year and probably will not work in five years. Good luck and if you decide you like the idea, but would rather pay to have the work done, give me a call.

Popular Article by J. Michael Warner

Providing Value and Quality Content
Linkedin Connections
How To Build A High Traffic Website
Deep Branding On The Internet

Blog Marketing and Blog Promotion

2009-02-06T07:40:00.016-05:00

Does your company have a website that needs more traffic? The Genesee Crest Blog Marketing and Blog Promotion Plan will do just that.

The Genesee Crest Blog Marketing and
Blog Promotion Plan

We build two blogs for your company.
Every blog post is marketed via RSS Feed.
Weekly you receive 2 - 400 word blog posts per blog written specifically for your market.
All blog content is social bookmarked.
Every blog post will contain links pointing directly to your website.
All anchor text links use your most important keywords.
Increase your websites exposure and get a steady stream of targeted website traffic.
Boost your rank and position in the search engines.
A minimum of 500 links are established in relevant places on the internet funneling traffic through the blog, to your website.

Our exclusive Blog Marketing & Promotion Service creates original content, builds permanent links, improves your search engine rankings & generates targeted website traffic direct to your online business! Get MORE customers NOW!

BLOG MARKETING!

BLOG CREATION and PROMOTION

What IS the Blog Marketing Service?

We will create 2 (two) different online blogs for you.
One blog is created using Google's Blogger platform and the second blog is created using the Wordpress platform. The Google blog is important to you because we know that Google will index those blogs regularly as new content is added into your blog. The Wordpress blogs are very search engine friendly and are also very important for many of the other top online search engines such as Yahoo and MSN. When we create each of these blogs for you, we will also utilize your most important keywords as part of the url paths for your blogs. This is important to you because your blogs will be regarded much better and your blogs content will rank much higher by the search engines for that particular subject matter as indicated by the text and keywords within your blogs url paths.

What Does This Service Include?

EVERY WEEK we will write 2 (two) interesting, informative and professionally written - 400 word blog post - on your subject matter and place it in each of your blogs.

Each of these blog posts will contain relevant text links utilizing your important keywords and keyword phrases that you provide to us, that will point direct to your website. Some of these links can point directly to your important interior web page urls. These text links will also be using variations of your important keywords so that your web site will grow in link popularity for all your relevant and related keywords. You will get high quality 400 word blog posts that will drive targeted traffic to your site and give you blog marketing results!

How Will Each of My Blogs and My Blog Content Be Promoted?

EACH WEEK, we will do a submission for each of your blogs into another important RSS feed on your behalf.
It important to have blogs with new, high quality content being added regularly. It is equally important to have your blogs promoted in various ways so that the top search engines and targeted readers will see, read and utilize this blog content and visit the links inside your blogs to arrive at your web site. This is another area where our professional knowledge and expertise of internet marketing gives you a strong boost ahead of the competition to help you grow your online business!

ALSO each week, when we post another new, well written blog posting into your blog on your behalf, we will also social bookmark those new blog posts into several key social bookmark sites on the web.
This will get your blogs newly written content quickly indexed and read by the search engines and better exposed to these top search engines and ultimately reach more targeted web visitors. This is blog promotion and blog marketing that is in addition to listing and indexing both of your 2 (two) blogs with new RSS feeds each week. This means that over time, all the important RSS feeds will learn and index your blogs. The search engines will be quickly informed of your blogs content with a boost from the social bookmarks. This one-two punch of RSS feeds and social bookmarks combined with original, informative 400 word content will provide blog marketing that will rocket launch your business. Remember that RSS feeds alone have very wide audiences of targeted readers, viewers and web site visitors. When you combine all of this together you get blog promotion that builds your business dramatically!

500 Inbound Links

Every month we scour the web finding similar relevant content to your subject matter and place a minimum of 300 links that will funnel traffic to your new blogs. A minimum of 200 links are established that link directly to your main website. You can not obtain a high rank in the search engines without this service. All high ranking sites that are on page one on Google and Yahoo have thousands of inbound links.

Why Do I NEED This Service!

Search engine friendly blogs have become one of the most important online web tools that are generating a tremendous amount of traffic and web site exposure from search engines and targeted visitors.
Active blogs drive targeted traffic to web sites as a result of the search engines listings they create. Additionally, tons of targeted online web visitors and readers look for blogs related to subject matter they have an interest in knowing more about.

By having two blogs that are both search engine friendly and that are search engine optimized for your subject matter and for all your important keywords, you are sure to establish your web site business as an authority on your particular subject matter...
Visitors that read your blogs will eventually visit your web site and make a purchase. Readers will become more familiar with your company and your business as well as it's products and services as time progresses.

You are building brand awareness and generating the MOST TARGETED TRAFFIC you could ever hope to find for your online business!
In addition, all blog postings and content information will be indexed almost immediately by the top and most important search engines. Each of these individual blog postings could potentially earn a top search engine position and ranking in these high traffic search engines for your important and relevant keywords! The end result, is that these blog posts and blog marketing can deliver a tremendous amount of traffic, sales and profits to your online web business from all the various links that are contained in your blogs.

More Good News! ... We Do ALL the Work for You!

Blog Marketing & Blog Promotion Works to Build Higher Search Engine Rankings...

Web Site Exposure that builds PERMANENT WEB LINKS!

Your investment is only $2995.00 a month!

There is no contract. If you don't like the service, you simply do not continue with it the next month.

January Update On Linkedin Connections

2009-02-03T10:59:00.007-05:00

Today I decided I should update my connection statistics for the people I have a connection with on Linkedin. In the last few weeks I have gone from 205 connections on Linkedin to 735 Linkedin connections.

I would say that being on Linkedin is starting to be worth it. The Genesee Crest Marketing Auction has ended with Medius International winning. They have agreed that at the end of two months if my methods of marketing work, they will pay full price for a web site marketing package. Three more clients and I am full time in the Internet Marketing business.

I have also had 1,324 people read my articles on Associated Content in the last month. This blog has had 34 visitors in the last month who spent an average of two minutes and fourteen seconds on the blog. Not great, but not bad.

Network Statistics

Here you see the statistics about my Linkedin network, including how many users I can reach through my connections. My Linkedin network grows every time I add a connection. I copied this from Linkedin.

Your Network of Trusted Professionals

You are at the center of your network. Your connections can introduce you to 13,934,800+ professionals — here’s how your network breaks down:
Your Connections 735 Your trusted friends and colleagues
Two degrees away 403,400 Friends of friends; each connected to one of your connections
Three degrees away 13,530,600 Reach these users through a friend and one of their friends
Total users you can contact through an Introduction 13,934,800

40,593 new people in your network since January 31

The LinkedIn Network

The total of all LinkedIn users, who can be contacted directly through InMail

Total users you can contact directly

30,000,000+

More About Your Network

Regional Access Top locations in your network:

7%: 1. Greater New York City Area
5%: 2. San Francisco Bay Area
5%: 3. Greater Los Angeles Area
3%: 4. Greater Chicago Area
3%: 5. Dallas/Fort Worth Area

Your region: Lima, Ohio Area

Your connections are in 176 locations but your network gives you access to 1,128 additional locations, including:

Fastest growing locations in your network:

Industry Access Top industries in your network:

14%: 1. Information Technology and Services
8%: 2. Marketing and Advertising
7%: 3. Computer Software
6%: 4. Staffing and Recruiting
4%: 5. Management Consulting

Your industry: Marketing and Advertising

Your connections are in 94 industries but your network gives you access to 147 additional industries, including:

Fastest growing industries in your network:

Popular Article by J. Michael Warner

Providing Value and Quality Content
Linkedin Connections
How To Build A High Traffic Website
Deep Branding On The Internet

Email Subscription Drawing Update

2009-02-03T09:02:00.003-05:00

Well the Genesee Crest Marketing Auction is complete and now it is time to concentrate on my Email Subscription Drawing. So let's give it an official name, the "Genesee Crest Email Subscription Drawing." The drawing will be held on February 15, the winner of the drawing gets $500. Not a bad payoff, I was told by another blogger that offering $500 was to much. I came up the amount of $500 because most of my readers are professional connections on Linkedin. A drawing for $50 may excite the average Joe, but I was not sure that it would attract readers that I am connected to on Linkedin. I figure a drawing for $500 would be interesting and hey.....who can't use an extra $500?

As of today I have 5 subscribers, so the odds are pretty good that if you subscribe, you could win the drawing for $500. The subscriber service and stats are run by Google Feedburner, so I have no control over the system. Whatever number is shown in the left hand column for number of subscribers is accurate according to Google.

So what are you waiting for enter the drawing today and win $500.

Genesee Crest Marketing Auction Winner

2009-02-01T06:41:00.003-05:00

The Genesee Crest Marketing Auction is formally complete with the winner being Steve Courmanopoulos. Steve placed the winning bid for his company Medius International Inc.

I recently had a conversation with Steve and one of his partners, Angelo Mylonakis about the auction and how it would benefit their company. Medius International is launching a new website in the coming weeks. Angelo and Steve seemed very excited with the prospect of having Genesee Crest build their company blog and marketing Medius International on the Internet.

One of Medius International's primary products is Psychmentation™, described as follows:

Understanding which corporate activities create Customer Value is your single most powerful source of competitive advantage.

In every attempt to answer questions about what creates or inhibits Customer Value there is always a level of information that is highly inaccessible and disclosure resistant. Ironically, this Thin Layer is also the greatest source of competitive advantage, if only it could be accessed.

Internal resources and traditional market research approaches can uncover many elements of the Customer Value equation, but only the Medius Psychmentation™ can reveal the full spectrum of customer perceptions and expectations around your business and products.

What is your most burning question?

Medius International acts as a consultant and corporate trainer on the Medius Psychmentation™ process. A partial list of Medius International's clients include:

Abbott Laboratories
Arjo
AstraZeneca
Berlex (Schering AG)
Bombardier Transportation
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Brunswick Recreation
Canderm
ConvaTec
E.F.Walter
Faulding
Genzyme
Government of Canada
Libman Chimo Travel
MDS
Nortel Networks
Olsten
Ovid Software
Pfizer
Searle
Sudler & Hennessey
Terumo
Vetoquinol
Zimmer

I am honored that Medius International would choose Genesee Crest Ltd. to assist with their marketing on the Internet and look forward to a long and prosperous relationship.

Providing Value and Quality Content

2009-01-28T10:35:00.005-05:00

So your company has a web site, sit back, relax and rake in the big bucks! What is that? Your web site has done nothing to increase revenue? This is a common occurrence for small and large business's. Everyone has a website today, just because you have one does not mean that your bottom line will increase.

I have spent the last three years studying different web sites and the companies or people that own them. I have seen everything from the ugly sites with tons of traffic to the big flashy expensive to produce sites, with no traffic. Let's say that you are in the business of selling stereo equipment. A quick Google search shows that there are 6,110,000 web sites indexed by Google on stereo equipment. Now you want to start another one. What makes you think you can pass up all 6 million of these sites and start bringing in revenue from your new website?

That my friends is a serious question. Prior to starting a business or building a web site you must first ask: What value do I have to offer? The question some need to answer is: What is value? Can I sell the same stereo equipment the other 6 million are selling and somehow offer more value to the end consumer? Probably not.

If you already have a business that is producing value, you are ahead of the game. Your goal now is to market your company on the web and bring that value to a wider audience, which will increase your revenue.

There are a lot of theories on how one should market on the Internet. Web site marketing is really not much different than marketing by any other medium. The one thing that the Internet gives us is the ability to provide quality information. Your website marketing can be tailored to provide lasting quality and value for your consumers.

There are a lot of article that explain the need for quality content. You could probably read a million blogs with “articles” on quality content. The writer writes one or two paragraphs touting quality content, publishes it and expects to be seen as an authority on the subject, based these few sentences. Quality content is not a few sentences or a couple paragraphs of regurgitated crap. Quality content is you talking about living life and connecting life, to what you are marketing. Quality marketing and advertising is not necessarily blatant. One of my favorite examples of marketing is the TV show Ghost Whisperer. In that show the main character is always driving a brand new Jeep. That jeep is provided by Chrysler. This is very subtle advertising and it works!

Let's say that you start a website to sell antique bicycle parts. A Google search shows 570,000 sites related to this subject. How can you market your website and get passed all these “established” sites and be seen by your potential customers. It is not enough to have a quality store, stocked with quality items for sale. Have you ever heard of a company called McDonald's? Everyone has. Why do you think that when you watch TV you see so many McDonald's commercials? Do those high paid Marketing executives at McDonald's think you will forget who they are? Do they just have money to burn? No, the trick is to keep your name in front of the customer in a fun, friendly way. If they are hungry, just watched a McDonald's commercial, good chance they will go to McDonald's to satisfy themselves.

So how do you do this with antique bicycle parts? You build a blog and on a regular basis write article that people who ride, work on and rebuild antique bicycles will find interesting. Think about a magazine. We will use Popular Mechanics as an example. Why does Popular Mechanics exist? Would Popular Mechanics exist without revenue? I think not! Popular Mechanics is a business, they exist to sell advertising. They get you to purchase the products for sale in their magazine by providing quality content. The cool thing is, you actually pay for the privilege of getting this content and end up paying more by purchasing the products for sale in the magazine.

Quality content for our example of a site for antique bicycle parts can come from the basic interaction you have with your customers. If you have a brick and mortar business with the web site being used for marketing, you should be full of stories to write about. Think about it, you have customers coming into your store on a regular basis. As part of the sales process you talk to them, establish a connection, listen to their stories and problems. These stories are priceless. From the grandfather that talks about his first bicycle, the person that broke down on a cross country trip, mechanical repair tips, family outings at the national park and a million more stories.

If people are interested in your products, they will be interested in reading about the lifestyle encompassed by your products. If you are the CEO of your business, you will hire someone like me to do this for you. If you are a small business owner just starting out, you may have to do it yourself. Some people are not that good at writing and have no choice but to hire the work out. Either way, if you are not providing quality content, you are leaving money on the table.

Deep Branding On The Internet

2009-01-22T07:14:00.004-05:00

I have been rereading the book "Deep Branding On The Internet, Applying Heat and Pressure Online To Ensure A Lasting Brand" Nine years after Deep Branding was published, it is still a good read, although a lot has happened in nine years.

One of the parts of the book that I found somewhat humorous was the subject of search engines. When Deep Branding was written Yahoo was the biggest search engine and the road to the top of that search engine was paved with gold. He who had the gold, venture capitol, made it to the top. What you did after getting there determined if your business thrived or went bust. Many went bust blowing millions of dollars on campaigns trying to get to and stay at the top of the search engines rankings. Many dot com companies did this without even actually having a viable business plan or product, figuring that they would make a quick buck and figure it out on the way up.

The dot com bust is proof that you need a good product, business and marketing plan. I spend a lot of time looking at other companies websites, studying how the they market themselves and the one thing I have noticed is the actual lack of marketing. I have talked to many people that have a website or a blog and no traffic. It takes work, time, heat and pressure to build a lasting brand on the internet. The techniques may differ, but the same holds true offline or online.

Assuming you have a good product and a website, the next step is to market yourself and start building a deep brand. This is done by applying heat and pressure. My methods of applying heat and pressure is by blogging about a company and spending time promoting that company in forums, chat rooms, and comments left at articles written on other blogs. The idea is to get traffic flowing to your website from a multitude of other websites and to actually establish a presence on the internet that will build your brand.

One of the first things I do when starting a branding or marketing campaign is to check out your competition. I want to know who among your competition is ranking on the first two pages of the search engines. If you are in a very lucrative category such as cameras or computers, it will take a lot more time to get to the top and stay there, than if you are a local construction company or legal firm.

From there my typical approach is to build a blog for you and then start researching and writing articles that your customers or clients will find useful. I install a free opt in email subscription service, that way you can start building an email list of those interested in your company.

Then the social networking and bookmarking and commenting begins. The general idea is to find websites that have people interested in your particular market and let them know you exist. An example of how I do this can be seen in how I market myself. After publishing this article I will visit sites like Digg, Mixx, Reddit and others to let people know that the article exists. I then spend time on other sites with articles about marketing. I read their articles and leave comments relevant to the article. I don't blatantly advertise my services. I simply say something relevant and at the end of my statement leave my signature block. I will leave my name and then either my companies name, the url of one of my articles or Professional Blogger. If I am marketing for someone else I will leave a signature block with my name and the blogs name that I am building for that client, if I can do it appropriately I will try to mention the clients name.

Think about it, if you do this 20 - 100 times a day, how many people will potentially see your companies name? Assuming that ten people see your name and read your comment each time, that is 73,000 - 365,000 times in a year! Do you think there is a chance your traffic will improve after a year of using this technique? How about 5 years or 10 years?

When I was a teenager someone told me the secret to success could be found by just showing up. Now obviously business and marketing is a little more complicated than that, but you get the point.

A good example of this can be found in the marketing of prescription drugs. Watch TV on any particular day and you will see advertising for prescription drugs. What percentage of people watching an episode of CSI are interested in Levitra? Now imagine you sell Levitra and your companies name keeps showing up in comments left at articles written about erectile dysfunction. I have advertised on prime time TV. Believe me it is much cheaper to hire someone like myself to market your company in this manner and much more effective. Your brand will be built deep and wide. With the daily postings you will have heat and pressure applied to the your market, traffic will improve to your website and if your product is worthwhile, revenue will improve.

The nice thing about deep branding on the internet using this method is if you are just starting out and don't have the money to hire someone, you can do it yourself. Good Luck and get Linkedin.

Genesee Crest Marketing Auction Day One Update

2009-01-20T20:55:00.004-05:00

24 Hours into the Genesee Crest Marketing Auction and the activity from business professionals on Linkedin is unbelievable! The bidding is up to $60....This is for $12,000 worth of marketing folks, batter up! I had a person email me to say that I am cheapening the marketing profession. Balderdash, I say, pure Balderdash! The only people that cheapen the marketing profession are those that bid zero dollars! That's cheap!

Seriously, I do appreciate all the activity from my connections on Linkedin and from those on Linkedin that have asked to become connected to me because of the marketing auction.

Because of all of the support from fellow Linkedin professionals I have decided to open the Genesee Crest Marketing Auction up to sponsors. This will allow more business's to benefit from all the activity I am getting with this promotion.

Anyone that is a Linkedin Connection to me can send me an offer to sponsor this promotion. A sponsorship display section will be established in the right column of this blog. Sponsorship can include something as simple as you putting a blurb on your site promoting the Marketing Auction, I in return will display your business name as a sponsor with a link to your site. If you would like to donate something more substantial that will promote your business, I will do a review of the donated item in a post and put an add, 200w x 300t pixel, on display, as provided by the sponsor. Send me an email with the word sponsor in the subject line to jmichaelwarner at yahoo dot com. I will consider all offers of sponsorship, but will only accept what I consider appropriate and legitimate.

Website Promotions For Linkedin Connections

2009-01-20T06:43:00.005-05:00

Well folks, it has been less that 12 hours and the Genesee Crest Marketing Auction is well under way. One of the people that placed a bid made the comment that a qualified lead is worth $35 to them. I replied that I could see no problem getting them a couple hundred leads over a two month time frame. I realized later that my idea of a qualified lead and theirs is probably not exactly the same.

The intent of this auction for marketing services is to drive traffic to your website. Traffic that is interested in your particular market. A problem many have that are marketing on the internet, is the idea that a brand can be developed in "internet time." Your brand, your reputation, will be built over time, not overnight. I seek with this promotion to prove that I start a flow of interest to your website and over time build that trickle into a raging river. My hope is that when you see the value I can bring to your company, that I will be retained to assist with your long term marketing goals.

The Bids so far are as follows:

Jason Smith III, is in the lead with a $50 bid
John Bisnar has bid $10
Leo Henton has bid $35 - Leo is bidding for a non-profit, way to go Leo!
Louis Lewow has bid $25

Thank you for your opening bids and I will keep posting updates on this blog throughout this marketing promotion.

Auction For Marketing Services

2009-01-19T17:51:00.008-05:00

Do you have a website that is not receiving the amount of traffic you would like? Have you thought of using a blog to market your website? How would you like an extra 500 links scattered throughout the web, directing traffic to your website? Would you like a blog stocked with quality content on a daily basis, that adds value and directs potential clients to your website?

The Genesee Crest Marketing Auction

$12,000 Value
I am so confident that I can build traffic to your website that I am willing to let you have $12,000 worth of marketing for whatever price you are willing to bid. Am I crazy? I think not! Would you be crazy to pass up a deal like this? I think so!

The Offer
I am so convinced the I can market and build traffic to a website for a legitimate business, that I am willing to work for the highest bidder. I will obtain a url, and set up a blog based on what you are marketing. I will populate the blog with minimum of 5 articles each week for 2 months. Quality content on the blog will be designed to make the reader want to visit your website to learn more about your services. These articles will be keyword specific in order to help with your websites ranking in the search engines.

I will then obtain a total of 500 links to your website. The links will be on other blogs, in comment sections and forums. These links will be designed to attract attention to your website, both from potential clients and the search engines.

I will also write and submit one Press Release for your company. The Press Release will be submitted through PRWeb, with a Media Visibility level distribution. That is a $360 value on the distribution alone. The Press Release will be on the topic of your choice but will mention the blog.

The blog, the links and the Press Release have a value of $12,000. I would normally charge $6,000 per month for a package like this. I am auctioning this package off to the highest bidder! Even if that bid is $10, the winner of the auction will get the package.

WHY?
I have been blogging for two years and am now ready to take on paid clients, clients that want more traffic to their websites. In order to establish myself and get recommendations and referrals, I am willing to do whatever it takes to get my first customers.

How To Qualify

You must have a legitimate website for a legitimate business, not a landing page.
Prior to bidding you must become a connection to me on Linkedin. This is so you can give me a good recommendation at the end of the two month period.
All bids must be submitted to me through the Linkedin email service. I will post the results of who is bidding and how much is being bid, in Linkedin Group discussions and on this blog.
Bidding starts on January 19th, 2009 and will end on January 31, 2009 at midnight eastern. The winning bidder will be notified that they have won and will have until February 6, 2009 to pay the winning amount in my Paypal account. The blog will be published on February 13, 2009 and the marketing will begin.

What do I want in return?

At the end of the two month time frame, all I ask is that you give me an honest recommendation for services rendered on Linkedin and refer my services when appropriate. It is my hope that you will see value in the service and want to continue it. Should you want to continue the service the charge will be $6,000 per month. Long term growth will be yours, as I will do everything in my power to effectively market your company online.

Linkedin's 30,000 Connection Move

2009-01-16T20:09:00.003-05:00

This afternoon I had an interview with Steven Burda on Linkedin's move to limit connections to 30,000 people. Not a swift move for Linkedin. Read the Steven Burda, Linkedin article.

Popular Article by J. Michael Warner

Providing Value and Quality Content
Linkedin Connections
How To Build A High Traffic Website
Deep Branding On The Internet

The Importance Of Linkedin Groups

2009-01-13T08:10:00.002-05:00

As you can tell from my profile on Linkedin I have joined a lot of groups. Linkedin seems to have a group for every type of social networker and business person. Some of the groups that I have joined, I may not stay with, as it may turn out that it is a waste of time. You never know what a group will be like until you join. For example, a couple of the groups I joined have very little participation from the group. What is the sense of belonging to a group of a few hundred or thousand people, yet the people do not try to participate and socialize with one and another?

Most, if not all of the Linkedin groups send out a daily message by email that lets members know what discussions are going on and what the groups news is. Great way to get to know members of your group. I try to participate in at least one discussion every day. Most of the time I participate in a few discussions. This lets your fellow Linkedin group members know who you are and what your interests are. Every day I get a few people ask to become connected to me. I believe that most of the request come in due to my participation in the group discussions.

This morning I received the weekly update from Toplinked, a group that I joined that is for open networkers. Open networkers beleive in connecting with anyone and everyone. The idea being that you never know who might be of help to you or that you may be able to be of help to. In Toplinked's weekly email they include a system so that you can download a file that has the weeks list of people who want to connect. I downloaded the file and was able to send out 113 requests for connections. That will almost triple the size of my network on Linkedin.

Since we can only send out 3,000 connection requests with Linkedin, I think I will only do this a few times. As I refine my market a little better I may get pickier with whom I connect.

I am J. Michael Warner, Professional Blogger and Writer. I am based in Ohio, but will write for Republican Politicians and business's nationwide. The goal of this blog is to help me obtain Professional Blogging and Writing Jobs as well as chronicle my experiences with social networking on Linkedin.

Linkedin Second Week Results

2009-01-10T14:39:00.003-05:00

The end of two weeks operation on the social network, Linkedin, and I have been through a whirlwind of activity. I am up to 58 contacts on Linkedin, 58 contacts thanks to Linkedin that I never had before. The amazing thing to me is the variety of connections that I have developed with Linkedin. I have Linkeding connections in media, IT, engineering, CEO's, real estate, insurance and more. I have Linkedin connections from all over the world.

Last night I received an email from a person that is in a management position in a major media company, he is interested in my writing and wanted to know if I am interested in a talk show. Wow! I figured it would take a year or two to get that kind of a connection. Shows you how fast things move when you actually get involved in social networking on a site like Linkedin.

How did I get so many connections on Linkedin, so fast? First off I connected with any open networker that I could. From there I started getting involved in different group discussions on Linkedin. People started asking me to become connected. Short, sweet, simple, reminds me of an acronym we used in the Army. KISS, keep it simple stupid.

What is the secret to becoming successful on Linkedin or life for that matter? Become helpful to other people. The more people that you help, the happier and more successful you will become. I had another person that wants to publish a viewpoint that apposes mine. I decided in the spirit of being helpful I said yes....Karma....Not saying that I or you for that matter have to say yes everytime, but unless it would harm you, it might help you.

Linkedin Win $500 Contest

2009-01-09T19:49:00.005-05:00

What could be more exciting than a contest to win $500? A contest to win $1,000, but hey $500 in winnings beats the crap out of $0 in winnings. So here goes. I am running a contest and the winnings will be up to $500. How do you win $500. Very Simple!

Go to Genesee Crest, sign up for our free email subscription, or.
Go to The Political Coffeehouse, sign up for our free email subscription.
Put an anchor text link on your website or blog with the anchor text link politics to The Political Coffeehouse and the anchor text link Linkedin to Genesee Crest, if you have a website or blog.

You may sign up for either subscription to be entered in the drawing. Your email address will be entered into a drawing that will be held on February 15, 2009. The winner of the drawing will receive your choice of $500 deposited in your Paypal account or a gift certificate from Amazon.com for the following amounts:

The winner will receive a minimum of $200.
If you are connected to me on Linkedin prior to Feb. 15, 2009 you get an extra $100.
If you have put an anchor text link as described above on your website or blog, you get $100 for the anchor politics and $100 for the anchor politics.

Maximum Prize $500

All the usual disclaimers, void where prohibited, Yada, Yada, Yada.

Linkedin Groups

2009-01-09T11:31:00.004-05:00

The last week has been a whirlwind on Linkedin and the Linkedin Groups I am involved with. I have over 50 connections now and am adding more every day. I had to stop asking for 6 connections every day on Linkedin, due to time constraints. Daily I get people asking me to become Linkedin connections.

I joined a few new groups having to do with writing, the media, and Republican politics. Joining Linkedin groups seems like a really good idea and is giving me a lot of exposure. To get the exposure I have been participating in discussions that the individuals in the groups have started. I even started a few discussions myself.

I have been accepting invitations from all Linkedin social networkers. Don't know if that is a good idea with the network marketing crowd, hope I don't start getting a lot of spam from them. Not saying that I have a problem with the concept or the people, been there, done that and no longer have an interest in the subject.

All in all the attraction to belonging to Linkedin Groups is understandable. Linkedin Groups provide the "social" part of social networking.

I am J. Michael Warner, Professional Blogger and Writer. I am based in Ohio, but will write for Republican Politicians nationwide. The goal of this blog is to help me obtain Professional Blogging and Writing Jobs as well as chronicle my experiences with social networking on Linkedin.

Finding Your Marketing Position

2009-01-07T09:26:00.003-05:00

It was recently pointed out to me by a Linkedin connection, that I should work on my marketing "position." In marketing a company seeks to find it's position in the market based on the companies products and goals. One of the biggest mistakes a company can make is to try to be everything to everyone. Instead of taking a focused position in the market, they attempt to take the whole market. Most of the time that approach will fail.

In the field of marketing there are a multitude of tasks, my niche position in this market is as a Professional Blogger and article writer. It was suggested to me that I should narrow my market position to an even narrower niche. Find something that I am knowledgeable and interested in and focus on that. Examples, carpentry, politics, news and current events, etc. For another person it may be finance, sports, IT, etc. You get the picture.

This is one of the reasons that I joined Linkedin. The social interaction is helpful in many ways. I realized that since I am really interested in politics and already have a political blog, that is probably a good niche market for me. The question is, is it to narrow of a niche to earn a living? Given the interest in politics and the money being made, I don't have to pay for a researcher to find out the answer to that question.

Conservative political pundits like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are making millions by giving their political opinions. Book sales by Ann Coulter are going through the roof. It does not take a genius to figure out that conservative politics is a vibrant market.

So now that I have identified my marketing niche and position in the market, where do I go from here? This morning I applied to join most of the Republican Groups on Linkedin. This will enable me to socialize online with other Linkedin members that are interested in Republican Politics. From there it is a matter of finding campaigns and politicians that need online exposure. Which, based on the 2008 election results is just about every Republican Politician.

Is Social Networking Effective

2009-01-06T09:43:00.005-05:00

When I first started blogging a couple of years ago I rationalized that I did not have time for social networking. I grasped the idea of blogging, but not the idea of marketing that blog or marketing myself. Effective social networking on sites like Linkedin had to go through the good old learning curve.

I read a question this morning on Linkedin that asked whether or not an individual was wasting his time by using Linkedin for social networking. To me social networking is like anything else in life. If you wait until you need a network to start one, it is to late. A good example, if your car payment is due today and you are broke, chances are it will be harder to raise the money than if you had started a month ago. If you need a job today, it is a little late to start trying to connect with people on Linkedin. Not impossible, just a little late.

As I write this I have a job doing restoration work on a Victorian home here in Ohio. I don't have to land a job as a Professional Blogger or Writer. The job I am on should last for another 9 months, I work whatever hours I want and as long as the client does not loose his job due to the recession, I keep working. That gives me plenty of time to build this blog and build a nice network filled with business professionals on Linkedin. Plenty of time to transition from self employed carpenter to full time Professional Blogger.

My point being that most people from the white collar professional and well educated, to the blue collar worker, can benefit from social networking. It never hurts to "know" a lot of people. I recently had a few conversations with Steven Burda. I met Steven through Linkedin. He is called the "Mother Teresa" of social networking. Basically Steven Burda has no real "need" to network on Linkedin. He has a good job with good pay and benefits. Steven spends time "paying it forward." Spreading goodwill and helping other accomplish what they need with no expectation of anything more than a thank you. Someday Steven Burda may need to use his network of over 34,000 people. Since he does everything he can to help everyone he can, the expectation is that his Linkedin social network will be there for him.

It seems like the part some people have a hard time grasping is that social networking on a site like Linkedin can be just as effective as socializing at the local Chamber of Commerce. If you go to the local Chamber of Commerce social event, sit at the bar and don't bother introducing yourself, it will be a waste of time. If you introduce yourself and immediately go into an Amway presentation you will clear the room. Let people know who you are, but it is a social, don't act like a slick car salesman.

In my short time on Linkedin I have made over 29 connections. That is 29 connections to business people that I never knew, they never knew me. I have been receiving advice from a woman that is a professional in the marketing field and a former teacher. The advice she has given me is priceless. I did not even expect to receive her advice, but appreciate it and when the time comes if she needs my help I will be there for her. Social networking at its best. Yes, I say it is worth it to be on Linkedin.

I am J. Michael Warner, Professional Blogger and Writer. I am based in Ohio, but will work for companies worldwide. The goal of this blog is to help me obtain Professional Blogging and Writing Jobs as well as chronicle my experiences with social networking on Linkedin.

Connecting With Steven Burda on Linkedin

2009-01-05T07:39:00.005-05:00

During my initial research about Linkedin I came across an article on CIO that talked about Steven Burda the "Mother Teresa" of social networking. The article describes Steven Burda as a bright articulate young man that has ambition, yet who spends an inordinate amount of time helping others in the Linkedin network become, well, Linkedin. Steven gets to know as many of his fellow Linkedin professionals as possible. From there whether you need an introduction for a job, would like to connect to a venture capitalist or just need help in connecting with an old friend, Steven Burda is there to help.

In my research I found that Steven Burda is an open networker. An open networker will connect with anyone, even though they do not "know" them. Steven has over 34,000 contacts. After researching the idea of open networking I decided to become one. From there I connected with Steven Burda not really knowing at the time where that would lead.

So begins the relation between J. Michael Warner and Steven Burda. To me this is the perfect example of how Linkedin can work. As a Professional Blogger I obviously need things to write about as well as clients that need a writer. Steven Burda and I began a conversation through emails that culminated last night in a phone conversation. The conversation went really well, Steven is down to earth and a great conversationalist. We have decided to collaborate on a monthly article, to be published here at Genesee Crest, that will chronicle Steven Burda's networking and highlight his idea's on social networking.

Not a bad beginning for a person that has only been on Linkedin for a little more than a week. Going from amateur blogger to Professional Blogger could possibly be a rough transition. With great people in your network like Steven Burda I think a career transition could be a little smoother.

What Is A Professional Blogger

2009-01-04T11:49:00.003-05:00

I recently introduced myself while social networking, as a professional blogger. The reply I got was "what the heck is a Professional Blogger?" My simplistic reply was that of course a professional blogger is someone that gets paid to blog. As a professional blogger for hire, I of course, expect to get paid for my services. Admittedly that is a simple answer.

Going beyond the simplistic, what really is a blog, blogging and what is a blogger? In reality for business purposes, a blog is nothing more than an online newsletter. A professional blogger is simply a professional writer that uses blogging software to publish a newsletter and articles online.

A legal firm in Columbus Ohio that I met through Linkedin, recently has been talking to me about setting up a blog for them. They are checking with authorities here in Ohio first to make sure there are no legal or ethical problems with hiring a professional blogger to market their business. Most business's don't have that problem. Hiring a professional blogger can be seen as a great way to market a business.

Who should hire a professional blogger to set up and run a blog for them? First off, do you or does your company have a website? How is the traffic to that website? Is your website getting the kind of traffic that you need in order to make it worthwhile? Is your website showing up in the first page or two of search engines like Google for your keywords? Let's say that you are a construction company located in Columbus Ohio and want to improve how you market your business.

Case Study
Construction Columbus, Ohio

I got on Google and googled "construction Columbus Ohio" went to page eight of the search and started looking at the sites listed. I found a site for "Benchmark Construction." The site was professional, easy to read and navigate. Prior to my search I did not know anything about "Benchmark Construction." It says that they are listed on Angie's List and are a member of a Franchise. The site also has some nice pictures of jobs completed. What is noticeably absent is anything that would bring the sites ratings up in the search engines. There is no "quality content" on the website. Quality content is what a Professional Blogger brings to the table. I did some more research and basically found that "Benchmark Construction" doe not have much of a presence on the internet. They could be a perfect client for a professional blogger.

The question a company like "Benchmark Construction" has to ask is: Should we spend money marketing on the internet? Obviously they have already started, it cost good money to set up their nice website. Since I don't know them and can not ask what their advertising budget is, I can only assume that they have one. I can also assume that since they are in the construction business, they probably would rather have someone else marketing their business while they do what they do best, concrete work and construction.

The first question a Professional Blogger has to ask is: What will it take to get "Benchmark Construction" on the first page or two of Google? My basic philosophy is one of domination. It is better to dominate a market than it is to be the last guy called when someone wants work done. If you dominate the market, you can charge better prices and turn down work that you would rather not do.

The first thing I would do for 'Benchmark Construction" of Columbus Ohio would be to have keywords and a description put in the html coding of their website. Yahoo uses keywords and descriptions more than Google, but Google does use the description you give for your search engine listing. The second thing I would do is write a decent "about our company" page. Pictures are nice, but who are you? Next would be a few article published on the site that describe various jobs that the company is capable of.

After that the Professional Blogging starts. There are a few different schools of thought as to what works best. I personally believe that a blog should be updated either twice a week with articles that are 1200 words or longer or updated at least 5 days each week with articles that are 400-500 words in length. Articles are written with specific keywords in mind. For instance, this article is written for the keywords "professional blogging." Links are put in the articles on anchor text that will take a search engine spider back to the page of your choice on your website. For example, I just linked the last set of keywords "professional blogging" back to the main page of this blog. That tells the search engines what the topic of the page is you are linking to and gives it importance. That is what brings your ratings up in the search engines.

After writing and publishing an article, the Professional Blogger will then start marketing the articles by getting them listed on social bookmarking sites, sometimes writing Press Releases and getting links all over the internet. This is all in an effort to drive traffic to your website, bring in business and increase revenue.

So, should you hire a professional blogger? My answer is: Only if you want to get more recognition and or make more money.

Linkedin Day Seven

2009-01-03T08:32:00.003-05:00

Wow!!! Getting fantastic results using Linkedin. Day seven of my Social Networking Challenge and I am up to 19 connections. Linkedin is truly an exciting experience. I am inviting 6 people each day to become a Linkedin connection to me. Yesterday I also had two people ask me to become a connection. Kind of like a snow ball, the more you roll it, the bigger it gets. In order to find people that I would like to be Linkedin to, I am mostly concentrating on people that are open networkers.

I found the site Top Linked. Top Linked is a site that lists the top people and their email address's that are networking on Linkedin. So over the last couple of days I started asking some of these individuals to become connected. Also I am then making connections with people in their group of connections. I will have to admit, a part of me does wonder what will become of this. Yet I find the idea of being able to be part of a group of people dedicated to social networking exciting.

Perusing the pages of individual Linkedin members is also giving me ideas on how I should present myself and approach others. Linkedin has a section for asking questions. I joined the eMarketing Asociation Network Group. It is set up so that Linkedin members can ask questions of each other, and give answers to the questions. By participating, a person can establish themselves as an expert in, or at least knowledgable in, whatever the subject is. This also attracts connections.

New Linkedin Connections

Pier Paolo Mucelli is the CEO and founder of eOffice. eOffice takes advantage of a gap in the market for beautifully designed, high-tech office environments for small businesses and start-ups. The first eOffice opened in London in 2002, and was the first open plan business centre in Europe. It offers virtual offices, hot desking options (with wireless access), flexible full-time office solutions and a wide range of meeting facilities and videoconferencing. At eOffice we bring people together by organizing regular networking events called Net Thursday. eOffice now serves over a thousand clients, ranging from start-ups and consultants who require a flexible office space to SMEs and even large companies searching for creative meeting spaces.

eOffice has been featured on CNN, the BBC, and in several international newspapers and magazines, including the FT, The Times, The Independent, Time Out and many more. Pier Paolo Mucelli's websites are: eOffice, eOffice Blog, eOffice on Facebook.

Ed Nasbaum helped start and/or grow many different companies and organizations. Ed likes helping entrepreneurs, ventures, and communities grow and succeed. Stealthmode Partners is the invisible support network behind many successful entrepreneurs and ventures.

Mike O'Neil loves to meet new people and help others. Mike is a generous OPEN NETWORKER and his time is in high demand.

Mike O'Neil leads Integrated Alliances (IA), a 5 year old company focused on business networking, off-line through events and on-line through LinkedIn and other social networks and business networks. IA is especially well known for LinkedIn training and for hosting exceptional B2B networking events.

William "Bill" Howell was recently interviewed by CIO Magazine about his experiences hiring staff. Linkedin is referenced. CIO out takes.
Bill is the Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer of Accellent Incorporated. Accellent Inc. is a KKR portfolio company providing comprehensive supply chain solutions to the Medical Device Industry. Bill's primary role is overall responsibility for setting and delivering the Information Services strategy. The major initiative is the deployment of Oracle ERP. Beyond Information Services I handle a wide array of strategic business initiatives. Most recently he has been responsible for leading the project to close one of the manufacturing facilities.

Wei Guan has 15 years’ extensive experience and knowledge in the architect, design and development of enterprise infrastructures and applications for Fortune/Global 500 companies, especially for financial service companies. Emphasize on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), mission critical, high performance & high reliable solutions.

Rick Knill is the Chief Coaching Officer for Global Eagle Company provides a unique blend of coaching and consulting to business individuals, groups and whole companies who are striving to move beyond the nagging symptoms and get to the root areas of energy draining behavior, while identifying extraordinary business system improvement opportunities. Global Eagle will assist your company in building a safe and sustainable bridge for improved communication and teamwork.

Malcolm Lawrence is the founder/CEO and Editor-In-Chief of the non-profit organization Tower Of Babel, the multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, recognized by the United Nations as one of the most important Social and Human Sciences Online Periodicals: http://www.unesco.org/shs/shsdc/journals/humanities-culture-society.html

Tower of Babel is a 501(c)3 non-profit looking for funding as well as people from all walks of life interested in helping build the project. If you're interested in helping build the tower join our towerofbabel.com LinkedIn Group, where they currently have over 1600 members, by going to this link:https://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/780/3B93DB1A97D6/

Marc Freedman, aka your LinkDaddy, is a digital media and technology speaker, consultant, writer, activist, and expert witness in Internet services, social networking, digital music and video, P2P, Web 2.0, branding and marketing, and adult entertainment. Marc speaks at national conferences and consult with groups from industry associations to the U.S. Senate, FTC, and FBI and int'l law enforcement.

Marc is an entrepreneur who has mastered the intersection of technology, consumer marketing, entertainment, and community throughout his career. "Entertainment is the Experience. People are the Connection." My specialty is Breakthrough Marketing. Marc's website is Dallas Blue.

This is Steven Burda, and one day he would like to take over the world. Seriously....At the present, Steve is gainfully employed, working in Financial Planning, Procurement & Cost Management arena at one of the well-known and greatly respected Fortune 50 company in the Philadelphia-area. The reason Steve is on Linkedin (for the past 4 years) is to reconnect with friends, family members, classmates, group and social circle members, former and present colleagues -- and to connect with new, exciting and interesting professionals from all walks of life, from various fields within many diverse industries and geographic locations. Steve loves his profession, the people he works with and enjoys helping people getting the most of their lives as well - both on a professional and personal front.

Linkedin Day Six

2009-01-02T07:48:00.005-05:00

Well I hope the New Year finds everyone healthy, wealthy and wise. Or at least ready to become so. I spent the last couple of days reading about various aspects of social networking and evaluating my own goals as well as time available. I decided that Myspace will most likely be a waste of time for my business and am dropping that part of the Social Networking Challenge. This will enable me to spend more time cultivating relationships with people on Linkedin who are actually business people. Part of the problem with Myspace is that it is difficult to figure out who might be interested in networking for business purposes. Another problem I had was, the layouts people use make it difficult to actually read the fonts. Onward ever onward.

I learned over the last couple days that there are two basic types of social networkers on Linkedin. Open networkers and closed networkers. The open networkers believe in making as many connections as possible and building a huge social network. The open network builds a quantity of contacts. The closed networkers are more into quality. Kind of like a country club unto themselves, if they do not see value by adding you to their network, you will not be invited to join.

So I have decided to become an open networker. My main goal is to establish myself as a professional blogger and writer. Given that, I believe that anyone could be a potential client. Most successful people get that way by eventually delegating more and more tasks to others. So my potential client may be a good writer and comfortable with blogging, but is now in need of someone else to do those tasks while he or she concentrates on managing their business.

New Linkedin Connections

Terri Howell is now a connection on Linkedin. Terri is in sales, with 25 years experience in Sales Management, 10 years in print and online advertising sales. Terry's website is reMarraige.

Joe Weinsteiger is now a connection on Linkedin. Joe is 21K+, TopLinked.com, OpenNetworker.com, LION, contact JoeW.Linkedin@gmail.com. Joe has a few websites: BulkREO, CustomUpIt, Technical Ventures LLC.

Stacy Donovan Zapar is now a connection on Linkedin. San Diego & Southern CA's Most Connected ★ 23,400+ ★ TopLinked #28 LION ★ Feel free to invite Stacy at link2stacy@gmail.com. Stacy's company is Websense.

Joe Gillespie is now a connection on Linkedin. Joe is a CIO with CFO and CEO exp.; TopLinked.com 23K+ Please invite Joe to connect! Joe@GillespieMail.com Joe's websites are Pathfinder Development,
B2B CFO, The Feng.org.

Jay Rao is now a connection on Linkedin. Mr. Rao provides companies with Marketing leadership, experience, and expertise. Jay is an open networker with 23,000 plus connections. Jay's website is Evolve Management.